Applicants may be asked some of the following questions at interview:

• Why do you want to be a doctor?

• What alternatives have you explored? Why not be a nurse?

• What qualities do you think patients appreciate in a doctor?

• What qualities do you have that would make you a good doctor?

• What are your best/worst qualities?

• Why have you chosen this university? What do you think of our course structure?

• What are your views on public and private medicine and the governments Foundation Hospitals?

• What is the difference between primary and hospital care?

• What is the National Health Service? What issues are currently predominant within the service?

• How do you see Britain’s healthcare system in 20 years time?

• What single healthcare intervention could change the health of the population the most?

• Will your personal / religious beliefs conflict with your duties as a doctor?

• What is an epidemic?

• Why are we so healthy compared to the Victorians?

• What is the difference between a virus and a bacterium? Against which are antibiotics effective and why?

• What is MRSA and how has it arisen?

• Why is the SARS outbreak so worrying?

• What is homeopathy? Do you approve?

• Do you think / why is research important? What limitations are there to medical research?

• Tell me about something medically related that you have read in the press recently.

• Describe a situation you have been in which was stressful. How do you deal with stress?

• How would you deal with death and the dying?

• What do you think are the advantages / disadvantages of PBL (problem-based learning)?

• What do you think you will find the most difficult about a career in medicine?

• Tell me about your work experience. What did you learn from it?

• Research has shown that “integrity” is an important quality in a doctor. What do you think is meant by this and can you give an example of a situation in which acting with integrity might be important?

• Give an example of when you have worked in a team.

• If complaints were made about you as a doctor how would you respond?

• Do you think that doctors need to ask for consent when taking organs from a dead person? What if it were only a blood sample?

• What have been the most significant advances in medicine in the last 10/20/30 years?