"Service to my community and the underserved is extremely important to me and really one of the main reasons I'm pursuing a career as a physician. During medical school, I organized many community service activities with my fellow students and was commended by our program for these efforts. One particular effort was to help mentor children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the community. I took the extra effort to reach out to area schools to get an idea of the numbers of children that could use the mentoring. Then, I developed a plan with school administration and worked to gather other volunteers. While this certainly wasn't a requirement of my program, the lives we helped will stay with me forever from this experience."

Taking the initiative could mean that you take on responsibilities independently without being asked or continually coached by your manager. It could also mean that you are the type of person who jumps in and assumes the lead before others do or before being asked. Answer this question by telling the interviewer about a specific time when you showed initiative in your work. Outline the situation, describe the task, and explain the actions you took to take the initiative. Give as much detail as you can regarding the positive results of your actions. At the end of your response, be sure to describe your high level of initiative and how this characteristic will benefit you as a resident with this institution.