Fellowship Mock Interview

Master 40 Fellowship interview questions covering research goals, funding justification, and academic potential.

Question 1 of 40

What would you say is the most important lesson you learned during your residency training that will help you be a successful and accomplished fellow?

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Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.

Over the last three to five years, you have learned and grown more towards your future medical practice than you ever have in your life while training in your residency program. Your interviewers want to hear you talk about the most important lesson you learned during your time in residency and why this lesson is so important to your future success as a fellow.

Ryan Brunner

Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.

Before your fellowship interview process, sit down and think about the important lessons you learned during your residency training that you will carry with you for the rest of your career. Giving an unconventional example of something you learned outside of clinical competency will make you stand out from other candidates.

Ryan Brunner

Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.

"The most important lesson I learned was to not let my work become routine. By the time I got to my PGY-2, there were conditions that presented daily, and I could have easily written up assessments on these patients before I even saw them. One of my attending physicians warned me against being too routine with patients because the little things that could be missed could be potentially devastating for a patient. He taught me that no symptom should go uninvestigated, and I've worked every day to be thorough in my work. As a new fellow now focusing my career in this subspecialty, I know that not being routine will be extremely important."

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We learn how to gather a medical history and physical exam in medical school, but residency really showed me how to get down to the patients’ level and discover what drives them to seek care. Many of the services we provide as otolaryngologists are directed to the quality of life, so residency helped me understand some patient nuances for determining one route of therapy compared to another.

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40Fellowship Interview Questions & Answers

Education

1.What would you say is the most important lesson you learned during your residency training that will help you be a successful and accomplished fellow?

Competency

2.What relevant skills did you develop during your residency training that you feel will benefit you as a new fellow with our program?

Career Goals

3.What drove you to apply for our fellowship program?

Common

4.What do you think is one weakness that you have upon entering fellowship training?

Tough

5.What animal would you say you most relate to?

Career Goals

6.What are your career plans and goals after completing our fellowship training program?

Discovery

7.What would you say ultimately drives your passion for a career in medicine?

Career Goals

8.What do you wish to gain through training in our fellowship program?

Competency

9.With limited slots each year, competition for our fellowship program is intense. What makes you a stand-out fellow for our program?

Career Goals

10.Why are you choosing to pursue fellowship training in this particular subspecialty?

Discovery

11.Outside of medicine, what are the personal interests and hobbies that keep you busy?

Discovery

12.Are you applying to any other fellowship programs?

Discovery

13.Who in your life has been the biggest mentor or inspiration to you?

Creative Thinking

14.As a fellow with our program, how would you express your opinions on controversial topics such as abortion, euthanasia, and cloning?

Trust

15.What would you do if you witnessed another fellow or colleague acting unethically?

Education

16.Tell us about the most interesting case you were exposed to while attending medical school.

Discovery

17.If being a Physician were not a career option, what career path would you have chosen?

Stress

18.Have you put any thought into how will you manage the high amounts of stress that are a part of a fellowship program?

Discovery

19.What are two to three words that best describe your personality?

Creative Thinking

20.What do you believe is the greatest challenge our specialty will face in the next few years?

Diligence

21.When you suffer a setback, how does it emotionally affect you and your work?

Competency

22.What strengths would you bring to our program as a fellow?

Common

23.All of our fellows must pass a criminal record check and education verification. Is there any reason why you would not be comfortable with this?

Communication

24.How would you describe your communication skills?

Competency

25.What EMR programs did you get experience working in during medical school and during your residency training?

Education

26.What do you consider to be your greatest academic accomplishment to date?

Teamwork

27.How will you work effectively and collaboratively as part of a larger care team as a fellow with our program?

Competency

28.As a new trainee in our fellowship program, would you be able to handle patient care with little supervision?

Competency

29.Talk about a time you successfully educated someone on a complex topic during residency. How did you ensure the information was understood?

Diligence

30.Do you have experience working long hours during residency training? How would you motivate yourself during long stretches of shifts and call time that will be required during fellowship training?

Teamwork

31.Tell me about a time you worked with a person who did things very differently than you. How did you collaborate effectively?

Problem Solving

32.How do you react under unexpected pressure when split-second decisions need to be made?

Adaptability

33.Talk about a time you had to adapt to major change. How did you cope, and why do you think being adaptable to change is important in fellowship training?

Teamwork

34.Tell us about a time you had to work with someone who was difficult to get along with. What did you learn from the situation?

Leadership

35.Tell us about a time you showed initiative and took the lead with your care team during your residency training.

Behavioral

36.Tell us about a time you wish you had handled a situation differently during your time as a resident.

Diligence

37.Talk to us about a time you failed. How did you get back up again with a positive attitude?

Accomplishment

38.Which statement sounds more like you: 'I hate to lose' or 'I love to win'? Give an example of a time you proved this.

Teamwork

39.As a fellow with our program, how would you handle a member of the patient-care team who clearly wasn't pulling their weight?

Communication

40.As a fellow in our program, how would you change your communication style if a patient's family had trouble understanding what you were trying to tell them?