Where do you see yourself in five years following your Internal Medicine Residency training?
Throughout your time with them, your interviewers will get a great sense of where you want your career as a physician to go after your Internal Medicine training. This question aims to take a deeper dive into what your ideal practice would look like after you complete all of the training that you want to pursue.
"In five years, I hope to be in the middle of a great cardiology fellowship in an academic hospital, ideally not too far from here as I would like to settle down. I am pursuing Internal Medicine Residency training with the hope of practicing cardiology with a focus on severe congestive heart failure and heart transplants. I would like to work with a largely underserved population, having seen my parents struggle to get affordable healthcare. I would also like to have medical students and residents in my clinic so I can teach the next generation of doctors about complex cardiac care."
Your answer should include an advanced fellowship or working in a setting as a hospitalist or primary care provider and on the path to achieving your long-term goals. As you talk about your ultimate career goals in medicine, go into detail about what your ideal practice will look like to give your interviewers the sense of your ultimate training goals during your time with their Internal Medicine Residency program.
"In 5 years I could see myself working as an attending Internal Medicine physician in an academic medical center. An ideal role would be spending part of my time seeing patients and the other part of my time teaching residents and medical students. Ideally, I would like to stay in this area to practice following residency."
Community answers are written by other candidates practicing this set. Reading how others frame the same question is one of the fastest ways to sharpen your own.
Anonymous Answer
In 5 years, I see myself as a primary care physician working in a largely underserved population, having seen my parents struggle to get affordable healthcare. My goal will be to create a Non-Governmental Organization where I will work with other healthcare workers who have the same community-oriented passion as me. The sole goal will be helping vulnerable communities around the world. I would also like to have medical students and residents in my clinic to teach the next generation of doctors.
Marcie's Feedback
Awesome! It's fantastic that you want to serve vulnerable communities, in addition to mentoring the folks who are coming up behind you. Any interviewer will be impressed with these goals. Are there any communities in particular that you desire to help? If so, mention this. Otherwise, excellent job!
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