How to answer
Tell me about a time you disagreed with someone.
Doctors disagree with patients, families and colleagues every week. This question asks whether you can do it without making it worse.
What it is really asking
How you behave when someone sees things differently. Whether you can hold a view and still listen, whether you can be fair to a person you were annoyed with, and whether you can change your mind when you should.
The panel will judge the other person in your story by how you describe them. If they sound unreasonable, you will sound like someone who finds people unreasonable.
Also asked as: “Describe a conflict you were part of.” “Tell us about a difficult person you have worked with.” “When have you had to change your mind?”
What interviewers hear too often
- The villain. A story where the other person was simply wrong and you were simply patient.
- The non-conflict. A mild difference over a project font, resolved instantly. It shows nothing.
- Winning. An answer whose ending is that you were proved right.
What a good answer does
- A real disagreement. Something that mattered to both of you, with feelings on both sides.
- Their side, fairly. Why the other person saw it the way they did, said generously.
- What you did. How you raised it, how you listened, and how it ended, including if it ended without agreement.
Two openings
Both invented, and neither is yours to borrow.
The first has a villain and a martyr. The second has two people with reasons, and a decision with a cost, which gives the panel something to explore.
The follow-ups to expect
- Why do you think they saw it differently?
- Looking back, were you right?
- What would you do if a senior doctor disagreed with you about a patient?
- Have you ever changed your mind in an argument?
Test your own draft
- The other side test. Tell the story from the other person’s point of view. Would they recognise yours?
- The ending test. Does it end with what you learned, rather than with being proved right?
What it is marked on
Related questions
Other guides
- Start here What the interview is testing, and how the cycle runs.
- Timeline planner Put in your interview date and get a week by week plan.
- Pathway planner The whole road from school to consultant, drawn around your choices.
- Practice stations Real MMI stations with a two minute reading phase and a station clock.
- By university The interview at every undergraduate-entry school: format, timing, and what is marked.
- What is marked The six things every station marks, and how to practise each one.
- How to answer The questions every panel asks, what each is testing, and the follow-ups to expect.
- Question themes The subjects questions come from, from rural health to the profession, with prompts.
- Interview dates When each school sends invitations, holds interviews and makes offers this cycle.
- When you hear back Every school’s offer dates, and why the wait after the interview is so long.
- Formats What an MMI and a panel interview each are, and how to prepare for each.
- Interview soon? Days to go? What you can still book at short notice, and the prices.
- For parents Who your child is working with, and what I will not promise.
If you want a session
In a session I teach the structure, then ask the follow-ups until your answer holds. Thirty minutes, $40, online, credited to any package.