How to answer
What makes a good doctor?
It sounds like a question about doctors. It is a question about you, and the follow-up is nearly always some version of whether you have those qualities yourself.
What it is really asking
Whether you have thought about the job beyond the obvious, and what you value. The qualities you choose tell the panel what you think matters, and the examples you choose tell them where you have looked.
Then, almost always, which of those qualities you have and which you are missing. Answer the first question knowing the second is coming.
Also asked as: “What qualities does a doctor need?” “Describe a doctor you admire.” “Which of those qualities do you have?”
What interviewers hear too often
- The list. Empathy, communication, teamwork, resilience, knowledge, in a row. Every one is true, and the list says nothing about you.
- Knowledge first. Leading with intelligence. The panel takes that as given and is listening for the rest.
- The television doctor. An example from a drama, where a real one would do.
What a good answer does
- A few qualities, explained. Two or three, each with a reason it matters in practice.
- A real doctor. Someone you have seen, or heard about from a patient, doing something specific.
- Ready for the turn. An honest view of which of those you have and which you are working on.
Two openings
Both invented, and neither is yours to borrow.
The first is a list anyone could recite. The second shows honesty and reliability in action, and the panel can now ask whether you would do the same.
The follow-ups to expect
- Which of those qualities do you have?
- Which are you missing?
- Can a doctor be good at the medicine and poor with patients?
- Tell me about a time you showed one of them.
Test your own draft
- The example test. Is every quality you name attached to something that happened?
- The turn test. Prepare the follow-up before the question. Which of these would you say you lack?
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.