Dear Applicant,
When I was a medical student, Dr. Greg Matz invited some of my classmates and me to a mock interview in the Otolaryngology Department Conference room at Loyola University Medical Center. As per his tradition, the student with the birth date closest to his won the lucky prize of being in “the hot seat” for the interview. I won the honor of sitting in the lucky seat and had the pleasure of experiencing a slew of Dr. Matz’s interview questions that he had acquired during years of interviewing both medical students and residents. When I began traveling the country for my residency interviews later in that year, I carried a notepad and wrote down most of the questions that I was asked.
Later in my training, as I began conducting residency interviews myself, I began asking the candidates what their hardest interview question had been. At the end of every interview season (to keep things fair), I added all the new interview questions to my running list.
I initially shared these questions with medical students at Loyola, but I quickly found that the questions had been disseminated throughout the country to various schools and training programs. I decided to put the questions online so that everyone could have easy access.
Hopefully, these questions will help give you an idea of what to expect during your interviews. I have also included some other questions that I heard about from colleagues and website contributors, some interesting anecdotes, and some humble advice.
When you go to your interview, remember to make good eye contact and give solid, focused answers. Above all, be courteous to everyone, and be honest.
Feel free to email me with any questions. Also, if you are asked any other questions or have other advice that would make a good addition to this list, please send them to the email address below. You can also leave comments at the bottom of each webpage. Good luck to everyone.
Best Regards,
Ryan G. Porter, MD
Otology, Neurotology, and Skull Base Surgery
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
mail@ryanportermd.com