Roommate's invented personal statement story
- Kind
- Ethical dilemma
Prompt
Your roommate, Theo, asks you to read his medical school personal statement before he submits it next week. It describes how sitting with a dying man during a hospital volunteer shift made him realize he wanted to become a doctor. You know that Theo volunteered for three shifts, that he spent them restocking supply carts, and that he later told you he never spoke to that patient. He has also told you more than once that he is applying mainly because his mother is a surgeon and he cannot imagine telling her he wants anything else. He says every applicant needs a powerful story, and he asks what you think of his. How would you respond?
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After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Professionalism and integrity
- Communication
- Ethical reasoning
How to approach this question
This MMI station tests whether you can be honest with a friend about a made-up story in his personal statement without crushing him, and whether you can see the deeper question of why he's applying at all. Address the fabrication directly: an invented patient encounter is dishonest, and it could fall apart in an interview. Ask Theo questions rather than lecturing, and help him find a true story, even a smaller one, that shows who he is. Consider whether to raise his comments about his mother, and do it gently, as a friend. Decide what you'd say and why. When a follow-up gives you a personal stake in his outcome, show that it doesn't change your honesty, and explain how you'd keep your own motives clean.
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