How to answer a question on volunteering for your application in a medical school interview
- Kind
- Ethical dilemma
Prompt
You have volunteered at a food bank every Saturday for a year. The coordinator offers you a leadership role that would strengthen your medical school application, but it would take you away from the families you have come to know, and a volunteer who has been there for five years had hoped to be chosen. Would you accept the role?
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How to approach this question
What this question tests
- Ethical reasoning
- Self-reflection and growth
- Professionalism and integrity
How to approach it
This panel interview question tests whether you can be honest about your motives for medicine and weigh personal advancement against loyalty to the people you serve. Name the stakeholders: the families you've come to know, the volunteer with five years of service, the coordinator who chose you, and you. Admit openly that the role would help your medical school application, because interviewers trust candor more than pretending ambition plays no part. Ask what you don't know, such as why the coordinator chose you and whether you could keep some contact with the families. Consider your options, including accepting, declining, or suggesting a shared role. Then make a decision and explain the values behind it.
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