Prompt
Tell me about a time you failed.
Practice this question
Try answering it yourself first. The answer guide is below.
After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Self-reflection and growth
- Professionalism and integrity
How to approach this question
This question tests whether you can own a real failure, explain your part in it without excuses, and show what changed afterward. Pick a failure that mattered to you and had consequences, rather than a minor setback dressed up as one. Describe the situation briefly, then say clearly what you did or didn't do that led to it. Spend the second half of your answer on what you learned and a later situation where you acted differently. Keep the tone steady, because interviewers are listening for accountability rather than drama or harsh self-criticism. Avoid failures that involve dishonesty, and avoid blaming other people for your share of the outcome.
Answer guide
To answer "tell me about a time you failed" well, choose a genuine failure, take clear responsibility for your part in it, and show how you've acted differently since. In a medical school interview, what you did after the failure matters more than the failure itself.
What the interviewer is assessing
Every physician makes mistakes and faces outcomes they didn't want, so schools look for applicants who can face their own failures honestly. The interviewer is listening for accountability, insight and resilience. They want to see that you can describe what went wrong without excuses and without being crushed by it. They're also checking whether the lesson you drew is real, which shows in whether you've applied it since.
How to structure your answer
- Set the scene in two or three sentences, including what you were responsible for.
- Describe the failure and its effect on you or on other people.
- Name your own part in it directly, using "I" rather than "we."
- Explain what you learned and what you changed.
- Give a later example where the change made a difference.
The STAR method (situation, task, action, result) works well here, with an added step for reflection. Spend about half your time on the first three steps and half on the last two. When you prepare for "tell me about a time you failed" in a medical school interview, test your story by asking whether a listener would know exactly what you'd do differently next time.
Common mistakes
- Choosing a failure that is secretly a success, such as getting a B+ in a hard course, sounds like you're avoiding the question.
- Blaming teammates, teachers or circumstances shifts responsibility away from you.
- Picking a failure that involves cheating or dishonesty can raise concerns about professionalism that one answer can't settle.
- Describing the failure in detail and the lesson in one sentence leaves the panel unsure you learned from it.
- Sounding defeated or harsh on yourself can worry an interviewer as much as sounding careless.
Example answer
Here is an example answer from a fictional applicant who studied sociology and founded a peer tutoring program in second year.
In my second year I started a peer tutoring program for first-year statistics students, and by the end of the term it had fallen apart.
I'd recruited eight tutors and booked a room three evenings a week. Forty students signed up in the first week. By week six, fewer than five were coming, and three tutors had quit. I'd assumed students would keep coming because they needed help, and I never asked them what times or formats worked. I also didn't check in with the tutors. I only heard that they felt the sessions were disorganized when they left.
The failure was mine. I designed the program around what I thought students needed, and I avoided feedback because I was afraid of hearing that it wasn't working.
The next year I tried again with the same course. Before booking anything, I surveyed sixty students, and we moved the sessions to the week before each assignment was due. I met the tutors every two weeks and asked what was going wrong. Attendance stayed above twenty for the whole term.
I learned that good intentions don't replace asking people what they need. I check in early now, even when I'm nervous about the answer.
More on personal qualities
All 15 questions on this topicMock interviews
If you want to practice with a person, we run mock MMI and panel interviews with feedback on every answer.
