How to answer “What are your greatest strengths?” in a medical school interview

Answer "what are your greatest strengths" by naming two or three qualities and proving each one with a short, specific example. When an interviewer asks about your strengths in a medical school interview, the evidence matters more than the words you choose to describe yourself.

What the interviewer is assessing

• Self-reflection and growth
• Communication

The interviewer wants to see whether your view of yourself matches the record in front of them. They're listening for qualities that matter in medical training and practice, such as dependability, communication, curiosity and composure. They also want to hear how you talk about your own abilities. Applicants who are too modest leave the panel guessing. Applicants who oversell can sound like they lack insight. The best answers sound like an honest self-assessment that a reference would confirm.

How to structure your answer

1. Name your first strength in a few words.
2. Give one example that shows it, with the situation, what you did and what happened.
3. Repeat for a second strength, and add a third only if you can keep the answer under two minutes.
4. Close by linking these strengths to the work of a medical student or physician.

Choose strengths that complement each other. A pairing such as "I follow through on commitments" and "I listen before I act" gives the panel a fuller picture than two versions of hard work. Check that your examples appear in your application, or that you can describe them in detail if the interviewer asks a follow-up question.

Common mistakes

• Listing five or six strengths leaves no time to prove any of them.
• Choosing "hardworking" or "perfectionist" without a story sounds like a stock answer.
• Picking strengths with no link to patients, teams or learning misses the purpose of the question.
• Undercutting your own answer with "I guess" or "people say" makes the interviewer doubt you believe it.
• Overstating a strength, such as calling yourself an expert communicator, invites a follow-up you may not be able to support.

Follow-up questions to prepare for

• Which of those strengths would your most recent supervisor confirm without hesitation?
• When has one of those strengths worked against you?
• How did you come to recognize that strength in yourself?
• Can you describe a time when that strength wasn't enough to get the result you wanted?
• Which strength that you didn't name would matter most on a hospital ward?