Princeton Review: 50 Interview Questions

What family members, friends, or other individuals have been influential in your decision to pursue a medical career?

Dave Taylor

Can you think of any examples in our society when healthcare is a right? When is it a privilege? When is it not clear?

Elective healthcare is a privilege. Plastic surgery. Cosmetic ablations. Life or death diagnoses are a right.

In what manner and to what degree do you stay in touch with current events?

Every morning when I wake up, I check Google News. Google news collects articles from a wide variety of sources so I'm not only seeing one viewpoint.

Why did you choose your undergraduate major?

First major is uninteresting: Musical Theater. I liked performing, it was essentially the only thing I really did until I was 20. College theater was a stepping stone to broadway. ♦ My physics major was more interesting. • I was performing at the time, and I'd gotten into recreational math a few years earlier as an effort to expand my horizons. • I wanted to formalize my pop science knowledge, so I slipped into the physics major at UWP.

If you are not a minority, how might you best meet the needs of a multiethnic, multicultural patient population?

Go out of my way to find ways to connect with that culture. I would start by going to churches. Attend services. Sing with people. Constantly try to get exposure to different cultures in a real, practical, casual way. None of the formal "diversity day" stuff. Not books or museums. Go spend time with people. Find out what matters to them. Find out what they laugh at. Find out what worries them.

How do you feel about euthanasia or medically assisted suicide?

I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that there are a number of situations in which I would personally want it for myself. I work in hospice. Of my six or 7 patients, three have openly expressed a desire to die and be done with their present purgatory.

What do you feel are the social responsibilities of a physician?

So on like a zoomed out, societal level, Physicians need to be active in promoting health literacy. Dispelling myths, debunking fads, making sure people understand the kind of things they can do to keep healthy and to avoid doing serious damage to themselves. Example: Recently, there was a model in the news who had decided to get a scleral tattoo. She injected ink into the whites of her eyes and now she is partially blind and in constant pain. I don't know who told her that this would be safe or a cool thing to do, but immediately after it happened, I read a number of columns by opthalmologists loudly clarifying that scleral tatoos are an insanely bad idea. The flip side is of course snake oil doctors who collect for promoting "Miracle vitamins" or "superfoods" or whatever.

What are some of the ethical issues that our society considers in regard to teenage pregnancy?

The major victim in teenage pregnancy is the child. In general, teenagers can't even sort out their own lives. They are in no way ready to care for a child. If the teen mom has family who can help her shoulder the burden of child-rearing, great. Maybe the kid will be fine. But if not? The kid might have a LOT of issues to overcome if it doesn't have a stable and well-adjusted guidance figure, you know?

How have you tested your motivation to become an MD? Please explain.

I study a lot. A lot. Essentially every moment I have free. 14 hour days sometimes, often more than 10 hours a day. And the more I study, the more I bury myself in the 6 types of Ehlers Danlos syndromes, or the specific mucopolysaccharide accumulation of Hunter or Hurler syndrome, the more dedicated I become. I am an absolute glutton for knowledge, and I live to soak this stuff up. I'm an information addict. A knowledge junkie. And medicine never runs out of stuff to teach me, so I'll always be able to get my fix. Beyond that, I've spent a lot of time with dementia patients, and direct patient care is also a must for me. I need to be with people, talking to them, helping them sort through both the information and their moods. I'm a man of two worlds. Humanities and Science. And medicine is the melding of the two.

What special qualities do you feel you possess that set you apart from other medical school candidates? What makes you unique or different as a medical school candidate?

I think I'm a very solid all around candidate. Some students are science strong, but not great with people. Some are charming as all get out, but maybe got Cs in biochemistry. I've made a VERY strong point in my life to become as well rounded as I possibly can. I've done Shakespeare. I written novels. I sat with dying dementia patients. But I also know that the speed of light is 298,792,458 m/s in a vacuum and that the kernel of a homomorphism....

What general and specific skills would you hope an ideal medical school experience would give you? How might your ideal school achieve that result?

I want as much practical clinical experience as possible. I want lots of labs and lots of patient interaction. As much hands on as possible. I can study textbooks myself. I've already read two pathophysioloby textbooks, an anatomy textbook twice. Genetics. Cell biology. Biochemsitry. Neurobiology. I can do the information bit on my own. I need the hands on!

What will you do if you are not accepted to medical school this year? Have you an alternative career plan?

I'll apply next year. If not next year, I'll apply the year after that. Then the year after that. This is what I am doing with my life. This is my path. If I have to spend my entire life, trying to start walking it, then so be it. This IS what I need to do. On the practical side, if I do end up applying every year for the next decade, I'll pay the bills by working at Brookdale. Dementia care. If I can't be a doctor, at least I can still be with patients, doing what I can in whatever capacity I can.

What kind of medical schools are you applying to, and why?

I'm applying to affordable schools. I'm going to need loans for every cent of my tuition and housing. I'm applying to GOOD schools, but I'm applying to schools that tend to offer a fair number of sholarships.

What different feelings and issues might you experience with a terminally ill patient, as opposed to other patients?

I've done a lot of hospice volunteering. I'm very comfortable with terminal patients. Sometimes, these patients want to talk about dying. Sometimes they don't, but sometimes they do. And when they do, usually they can't find anyone to talk to.

Is there anything else we have not covered that you feel the interviewer should know about you or your interest in becoming a doctor?

POSSIBLE ERROR ON MY AMCAS APPLICATION. Scholarship might not be a Pell Grant. It was NHS STEM scholarship. Thought it was Pell. Might not be Pell.

What do you feel are the negative or restrictive aspects of medicine from a professional standpoint?

Paperwork. Administrative obstacles. Insurance companies. I am deathly afraid of administers demanding that I recommend tests and treatments that make more money, rather than those which are in the best interest of my patients. Or of pressure to see more patients rather than provide better care to the patients I already have.

What books, films, or other media come to mind as having been particularly important to your sciences/non-sciences education?

Piles and piles. The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker The Selfish Gene and The Extended Phenotype The Righteous Mind, Why Good People are Divided by Religion and Politics Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace

Do you have any family members or role models who are physicians?

Role Model: Dave Taylor

What do you believe to be some of the most pressing health issues today? Why?

Science denial. • Anti-vaccine sentiments • "body clense" • pH adjustments The problem might be health literacy, or it might be people's desire to believe whatever feels the best for them. Treatment can be difficult when beliefs don't line up with reality. "The Spirit Catches you and You fall Down."

What do you consider an important/the most important social problem facing the United States today and why?

Tribalism. Partisan Politics. Racism Mysogyny. This huge divide between people. We're like a cell in anaphase. We're on the edge of cytokinesis.

What qualities do you look for in a physician? Can you provide an example of a physician who embodies any of these ideals? How do they do this?

♦ Compassion • Dr. Taylor -- Nobody listens as well as Dave Taylor. ♦ Thoroughness • Dr. Swoboda --- Incredible detail resolution.

What do you know about the current trends in our nation's healthcare system?

♦ Consolidation. Hospitals buying each other. Worry this might reduce competition and increase consumer prices. • Centers of Excellence ♦ Cost of Health Care

Discuss your decision to pursue medicine. When did you decide to become an MD, and why?

♦ Disillusioned with the selfishness of performance. ♦ Began tutoring Sarah for diagnostic sonography. • I really liked bioscience and anatomy, patho. ♦ Dave Taylor encouraged me to pursue medicine.

How has your undergraduate research experience, if any, better prepared you for a medical career?

♦ Expect the unexpected. ♦ I thought was just crossing Ts and dotting 'i's. I know you're not supposed to expect any results, but this was so "obvious" that I couldn't really imagine it turning out any other way. • This is why other people hadn't tried it. ♦ The exact opposite occurred. Like spraying a fire extinguisher on a fire and having the flames grow. • This research made it visceral for me. You never know until you run the experiment.

Assume there are limited resources available and you must make decisions in a major emergency with a wide assortment of patients from all ages, backgrounds, and degree of injury. Assume also that there is no "right answer" to this question, only considered and unconsidered responses. Who would you direct to receive the treatment first and why.

♦ First Gate: Utilitarian • QALYs • people with more potential life/quality ahead of them. ♦ Second Gate: Moral • Prefer non-malefecence • Then Benefecence

What kind of experiences have you had working with sick people? Have these experiences taught you anything that you didn't know beforehand?

♦ Grace Hospice • Mood matters more than meaning, sometimes.

If you could be granted three wishes for making the world/society/ your community a better place, what would they be and why (or, If you were given a million dollars to achieve three goals, what would you work on and why)?

♦ I only need one: Find a way to end tribalism.

How have you tried to achieve breadth in your undergraduate curriculum?

♦ I strongly believe in well-rounded development. I don think it happens on its own. It's something you need to consciously work towards, and I've always been a bit anxiously aware of that. When I feel unbalanced in terms of development, I get uncomfortable. I don't know. It's almost like being physically off balance, me. ♦ I started in the humanities with theater. To broaden my horizens I picked up math, then science. I actually glided past math in high school. I didn't really learn algebra until I was 20 and realized that I needed to know it to pass a physics class I had signed up for specifically to broaden my horizons. There are a number of math/science classes that I took at UWSP that weren't required as a theater major, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss out.

How have the jobs, volunteer opportunities, or extracurricular experiences that you have had better prepared you for the responsibilities of being a physician?

♦ I work with a LOT of dementia patients. Learn how to talk to them. • They don't follow the words, but many can follow the mood. • Conversations become about moodweaving, not concepts. You just move from mood to mood, and you come together beyond the words. • This also extends to non-dementia patients. The mood layer is always there --- we just also have to add on a word layer. My work with dementia patients has given me a lot of experience working specifically with the mood layer, unencumbered by the word layer.

What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

♦ Insatiable drive for self-improvement and learning. ♦ Weakness, can border on obsession. • Worry I might be the kind to become consumed by the job.

As a pre-med, what skills have you learned to help manage your time and relieve stress?

♦ Read all material before the lecture, make flash cards. Complete all work immediately. I stress out when I have a lot looming over my head. To minimize this stress, I make sure I take care of everything as soon as I can. ♦ If I have free time, I like to relax by playing piano and singing a bit.

If you could invite four people from the past to dinner, who would they be, and why would you invite them? What would you talk about?

♦ Steven Pinker • Communication is critical, and Pinker is insanely good at communicating clearly. Most of what I know about writing came from Pinker's discussions of sentence geometries. ♦ Florence Foster Jenkins • I NEED to know if she was in on the joke. ♦ Vincent Van Gogh • I want to show him the online comments about how fantastic his paintings are. ♦ David Foster Wallace • I want to find a way to make him feel understood.

What is "success" in your opinion? After 20 years as a physician, what kind of "success" would you hope to have achieved? Please explain

♦ Success is taking care of problems that wouldn't have been taken care of if I wasn't there. Success is finding the way you can make your own unique contribution, and doing it. Whatever that contribution might be. Find what you can do and do it. I don't have a rigid idea of what success will ultimately look like for me. I expect it will take the form of an unexpected problem that needs to be solved for people wherever I end up. Success for me definitely involves making things easier for other people.

What excites you about medicine in general?

♦ The chance to make meaningful contributions to people's lives. The chance to feel like I'm actually doing some good, and putting some good into the world. ♦ The puzzles and problem solving.

----- MAJOR TOPICS TO HIT: (FLIP)

♦ Value well Roundedness: Science and Humanities • Medicine is a profession which melds the two. ♦ I enjoy problem solving under pressure. The deepest calm I ever find comes when the shit hits the fan. ♦ I need to find hidden knobs. ♦ Possible Error on AMCAS APP: Sholarship might not have been a Pell Grant.

What do you do for fun?

♦ Write Sci-fiction about the social misuse of technology.

If you had to choose between clinical and academic medicine as a profession, which would you pick? What do you feel you might lose by being forced to choose?

Clinical first. I'm very hands on. I want to be down in the trenches, so to speak. I want to be right there fixing problems when the shit hits the fan. I need to do clinical medicine. At least to begin with. Mid-sixties or seventies? I might consider "retiring" to academic medicine if the opportunity arises. I'm someone who lives to work. I'm never going to stop trying to add something, you know?

How do you envision using your medical education?

Clinical practice AND research. I'm torn between two worlds: doer and searcher While working clinically, I will always be on the lookout for hidden knobs. Invisible variables.

To what extent do you feel that you owe a debt to your fellow man? To what extent do you owe a debt to those less fortunate than yourself? Please explain.

Completely. The first half of my life, I was enormously selfish, and in a weird way, I feel like i have "Selfishness Karma" that I need to undo. I need to make up for being focused on myself in my theater days, and now I just NEED to make my life about other people. It isn't about me. It just isn't about me.

Are you aware of any current controversies in the area of medical ethics? List and discuss some of these.

CrispR. Rich people will be able to design superior babies that poor kids won't be able to compete with. There is the possibility to create superkids, but only for the wealthy.

If you are economically disadvantaged or have limited financial means, how has this adversity shaped you?

I don't know that it's been a huge deal. I came from a middle class family, my parents did all right. They paid for my theater degree, and then they were done --- that's understandable. They want to retire. They more than fullfilled their care commitment. After that, I've been fairly broke, but I've always managed to get by. I mean, there are libraries, I can get to the internet. And if I can get to the internet, I can get to information. Kahn academy. Youtube lectures. MIT Opencourseware is fantastic. So, I don't feel like money issues have hindered my education at all. They've definitely hindered how good I look on paper. Parkside is not a terribly rigorous school, so my Parkside A's might not carry as much weight as UW Madison A's, but it was all I could afford, so that's what I have to work with. Mostly the money thing just comes down to comfort. I eat a lot of burritos and ramen. I don't have heat, so I wear a lot of sweatshirts. In the summer, I sweat a lot. But honestly, I don't really need a ton of comfort.

Why did you decide to choose medicine and not some other field where you can help others, such as nursing, physical therapy, pharmacology, psychology, education, or social work?

In medicine, you're immediately helping one person, and that's really the main kicker for me. But there is also the chance that you might learn something that can help everybody. Percival Pott discovering that chimney soot causes scrotal cancer because he recognized the elevated incidence among chimney sweeps. Immediate direct, measurable contribution to one life, with the chance to make a broader discovery as well.

Have you personally encountered any moral dilemmas to date? Of what nature?

Other students frequently ask me to help them cheat. They want me to give them my past papers, or ask me If I still have a copy of my final from last semester, or offer to pay me to do their homework. But I am viscerally disgusted by this. This might sound harsh, but I think universities should fail more students. Parkside has a 30% rule. No more than 30% of students can fail a class. This trains all the students to do minimal work to slide by. I don't want to live in a world where people in positions of high responsibility don't actually have the knowledge or skills to do their jobs.

What travels have you taken and what exposure to other cultures have you had?

Mostly subculture movement. • Trump Country • TheaterLand

Does your academic record reflect any major challenges? If so, what are they and why did they occur?

Not major challenge, but my GPA is dragged down by my theater classes. My Science GPA is like a 3.9. My Theater GPA is a 3.5.

How would you feel about treating a patient who has tested positive for HIV?

The same as I'd feel about treating a patient with any potentially communicable disease. I'd take whatever precautions I could, then accept whatever risks there might be as just being hazards of the job. I chose this. I know what I'm getting into.

Thinking of examples from your recent past, how would you assess your empathy and compassion?

This is always an weird question for me, because I understand that this is a hallmark question for assessing illusory superiority. I know that most people rank themselves in about 70th-80th percentile for compassion and kindness. So I always worry that ranking myself high here will be viewed as delusional. So rather than give you my percentile assessment. I'll share a brief illustrative story. ♦ $1 Christmas ♦ Can spend $1 to buy a gift which serves as a metaphor for the recipient. ♦ I bought my dad a pair of salt and pepper shakers, because he is a no-nonsense, no frills, straight-to-the-point guy who also always totally gets the job done. ♦ When it came to be my turn to receive, my sister gave me a box with a note in it. The note said "I gave your dollar to a homeless person. Because I know that's what you would do." ♦ My motto in life is that, yes I know there are parasites in the world. There are people who mooch because it's easier than working. And some of these people don't even need the charity they get. But I would rather risk giving to somebody doesn't need than risk NOT giving to somebody who does.