CNU College of Medicine (MD) Medicine InterviewFormat, Questions & Prep Tips

Why CNU College of Medicine — specifically, what about the community health mission and the interprofessional campus appeals to you?

Reference the Sacramento Valley context, the interprofessional education model, and the school's commitment to training physicians for underserved communities. Avoid generic answers about location or tuition.

Tell me about an experience working with a population that is medically underserved or under-represented. What did you learn?

Be specific and reflective. CNU prioritises applicants with real community engagement, not just clinical observation. Show what changed in your understanding.

You are part of an interprofessional team treating a patient, and the pharmacist raises a concern about a medication interaction that the supervising physician dismisses. What do you do?

Address interprofessional respect, the pharmacist's expertise, the physician's role, patient safety, and the appropriate escalation pathway if the concern is not addressed.

A patient from a Southeast Asian immigrant family prefers to communicate through their adult child and declines a professional interpreter. How do you manage this?

Address cultural norms around family involvement in healthcare, the risks of family member interpretation (omissions, filtering), HIPAA considerations, and your legal obligation to offer professional services while respecting the patient's stated preference.

California has passed legislation allowing physician-assisted death (End of Life Option Act). A terminally ill patient asks you for information about the process. You have personal reservations. What do you do?

Address the legal right of the patient under California law, your professional obligation to provide full information regardless of personal reservations, conscientious objection procedures, and timely referral if you choose not to participate.

The Sacramento Valley has a large refugee and immigrant population from Southeast Asia, Central America, and East Africa. What health challenges are common in these communities and how would you approach them as a physician?

Show specific knowledge: infectious disease screening (TB, hepatitis B, parasitic disease), trauma and PTSD, language barriers, cultural health beliefs, and the importance of community health worker models.

Describe a time you learned from a professional outside medicine or science — a teacher, coach, artist, or community leader. How did that experience shape how you approach problems?

IPE orientation means CNU values cross-disciplinary learning. Show genuine intellectual humility and curiosity beyond the pre-med curriculum.

Should the US adopt a universal primary care system where all residents have access to a primary care physician regardless of insurance status? Defend your position.

Argue a clear position and engage with counter-arguments. Reference the current US system's gaps, the community health centre model, and the physician's advocacy role in health policy.

How would you handle a patient who refuses a vaccine recommended by your clinical guidelines, citing information they read online?

Motivational interviewing approach — explore the specific concern without dismissiveness, provide credible information, respect autonomy, and document the discussion. Do not lecture or shame.

What does "community health" mean to you beyond the clinical encounter, and how do you plan to contribute to it as a physician?

Move beyond the clinical visit. Discuss public health advocacy, community-based participatory research, policy engagement, and the physician's role in addressing social determinants of health.

MMI station: You are part of an interprofessional team and the pharmacist raises a serious medication-interaction concern that the supervising physician brushes aside. Address the situation.

Respect the pharmacist's expertise, keep patient safety central, and navigate the hierarchy professionally — restating the concern, documenting it, and escalating appropriately if it is not addressed. CNU's interprofessional-education model makes team dynamics a deliberate assessment focus.

MMI station: You are shown data showing higher rates of poorly controlled diabetes among Sacramento Valley farmworker and refugee communities than the regional average. What might explain this and what would you want to know?

Read it through language barriers, Medi-Cal access, food and work environment, and cultural health beliefs, distinguishing association from causation. Connect to CNU's community-health mission and identify what further data would clarify drivers.

MMI station: A patient from a Southeast Asian immigrant family wants their adult child to interpret and declines a professional interpreter for a new diagnosis. Manage the encounter.

Respect the cultural norm of family involvement while explaining the risks of family interpretation (omissions, filtering) and your obligation to offer professional services. Address HIPAA and find a respectful middle path — a recurring scenario in the diverse Sacramento Valley.

MMI station: Describe a time you learned something important from someone outside medicine or science — a teacher, coach, artist, or community leader. How did it shape how you approach problems?

CNU's interprofessional and community orientation values cross-disciplinary learning. Show genuine intellectual humility and curiosity beyond the pre-med curriculum, with a concrete example of how the lesson transferred.

MMI station: A patient refuses a recommended vaccine, citing something they read online. Talk with them.

Use a motivational-interviewing approach: explore the specific concern without dismissiveness, share credible information, respect autonomy, and document the discussion. Do not lecture or shame — the relationship matters for a community-health practice.