Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (MD) Medicine InterviewFormat, Questions & Prep Tips

Why Rosalind Franklin University — what draws you to this interprofessional health sciences campus over a traditional single-college medical school?

Reference the co-located pharmacy, podiatric, PA, and allied health programmes. Articulate what you expect to gain clinically and professionally from training alongside these other health professions students — not just generic 'teamwork' language.

You are on an interprofessional team and the pharmacist on the team identifies a medication error made by the attending physician. The attending responds dismissively. How do you proceed?

Interprofessional hierarchy and patient safety. Address speaking up culture, the role of each team member in medication safety, the chain of escalation, and your obligation to the patient when a senior clinician is non-responsive.

A podiatric student on your interprofessional team suggests a treatment plan for a diabetic foot wound. You are uncertain whether their recommendation is evidence-based. How do you discuss this?

Interprofessional respect with clinical accountability. Show how you can engage with colleagues from different health professions respectfully while ensuring patient safety and evidence-based care.

The school is named for Rosalind Franklin. What does her story mean to you as someone entering medicine?

Franklin’s contributions to DNA structure were foundational but uncredited during her lifetime. Reflect on attribution in science, diversity and recognition in STEM, and what her legacy means for how you want to practise and contribute to medicine.

North Chicago and Lake County have significant underserved communities. As a physician trained in this community, do you see a responsibility to serve here after graduation?

Community obligation vs. individual career autonomy. Address the physician workforce shortage in underserved areas, the moral weight of training in a community, and the practical and structural factors that shape where physicians practice.

A patient expresses frustration that they have seen five different providers in the past year and feel they have no consistent care. How do you respond?

Care coordination failures and interprofessional system issues. Demonstrate empathy, validate the patient’s frustration, explain what you can do immediately, and address what systemic changes would prevent this experience.

Should podiatric physicians be considered primary care providers eligible for Medicare primary care incentive payments? How would you reason through this question?

An interprofessional policy question that is school-specific given Rosalind Franklin’s podiatric medicine programme. Address scope of practice debates, healthcare access in underserved communities, and the reimbursement policy considerations.

Rosalind Franklin’s approach was to let evidence guide her conclusions rather than conform to prevailing theories. How has this approach shaped your own academic or scientific work?

Connect to your own research, academic, or clinical experience. Show you can reason from evidence, tolerate uncertainty, and maintain intellectual honesty when data conflicts with expectations.

A patient in your clinic needs a referral to a specialist that will likely take 4–6 months given their insurance network. In the meantime, you discover a telehealth company that offers faster access but charges out-of-pocket. How do you counsel them?

Access, cost, and the physician’s role as patient navigator. Address the ethical obligation to ensure informed consent about costs, the alternatives, and the systemic factors that create these access gaps.

During your clinical rotation, you notice that attending physicians in your department consistently interrupt patients and cut off their explanations within 18 seconds of them speaking. What do you do?

A clinically grounded communication question (referencing the well-known research on physician interruption patterns). Address the evidence, the impact on patient communication and diagnosis, and how a medical student can advocate for better practices within a hierarchical team.

Role-play: You are a medical student on an interprofessional team. The actor is a patient with a complex diabetic foot wound who is frightened after hearing the words 'possible amputation' from another team member and is now refusing to engage. Speak with them.

Acknowledge the fear directly, clarify what is and is not yet decided, and reinforce the team approach (including the podiatric colleague) working on their behalf. Rosalind Franklin's interprofessional, musculoskeletal-focused identity makes this scenario especially relevant.

An interviewer cites the well-known finding that physicians interrupt patients within roughly 11–18 seconds of them beginning to speak. What do you make of that, and what would you change in your own practice?

Interpret the evidence and its impact on diagnosis, trust, and patient experience. Propose concrete behaviours (uninterrupted opening, agenda-setting, teach-back) and connect to Rosalind Franklin's emphasis on communication and team-based care.

The school is named for Rosalind Franklin, whose pivotal contribution to DNA structure was undercredited in her lifetime. Beyond admiration, how does her story shape the kind of colleague and scientist you intend to be?

Move past biography to values: fair attribution, scientific integrity, supporting overlooked contributors, and equity in STEM. Connect explicitly to how you would conduct yourself in collaborative research and on interprofessional teams.

Rosalind Franklin offers a Graduate Entry Pathway for applicants with advanced science backgrounds. Describe a research or graduate experience that shaped how you reason from evidence, and how it will translate into clinical training.

Show intellectual ownership and the ability to tolerate uncertainty and revise conclusions when data conflict — the evidence-first disposition the school's namesake embodies.

On your interprofessional team, the pharmacist and the attending physician disagree about whether a costly newer drug or an older, cheaper one is appropriate for an uninsured Lake County patient. As the student, how do you think through your role?

Address scope of practice, respect for each profession's expertise, cost and access as ethical factors, and escalation. Frame yourself as a learner who can hold the patient's interest central without overstepping your role.