Eastern Virginia Medical School at Old Dominion University (MD) Medicine InterviewFormat, Questions & Prep Tips

EVMS was founded specifically to serve the community healthcare needs of Hampton Roads. How does that mission align with your reasons for wanting to study medicine here?

Be specific: reference community health, underserved populations in the Hampton Roads region, primary care, and EVMS's history. Distinguish this from generic "I want to help people" framing.

Tell me about an experience you have had working in a community health or underserved clinical setting. What surprised you most?

EVMS values authentic community engagement. The surprise element probes self-awareness and genuine encounter with social complexity rather than a polished volunteering narrative.

A patient who is a military veteran comes to your clinic. He is struggling emotionally but resists being referred to mental health services because of stigma concerns within his unit. How do you approach this?

Acknowledge the cultural context of military service, the stigma of mental health help-seeking in military culture, and evidence-based strategies: normalising language, peer support programmes, VA mental health resources, and embedding behavioural health in primary care.

A low-income patient needs a medication that her insurance will not cover. She asks if you can prescribe a less appropriate but covered alternative. What do you do?

Explore prior authorisation options, manufacturer patient assistance programmes, GoodRx or 340B pricing, the clinical risk of the covered alternative, and shared decision-making. Avoid reflexively prescribing the inferior medication or refusing to help.

You are meeting with a couple for a fertility consultation. One partner is eager to proceed with IVF; the other seems hesitant but has not voiced concerns. How do you conduct this consultation?

EVMS has a notable reproductive medicine research programme. Demonstrate patient-centred communication: address both partners, create space for the hesitant partner's concerns, explore emotional and financial dimensions, and avoid assuming the couple shares one perspective.

Diabetes affects Hampton Roads communities at rates above the national average. If you were designing a community intervention, what would it prioritise and why?

Show health systems thinking: address social determinants (food access, exercise infrastructure, insurance coverage), evidence-based interventions (community health workers, group medical visits), and the importance of community trust and cultural tailoring.

A patient asks you to complete a military fitness-for-duty form stating she is healthy, but your clinical findings suggest she is not. She argues that her career depends on it. What do you do?

Your duty as a physician is to accurate documentation; falsifying records is fraud and endangers the patient, colleagues, and the public. Discuss the process for appealing fitness determinations, referral for treatment, and compassionate honesty about the clinical findings.

You have chosen to pursue medicine — a long, expensive, and demanding career. What would you do if you could not practise medicine? How do those alternative paths still reflect your core values?

Authenticity and self-awareness. Interviewers look for sustainable motivation beyond prestige. A genuine alternative path shows breadth of purpose rather than tunnel vision.

A patient tells you she has been using an herbal supplement she bought online to manage her blood pressure and does not want to take prescribed medication. How do you respond?

Avoid dismissal or confrontation. Explore her concerns about medication (side effects, cost, distrust), assess the supplement for known herb-drug interactions, provide evidence-based information, and negotiate a shared plan that keeps her engaged.

Should US medical schools be tuition-free, funded by public money, in exchange for a mandatory service period in underserved communities? Take a position.

Engage with both sides: workforce distribution argument vs. autonomy, the Canadian/UK models, the US Public Service Loan Forgiveness programme, and the evidence on compulsory service effectiveness. Take a clear, evidence-informed stance.

Role-play: I am a recently separated Navy veteran who came in for a knee problem, but I have just mentioned, almost in passing, that I have not been sleeping and 'everything feels pointless.' The assessor will play the veteran — take it from here.

Recognise the disclosure and gently pivot to it rather than returning to the knee. Use non-stigmatising language, ask directly but compassionately about safety, and respond to what the actor says. Hampton Roads has one of the highest concentrations of military and veteran populations in the US; assessors watch whether you follow the emotional thread.

You are shown data showing that infant mortality in a predominantly Black neighbourhood of Norfolk is roughly twice the rate of a nearby majority-White neighbourhood. What does this tell you, and what would you investigate?

Interpret the disparity as a signal of structural and social determinants rather than a biological difference. Discuss prenatal-care access, chronic stress, insurance, and historical disinvestment, and name the additional data you would want (prematurity rates, prenatal-visit timing, maternal comorbidities). EVMS's community mission makes disparities literacy essential.

EVMS has a notable reproductive medicine and IVF research tradition. What does the embryo-disposition debate involve, and why has it become more legally complex in recent years?

Outline the ethical questions around stored embryos (disposition on divorce or death, moral status of the embryo, contractual consent). Reference how recent state-level legal developments — including a state supreme court treating frozen embryos as children — have created uncertainty for IVF practice. Show you understand why this is salient at EVMS without overstating any single ruling.

A coastal Hampton Roads community faces repeated flooding that worsens mould-related respiratory disease among low-income residents. Is climate-driven environmental health a physician's concern, and how far does that responsibility extend?

Connect the region's recurrent tidal flooding to respiratory and infectious-disease burden. Argue for the physician's role in screening, documentation, advocacy, and cross-sector partnership, while acknowledging the limits of clinical medicine against an environmental driver. EVMS's coastal setting makes this concrete, not abstract.

You must tell an active-duty service member that a newly discovered medical condition may end their military career. How do you deliver this news?

Apply a structured bad-news framework (such as SPIKES): assess what they understand, deliver the information clearly, allow silence, and address the identity and livelihood loss bound up in a military career. Connect them to resources and avoid minimising the impact. This is a recurring reality in the Hampton Roads clinical environment.