University of Maryland School of Medicine (MD) Medicine InterviewFormat, Questions & Prep Tips

UMSOM is the oldest public medical school in the US and has the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and the Institute of Human Virology. Which of these aspects most excites you, and how does it fit your career goals?

Shows genuine school research. Connect your interest to one of UMSOM's distinctive features — not generic public school or Baltimore appeal. Reference specific research programs, the trauma surgery training, or the IHV's global HIV work.

Baltimore has one of the highest rates of opioid overdose mortality, HIV incidence, and cardiovascular disease in the US. How has that context shaped your thinking about practicing medicine in an urban environment?

Baltimore health disparities are well-documented and directly relevant to UMSOM training. Show genuine awareness: West Baltimore community health statistics, the city's needle exchange history, and the intersection of poverty and chronic disease.

Tell me about a research experience that challenged your assumptions. What happened and what did you do?

UMSOM values research engagement. Show intellectual honesty — negative results, surprising findings, or methodological challenges are more revealing of scientific maturity than smooth success stories.

The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center treats extremely complex trauma cases, some involving patients with no family present and no ability to provide consent. What ethical framework governs care in these situations?

Emergency exception to informed consent, implied consent, substituted judgment, POLST/advance directives if available, and post-stabilisation family engagement. Trauma-specific ethical context.

If you pursued the MSTP (MD-PhD) program, what research question would you want to investigate, and why?

Not required for all applicants, but shows intellectual depth. If research-track, connect to UMSOM strengths: HIV immunology, trauma physiology, cardiovascular biology, or neuroscience. If not MSTP, adapt to: "what research questions excite you most in medicine?"

HIV prevention tools (PrEP, needle exchanges) have been politically controversial in some Maryland communities. As a physician, how do you navigate prescribing and advising on evidence-based preventive care in the face of community opposition?

Baltimore's HIV epidemic and the IHV's public health work make this directly relevant. Evidence-based medicine, community trust-building, addressing stigma, and working within community norms while maintaining clinical responsibilities.

Describe a time you worked with someone from a very different socioeconomic or cultural background. What did you learn about your own assumptions?

Cultural humility — especially relevant in Baltimore's highly racially and economically segregated neighborhoods. Focus on learning and adjustment of your own assumptions, not on how you helped the other person.

A trauma patient arrives at the Shock Trauma Center with a limb injury. Saving the limb would take additional surgical time and resources; amputation would be faster and safer given current patient volume. What guides the decision?

Trauma triage ethics, patient best interests, resource constraints in mass casualty contexts, and the shared decision-making model in urgent but non-emergent decisions. Shows engagement with the real complexity of trauma surgery.

What subject in your academic preparation do you feel least prepared for in medical school, and what have you done to address it?

Self-awareness over defensiveness. Medical school is academically demanding; interviewers appreciate candidates who know their weak spots and have taken proactive steps rather than claiming uniform readiness.

UMSOM is part of the University of Maryland Baltimore campus alongside law, pharmacy, nursing, and social work schools. How does an interprofessional academic health center influence your thinking about how healthcare should be delivered?

Interprofessional education (IPE) is a genuine UMSOM strength. Show awareness of team-based care models, how physicians collaborate with pharmacists, nurses, social workers, and lawyers, and why this matters for patient outcomes.

You are shown overdose-mortality data for Baltimore over the last decade showing a sharp rise coinciding with the spread of fentanyl, alongside flat naloxone distribution in the hardest-hit ZIP codes. How would you interpret this, and what would you want to verify before recommending a policy response?

Demonstrate appraisal: question how deaths were attributed, the ecological fallacy of ZIP-code-level analysis, and whether naloxone distribution data captures community access. Connect to Baltimore's documented epidemic without asserting a precise figure.

Role play: you are a student at UMMC. A young West Baltimore patient eligible for PrEP is hesitant, telling you he does not trust 'what the hospital is really trying to do' to people from his neighborhood. Begin the conversation.

Demonstrate trust-building live. Acknowledge the legitimate historical basis for that distrust, avoid being defensive about the institution, and focus on his autonomy and concrete questions. Tie implicitly to the IHV's public-health work.

As the oldest public medical school in the US, UMSOM sits within a deep research tradition. If you joined a lab studying trauma physiology or HIV immunology, how would you handle a result that contradicted the lab's prevailing hypothesis?

Thinking & Reasoning and scientific integrity. Show intellectual honesty — pursuing the anomaly, checking methodology, and valuing the result over the hypothesis — which signals the research maturity UMSOM looks for.

Describe a time you worked on a genuinely interprofessional team — with people from non-medical disciplines — to solve a problem none of you could solve alone. What did each discipline contribute?

Interpersonal competency mapped to UMSOM's interprofessional Baltimore campus (law, pharmacy, nursing, social work). Emphasize respect for other disciplines' expertise and how that improved the outcome.

UMSOM and Johns Hopkins sit in the same city but serve it differently. Setting comparisons aside, what specifically about UMSOM's role in Baltimore makes it the place you want to train?

Intrapersonal clarity. Interviewers screen for candidates applying out of genuine UMSOM interest rather than as a Hopkins fallback — anchor the answer in Shock Trauma, the IHV, the interprofessional campus, or the safety-net role at UMMC.