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

Why do you want to practice medicine in Tennessee specifically, and which communities do you hope to serve?

Be concrete — name specific regions, populations (rural Appalachian, Memphis inner-city, Delta communities), or specialties relevant to Tennessee health needs. Avoid generic mission statements.

Tell me about a clinical experience that confirmed your decision to pursue medicine.

STAR structure. Focus on a specific patient interaction or moment of insight. Reflect on what you learned about yourself as a future physician, not just the clinical skill observed.

A patient from a rural Tennessee community refuses a recommended surgery because of cost and fear. How do you approach this conversation?

Address autonomy, financial barriers, rural healthcare access, social determinants of health, and shared decision-making. Reference TennCare and Medicaid expansion context if relevant.

You discover a colleague is experiencing burnout and has made a minor prescribing error. What do you do?

Balance peer support with patient safety obligations. Discuss duty to report, supporting the colleague through well-being resources, and systemic causes of physician burnout.

Describe a time you had to navigate a difficult conversation with someone from a different background or value system.

Demonstrate cultural humility and communication skill. Focus on listening, perspective-taking, and finding common ground rather than convincing the other person.

What is a health issue significantly affecting Tennessee that you think deserves more attention?

Show knowledge of Tennessee health data — opioid crisis (TN is consistently top-10 in overdose rates), rural hospital closures, infant mortality in Memphis, obesity and diabetes rates.

Why did you choose UTHSC among Tennessee's medical schools, and which campus would you prefer?

Research the campus differences. Memphis offers trauma and urban health; Knoxville/Chattanooga offer Appalachian rural experience; Nashville offers academic medical center exposure. Have a genuine preference with rationale.

Tennessee has one of the highest rates of uninsured residents in the US, having not fully expanded Medicaid. What role should physicians play in healthcare policy advocacy?

Acknowledge physicians' dual role as clinicians and public health advocates. Reference TennCare limitations, the coverage gap, and professional organizations (TMA, AMA) as channels for advocacy.

How would you explain to a patient why they need to take a medication daily even when they feel fine?

Demonstrate plain-language communication, empathy, and the ability to tailor education to patient health literacy. Use analogy and check-back questions.

What experience outside of medicine has most shaped how you think about people?

This probes breadth of experience and self-awareness. Choose something authentic that connects meaningfully to a clinical value — humility, resilience, service, curiosity.

Role-play: a patient from a rural West Tennessee county tells you he skipped his last two clinic appointments because the drive is long, he misses work, and 'the medicine didn't seem to be doing anything anyway.' Respond to him.

Address the structural barriers (distance, lost wages) without dismissing them, re-engage him on why the treatment matters, and problem-solve practically — telehealth follow-up, longer intervals, pharmacy options. This reflects the rural-access reality UTHSC trains for.

Shelby County has persistently high infant mortality, especially among Black infants. If you were on a team asked to reduce it, what data would you want and what would you be cautious about concluding?

Show population-health thinking: prenatal care access, social determinants, preterm birth drivers, and disaggregated data — while being cautious about confounding and not reducing a structural problem to individual behavior. Reference Memphis specificity.

Tennessee consistently ranks among the worst states for opioid overdose deaths. From a clinician's standpoint, what makes this crisis so hard to reverse?

Discuss the interplay of prescribing history, fentanyl supply, limited rural treatment access, stigma, and the gap between policy and frontline reality. Show you understand it as a systems problem, not a moral one.

You are a third-year student and a patient asks you a direct question about their prognosis that you genuinely do not know the answer to. What do you say?

Model honesty within your role — acknowledge the limits of your knowledge, commit to finding out or bringing the team, and don't fabricate reassurance. Shows integrity and appropriate use of the team hierarchy.

A patient who lacks insurance and lives two hours away needs a follow-up procedure that is only offered at the Memphis academic center. The system has no clear funding pathway. What is your role?

Combine individual advocacy (charity care, social work, scheduling around the travel burden) with awareness of the systemic coverage gap in a non-expansion state. Show you see both the patient in front of you and the structure around them.