Whether you are preparing for four-year college interviews or BS MD interviews, the first question almost every applicant receives is “Tell me about yourself.” In fact, that is the most common question our Cracking Med Admissions team receives: How to answer tell me about yourself college interviews (or BS MD interviews). First, you have to decide what information to discuss in your response. Second, you have to organize your response. Finally, practice and fine tune until you can nail it and say it in your sleep!
In this post, we will cover:
HOW TO ANSWER THE TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF QUESTION
“Tell me about yourself” is often the first question asked in BS/MD interviews. This is a question the Cracking Admissions team spends a lot of time working on with our students during our medical school mock interview preparation. When answering this question, it is important to keep in mind that the interviewer is trying to get to know you as a person, including your background outside of medicine.
It is key that your “Tell me About Yourself” response has structure. Structuring your response provides a roadmap for your interviewer to follow as you lead them through a snippet of who you are with details. Again, the structure below, and associated questions can help guide you to brainstorm your response to this open-ended question. You do not need to answer every single question in the framework below.
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A winning framework for responding to the “tell me about yourself” questions consists of the following:
Step #1: Introduce yourself
- Questions to answer: What is your name? Where are you from?
- Why this is important: This might sound obvious, but >50% of students we do mock interviews with do not state their names when introducing themselves through “Tell me about yourself.” It is important to say your first name, similar to meeting somebody for the first time. Stating your name is best practice for all professional & career interviews.
Step #2: Describe your background – but keep it brief
- Questions to answer: What is your family structure like and where did you grow up? What kind of upbringing did you have? Did you grow up in the United States? Did you move around a lot? Do you have siblings? How did you develop your interests and engage your curiosity early on? What values did you gain from your upbringing and your family?
- Why this is important: This provides some context on your upbringing to allow your interviewer to understand you better. Additionally, you will build personal connections with your interviewer.
- Tips: One common mistake that applicants make is that their responses for the background section is too long. Stick to what’s important in your childhood and family and what is relevant for a medical career.
Step #3: Highlight your major pursuits in high school
- Questions to answer: What are your biggest areas of interest (e.g. a type of scientific research, computer science, environmental protection efforts, etc.)? What motivated you to pursue/focus on these particular areas? Why did you choose these extra-curricular activities? What did you learn about yourself through your activities? How did your activities contribute to your desire to be scientifically inclined and dedicated to service for others?
- Why this is important: This section introduces how you have begun to develop your interests and shows your interviewer some of the depth of your interests and experiences.
- Tip: We don’t want to hear a laundry list of activities nor do we want a resume dump. Focus on your main activities and provide a little bit of detail about your motivation to pursue these activities as well as why these activities were meaningful to you. You can also talk about the impact of your activities on other individuals you serve or on your community.
Step #4: Describe your future goals
This section is definitely important for BS MD interviews but not always relevant for college interviews.
- Questions to answer for BS MD applicants: What are you hoping to gain from being part of a BS/MD program and gaining early acceptance to medical school? How do you want to pursue your interests in college and in medical school? What is the future impact that you hope to create after medical school?
- Questions to answer for four-year college applicants: Do you have any career interests? If you have career interests, you can mention them here. If not, you can discuss what fields interest you the most or you can discuss potential majors in college.
- Why this is important: This section is the most important one and ties together many of the strings that you have introduced in previous steps into a coherent explanation of who you are and why you are seeking to pursue a BS/MD program as the next logical step in your journey. If you have laid a solid foundation before this, your interviewer will find themselves nodding along as you describe how you believe practicing medicine aligns with your goals.
- Tip: You can receive bonus points if you can link what you are doing now to what you will be doing in that specific BS MD program.
Step #5: Fun facts
- Questions to answer: What are some of your hobbies? What is the future impact that you hope to create after medical school?
- Why this is important: You want to give the interviewer more information that he or she can relate to.
- Tip: This should be very short. We tell students to make this two sentences max.
Step #6: Why you are excited to attend ____ university
Our team thinks it’s helpful to end the response with 1-3 sentences about why you are excited about the school you are interviewing for.
- Questions to answer: What are you looking forward to in ____ university? Are there specific characteristics about the school that appeal to you? Is there something unique about the school culture?
- Why this is important: Allows the interviewer to know your excitement about the school and sets up the interview so the interviewer can ask you about your specific interests. This can also show off your knowledge and connections to the university.
- Tip: We think the best way to end your “tell me about yourself” response is to say that you are excited to be interviewing at the school. This should be very short.
Having an excellent, balanced, and robust “Tell me about yourself” response is tough. If you have questions or want to prepare your response with us, email Dr. Rachel Rizal and Dr. Rishi Mediratta at he***@bs*******.com.
Download Our Interview Guide
If you are prepared, the Cracking Med School Admissions interview gives you the perfect opportunity to standout and shine by sharing with people what you are passionate about.
“Tell me About Yourself” Example for 4-Year College Interviews
NOTE: This is for student who are interested in science, premed, and healthcare, but who are interviewing to 4-year universities that do not have a BS/MD program.
EXAMPLE:
Hi, my name is [_______]. I’m currently a senior at [_____] High School in San Diego, California.
I was born in Haiti and moved to the United States when I was 7-years-old. I grew up as the eldest of 3 children in an Haitian-American family, daughter of a nurse and construction worker. As the eldest child, I was often relied on to look after my siblings, whether that was helping them with their homework or ensuring that they were eating well as my parents worked long shifts. I learned a lot about responsibility and resilience from an early age.
While in high school, I became really interested in Biology and History because of my fascination with the human body and also how our modern-day society has been shaped by events in the past. I enjoyed the interdisciplinary learning that my school cultivated and I embraced that by writing my IB extended essay on the health effects tied to Caribbean colonization by the Spanish conquistadors. I believe that marrying my two passions of biology and history has made me a more well-rounded person who is passionate about understanding medical history and how it affects care delivery today.
I was also highly involved in clinical research and served as a research intern in a genetics lab at Northwestern studying the genetic elements of insulin production. I also enjoy teaching young girls about STEM through my Girl Scouts Silver and Gold Award projects, as well as competing in Science and History Bowls.
I believe my research and teaching experiences will help me be an excellent academic clinician, and my broad academic interests will help me be a well-rounded physician who can relate to a variety of patients I encounter, and appreciates the humanistic and scientific sides of medicine.
Some of my hobbies include hiking any trail that I can find, reading philosophy and nonfiction literature, and playing jazz piano.
I’m excited to be interviewing here today because of the small, interdisciplinary classes. I will continue pursuing my interest in science and history as a Science in Human Culture major. I aim to deepen my knowledge of how history and social determinants of health shape medical care. I also plan to pursue additional community service work at the local homeless shelter to decrease healthcare disparities.
“Tell me About Yourself” Example for BS/MD Programs
NOTE: This is for students who are applying to BS/MD programs.
EXAMPLE:
Hi, my name is [_______]. I’m currently a senior at [_____] High School in New York, New York.
Starting in middle and high school, I became very interested in scientific research, and how we could use it as a vehicle to create change. I initially conducted wet lab work, understanding how RNAi, or tiny molecules, could be used to silence genes, and eventually transitioned to clinical research, where I worked to validate a non-invasive measure of heart function. It was there I realized my passion for research that can improve clinical care outcomes.
After shadowing and volunteering at hospitals, my interest in medicine deepened, and given my adjacent interest in Philosophy and ethics issues related to end-of-life care – the topic of my IB extended essay paper – I developed a sense of the weight of ethical responsibility faced by those in the healthcare field. As a BS/MD student and future doctor, I am eager to help patients and their families navigate end-of-life issues.
I’ve also always been passionate about community service, and enjoyed teaching young girls about nutrition through my Girl Scouts Silver and Gold Award projects, and volunteering at my local place of worship.
I am specifically interested in a BS/MD program because I will be able to continue research related to women’s health. I specifically want to do breast cancer research with Dr. R at the ____ School of Medicine. And, I want to create a program at the local free clinic about the importance of HPV vaccines and mammogram screenings for breast cancer prevention.
I’m excited to be interviewing here today because _________. I hope to continue pursuing my interests as a Philosophy & Neurology double major at ____ school. The BS/MD dual degree will allow me to pursue my interest in humanities as well as medical opportunities.
How to Prepare for your College Interview
If you’re preparing for the college interview season, start brainstorming with the help of the structure and questions below.
- Brainstorm: Come up with a bullet or two for each step below. Read those bullets and adjust them.
- Try it out, and tweak it! Read bullets out loud. Does it flow? Adjust the wording accordingly.
- Practice your response. These are just guiding bullets, but you want to make sure the actual response you say in an interview doesn’t sound rehearsed, and flows well. Try out different versions of “Tell me about yourself.” You can practice in front of a mirror, or even record yourself on your phone and play it back.
- Test it out for family members. Once you’re comfortable with your delivering your response, ask a friend or family member to ask you the “Tell me about yourself,” interview question. What do they think of your response? You make some changes based on their feedback.
If you have any questions about how to organize your tell me about yourself, email us at he***@bs*******.com and schedule a mock interview with us.
Download Our Interview Guide
If you are prepared, the Cracking Med School Admissions interview gives you the perfect opportunity to standout and shine by sharing with people what you are passionate about.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: How long should my “Tell me About Yourself” response be?
A robust “tell me about yourself” is 1-1.5 minutes
Question: For BS/MD Interviews, I was told that I should not include “Why Medicine?” in this response because I will be asked “Why Medicine” next.
This is bad intel! And this is a common mistake students make. BS/MD programs really want to make sure you are set on becoming a doctor. So, it’s even more important to convince them of that, and specifically that you’ll be a bright, engaged medical student, and eventually, an excellent physician. Given this, you definitely has to discuss your interests in medicine in your tell me about yourself.
Question: What if I sound too rehearsed when I answer “Tell me About Yourself?”
We strongly encourage BS/MD applicants to practice, practice, practice this question. As we stated earlier, this is a very important question to lay the foundation for everything else in your interview. You should practice putting pauses and different intonations in your tell me about yourself response so it does not sound boring. BS/MD interviewers will expect you to be prepared for your interview. And, since this is one of the common interview questions, you have to have a great answer prepared!
Question: Do I have to talk about all my extra-curricular activities that I pursued in high school?
No. You do not have to talk about all your extra-curricular activities during your high school journey. Be strategic. Spend more time talking about the activities that are most important to you. Make sure you weave a good narrative with how you want to continue those passions in college and in medical school.
Question: Can I repeat information in my “Why Medicine” or other supplemental essays?
First, read our blog post: How to Answer “Why Medicine.” Then, read your BS MD response. If you look back and think your answers could have been stronger, then definitely change your answer. If you think your answer was great, then you want reflect the same ideas in your interview. But, definitely do not regurgitate it verbatin.