"Tell about a weakness that you have"

This is a common question asked by interviewers. It aims to see how you can identify your own weaknesses and how you have tried to overcome them. This is an important skill for medical students and so being able to come up with a good answer to this question is necessary. An example of a bad response is "I am a perfectionist". This response is far too general, is overused and doesn't actually show how you could improve on this. Another bad response may be "Sometimes I find it hard to communicate with others, especially those whom I don't know very well". Whilst this may be true, a vital skill in medical school is being able to communicate with others, participate in group discussions and engage with patients in a clinical environment. Therefore, this answer would highlight a red flag to your interviewer and could even cost you your place. As with most interview responses, aim to apply your answer in context and give an example. Try to show how you became aware of this weakness and what you are actively doing now to improve it. Your example should be genuine but don't highlight a key skill (e.g. communication, leadership, team working) as a weakness of yours. Therefore, an example of a better response may be, "I sometimes focus too much on smaller details and this can lead to me losing sight of the bigger picture. This was a problem that I encountered when writing my EPQ, I found that I spent too much time explaining concepts not relevant to my topic question and this led to me wasting time which could have been used to research more into my topic of choice. Now, I aim to write out the main objectives and I follow them when completing the relevant tasks. I have found that this helps me to direct my focus onto that parts that I need to spend more time on and keep the big picture in sight at all times". Whilst this answer can be improved, it is a good level to start from.