Updated
Integrity Interview Questions for Medical, Nursing and PA School
Integrity interview questions test whether you do the honest thing when it costs you something. Expect two kinds: a story (“Give me an example of an ethical decision you had to make”) and a scenario (“What would you do if you saw a fellow medical student cheating on an exam?”). The AAMC's competency for this starts with “Behaves with honesty and integrity” and includes resisting pressure to act unethically (AAMC).
This guide has nine real questions and who lists them, what medical, nursing and PA programs say they score, an answer shape for each kind and an example answer we wrote. Sources were checked October 31, 2026.
Integrity questions schools ask
These come from the AAMC and from university pre-health and career pages. UH Manoa's advising list was compiled from students who interviewed at the schools named, plus webinars, school websites and national associations (UH Manoa).
| Question | Kind | Listed by |
|---|---|---|
| Give me an example of an ethical decision you had to make. | Kind: About you | Listed by: Oklahoma State pre-health interview packet |
| Tell me a time when you witnessed dishonesty and what did you do? | Kind: About you | Listed by: UH Manoa's list, optometry questions |
| Tell me about a time you experienced an ethical challenge when working with patients. | Kind: About you | Listed by: UH Manoa's list, Southern California College of Optometry |
| Have you personally encountered any moral dilemmas? Of what nature? | Kind: About you | Listed by: University of Montevallo pre-health list |
| Tell me about a time you saw something unethical or not done correctly by another coworker/boss/doctor. | Kind: About you | Listed by: USF list for nursing job interviews |
| A professor gives you sole credit for a group project, though your classmate played a major role. What should you do? | Kind: What would you do | Listed by: AAMC common interview topics (shortened) |
| What would you do if you saw a fellow medical student cheating on an exam? | Kind: What would you do | Listed by: University of Toronto Student Life MMI guide |
| On rounds, a resident says he took a patient's history when he did not. What do you do? | Kind: What would you do | Listed by: UH Manoa's list, University of Central Florida College of Medicine (shortened) |
| Vials of a controlled substance are missing from a locked cabinet, and you saw a friend leaving the cabinet earlier. What do you do? | Kind: What would you do | Listed by: UH Manoa's general pre-health list (shortened) |
Our question bank has full pages for several more: a classmate sharing a copy of the exam, a close friend covering up a medical error and a senior resident who smells of alcohol.
What interviewers score
The AAMC's Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others competency has five parts. Three are easy to show in an interview story. The applicant “behaves with honesty and integrity,” “resists pressure to engage in unethical behavior” and “encourages others to behave honestly and ethically” (AAMC). The AAMC's self-assessment worksheet says schools judge the competencies through your application, personal statement, interview and letters (AAMC self-assessment). The AAMC's PREview exam, a situational judgment test, puts ethical responsibility in its personal accountability skill area (AAMC PREview).
Nursing and PA programs name it too:
- Auburn's BSN program scores “professional values” in its traditional interview, defined as including accountability, integrity, honesty, respect for others, trust, caring and compassion (Auburn Nursing).
- OHSU's PA program lists ethical responsibility to self and others among the qualities it assesses across its MMI, individual interview and group activity (OHSU).
- Pepperdine's PA program evaluates interviewees on its mission of humility, integrity and empathy, with a tiered scoring rubric (Pepperdine).
Our AAMC competencies guide covers the rest of the competencies.
Answering “tell me about a time”
Start with the right story. These four kinds hold up well under follow-up questions:
| The story | What it shows |
|---|---|
| You fixed your own error before anyone noticed | What it shows: Honesty when nobody was watching, which is the purest test of it. |
| You said no to a friend or a peer | What it shows: What the AAMC calls resisting pressure. The cost is a relationship, so it is believable. |
| You raised a concern with someone senior | What it shows: That you speak up through the right channel, politely, even when it is awkward. |
| You kept a rule that slowed you down | What it shows: That you understand why the rule exists, not just that you obey it. |
Then tell it in four beats, in about ninety seconds:
| Beat | What to say |
|---|---|
| The pull | What to say: What made the easy path tempting: a friend, a deadline, a boss, or nobody would know. |
| What you did | What to say: The honest action, with the words you actually used. |
| What it cost you | What to say: Be concrete. An awkward week, a lower score, extra hours. |
| Where it landed | What to say: What happened next and whether you would do the same again. |
Answers that cost points:
- A story where you are the only honest person in the room and everyone else looks bad.
- Reporting someone at once, with no attempt to understand or talk to them, when nobody is at risk.
- "I've never been in that situation." Everyone has been asked to bend something, even a small rule.
- Talking about honesty in general terms with no moment, no words and no cost.
- Bringing up serious misconduct you have not dealt with. If something is on your record, prepare for it separately.
Answering “what would you do”
The AAMC lists hypothetical situations as one of its six common interview topics (AAMC). There is rarely one right answer. Interviewers score how you get to yours. Four moves work for almost any integrity scenario:
- Separate what you know from what you assume. You saw a friend near the cabinet. You did not see him take anything.
- Talk to the person first, privately, when that is safe. Give them the chance to fix it themselves.
- Go to the right person if it continues, or straight away if a patient could be harmed or drugs are missing. Name who that is: the course director, the charge nurse, the attending.
- Say what you would do if your first step fails, and stay fair to the person while you do it.
Missing controlled substances are the exception to talking first. Report the missing count to the person in charge that day, say what you saw without accusing anyone, and let them look into it.
For dilemmas where two good principles collide, rather than honesty against convenience, use the method in MMI ethics questions.
Worked through: the professor gives you sole credit
Our outline for the AAMC's group-project question. Thank the professor, then say right away, in the same conversation or a short email, that your classmate did a major part of the work and name what it was. If the praise was public, ask that the correction be too. Then tell your classmate what you did. Do not wait to see whether anyone notices, and do not make a show of it either. The point is that credit follows the work.
Your application is the first test
Integrity is checked before the interview starts. To submit the AMCAS application you certify that your information is current, complete and accurate, and that your writing is your own. You may use mentors, peers, advisors and AI tools for brainstorming, proofreading or editing. The AAMC investigates alleged falsification, omission or discrepancy in application materials (AMCAS Applicant Guide).
If you have an institutional action, disclose it. The guide notes that schools understand people “learn from the past and emerge stronger,” and that full disclosure lets them judge it in context (AMCAS Applicant Guide). Expect to be asked about it, and prepare that answer with our red flags guide.
Practice question: tell me about a time you showed integrity
“Tell me about a time you showed integrity.”
The direct version of the question. Interviewers listen for the moment the honest choice cost you something, and what you said when it did.
Example answer written by Confetto (the applicant is invented)
I was a Saturday shift lead at our county food bank, and part of my job was signing volunteer hour logs. A good friend asked me to sign off on twenty hours he had not worked. His PA school application was due in two weeks and he was short on service hours.
I told him I couldn't, because my signature says I saw the work, and a program reading his application would be trusting that. He was annoyed, and things were cool between us for a while.
What I could do was help him get real hours. I put him on our Tuesday evening sorting shift and the two Saturday distributions that month, and I signed for the twelve hours he actually worked. He applied with fewer hours than he wanted, and he told me later that one of his interviewers asked about the food bank and he could describe the work.
It made me think about what my signature is for. Programs trust it because they cannot check every hour themselves, so I only sign for work I saw, whoever is asking.
Follow-up: what if your friend had asked again?
Say you would give the same answer and explain it the same way, without lecturing. Then say what you would do if he submitted false hours anyway, for example telling the volunteer coordinator that you had not signed them. Interviewers push to see whether your line holds when the pressure repeats.
Sources: the AAMC premed competencies, common interview topics, PREview exam page, competency self-assessment and AMCAS Applicant Guide, Auburn Nursing, OHSU and Pepperdine PA admissions, and the Oklahoma State, UH Manoa, University of Toronto, Montevallo and USF interview lists, checked October 31, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What are integrity interview questions?
Questions that check whether you act honestly when it costs you something. Some ask for a real story, such as an ethical decision you made. Others give you a scenario, such as a classmate cheating, and ask what you would do. The AAMC's ethical responsibility competency starts with behaving with honesty and integrity. See the AAMC premed competencies.
How do I answer "Tell me about a time you demonstrated integrity"?
Tell one specific story in four beats: what made the easy path tempting, what you did and said, what it cost you, and where it landed. Keep it under two minutes, and make the cost concrete.
Can my integrity story be about a time I was dishonest?
It can, if it was minor, you corrected it yourself and you can say what changed. Interviewers often respect an honest account of a lapse more than a spotless story. A serious or recent lapse belongs in a separate, prepared answer. See how to answer the mistake question.
Should I say I would report a friend?
Usually not as your first step. Find out what happened, then talk to your friend privately. If it continues, or if a patient could be harmed, go to the person responsible. Patient safety comes before the friendship, and a strong answer says so. Practice the friend who covers up an error.
Do nursing and PA schools ask about integrity?
Yes. Auburn's BSN program scores professional values, including integrity and honesty, in its interview. OHSU's PA program assesses ethical responsibility to self and others, and Pepperdine's PA program evaluates applicants on its mission of humility, integrity and empathy. See nursing school interview questions.