SOAP Interview Questions and Answers to Prepare

SOAP Interview Questions and Answers to Prepare

SOAP interviews are brief phone or video calls that can start Tuesday, March 16, 2027, at 8 a.m. ET, once a program has your application. Prepare five short answers before Match Week. A program director may not ask whether you will accept an offer.

A SOAP call is not a shorter version of your fall interviews. Our reading of the rules: a program filling a position within days has to confirm three things: that you want this specialty, that you can start on July 1, and that nothing in your file will surprise it later. Answers built for a 30-minute conversation about your research are too long. The two-sentence answers below are sized for a call that may last a few minutes.

Every NRMP page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026. The full Match Week schedule is in Match Week 2027: SOAP schedule and rules.

How SOAP interviews work in 2027

NRMP's help page on interviews during SOAP says: "Most programs will contact applicants by telephone or email and conduct brief telephone or video interviews. For applicants who may be local, in-person interviews may be offered."

The 2027 Match Week and SOAP calendar sets the window:

Our arithmetic: from 8 a.m. Tuesday to the 8:55 a.m. Thursday certification is 48 hours and 55 minutes. Programs can re-certify before rounds 2, 3 and 4 on Thursday, so a call can still come later in the week.

You do not call first. Section 9.2 of the 2027 Match Participation Agreement for Applicants (MPA) says applicants may not start contact "until and unless specifically contacted by a program representative". Your job is to be reachable.

The five questions to prepare (our constructed set)

NRMP does not publish a list of SOAP interview questions. The five below are our constructed set, built from what a program filling a position in days has to confirm. Each answer is a constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant's answer, and is two or three sentences long.

1. "Why this specialty?"

Every SOAP program asks itself this, and it matters most if you ranked a different specialty. Answer with the same reason your SOAP personal statement gives.

Constructed answer: "On my surgery sub-internship, the part of the day I did best was the medical care after the operation: the falling sodium, the new atrial fibrillation, the insulin drip. Internal medicine is that work for the whole admission, and it is what I want to do every day."

2. "What happened in the Match?"

Give one sentence of fact and move to what you are doing now. Do not blame programs, advisors or the algorithm.

Constructed answer: "I applied only to categorical general surgery and ranked eight programs, which was too narrow a list for my file. I wrote an internal medicine statement in February, and I am applying to programs like yours because this is where I want to train."

The longer version of this answer, for a full interview, is in how to explain not matching in a residency interview.

3. "Why our program?"

You applied to up to 45 programs in about a day. The program knows that. Name one specific thing you read on its website or in its listing, and stop.

Constructed answer: "Your interns admit on a night team with a senior resident in the hospital, and that is how I learned best on my sub-internship. I also have family two hours away, which matters to me for three years."

4. "Can you start on July 1?"

This is the question with legal weight. MPA section 6.3 says the applicant "is responsible for disclosing any information regarding, among other things, the ability to satisfy program requirements; circumstances that may delay or adversely impact an applicant's ability to commence training with a matched program on the program's start date; or information relevant to licensure status or visa status." It also covers "All written, electronic, and verbal information provided to programs". A phone answer counts.

Constructed answer: "Yes. My school has verified my graduation for May, I have passed Step 2 CK, and I am a U.S. citizen, so there is no visa step."

If any part of that sentence is not true for you, say what is true, with dates. A program that learns about a delay after July 1 has learned you left it out. Visa wording for IMGs is in the visa wording guide for residency letters and interviews.

5. "What do you need from us in your first months?"

This tests whether you know what an intern does. Name one strength you bring and one skill you want to build.

Constructed answer: "I can write admission orders, call consults and hand off clearly from day one. I want close supervision in continuity clinic in my first months, because my fourth year was almost all inpatient."

The questions programs cannot ask

NRMP's SOAP Highlights for Applicants, a 2021 sheet still linked from the current SOAP page, says: "Program directors cannot ask applicants to indicate whether they will accept an offer if one is extended through SOAP."

The 2027 MPA adds two more limits. Under section 6.5, programs are not authorized to:

1. Request that applicants reveal the numbers, names, specialties, geographic locations, or other identifying information about any program(s) to which they have applied or may apply or with which they have interviewed or may interview;

…

5. Suggest or inform applicants that placement on a rank order list or a SOAP preference list is contingent upon submission of a verbal, electronic, or written statement indicating the applicant's preference;

Section 6.4 also gives you the right to "Keep confidential all information pertaining to ranking preferences and SOAP preferences." And it says that before the start of SOAP offer rounds, "Applicants may voluntarily communicate their interest to a program(s)". So you may say you are very interested. You do not have to promise to accept.

If you are asked, a constructed reply that stays polite and on the rules:

"Under the NRMP rules programs don't ask applicants to commit before an offer is made, but I can tell you this program is one I want to train at, and why."

Violations go to NRMP at policy@nrmp.org (MPA section 7.5). The full list of off-limits questions for regular interviews is in residency interview questions programs cannot ask.

Logistics on the day

1. Phone on, ringer up, from 8 a.m. ET Tuesday. Set a voicemail greeting that says your full name.
2. Keep a list of every program you applied to, with specialty, city and program name, so you know who is calling.
3. Keep your five answers on one page next to the phone. Two sentences each.
4. Test the video link on the device you will use, in the room you will use.
5. Answer unknown numbers all week.
6. Keep your advisor's number handy. MPA section 6.4 lets applicants share "SOAP preferences with their medical school advisor(s)".
7. Do not call a program to ask if it received your application. That is contact under section 9.2.

Our view: the answer that loses a SOAP call is the long one. If your answer to question 2 runs past three sentences, cut it before Monday.

The countercase: a program that offers you an in-person or longer video interview is giving you more time. Use it, and bring the fuller answers from your fall interviews, such as tell me about yourself.

Questions about SOAP interviews

Are SOAP interviews in person?

Usually not. NRMP says "brief telephone or video interviews" are the norm and that "For applicants who may be local, in-person interviews may be offered."

When do SOAP interviews happen?

From 8 a.m. ET on Tuesday, March 16, 2027, through Wednesday, March 17, and before later offer rounds on Thursday, March 18.

Can a program interview me if I have not applied to it?

No. MPA section 9.2 says SOAP-eligible applicants "may not receive communication from a program unless and until the applicant has submitted an application to that program."

Can I tell a SOAP program it is my first choice?

You may express interest under section 6.4. You may not be pressured to commit, and the program may not make its list depend on a statement of preference.

Review the writing you send next

The program decides whether to call you from your SOAP personal statement, so that is the document to get right before Monday. Get a free Quick Review of your SOAP personal statement against GradPilot's residency personal statement rubric. It reads why you chose the specialty, which experiences you picked, and whether your readiness for residency work shows. For anything you write to a program after a fall interview, the residency letter of intent rubric reads that letter.

More SOAP guides:

• SOAP personal statement: examples by specialty: the statement your call is based on.
• Match Week 2027: SOAP schedule and rules: the hour-by-hour week and the no-contact rule.
• Medical school and residency essay guides: every residency writing guide. For a full Main Match interview, use the 40-question bank in residency interview questions and answers.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026.

• NRMP help, Do programs usually conduct interviews during SOAP?: format of SOAP interviews.
• NRMP, 2027 Main Residency Match Week and SOAP Calendar: Tuesday to Thursday times.
• NRMP, 2027 Match Participation Agreement for Applicants: sections 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 7.5 and 9.2.
• NRMP, SOAP Highlights for Applicants (2021 sheet, linked from the current SOAP page): the accept-an-offer question.