Importance of a pre-interview dinner

[psammoma_body]

How important are these informal events with residents in terms of ranking?

I really think these are valuable opportunities to get a better feel of a program and overall residents' happiness, but due to some scheduling conflicts I won't be able to attend all of them.

Will missing this opportunity to connect with residents put me in a disadvantage compared to the other candidates?

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[deleted314957]

Your personality and ability to glad hand is critical. I hate to preach, but, there is a book entitled “How to win friends and influence people”. It is probably 90 years old. Author is Dale Carnegie. It is life changing for many people. It has nothing to do with religion or money. It is such a well known old vade mecum that I apologize if I insulted you with my suggestion.

 

[LBJLA23]

How important are these informal events with residents in terms of ranking?

I really think these are valuable opportunities to get a better feel of a program and overall residents' happiness, but due to some scheduling conflicts I won't be able to attend all of them.

Will missing this opportunity to connect with residents put me in a disadvantage compared to the other candidates?

My sense is these dinners are more for us applicants and don't have much influence on matching. I know plenty of people who didn't go to the dinners and still matched at those places. I wouldn't sweat it too much.

 

[LADoc00]

Your personality and ability to glad hand is critical. I hate to preach, but, there is a book entitled “How to win friends and influence people”. It is probably 90 years old. Author is Dale Carnegie. It is life changing for many people. It has nothing to do with religion or money. It is such a well known old vade mecum that I apologize if I insulted you with my suggestion.

Every human being capable of literacy on the planet should read Carnegie's book tbh.

I went to a job interview once conducted by a path group that was completely ex-military. They plowed me with drinks to see how I responded intoxicated, was a fascinating experiment. I got the job so I guess I passed the test? But yah everything, every dinner is a test/interview. Be on your game. Be confident.

 

[LoaLoa]

How important are these informal events with residents in terms of ranking?

I really think these are valuable opportunities to get a better feel of a program and overall residents' happiness, but due to some scheduling conflicts I won't be able to attend all of them.

Will missing this opportunity to connect with residents put me in a disadvantage compared to the other candidates?

Yes. It probably won’t disqualify you, but it will put you at a disadvantage. At least, it would have put you at a disadvantage when we recruited for my residency program.

 

[LADoc00]

Yes. It probably won’t disqualify you, but it will put you at a disadvantage. At least, it would have put you at a disadvantage when we recruited for my residency program.

Actually you will be a at huge disadvantage, missing anything related to a residency program interviewing process is a sign of disinterest so to the OP I would fix the conflict and prioritize this over girls' trip or some wedding or whatever else you think is more important given your massive investment in your medical education, right?

 

[Mad Jack]

Actually you will be a at huge disadvantage, missing anything related to a residency program interviewing process is a sign of disinterest so to the OP I would fix the conflict and prioritize this over girls' trip or some wedding or whatever else you think is more important given your massive investment in your medical education, right?

The difficulty for many is that we are only allotted so many days to miss from each rotation. I had to miss several dinners to avoid failing, as they are almost exclusively not on the same day as the interview.

 

[psammoma_body]

Thank you for your replies! I appreciate the input.

"How to win friends and influence people" is a timeless book applicable to any profession. I agree that it is a great read! I do think, however, that if you are a normally emotionally intelligent person, a lot of the stuff the book suggests will already come naturally to you; and if you are not there is no way to fake it, and no book will help you. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe you can train empathy, friendliness, etc.

Anyway, the problem is that I have two interviews scheduled back-to-back, in different cities. Being an IMG and hence not the most competitive candidate, I received some of the invitations probably in the last batch, so a lot of the dates had already been taken.

Also, I am doing an observership and don't have much wiggle room there. I will try to figure something out. I'd really like to go to the dinner at this particular program because it is potentially on the top of my list.