Interviewing a place you hadn't talked to at Midyear?

[memoryalpha]

I know not everyone can go to Midyear so maybe they'll have some input for me but; next week I am interviewing at a place that I hadn't talked to at Midyear, so a lot of the stuff that I would ask to weed out "dealbreakers" for me remains unanswered. I've done as much research as I can do online about this place, and obviously they have many things about their program that interested me enough to apply, but I still feel nervous about this because I'd have preferred to have interviewed them, so to speak, before this.

Do you think it's possible to give and get a good enough impression from a program to match based solely on the interview?

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[bacillus1]

Yes. At the program where I did my residency, none of the applicants that matched last year went to Midyear. However, they were all local, so at least some of them may have gone to the local residency showcase (though not sure if they all did).

 

[appalpharm]

If anything I think you'd get more of an impression at an interview than you would at midyear. At midyear you only have a few minutes to talk to a few specific people whereas at an interview you have either a half day or a whole day to evaluate a program and get to talk to their faculty, program directors and residents. Aside from your interviews, you should have ample time to get all your questions answered that you would've asked had you visited them at midyear.

In my opinion, midyear was only moderately helpful. I knew most about the programs I visited and I used the opportunity to answer the few questions I had and make sure the people that worked there seemed happy and normal, all of which you can get out of an interview.

 

[KidPharmD]

From the perspective of the other side. I would say that you can absolutely make a good enough impression without Midyear.
First, most programs use Midyear (Showcase) as a time for recruitment instead of interviewing. Programs that require PPS are a different animal, but you wouldn't be interviewing there. Second, the impressions we make at Midyear boil down to 1. Average candidate - Usual application review 2. Excellent candidate - Application gets a little more benefit of the doubt for shortcomings 3. Red Flag - Do not interview!

I would say that applicants who do not go to Midyear are viewed about the same as Category 1 of those who did show up. Once they are at an interview 1's and 2's are on pretty equal footing. Those 2's who did PPS however will have a significant leg up on you.

 

[KARM12]

You will get a better impression of the site by actually visiting it than at Midyear.

 

[pharmdarling]

You can tell a lot from an interview. Based on my experience at Midyear, I had somewhat of an idea of how I would rank the programs at which I interviewed. My actual rankings were completely different. Any program can make themselves sound great at Midyear, but you might get a completely different picture by seeing the facility and speaking to the pharmacists in their workplace. Interestingly enough, I matched at the one program I did not speak with at Midyear.