Professional Photos

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

GBCrzzyy

The moon is just the back of the sun.
7+ Year Member
Joined
May 18, 2016
Messages
418
Reaction score
433
I've heard that some secondaries ask for a photo with the application so I was considering having my pictures done. My question is, if I'm wearing my outfit in the photos that I'm saving for interviews, would that be weird? Should I choose an outfit for the photos that I won't be wearing to any interviews? Does this matter at all? Also any advice on photos would be appreciated. I was just thinking I would dress business professional and go to sears to have simple photos taken. Operating on a budget here lol. Even if none of my secondaries ask for it, it probably can't hurt to have for the future.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I've heard that some secondaries ask for a photo with the application so I was considering having my pictures done. My question is, if I'm wearing my outfit in the photos that I'm saving for interviews, would that be weird? Should I choose an outfit for the photos that I won't be wearing to any interviews? Does this matter at all? Also any advice on photos would be appreciated. I was just thinking I would dress business professional and go to sears to have simple photos taken. Operating on a budget here lol. Even if none of my secondaries ask for it, it probably can't hurt to have for the future.

Try getting a photo of you just letting loose... in your bathing suit, with your frat brothers, kind of thing.

If possible, make sure to highlight how much you love "having a good time" by getting a little product placement in the background (think subliminal): Pall Mall cigarettes, a Bud Light Lime 6-pack, and definitely the tribal tattooed side arm of your best mate resting on your shoulder.

Haircut? You want to come off looking like you're a doctor who's sporty. You want the Euro-Cup look, trimmed sides with a long, gelled top flipped backwards. And remember, nothing says "I'm a man" like having a 5-o'clock-shadow for your photo.

Don't even bother brushing your teeth or flossing. You're a people person. It doesn't matter if you have a bit of tuna in-between your pearly off-white yellows.

---

If you don't want to to follow my advice, just dress business professional, take a photo at Sears or set a little booth up in your home against a neutral colored wall to save money. You don't have to wear a tie, but you should have on an ironed shirt and a blazer. Just focus on your head/possibly a little shoulder and neck.

You only have one picture for the school members to remember you by. You don't want it to be an unprofessional or goofy one.

You'll be fine!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
Seriously, can we just have a "Neurotic Premed Application Question Megathread"?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
Seriously, can we just have a "Neurotic Premed Application Question Megathread"?

I actually think that's a good idea: one thread for all the neurotic, what-pattern-socks-should-I-wear questions. On that thread, people would ask their questions, however strange or embarrassing, and receive real answers.

We could even have a yearly thread like that seen in AMCAS work/activities threads (e.g., The PreMed Angst / Neurotic Ask-Us-Anything About Interviews and Secondaries Thread 2016-2017).

I'm not being facetious. I think it'd actually be helpful and would be an open, safe space for the many bizarre questions premeds have.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Try getting a photo of you just letting loose... in your bathing suit, with your frat brothers, kind of thing.

If possible, make sure to highlight how much you love "having a good time" by getting a little product placement in the background (think subliminal): Pall Mall cigarettes, a Bud Light Lime 6-pack, and definitely the tribal tattooed side arm of your best mate resting on your shoulder.

Haircut? You want to come off looking like you're a doctor who's sporty. You want the Euro-Cup look, trimmed sides with a long, gelled top flipped backwards. And remember, nothing says "I'm a man" like having a 5-o'clock-shadow for your photo.

Don't even bother brushing your teeth or flossing. You're a people person. It doesn't matter if you have a bit of tuna in-between your pearly off-white yellows.

How did no one else appreciate the satirical genius of this post? I am in awe of the sarcastic bliss it has bestowed upon me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Try getting a photo of you just letting loose... in your bathing suit, with your frat brothers, kind of thing.

If possible, make sure to highlight how much you love "having a good time" by getting a little product placement in the background (think subliminal): Pall Mall cigarettes, a Bud Light Lime 6-pack, and definitely the tribal tattooed side arm of your best mate resting on your shoulder.

Haircut? You want to come off looking like you're a doctor who's sporty. You want the Euro-Cup look, trimmed sides with a long, gelled top flipped backwards. And remember, nothing says "I'm a man" like having a 5-o'clock-shadow for your photo.

Don't even bother brushing your teeth or flossing. You're a people person. It doesn't matter if you have a bit of tuna in-between your pearly off-white yellows.

---

If you don't want to to follow my advice, just dress business professional, take a photo at Sears or set a little booth up in your home against a neutral colored wall to save money. You don't have to wear a tie, but you should have on an ironed shirt and a blazer. Just focus on your head/possibly a little shoulder and neck.

You only have one picture for the school members to remember you by. You don't want it to be an unprofessional or goofy one.

You'll be fine!
I genuinely enjoyed this reply it made me laugh (even though I'm a woman, thank you). And you are all absolutely correct, I'm not even ashamed to be neurotic haha. I do agree that a thread dedicated to other neurotics would be very useful! Thanks for the reassurance though!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I like everyone's suggestions re: CVS or just doing it at home and would also like to suggest seeing if a friend who's into photography would consider taking some photos for you. I have a good friend who was looking to get some experience taking portrait type photos (he is a wedding photographer but hadn't done much business/professional type single person shots before) and he offered to help me out. We had a little photo shoot in the park, he edited the pics and I had a nice assortment to choose from. I gave him a bottle of whiskey for his efforts and we called it a day.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I would advise adding pants if going to a commercial establishment for the photos. Otherwise you might find yourself in a conversation with the police.
"Professional" refers to the applicant's appearance not the person who took the photo!
As long as I don't see your shower curtain in the background (and I've seen plenty), a selfie stick is fine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
My mom took my headshot with her cellphone. I wore the suit I wore to my interview. Worked out:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
I mean, the thing about these questions, is that sure, they would cross my mind, but I could do enough reasoning to not even need to lurk SDN, or if really insecure, lurk SDN, and figure it the **** without having to actually open my digital mouth and voice my neurotic concerns

so to me, it's not that the thought crossed your mind, but that people actually feel like they need to ask some of this stuff
I'm more concerned that people can't figure out ways to address these concerns without a thread

Here's an exchange:
"Self, what do I do for my secondaries picture?? Lurk SDN! SDN search function!! Oh, I need to put on natural looking make up that looks nice for a photo, and wear a decent blouse, no crazy jewelry, and go to FedEx for a $10 Passport photo and scan it." Then comes the hemming and hawing that I did in front of my closet and jewelry box, plus a few days of make up test runs at home. If I was concerned I needed a suit, I was reassured I didn't have to go to the level of wearing a suit jacket if my top was one that looked nice enough to go under one.

There's a reason I'm a doc, but only a 2+ year member.

Medicine, like dating, is partly about how well you hide the crazy. And, how good you are at googling.
 
I mean, the thing about these questions, is that sure, they would cross my mind, but I could do enough reasoning to not even need to lurk SDN, or if really insecure, lurk SDN, and figure it the **** without having to actually open my digital mouth and voice my neurotic concerns

so to me, it's not that the thought crossed your mind, but that people actually feel like they need to ask some of this stuff
I'm more concerned that people can't figure out ways to address these concerns without a thread

Here's an exchange:
"Self, what do I do for my secondaries picture?? Lurk SDN! SDN search function!! Oh, I need to put on natural looking make up that looks nice for a photo, and wear a decent blouse, no crazy jewelry, and go to FedEx for a $10 Passport photo and scan it." Then comes the hemming and hawing that I did in front of my closet and jewelry box, plus a few days of make up test runs at home. If I was concerned I needed a suit, I was reassured I didn't have to go to the level of wearing a suit jacket if my top was one that looked nice enough to go under one.

There's a reason I'm a doc, but only a 2+ year member.

Medicine, like dating, is partly about how well you hide the crazy. And, how good you are at googling.
that's interesting, what concerns me is why a doctor feels so bothered by a simple (and very harmless) question on an online forum that he/she felt the need to profess their rude opinion without even answering my question. Yes, I am plenty aware that I'm being neurotic but excuse me for trying to pay attention to little tiny nuances that have the potential to hurt my overall application or that mean nothing at all. I have no one to voice my concerns to in real life and it helps to voice them somewhere. I like getting opinions on these things because, hey I've never done any of this before and neither has anyone else in my family! I was worried that it might look bad for matching my interview outfit to my photo because I thought it might be obvious that I only own one suit (because that's all I can afford!) why would it be a bad thing? I have no idea but adcoms have gotten put off by much less so I wanted opinions. I don't care what you can figure out on your own, if I didn't have this forum I would have just made a decision and stuck with it but I have the forum so why not use it? I certainly don't care about your two-cents if all you're going to do is insult me for asking a question. That certainly doesn't seem like a very good quality for a doctor to have.
 
that's interesting, what concerns me is why a doctor feels so bothered by a simple (and very harmless) question on an online forum that he/she felt the need to profess their rude opinion without even answering my question. Yes, I am plenty aware that I'm being neurotic but excuse me for trying to pay attention to little tiny nuances that have the potential to hurt my overall application or that mean nothing at all. I have no one to voice my concerns to in real life and it helps to voice them somewhere. I like getting opinions on these things because, hey I've never done any of this before and neither has anyone else in my family! I was worried that it might look bad for matching my interview outfit to my photo because I thought it might be obvious that I only own one suit (because that's all I can afford!) why would it be a bad thing? I have no idea but adcoms have gotten put off by much less so I wanted opinions. I don't care what you can figure out on your own, if I didn't have this forum I would have just made a decision and stuck with it but I have the forum so why not use it? I certainly don't care about your two-cents if all you're going to do is insult me for asking a question. That certainly doesn't seem like a very good quality for a doctor to have.
You need to work on the confidence you mention in your sig. If you get in, there will be plenty of times that you can either choose to give voice to those neurotic paranoid questions that pop into your head or keep them silent and just make a reasoned decision. There will be plenty of people to judge you if you do give voice to them, either to your face or behind your back. You may not consider it a good quality for doctors to have but it is a common enough one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You need to work on the confidence you mention in your sig. If you get in, there will be plenty of times that you can either choose to give voice to those neurotic paranoid questions that pop into your head or keep them silent and just make a reasoned decision. There will be plenty of people to judge you if you do give voice to them, either to your face or behind your back. You may not consider it a good quality for doctors to have but it is a common enough one.
I understand and unfortunately I have already experienced plenty of people like this. I appreciate your feedback, my problem with the other poster was that they made their post so rude for no reason. You made a similar point while being mature about it so I thank you for that. I know that my degree of neuroticism will cool off when I actually start the interview process and see what it's like for myself. Until then I can't help but be paranoid about the littlest details. But I will definitely keep that in mind for the future.
 
I understand and unfortunately I have already experienced plenty of people like this. I appreciate your feedback, my problem with the other poster was that they made their post so rude for no reason. You made a similar point while being mature about it so I thank you for that. I know that my degree of neuroticism will cool off when I actually start the interview process and see what it's like for myself. Until then I can't help but be paranoid about the littlest details. But I will definitely keep that in mind for the future.

It just speaks to your insecurity. I wasn't even addressing you directly, I was responding to some of the points about neurotic questions from premeds that gonnif et al brought up, and trying to express why we get on people's cases and what they can do to avoid that.

We are actually here to help people, but I see why so many of my peers have moved on to other forums. Not using the SDN search function, the lack of basic common sense, and the constant neuroticism - if you read more closely, I was actually validating the neurotic concerns by sharing that I've had similar thoughts. However, I also brought up my approach to addressing these concerns. So the combination of validation and explaining my problem solving process was part of the help being offered.

As one person mentioned, if you want to be in medicine you need to learn how to deal with being subjected to constant criticism, and that the help offered you won't always come sugar coated.

If I was worried about wearing the same suit in my pic as in my interview, I would address that by just wearing something else that SDN lurking would tell me is also appropriate - a dress shirt different than my suit's (hopefully you have 2, I suggest always having a back up anyway) and not wearing the suit jacket.

I think an actual suit is a bit stuffy for these pics for med apps - we know you're in college, you don't need to look like you're an MBA grad. So I think an oxford shirt you can't go wrong, because for most college students that's as dressy as they get. I am like you, I would want to save my suit for the interview. However, as gyngyn said, it won't matter if you're wearing the same suit either way.

When I had my actual professional photo as a physician for the hospital website, I wore an oxford shirt. You can never go wrong with one. They may be times it's over or under dressing, but it's never "bad."
 
I see in my original post, I said "why it would cross your mind" but it was meant as the general you, and the line under it supports I was speaking in generalities

instead of making that assumption, that I was speaking in generalities, you took it as a personal attack

if you can't take the mild constructive criticism that was coupled with more validation than you'd be likely to get in a career in medicine, you're gonna be in for a rough ride my friend
 
not to mention, I'm a little sick of pre-meds reaching for Godwin's law on docs that bother to come in and say anything to you guys at all

most docs are snappy, it's the way of the world my friend

you'll be better served trying to get whatever teaching point you can out of what a doc tells you and leave the attitude at home
 
it's ridiculous, I was gonna post on your profile that I liked your avatar pic, except your setting don't allow that

but your defensiveness has cost you an ally on this board - take it as a lesson, as I have already told you to just take these things as lessons rather than attacks
 
I'm very aware that I do indeed have my own insecurities to deal with, especially in terms of the application process. Honestly I'
it's ridiculous, I was gonna post on your profile that I liked your avatar pic, except your setting don't allow that

but your defensiveness has cost you an ally on this board - take it as a lesson, as I have already told you to just take these things as lessons rather than attacks

m a bit stunned that I'm even getting the opportunity to apply and possibly get the chance to attend medical school and have always operated off of nothing but criticism. I did not read your original post the way it was intended because I saw too much sarcasm and what seemed to be insults at people who don't naturally know what to do in specific scenarios and that don't want to scour thread after thread for a very specific question/answer when they could post their own thread and get a direct response. I happen to be one of those people so I took it as an insult to me and didn't see any constructive criticism that you mentioned. So yes, you hit a sore spot for me and I have no problem admitting that.

Alas, this is a major downside of using such an anonymous mode of communication - it is tricky to decipher emotion in such posts. Especially when I wasn't expecting criticism for what I thought would be an innocent question. I did not intend to create any bad blood with this post (I generally try to be as neutral as I can on SDN) but if I've lost an ally then there really isn't anything I can do about it.
 
we're cool now bro/bro-ette, sorry

I was taking some frustration out about neuroticism in the post and you shouldn't have been the victim

let's be besties!!
 
we're cool now bro/bro-ette, sorry

I was taking some frustration out about neuroticism in the post and you shouldn't have been the victim

let's be besties!!
haha sounds good. I'm never intending to troll or attack anyone so I apologize if I did offend you. And FYI I do seriously need to work on my own insecurities but they have improved greatly due to the EC's I involved myself in. I'm a work in progress :p
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Top