Questions asked during interviews

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edinOH

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How do you handle the question of "What other programs are you interviewing at?" or "Where are the programs you are interviewing at?"

What is the best way to respond and why are they asking this? It is usually the PD that asks this I have found. Sometimes I tell them geographic areas and a few times I have just mentioned cities. I think there were one or maybe two times that I actually told them each program. I am naive for doing this? I guess they are just trying to gauge who their "competition" is I guess.

What about when they ask you "Which program do you like the best?" Isn't that kind of question a little shady? Are they wanting to see if you say "Well this program of course" or are they just trying to gauge if you are going to rank them highly?

I think that next time I'm asked this question I'm going to list 7 or 8 of the "top" programs and gauge the reaction! lol Not really. They would probably ask me if I interviewed with so and so and I'd end up looking like an idiot! Not that I don't anyway...

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Edin-
Yeah I get that question a lot too. I think you're right, they're trying to gauge how competitive you are. Maybe along the lines of: "Maybe the other residencies see something in him that we don't." ANd I think that would be a GOOD thing. I bet they only spend < 3 minutes reading our ERAS application... so they think that maybe some good candidates will slip through the cracks. If a candidate is getting a lot of interviews, there's gotta be something that everyone likes about him/her (on paper, anyways)...

I usually give geographic areas... but some PDs have asked me specifically, so I just tell them the more competitive residencies I'm considering...
 
Originally posted by edinOH
How do you handle the question of "What other programs are you interviewing at?" or "Where are the programs you are interviewing at?"

What is the best way to respond and why are they asking this? It is usually the PD that asks this I have found. Sometimes I tell them geographic areas and a few times I have just mentioned cities. I think there were one or maybe two times that I actually told them each program. I am naive for doing this? I guess they are just trying to gauge who their "competition" is I guess.

What about when they ask you "Which program do you like the best?" Isn't that kind of question a little shady? Are they wanting to see if you say "Well this program of course" or are they just trying to gauge if you are going to rank them highly?

I think that next time I'm asked this question I'm going to list 7 or 8 of the "top" programs and gauge the reaction! lol Not really. They would probably ask me if I interviewed with so and so and I'd end up looking like an idiot! Not that I don't anyway...

I just answer. I become so disoriented from all of the interviews that I'm sure I forget to mention some of them. I try to explain that I went heavily on word of mouth and didn't just apply to geographical areas (ie, I applied to one in TX, one in MI). I've never been asked "Which program do you like best?" but I've been asked what I liked about the programs I've interviewed at. So, I usually give one major pro and one con to each program and mention (truthfully) that I wouldn't kill myself over matching at any of the programs I've interviewed at. I've liked all of the programs. I've only disliked one city.

mike
 
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At one of my interviews the attending I was interviewing with looked at my sheet and said, "Hey you and I went to the same med school so I'll level with you. Don't come here." I figured you can't buy honesty like that and I dropped them quick.
 
Ok, so a post like that is kind of like saying to somebody, "I shouldn't tell you this but...oh, forget I said anything."


So I'll just go ahead and ask. Which program was this?
 
Yeah mang that's like me saying I'm a hot brunette with 36Cs waiting to be violated...

Come on give it up!

:)
 
That damn fibrocystic disease, it all depends on the orientation of the moon, the hormones flowing through my taut uterus, and the howling of the wolves.
 
My point was that interviews involve humans and consequently all sorts of weird things can get said and odd or inappropriate questions get asked. You never know what's going to come up.

I don't want to name the program for several reasons. One, this was many years ago and they have gotten thier act together and gotten a new chairman since then. Two, the guy who gave me this opinion is now the asst. PD and he now thinks that they are moving to be a top tier program. Finally, it really doesn't speak to my original point as stated and it was said in a confidential environment.
 
Ok then, I guess that is different. I thought the comment was made this year.
 
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