Questions to ask at interviews

[masterwolfie]

I may be overthinking this, but, residents/doctors, is there anything you wish you had asked while you were on the interview trail? I've been asking questions from the aamc guide available online, but I'd love to know what people already in a residency/did a residency think is actually important to ask!

Also, does anyone know what's up with the interviews where the interviewer just keeps asking what questions you have for them? Is it really just to see what questions you have for them? Is it to see if you can drive a conversation for 20-30 minutes? If I run out of questions to ask and end up asking both my interviewers the same questions, is anyone going to find out about it?

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[mvenus929]

If they have fellows, how the fellows interact with the residents. Whether they learn by volume or by 'books'. Married vs single proportions, what people do in their time off, etc.

 

[organdonor]

One of my favorites was "what are last years graduates doing and where?"

Can tell you a lot about a program. And that answer can fill a lot of time and lead to follow up q's.

You need to come armed with a LOT of questions.

 

[Frederica]

I may be overthinking this, but, residents/doctors, is there anything you wish you had asked while you were on the interview trail? I've been asking questions from the aamc guide available online, but I'd love to know what people already in a residency/did a residency think is actually important to ask!

Also, does anyone know what's up with the interviews where the interviewer just keeps asking what questions you have for them? Is it really just to see what questions you have for them? Is it to see if you can drive a conversation for 20-30 minutes? If I run out of questions to ask and end up asking both my interviewers the same questions, is anyone going to find out about it?

The interviewers know just about everything there is to know about you based on your application. This is your opportunity to interview the program.

Interviews are not just about programs finding the right applicant, there are also about applicants finding the right programs.

 

[masterwolfie]

Thanks a bunch @mvenus929 , @organdonor , and @Frederica !!!

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I always feel bad for the applicants I get at the end of the day--you can tell that they know that they "should" have a question, but they've already had 4 faculty interviews and 2 meals with residents, and I can understand them feeling "questioned out". Kinda wish I had a cooler of beer in my office and we could just crack one open and shoot the breeze for 20 minutes...

 

[Law2Doc]

I always feel bad for the applicants I get at the end of the day--you can tell that they know that they "should" have a question, but they've already had 4 faculty interviews and 2 meals with residents, and I can understand them feeling "questioned out". Kinda wish I had a cooler of beer in my office and we could just crack one open and shoot the breeze for 20 minutes...

There's no rule against asking the same questions again, to get a different perspective. But it has to be a non-factual question. You wouldn't want to ask every person how often didactic a occur because the answer will be the same. But you might ask about how supportive a program is in terms of research or teaching efforts and get a different answer.