Interview Questions Thread

Hi all.

I just compiled a list of questions that you may be asked and ones that you should consider asking at interviews. They are taken from several websites, and some are my own.

I tried to put them in some kind of order that made sense.

I thought I'd post them, then we can all add questions as we think of them. When posting, try to reply to one of the three groupings posted below, so we can keep organized. No need to quote the whole list, however. (unless we want this looking like the Radiology thread)

If anyone wants the list in printable form, I can e-mail it to you, just PM me. (That is until I figure out how to attach a PDF ...but don't hold your breath!)

• Why do you wish to join our residency program?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• Where do you see yourself in ten years, after your residency?
• Do you have any medical research experience?
• What made you join medicine?
• What made you choose this residency specialty ?
• What were your USMLE scores?
• If you were asked to describe yourself in 3 words, what would they be?
• In your Curriculum Vitae (CV), there is a gap of 1 year. Why?
• How many residency interviews have you completed so far?
• What is your medical career plan?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• What are your interests?
• Are you applying to any other residency specialty?
• How do you handle adversity?
• What is your most memorable patient encounter?
• Which residency programs have you interviewed at?
• Tell me about an interesting case you have seen?
• Tell me about yourself.
• Did you take any course to write the USMLE & CSA exams?
• Tell me about the patient you learned the most from?
• Why did you apply to this program?
• What are you looking for in a program?
• What do you see as the negative and positive features of this specialty?
• What problems do you think the specialty faces?
• How do you see the delivery of health care evolving?
• What if you don't match?
• What do you do in your spare time?
• What are your plans for a family? (CAREFUL LADIES!!)
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?

• What are the program's strengths?
• What are the program's weaknesses?
• What is your accreditation status? Has your program ever been placed on probation?
• What changes do you see in the program during the next few years?
• Have any residents left the program recently?
• Where are most of your graduates located and what type of practices are they going into from residency?
• How do you perceive your program compares to other programs?
• What kind of feedback are you hearing from your graduates?
• How and how often is feedback provided to residents? How are residents formally evaluated?
• How do you get feedback from the Residents? How do you handle complaints from residents and fellows?
• What qualities are you looking for in a Resident?
• Ask for a copy of the residency program’s teaching, conf & call schedules.
• What changes have been made to implement the new 80-hour residency workweek?
• Are there opportunities to teach medical students during residency?
• Do you encourage your Residents to attend medical conferences? Are any conference expenses covered? Is conference time counted against vacation time?
• Ask for a sample copy of the residency program’s contract.
• What are your current ongoing residency research projects?
• How have the graduates done on the USMLE Step 3 and specialty boards?
• Is there protected time for didactics? Journal club?
• Ask for a schedule of noon conference topics. How good is attendance at noon conference?
• How is morning report organized? Is there teaching, or is it just for passing along information about patients?
• Do you feel interns are well supervised and well trained when learning new procedures?
• Is attendance at national/regional conferences encouraged and funded?
• Is this program affiliated with a medical school? How strong is the affiliation? Are lectures given regularly by medical school faculty?
• Are there other hospitals used for rotations or electives?
• What type of attending backup support is available when residents are on call?
• Are residents assisted in finding a job when completed?

• What was the most important factor that made you decide to come to this program?
• What are the program's areas of strength?
• What are the program's areas where improvements could be made?
• Do residents have any problems finding jobs?
• What are your plans after graduation?
• Have any Residents left the residency program? If yes, why?
• What is the pass percentage of your residency program in the medical specialty board exams?
• Well prepared for boards? Time to read?
• In last years match, did you have any unfilled residency spots?
• Would you apply here again if given the chance?
• What changes do you see in the future?
• If you could, would you make any changes to the curriculum?
• What electives available? How are they scheduled?
• What's a typical week, month, year like for a first year, second, and third year?
• What is call like? What kind of backup is provided? What patients are you responsible for?
• How is the teaching in your residency program?
• Where do you feel most of your learning is coming from?
• Didactics-taught by faculty or residents? How many resident conferences are required? Is there time to attend conferences?
• Interaction between residents and faculty?
• Typical residency work hours.
• Patient load?
• What is the makeup of the patient population?
• Is there a 24 hr phlebotomy team in the hospital?
• What type of Scut work do residents do?
• Relationship with the other specialties in the hospital.
• Ancillary support—efficient? Difficult to work with?
• Do you get opportunities to moonlight?
• Benefits offered by the residency program—any you wish you had and don’t? What’s are the best perks?
• Vacation time and sick leave/maternity.
• Where do you park and is it paid for?
• How good is the security for the hospital and residency call room areas?
• Is Spanish language training offered?
• Which areas of the city do Residents usually live?
• What is the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment?
• Describe this city/community. What do you like most and least about it?
• What fun activities are there nearby?
• What types of jobs do your spouses have?
• Is there a spouse support network?
• What do you do about childcare?
• How is the resident morale and are you a cohesive group? Do you feel supported by one another?
• Do the Residents socialize and get together?
• How do you deal with the stress of residency?

Not a problem.

This is from a poster on another thread, but I thought I'd cut and paste it here too because they are three excellent questions.

These could be asked to either faculty or residents:

1) Can you show me a third years procedure log? (the reason for this is if it isn't logged, it wasn't done. Some programs will tell you that you will do procedure X, so many times which may or may not be true. The proof is in the log book).

2)How many admissions does your medical service do each month? (this is one of the best ways to guage how busy you will be. There can be way to many, or not enough and only you can decide how busy you want to be).

3)What are the three biggest changes the program has undergone over the last three years, and what changes are you expecting in the future. (Basically a slick way of asking whats wrong with the program. If they say no changes were made, it is either a great program or they are resistant to change. I would bet on the latter.)

(Thanks to Peperules!)