Another hair question (interviewing)

[Inthegray]

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I am a woman with long straight hair, which I had down in my ERAS photo. Now that I'm getting close to interviewing, I'm not sure that my long hair looks especially professional so I'd like to chop it all off and donate it to locks of love (so basically, get rid of 10 inches of hair).
My only worry is that I believe residencies look at your ERAS photo to "recognize" you when they're ranking students.
Should I hold off on the hair cut and just wear my hair up at interviews or is chopping it okay?

 

[34140]

i did about the same thing. so i retook my photo before sending it to eras. also i didnt have my glasses on, which i will probably have on for the interviews, dilemmas!

 

[Winged Scapula]

You're overthinking this.

Unless you have radical facial plastic surgery or some gender reassignment you don't need to retake your picture. Most of us are astute enough to recognize that people can and do change their hairstyles and that if the face looks the same, its not a big deal.

As a matter of fact, you might be more recognizable as *I* might remember, "oh yeah, she's the one who significantly shortened her hair" as opposed to, "Uh yeah...who was she again?"

 

[UserNameNeeded]

How is long hair unprofessional?

 

[jackieMD2007]

I am planning on wearing my hair all the way up or at least half up for interviews because that way it is sleeker and more professional looking.

One of the nice things about long hair is you can make a pretty bun 🙂

 

[dpmd]

I don't think it is that big a deal either way. I had the opposite issue. I used an older picture and my hair had grown a lot in the interim. No one said anything or looked at me funny.

 

[ShyRem]

You are SO way overthinking this. If you wanna cut your hair, cut it. If you wanna leave it long, leave it long.

 

[killerleaf]

I can say that the only time that there was an issue in the last 6ish years that I have been doing this, was when there was an 100 pound weight difference between the picture and the applicant. It kinda threw all of us. But, it did make the applicant stand out, and it was remembered at the ranking meetings.

That said, we have gone thru hair style differences, length differences, glasses vs contacts differences, hair color differences, facial hair differences... and it doesn't make that much of a difference in the end.

We will recognize you, we will remember you at the ranking meeting, and all will be well.

Now, go polish your interviewing skills. THAT is what is usually remembered, not that you went from long to short hair!

 

[juiceman311]

I hate medical students more and more every day. Best of luck on your decision.