Attire for the "informal" dinner?

[hepatocyte]

Anyone have thoughts about how casual to dress for the dinner with housestaff the night prior to interviews? I envision business-causal with decent pants and a sport coat for males. Any experienced interviewers out there yet?

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[tool]

No way dude...I'm going causal. Maybe slacks and a nice dress shirt...sure ain't wearing no sports coat lol.

 

[Mumpu]

I'm going in my airplane clothes (slacks and a t-shirt or sweater). No reason to haul along my industrial-strength hairdryer (bonus points for reference, anyone?).

 

[InternalWhizzzz]

I'm going in my airplane clothes (slacks and a t-shirt or sweater). No reason to haul along my industrial-strength hairdryer (bonus points for reference, anyone?).

SPACEBALLS!

 

[InternalWhizzzz]

I'm going in my airplane clothes (slacks and a t-shirt or sweater). No reason to haul along my industrial-strength hairdryer (bonus points for reference, anyone?).

Where are you guys invited for dinner?

 

[Mumpu]

Ah thank you thank you. This comment usually falls on deaf ears (sigh). 🙂

Most places that gave me interviews do dinners. Some I will make, some I will not -- as much as it's a source of potentially good information and food, I don't feel like flying in at 10 am to make a 6 pm dinner.

 

[Tar Heel Born]

I'm planning to wear a tie, but no coat. That's the advice I've been given by residents I know.

 

[DoctorSax]

I'm planning to wear a tie, but no coat. That's the advice I've been given by residents I know.

For me, tie, shoes, suspenders, no coat, no pants.

DS

 

[BigBadBix]

Where are you guys invited for dinner?

I'd say about 75% of the programs have offered a dinner the night before or drinks at the end of the interview day. The few that don't seem to have a lunch Q&A with residents during the interview day.

For most of mine I'm planning to wear slacks with a sweater, which should hopefully be OK in both nicer & relatively casual restaurants. I'm assuming they won't take us anywhere that requires truly dressing up (at least not without advance notice). But I have a question for you all - Colorado has "pizza, drinks, and pool - casual dress" with the residents the night before. That sounds like jeans to me, but I don't want to look underdressed if the other applicants are all wearing slacks. Any thoughts?

In talking to those who've previously gone through this process, it seems like these dinners are worth attending. The residents reportedly become quite candid about the program after a few drinks so it can be a great source of info. Also, if the residents really like you they may mention you to the PD (I know for a fact this plays a role at certain programs). Now I personally don't think I'll be the type of person to win over residents in one night, and in fact I'll have my hands full just trying not to sound like an idiot, but if you tend to be someone that makes an amazing first impression it can really help.

 

[Mumpu]

U of Colorado dinner is at the Wynkoop Brewing Company (google it if you wish). I wouldn't wear a tux. 🙂 My plan is slacks and a sweater. This is Denver, not Bahston. When is your interview?

 

[BigBadBix]

U of Colorado dinner is at the Wynkoop Brewing Company (google it if you wish). I wouldn't wear a tux. 🙂 My plan is slacks and a sweater. This is Denver, not Bahston. When is your interview?

Thanks for the response - it highlights exactly why I have to ask these questions. I am a west coaster at heart and to me "casual" is jeans, so I definitely wasn't thinking of going nicer than slacks & a sweater. But, if you are any indication, most of the applicants will interpret "casual" as slacks and not jeans, so I should probably do that to avoid looking underdressed.

Anyway, my interview is the 21st. Are you a student at Colorado or just going for the interview?

 

[Zolpidem25]

U of Colorado dinner is at the Wynkoop Brewing Company (google it if you wish). I wouldn't wear a tux. 🙂 My plan is slacks and a sweater. This is Denver, not Bahston. When is your interview?

i might go in Spandex....

 

[BigBadBix]

i might go in Spandex....

Thanks for that! Do you recall that other discussion about the mental images we have of one another on SDN, which may or may not be accurate? Well now my image of you will include spandex. 😱 Eww.

 

[Mumpu]

Oh cool. My interview is on the 21st as well. I'm a student there right now. See you Sunday night I guess. 🙂 (Dimitriy's the name)

I'd wear jeans but I'm afraid of looking like Filthy, the Eighth Dwarf. Spandex is tempting... Might as well bring a blowtorch and make it a Flashdance night.

 

[aredoubleyou]

Anyone have thoughts about how casual to dress for the dinner with housestaff the night prior to interviews? I envision business-causal with decent pants and a sport coat for males. Any experienced interviewers out there yet?

We go on a lot of these for anesthesiology interviews (for whatever reason) - everyone typically wears the equivalent of a nice pair of pants (khaki -ironed) and a buttoned down shirt with a belt. No ties required. Coats is over the top in my oppinion. Only saw one guy with sneakers so far.

If you go with spandex, stay away from gold and silver - a bit too flashy - stick with hot pink or white.

 

[lurkerboy]

I agree, you'll probably look funny in a jacket and/or tie. We just take applicants for dinner & drinks at nearby pub... its your time to learn about the people you could be potentially working with. No one is taking notes.

 

[DrHeartMD]

I still think a sport coat can't look too bad...worst comes to worst...take it off, and its fine...I think a tie might be overboard though...Im thinking slacks, nice shirt, sport coat, decent shoes...

 

[orientedtoself]

I've been to one pre-interview dinner so far, and none of the guys wore jackets. All wore collared shirts and khakis or slacks. A couple of ladies wore jackets, but you know they're trendy now. I can't remember if I saw ties. I think some of the residents wore ties.

 

[BigBadBix]

I've been to one pre-interview dinner so far, and none of the guys wore jackets. All wore collared shirts and khakis or slacks. A couple of ladies wore jackets, but you know they're trendy now. I can't remember if I saw ties. I think some of the residents wore ties.

Did you notice how dressy the women seemed? How nice were their pants/shoes? I'll understand if you don't remember but I'm just curious...

 

[jdsmurph]

-dip-stained wife-beater (can see all my tats)
-sagging plumber jeans (no underpants of course)
-old smelly flip-flops (fungal elements a must)
-john deer hat (with the slurpy-straw beer coozies on the sides)
-well-greased fu-man-chu (for catching all those free tasty morsels that fall during the dinner)
-protection

 

[orientedtoself]

Did you notice how dressy the women seemed? How nice were their pants/shoes? I'll understand if you don't remember but I'm just curious...

Oh, I noticed. I'm a chick too. I took a day off to go pre-interview dinner shopping. I wore khakis and a cashmere sweater. People were wearing khakis or nice slacks, sweaters, a couple of blazers. I wore my work shoes. People were dressed like they were going out to a nice restaurant.

 

[coldfeet]

Interviewed at WashU: I wore khakis, dress shirt, dress shoes, no tie.

Saw a couple pairs of jeans with polo shirts, but I think that khakis and a dress shirt was the standard dress for men. Didn't see a single tie...women seemed to wear slacks and a nice blouse, no jacket.

 

[orientedtoself]

Clarification: none of the guys were wearing coats. A couple of ladies wore blazers. Pretty casual, like going on a date. . . hmmm. . .