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Other residents and attendings? Feel free to chime in. As many of you know, I am a resident at a small academic med-peds program. I just wanted to give some quick and dirty advice based on what I've seen at interview days based on my experience both as an applicant and as a resident.
1. The interview dinner matters. It is absolutely not a deal breaker not to attend if you are flying in late. However, in small med-peds programs, the residents often have a say in who makes it to the top of the match list, so if you're around, I would attend. You won't be down-ranked for not attending, but I can say in our review process, the applicants we remember positively from the dinner are ones that go higher on our rank list (or even to the top in some cases). If you didn't show up and/or no one remembers you, you tend to get a more neutral review.
2. If you are given the opportunity to shadow rounds at an institution, listen to every single presentation. If you have questions, ask a resident in between presentations. Don't interfere with workflow as an observer. As an applicant, rounds is not a good time to get noticed.
4. Go out of your way not to offend anyone. Being funny is awesome, but your humor should not make anyone feel bad about themselves or question anyone's life choices. If you're going to make fun of anyone, just be safe and stick to poking fun at yourself. Along that same line, don't speak poorly about other medical professions, medical schools, or residency programs. For example, it's all right to say, "I'm not a big fan of OB/Gyn because I don't love surgery and don't enjoy going to deliveries, and that's one of the reasons I chose med-peds over family medicine," but it is probably not great to say, "Ob/Gyn is an awful field," or "emergency medicine physicians are so incompetent!"
5. Every person you interact with is important and can knock you completely off of the rank list if you are rude, pushy, unkind, or negative. Most people fall somewhere in the middle of the rank list, but those few (and yes, it's very few, but they definitely exist every year!) that piss someone off get pushed to the bottom of the rank list (or even OFF the rank list entirely).
I could write more, but this is my general take. Other questions are welcome.
1. The interview dinner matters. It is absolutely not a deal breaker not to attend if you are flying in late. However, in small med-peds programs, the residents often have a say in who makes it to the top of the match list, so if you're around, I would attend. You won't be down-ranked for not attending, but I can say in our review process, the applicants we remember positively from the dinner are ones that go higher on our rank list (or even to the top in some cases). If you didn't show up and/or no one remembers you, you tend to get a more neutral review.
2. If you are given the opportunity to shadow rounds at an institution, listen to every single presentation. If you have questions, ask a resident in between presentations. Don't interfere with workflow as an observer. As an applicant, rounds is not a good time to get noticed.
4. Go out of your way not to offend anyone. Being funny is awesome, but your humor should not make anyone feel bad about themselves or question anyone's life choices. If you're going to make fun of anyone, just be safe and stick to poking fun at yourself. Along that same line, don't speak poorly about other medical professions, medical schools, or residency programs. For example, it's all right to say, "I'm not a big fan of OB/Gyn because I don't love surgery and don't enjoy going to deliveries, and that's one of the reasons I chose med-peds over family medicine," but it is probably not great to say, "Ob/Gyn is an awful field," or "emergency medicine physicians are so incompetent!"
5. Every person you interact with is important and can knock you completely off of the rank list if you are rude, pushy, unkind, or negative. Most people fall somewhere in the middle of the rank list, but those few (and yes, it's very few, but they definitely exist every year!) that piss someone off get pushed to the bottom of the rank list (or even OFF the rank list entirely).
I could write more, but this is my general take. Other questions are welcome.
