combined program interviews questions

[clinick82]

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I am a 3rd year interested in doing a combined plastics program, and was talking to a gen surgery resident who also applied to those - he said he was asked to draw pictures of body parts and label the anatomy and was also timed on the speed that he could suture at his interviews.

Is this true? Should I start copying out of my Netter and suturing on grocery meat? Is there anything else that I should be practicing for these interviews?

 

[maxheadroom]

Practice your micro. If you can't do a rat femoral artery in under five minutes, most programs won't even talk to you.

 

[HeadMed]

HAHAHA

This sounds like urban legend. The only way I could see him having to draw was if he claimed to be a great artist.

Why on earth would they ask you to stitch. You aren't interviewing for a prestigious private practice surgery group, you are applying to LEARN how to stitch like a bada$$.

 

[plastikosmd]

well, not so much of a legend, this was of course 7 years ago now. Out of 20 interviews I

1) Carved one bar of soap into a nose
2)3 Places required drawings
- One of just a face
-One of your non-dominant thumb..but you were in the room with 2 interviewers at the time firing questions at you..that was fun..sorta! They collect the drawing at the end to see how you did.
-One was face and profile and hand..you did this before your interviews and right after your visual-spat. test. all were then taken and placed in your file for your interviewers to see
3)3 with visual testing (one above)
4) 3-4 or so pimped, but not to terrible that I can remember 7 years later. Place I matched did hang up a CT for me to read
5) Some really odd and weird questions...how to make people fly etc.
6) One really good argument ..to the point of him standing up and yelling (other candidates were in next room and could hear him!) was about gun control..lotta fun.
Door closes..I sit down..."I am the biggest liberal you will ever meet, what do you think of that?" he says....
"Hello, my name is xxxx and I am a card carrying member of the NRA" I said..
and then it started....

On the trail, places that I did not interview..there were a couple where you go to the OR, possible some suturing there, not sure. At the time the testing seemed to be all the rage, dunno about now

anyway, I would say try to relax and have fun with it, be yourself.

 

[HeadMed]

well, not so much of a legend, this was of course 7 years ago now. Out of 20 interviews I

1) Carved one bar of soap into a nose
2)3 Places required drawings
- One of just a face
-One of your non-dominant thumb..but you were in the room with 2 interviewers at the time firing questions at you..that was fun..sorta! They collect the drawing at the end to see how you did.
-One was face and profile and hand..you did this before your interviews and right after your visual-spat. test. all were then taken and placed in your file for your interviewers to see
3)3 with visual testing (one above)
4) 3-4 or so pimped, but not to terrible that I can remember 7 years later. Place I matched did hang up a CT for me to read
5) Some really odd and weird questions...how to make people fly etc.
6) One really good argument ..to the point of him standing up and yelling (other candidates were in next room and could hear him!) was about gun control..lotta fun.
Door closes..I sit down..."I am the biggest liberal you will ever meet, what do you think of that?" he says....
"Hello, my name is xxxx and I am a card carrying member of the NRA" I said..
and then it started....

On the trail, places that I did not interview..there were a couple where you go to the OR, possible some suturing there, not sure. At the time the testing seemed to be all the rage, dunno about now

anyway, I would say try to relax and have fun with it, be yourself.

Awesome! I am liking this field more and more. Thanks for the heads up that the horror stories this time are legit.

I only imagined this was legend because I have head hundreds of similar type stories back when I was a pre-med: "they make you write out the TCA cycle with structures, names, cofactors, agonists, etc.", "I said I spoke 3 languages so they arranged for me to talk to people that spoke all 3 languages to prove that I could", etc.

 

[pagemmapants]

Wow, I was considering taking some art classes in my "research" year; this pretty much seals the deal!

 

[plastikosmd]

I never got the feeling they were looking for an 'artist.' One was done under direct pressure, the others with time constraints. I would say take art if you like it. They may expect more if you are an 'artist' or one of those that brings your portfolio with you.

 

[deleted144060]

Why on earth would they ask you to stitch. You aren't interviewing for a prestigious private practice surgery group, you are applying to LEARN how to stitch like a bada$$.

As noted in the post by Plastikosmd, a lot of this stuff is to put you off balance and under pressure to see how you're going to react. It doesn't really matter that you can suture like a pro, just that you can do it without getting rattled. The programs are going to make a big investment in someone, and they try all sorts of things to weed out the applicants. That being said, now that I've had some experience on the other end, it really is close to a crap shoot when it's all said and done.

By the way, one of my favorite questions is:

"See that pen on my desk? Prove to me that it's really there.."

--M

 

[pagemmapants]

"See that pen on my desk? Prove to me that it's really there.."
--M

My initial knee-jerk impulse would be to pick it up and throw it at the interviewer. Then I'd clumsily try to justify it by saying "Well since you tried to dodge it, then you obviously believe it's really there, which is as close to proof as one can reasonably expect to get."

Somehow I don't think this would go over well...

 

[Mariah246]

My initial knee-jerk impulse would be to pick it up and throw it at the interviewer. Then I'd clumsily try to justify it by saying "Well since you tried to dodge it, then you obviously believe it's really there, which is as close to proof as one can reasonably expect to get."

Somehow I don't think this would go over well...

Au contraire.

That kind of quick thinking on your feet is likely to net you an instant handshake and acceptance. 😀

 

[...to_the_OR!]

None of my interviews last year had any drawing or carving. Although I know some places did - one in cali and one in texas I think. All my interviews were pretty straight forward - except for the aforementioned "prove to me this is only one pen" question.

 

[Mariah246]

As noted in the post by Plastikosmd, a lot of this stuff is to put you off balance and under pressure to see how you're going to react. It doesn't really matter that you can suture like a pro, just that you can do it without getting rattled. The programs are going to make a big investment in someone, and they try all sorts of things to weed out the applicants. That being said, now that I've had some experience on the other end, it really is close to a crap shoot when it's all said and done.

By the way, one of my favorite questions is:

"See that pen on my desk? Prove to me that it's really there.."

--M

You could always scrawl "WILL I MATCH???" on his/her desk.

Proof positive that the pen exists.

 

[clinick82]

Wow - I am absolutely infuriated at my resident for handing me this bull-****. Thanks for the heads up.

The pen - I'd put it in my bag and say if he wanted it back, it was probably there to begin with.

 

[pagemmapants]

Especially if it was an expensive pen. However, this would be more likely in a private practice setting than an academic setting. . .