"Do you have any questions for me?"

[emboli]

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I'll admit.. I'm all questioned out. Most of the time, my questions would be answered by a resident or via a presentation.

When an interviewer, PD, or chair ask if I have any questions, I'm always mindful of what I ask. If it's rhetorical question or questions easily answered by some searching, I would avoid it. How far/probing can my question be? Is it okay to ask them about financial situation, probation status, or things along those lines? So far, I've been asking a more benign version of that question (what's one thing you would change with the program?).

I strongly believe that during interviews, there is such a thing as stupid questions. Posing a thoughtful and intelligent question does present me as a knowledgeable/legitimately interested applicant.

Any thoughts???

 

[olemissbabydoc]

My last school did interviews in the afternoon after hours of people answering questions. I was in constant fear of the "do you have any questions " question.

No advice whatsoever. Just thought I'd share in the freak out/misery/annoyance

 

[septoplasty]

This is one of those things that I've encountered a million times so far on the interview trail. EVERY SINGLE person (residency team) asks it and frankly we're out of questions by the morning of the interview.

I guess instead of saying "No, I dont have questions", I just ask random stuff like do you think your program would prepare me well for practice in such and such setting, do you feel there are weaknesses in your program? etc. and then 2-3 questions in, I'd say "nope, all my questions have been answered thus far".

Rinse and repeat, often with different faculty members as well haha.

 

[genswim24]

I have a few key questions that I ask everybody at the end of my interview. I tried to pick non-generic questions that still give me useful information. It works pretty well for the interview portion.

The questions during the tours and during informal gatherings are a little more difficult. I try to ask things about day to day living in the area when I run out of the normal questions about the program itself.

 

[abbaroodle]

I sometimes ask folks what they enjoy about teaching or participating in the residency program or what the PD enjoys most about running his or her program. Its not the most profound, but I definitely did not get stock answers so I dont think its been asked a hundred times....yet!

 

[PTPoeny]

I always ask one question when someone asks me if I have any questions. I have found asking my interview if they are professionally satisfied with the institution has gotten some interesting replies. Or depending on the interviewer I ask what is there personal policy on when they give a resident the first chance at a procedure over a fellow.

 

[DrAwsome]

My last school did interviews in the afternoon after hours of people answering questions. I was in constant fear of the "do you have any questions " question.

No advice whatsoever. Just thought I'd share in the freak out/misery/annoyance

I personally had the same set of 3-4 questions for just about every interview. If they asked me if I had questions more than that, then I would say something along the lines of I think everyone has done a great job of answering all my questions otherwise.

but make sure you have some decent generic questions. More than 3 is bothersome I've noticed in my experience, less than 3 might come across as disinterested.

Things that make sense to ask: any big changes in the program that will impact it in the future? what do you look for in a resident/fellow, etc? how do residents match in *insert fellowship/job* whatever?

 

[FutureInternist]

I would usually ask Qs related to their research (if they mentioned in the interview)
Another way I would do it is reference something the residents had said regarding the program & ask something related to that
"The residents were mentioning that there are opportunities to do electives in Rheum and Endo, do you know if Allergy/Immunology will be an option soon"

To me this shows your interest in the program, you listened to what the residents said about the program etc

Good Luck

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I personally feel it's a pretty bogus question. I only use it when I get totally bored talking to someone and run out of real things to talk about. (But don't read much into that, many people use it as a staple question)

Interestingly, I was interviewing someone recently and literally 1 minute into the interview they said "I have a bunch of questions....". It was kinda weird.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I personally feel it's a pretty bogus question. I only use it when I get totally bored talking to someone and run out of real things to talk about. (But don't read much into that, many people use it as a staple question)

Interestingly, I was interviewing someone recently and literally 1 minute into the interview they said "I have a bunch of questions....". It was kinda weird.

Interesting

To be fair, I'd say the majority of my "interviews" with program directors have been more chats almost specifically designed to give the applicant a final chance to ask any questions (as well as give the PD a chance to meet with all/most applicants personally to get a feel for them). I probably wouldn't go into the PD's office and ASSUME that's what's going on, but that's all I can think of what might have happened there...

 

[septoplasty]

Yea, I second GoSpursGo's experience.

Talking to all the PD's thus far has been the most relaxed conversations possible. I'd say getting interviewed by "ancillary" staff (psychologists, behavioral therapists etc.) had been far more "intense".

🙄

Also, aProgDirector

Can you weigh in on the significance of asking a clinical scenario case during an interview?

I was asked, I felt I got to the correct diagnosis (at least a bunch of us got the same thing) in a structured manner.

Are the USMLEs not enough to prove our worthiness?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

If the PD meets with everyone individually at the end of the day, then I agree that being asked if you have any questions is a very normal event.

I'm probably only adding to the insanity of the season with my above post. Most interviewers that ask you if you have any questions are doing so in a completely benign, harmless way. Don't panic!

For the clinical scenario, I'm not sure I can tell you for sure. We don't do that (for the most part). I expect that may be done more in programs that interview IMG's. In any case, I expect it doesn't really matter if you get the "right" answer. In fact, there may not be a right answer. They are mostly looking at your way of thinking through a clinical problem. In some foreign countries, as a junior learner you basically submit to whatever your attendings tell you to do / think, and are not supposed to think for yourself. Clinical cases can help separate those who can clinically reason on their own, present their thoughts logically, and then respond to challenges appropriately. The actual answer may not matter, instead the way you get to the answer does.

 

[McPoyle]

I had one interviewer lead out with that question... Man was that irritating, caught me totally by surprise so I tried to bs a question I had asked the residents earlier..

 

[C5toC9]

Is it a good sign if you get to interview with the PD, or is it random?

 

[K31]

Is it a good sign if you get to interview with the PD, or is it random?

I've been told we should consider it a red flag about the program if we don't meet individually with the PD. This is for EM, where most interview days are a dozen or so applicants. I don't know if other specialties tend to do larger groups where it's not logistically possible for the PD to meet with every single one.

 

[Law2Doc]

I had one interviewer lead out with that question... Man was that irritating, caught me totally by surprise so I tried to bs a question I had asked the residents earlier..

This isn't uncommon, I've had cases where the entire interview was based on the interviewees questions and not vice versa. So you need to have more than 1-2 questions or the interview will be two minutes long. You can reuse the same questions with different people, get a different perspective.

 

[Law2Doc]

I've been told we should consider it a red flag about the program if we don't meet individually with the PD. This is for EM, where most interview days are a dozen or so applicants. I don't know if other specialties tend to do larger groups where it's not logistically possible for the PD to meet with every single one.

This depends totally on the number of interviews the program is doing. If a place is having eg 10 interview days of a dozen people each, it's reasonable for the PD to only meet individually with some and have assistant PDs meet with others. I wouldn't call it a red flag. The PD has a job apart from this, remember.

 

[shan564]

Is it a good sign if you get to interview with the PD, or is it random?

At most of the interviews I've been to, the PD interviewed every candidate.

 

[emboli]

During those mingle sessions with residents, I assumed it would be totally appropriate to ask about the day to day floor schedule (aka "when are signouts"), golden weekends, weekend schedule, coverage/swapping calls, etc?

I'm pretty sure I didn't present myself as a slacker, but I genuinely believe those are legitimate questions. But really, those are okay questions to ask right?

 

[twright]

During those mingle sessions with residents, I assumed it would be totally appropriate to ask about the day to day floor schedule (aka "when are signouts"), golden weekends, weekend schedule, coverage/swapping calls, etc?

I'm pretty sure I didn't present myself as a slacker, but I genuinely believe those are legitimate questions. But really, those are okay questions to ask right?

Totally fair game and appropriate!

 

[Law2Doc]

During those mingle sessions with residents, I assumed it would be totally appropriate to ask about the day to day floor schedule (aka "when are signouts"), golden weekends, weekend schedule, coverage/swapping calls, etc?

I'm pretty sure I didn't present myself as a slacker, but I genuinely believe those are legitimate questions. But really, those are okay questions to ask right?

As with many interview questions, there is a right way and a wrong way of asking these questions. If you can ask it in a way that doesn't sound like you are asking "how many hours will I be expected to work?" then go for it. If it comes off that way, it won't be viewed as legitimate. For instance I sure wouldn't ask how many golden weekends you get, or whether you can swap calls ( this is typically done informally and as a Program may not even be condoned), but you could certainly ask them to expand upon the typical call schedule structure, and the format of sign outs.

 

[greg1184]

This is one of those things that I've encountered a million times so far on the interview trail. EVERY SINGLE person (residency team) asks it and frankly we're out of questions by the morning of the interview.

I guess instead of saying "No, I dont have questions", I just ask random stuff like do you think your program would prepare me well for practice in such and such setting, do you feel there are weaknesses in your program? etc. and then 2-3 questions in, I'd say "nope, all my questions have been answered thus far".

Rinse and repeat, often with different faculty members as well haha.

They know that you run out of questions. In fact many of the residents and even attendings say so, "I know that many people have already said that". I usually just tell them that they have been great and answer all of my questions throughout the day. I may throw in some universal questions I can ask all such as: "what is your favorite part of the program?".

 

[FutureInternist]

You should probably have Qs "worthy" of the person ?whom you are asking
Asking a PD about sign-outs would likely be not well-received, but asking him about fellowship opportunities, research etc would

You can also ask the person to expand on something someone else has said, which shows you were actually paying attention to those god-awful "here's why you should choose us" presentations

 

[thecampuslegend]

I had a buddy who went in to be interviewed.....the interviewer started of by asking, "do you have any questions?" my buddy said no....and the interviewer said, "okay, thank you for your time and that was the end of the interview." i assume that not having any questions prepared shows a lack of interest into the program, but clearly this was an extreme situation.