Ever chosen to not rank a site because of other candidates on interview day?

[emayhem]

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I just had an interview at Boston University which I really enjoyed, but had a horrible experience with another candidate. There were four of us and during the resident lunch one girl monopolized the entire conversation to the point that I only asked one question and the guy to my side asked two. The things she kept talking about were completely inane too. I think the residents got the feeling I wasn't interested in the program because my natural taciturnity took over (my own fault).

I really liked the program, but the prospect of potentially spending four years at the same program with this woman scares me; particularly since there are only two residency slots. She made it pretty clear that she wants to be able to stay in Boston for family reasons. Anyone else ever experienced something like this? I'm just curious what other people think about it.

 

[deleted87716]

I don't see the problem. If she drove you nuts, don't you imagine that she drove the interviewers nuts, too? You're interviewing the program, not the other candidates. Sounds like you missed an opportunity to shine.

 

[TheCellarDoor]

One of my med school interviews was like this- and this person ended up in my class. Luckily there are over 100 people in my class so I can usually ignore this guy (he is... very strange and annoying).

But you're looking at a much smaller situation. I guess my best advice would be to think about the personalities of the residents who were already in the program because I've found that some residency programs have a collective "personality". Do you think that this woman would fit into the program better than you? If so, she might rank to match here.

I don't know, I would still rank the program if I liked other stuff about it. Worse comes to worse and it's the two of you in your class- can you ignore her a little bit? Maybe she was super nervous and normally isn't as crazy?

Good luck!!! I wouldn't stress about it too much, and I wouldn't avoid the whole Boston area to try to avoid her. The chances are probably low that you'll both end up here anyway.

 

[Mr hawkings]

I

I really liked the program, but the prospect of potentially spending four years at the same program with this woman scares me; particularly since there are only two residency slots. it.

Maybe this is why. She may have some very special reason for needing to match at that program and may have felt pressured knowing that only two spots are available.

 

[peppy]

Almost the exact same thing happened at one of my interviews. I didn't let it influence my rank list at all.
You don't know what annoying people interviewed at your other places that you didn't know about.
I'd imagine in most places that the girl's behavior would get her dropped lower down the rank list (I know at my residency program we residents would likely pass along a comment to the program coordinator about how she seemed too socially inept to realize that she should let others talk).
Unless you think that BU is somehow more likely to find annoying people appealing and rank them higher than most places would, I wouldn't worry about this girl. You really won't know if you'll like your co-residents or not until you meet them at orientation.

 

[psychphan]

I just had an interview at Boston University which I really enjoyed, but had a horrible experience with another candidate. There were four of us and during the resident lunch one girl monopolized the entire conversation to the point that I only asked one question and the guy to my side asked two. The things she kept talking about were completely inane too. I think the residents got the feeling I wasn't interested in the program because my natural taciturnity took over (my own fault).

I really liked the program, but the prospect of potentially spending four years at the same program with this woman scares me; particularly since there are only two residency slots. She made it pretty clear that she wants to be able to stay in Boston for family reasons. Anyone else ever experienced something like this? I'm just curious what other people think about it.

Who's to say you wouldn't rank a different program cause you wanted to avoid her and she ended up at that other program with you! I have no one whom I interviewed with at my program but two people I interviewed with at different places (one on the complete other side of the country) end up with me here. Now I like both these people so Im not in your predicament. I guess bottom line is, I wouldn't base my rank link on other applicants cause you never know who will end up where.

 

[coolv]

There are too many variables involved in both of you matching to the same program. Depends on your rank order list, the other person's ROL and the program's ROL. If I were you I wouldn't let that experience effect my ROL. GL.

 

[45408]

Imagine that place is your top choice, but you decide not to rank it, and you rank into your next highest choice.

Now imagine that this girl ranked your program as well and matched into it with you. You could have been at the program you liked but didn't rank, but now you're at your second choice with the person you were trying to avoid.

 

[deleted497653]

Imagine that place is your top choice, but you decide not to rank it, and you rank into your next highest choice.

Now imagine that this girl ranked your program as well and matched into it with you. You could have been at the program you liked but didn't rank, but now you're at your second choice with the person you were trying to avoid.

Then it's fate lol

Or one angel up there doesn't like you..

 

[Top Gun]

Bad idea to not rank a residency program just because someone who annoyed you interviewed there. In the first place, you don't know where you'll end up, or what other programs the other candidate interviewed at. Assuming you didn't rank this program, you could still end up at another program with the same annoying candidate, depending on what programs s/he ranked. Second, even if the above scenario doesn't happen, you could be missing out on a great educational experience offered by the program you interviewed at, and end up somewhere where you're miserable, even if the other candidate didn't match there. You really need to think about whether ending up at a different program would be worth it in the long run.

And incidentally, you don't really know the other candidate that well. Maybe she just appeared toolish that day because she was nervous or whatever. How do you know you didn't misjudge her? If you two did end up at the same program, you could end up getting to know her, and finding out she is a great person after all.

 

[Socrates25]

I just had an interview at Boston University which I really enjoyed, but had a horrible experience with another candidate. There were four of us and during the resident lunch one girl monopolized the entire conversation to the point that I only asked one question and the guy to my side asked two. The things she kept talking about were completely inane too. I think the residents got the feeling I wasn't interested in the program because my natural taciturnity took over (my own fault).

I really liked the program, but the prospect of potentially spending four years at the same program with this woman scares me; particularly since there are only two residency slots. She made it pretty clear that she wants to be able to stay in Boston for family reasons. Anyone else ever experienced something like this? I'm just curious what other people think about it.

I wouldnt trust anything she says. She's probably telling every location that she wants to stay there for family reasons. She's probably lying thru her teeth anyways about her true intentions. Perhaps she really does want to stay in Boston, but given her character I wouldnt base a major decision like rank list based on what she said. All applicants have an incentive to lie at program interviews and tell everyone that they want to stay in that city.

 

[gutonc]

FWIW, if I had chosen not to rank a program for this reason, I would have been down to 6 programs out of the 16 I interviewed at.

Same annoying person, doing the exact same s**t you describe, interviewed at 10 different programs on the same days I did. I heard her tell the PDs of 5 different programs, in 3 different time zones that she really wanted to go there because that's where her family was.

Rank programs the way you want...the end.

 

[dragonfly99]

I wouldnt trust anything she says. She's probably telling every location that she wants to stay there for family reasons. She's probably lying thru her teeth anyways about her true intentions. Perhaps she really does want to stay in Boston, but given her character I wouldnt base a major decision like rank list based on what she said. All applicants have an incentive to lie at program interviews and tell everyone that they want to stay in that city.

that's actually a good point...this happens at med school interviews also.

 

[Anon212]

I find the "my family is here" argument to be really frustrating. I am constantly asked about "ties to the region" on my interviews and I always find it really strange. The only family I have is in the NYC area- and while I love them, I feel absolutely no need to be near them for residency. In fact, if anything it's a con for those programs because I've been there, done that and my family tends to try to monopolize my time a lot when I'm around. Because of it, I applied to some NYC programs but a ton in totally different parts of the country.
So whenever I'm asked about where my family is, I give a schpeal about how they're on the East coast, but really I don't feel the need to live there, etc etc. About half the people I tell this to argue with me- of course you'll want to stay by your family, wouldn't it be nice to have them around, etc. The NYC programs are all "oh great, so you can have your people around". It really plays no part in my decision-making process. I'm old enough that I don't need my mom to do my laundry or buy my groceries. But for some reason, I keep being penalized for it in all programs outside of the tri-state area. Why is that?

 

[fizzle]

FWIW, if I had chosen not to rank a program for this reason, I would have been down to 6 programs out of the 16 I interviewed at.

Same annoying person, doing the exact same s**t you describe, interviewed at 10 different programs on the same days I did. I heard her tell the PDs of 5 different programs, in 3 different time zones that she really wanted to go there because that's where her family was.

Rank programs the way you want...the end.

To be fair, she could have still been telling the truth, especially if she has a large extended family spread across the country (not unusual) and chose to apply only to programs where they were.

 

[45408]

And incidentally, you don't really know the other candidate that well. Maybe she just appeared toolish that day because she was nervous or whatever. How do you know you didn't misjudge her? If you two did end up at the same program, you could end up getting to know her, and finding out she is a great person after all.

This too. One guy appeared to be a eager beaver/gunner at one of my med school interviews, and he turned up in my med school class. He was actually a very cool guy who was quite the goof. I later teased him about how he came off at the other interview, and he just said he had been super nervous.