Expectations for Army Ortho interviews?

[HOOAH]

Hello all,

I am getting ready to start rotating through a few Ortho locations and I will try to interview at these sites while I am there. I will be at Gordon, Tripler, and Madigan. I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of what these interviews are like? Questions asked and things of that nature. I am also under the impression that class B uniforms are required for interviews, would it be in my best interest to wear class A instead? And last but not least, how are phone interviews looked at? I just don't have time to rotate through all the sites or even travel to them for interviews. Thanks alot.

Allen

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[Thomas90]

Hello all,

I am getting ready to start rotating through a few Ortho locations and I will try to interview at these sites while I am there. I will be at Gordon, Tripler, and Madigan. I was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of what these interviews are like? Questions asked and things of that nature. I am also under the impression that class B uniforms are required for interviews, would it be in my best interest to wear class A instead? And last but not least, how are phone interviews looked at? I just don't have time to rotate through all the sites or even travel to them for interviews. Thanks alot.

Allen

I wore (and so did almost all other students) Class As during interviews at the end of the rotation. Most of the attendings were in scrubs and we caught them when they had a free minute during the last week. Questions during the interview were typical, and they might ask something from your resume that looks interesting. As you might predict, they think of the entire rotation as an interview, and most guys commented on how they thought it went. Netter's Anatomy is the only book I would bring if I had to do it again. Tripler recommends Essentials of M/S care, but I think it's expensive, and most of the info you can get from Wheeless online or from residents' books. I can only speak from what I saw and heard, but phone interviews are generally considered reasonable. One guy a few years ahead of me flew down to San Antonio for a long weekend, and did all the remaining interviews by phone (aside from the places he rotated). Good luck!

 

[colbgw02]

Definitely wear your Class As; wearing your Class Bs isn't something worth leaving to chance.

Most PDs don't seem to mind phone interviews. They understand that it's part of the system for a reason. Of the 4 programs in my specialty, I was given the following interview advice:

Choice 1: Month rotation with interview/Interview in person
Choice 2: Interview in person/Phone interview
Choice 3: Phone interview/Interview in person
Choice 4: No interview/Phone interview

Obviously, there are many factors involved, and ortho, at least in the civilian world, is notorious for only taking folks who've rotated for a full month.

If you're sure of where you want to be, then get some idea of your competitiveness from an approachable program director. If he/she is fairly confident that you'll match in your top (enter number here), then you could potentially save some money on interviewing/rotating costs.