Facial Hair

[Prof Moriarty]

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Got kind of a silly question, but I figure better safe than sorry...

What's the deal with facial hair for a med student / residency applicant, in terms of making a first impression on program directors, interviewers, residents, etc... Acceptable or not?

I'm talking a well-groomed beard, goatee, or mustache. Everything else (haircut, attire, etc) totally professional.

Would this make a bad first impression? No impression one way or the other? Is there a regional bias on this sort of thing?

 

[Bertelman]

 

[coprolalia]

You should go in sporting the Tom Selleck Magnum PI moustache...

OF COURSE... you'd probably wind up looking like this.... in which case good luck...

-copro

 

[Trisomy13]

Got kind of a silly question, but I figure better safe than sorry...

What's the deal with facial hair for a med student / residency applicant, in terms of making a first impression on program directors, interviewers, residents, etc... Acceptable or not?

I'm talking a well-groomed beard, goatee, or mustache. Everything else (haircut, attire, etc) totally professional.

Would this make a bad first impression? No impression one way or the other? Is there a regional bias on this sort of thing?

it depends.

are you male or female?

 

[Prof Moriarty]

You should go in sporting the Tom Selleck Magnum PI moustache...

If I could do that, we wouldn't even be having this conversation.


But thanks DreamMachine for the one legit piece of advice. That sounds reasonable and I guess in the back of my mind I was wondering if that was the right way to go.

 

[coprolalia]

Just realize that some academic anesthesiology attendings will be the biggest toolbags that you will ever meet in your life. Of course well-groomed facial hair shouldn't matter, but to some of these types it does.

👍

Yes. Think of Ross Perot. You know, the "I'm-never-wrong-everyone-should-listen-to-me" types...

Wait a minute...

"Hey, copro... pot meet kettle?"

(See, you bitches, I can laugh at myself.)

-copro

 

[SleepIsGood]

For interviews...I recommend shaving it off.

I dont personally think it's that big of a deal. However, there are TONS of people that do. So, play it safe.

 

[cchoukal]

Agreed. Your only job right now is to get the best residency you can, not to test just how authentic you can be or how accepting some potential program might be. Stack every deck in your favor. Conservative appearance (from the hair to the tatts to the piercings to the suit) may make you look like everyone else, but straying outside the norm in that regard can only hurt you. For example, you don't hear anyone on this board asking whether they should GROW a beard (or get a tatt, or wear a zoot suit, or whatever) in order to improve their chances in the interview; the question is always phrased as whether it will hurt them. If you already THINK it might, lose it.

That's not to say you should just try to be exactly like every other schlub in the interview cycle. Stand up straight, be courteous and respectful, be INTERESTED in each program (read about each one and have something specific to say/ask about at each program), and be INTERESTING (have something to talk about other than how much you like physiology and pharmacology, even if it's your motorcycle or your travels or something having nothing to do with medicine).

 

[SleepIsGood]

agreed

Agreed. Your only job right now is to get the best residency you can, not to test just how authentic you can be or how accepting some potential program might be. Stack every deck in your favor. Conservative appearance (from the hair to the tatts to the piercings to the suit) may make you look like everyone else, but straying outside the norm in that regard can only hurt you. For example, you don't hear anyone on this board asking whether they should GROW a beard (or get a tatt, or wear a zoot suit, or whatever) in order to improve their chances in the interview; the question is always phrased as whether it will hurt them. If you already THINK it might, lose it.

That's not to say you should just try to be exactly like every other schlub in the interview cycle. Stand up straight, be courteous and respectful, be INTERESTED in each program (read about each one and have something specific to say/ask about at each program), and be INTERESTING (have something to talk about other than how much you like physiology and pharmacology, even if it's your motorcycle or your travels or something having nothing to do with medicine).

 

[cfdavid]

oh, man.....LOL

I'd even throw in another if I wasn't at least 99% sure that dude wasn't mentally challenged.......

 

[cfdavid]

You should go in sporting the Tom Selleck Magnum PI moustache...

OF COURSE... you'd probably wind up looking like this.... in which case good luck...

-copro

I kid you not, I just rotated with a dude from Khazakstan......LOL

He was Russian (dad in military), so it wasn't so "bad", but he was still pretty sensitive when I asked him if he "ever saw Borat".....LOL Actually, he was a really cool guy and good resident.