Fellowship Interview Question

[Neopath]

Will be doing a subspecialty interview in less than 2 weeks and part of the schedule includes a specific time for rounds at the microscope. My hunch is that this is their polite way of saying "be prepared to show us your stuff."

This is fair and not all that unexpected, but let me know your experiences with this sort of thing, particularly if it was for a "moderately" competitive subspecialty. I can't imagine it being me simply observing their daily signout.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[lipomas]

It's probably mostly observational so you can see how they do things. Probably depends on the fellowship subtype. If it's derm they might quiz you. If it's heme or cyto they may be just trying to convince you to come there. But I wouldn't expect to be challenged with the hardest cases of the year.

 

[Dawn1980]

I had a different experience.

When I was interviewing for a GI fellowship, I had slides shown to me at 6 out of 8 interviews and was asked to interpret them (no place provided me with a history, even when I asked). It ranged from day-to-day things (GERD, eosinophilic esophagitis, pancreatic cancer w/neural invasion) to relevantly more rare things (Peutz Jeghers, gastric arteriovenous ectasia). I was not warned about this process ahead of time, but nonetheless, it was fine. I think if you are a good resident and stay current on your diagnostic skills, you'll be fine, too.

 

[sirenomelia]

Friends who matched in derm said it was common to evaluate candidates with slides and test them. My experience (heme) interviews always had slide rounds but they were less quiz-like and more arm-chair, laid back discourse to assess your general knowledge base and thought process to work things up. None of the people I know who did GI said they were pimped.