Getting scared!

[jeff2005]

---

Members don't see this ad.

OK, I'm starting to panic about my interviews. At one program I have 4 faculty interviews in a row! What are they going to ask me? 😱

 

[yaah]

Get used to this question: "Do you have any questions for me?"

If future interviewees know nothing else, know that THAT QUESTION will be the one which will be asked the most. Think of lots of questions. Path interviews are generally (some interviewers are a bit more challenging) very friendly, low key, and somewhat informal. Some interviews, seriously, began with "What questions do you have for me?" and required me to keep coming up with questions for a half hour or more. Generally the answers will not be brief, but still, you need a few questions.

I had 8 faculty interviews at one place. 4 in a row is pretty standard. The fewest in one day I had was 5.

Common other questions:
Tell me about yourself.
Tell me about your interest in pathology.
What are your goals from residency?
What are you looking for in a residency program?
Why this program?
What is the air speed velocity of a fully laden swallow?

 

[deschutes]

Thanks yaah.

"Interviews," my faculty advisor would say, "are a performance."

Really, I think for the most part the key is to enjoy yourself and it will go swell.
If you like meeting people and are genuinely interested in what they do, it shows.

I heard that for other specialties they ask about your most challenging patient encounter. Any equivalent of that in path? 😉

 

[b&ierstiefel]

What is the air speed velocity of a fully laden swallow?

African or European swallow?

"I dunno....AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

 

[Zoloft]

I have heard many programs talk alot of BS when on the interview trail. What do you think about this? Like sending you letters in the mail post interview, which don't mean anything.

 

[Doctor B.]

OK, I'm starting to panic about my interviews. At one program I have 4 faculty interviews in a row! What are they going to ask me? 😱

I have written something about this on my website here:

http://pathinfo.blogspot.com/

Great Python references by the way!

 

[pathdawg]

OK, I'm starting to panic about my interviews. At one program I have 4 faculty interviews in a row! What are they going to ask me? 😱

Believe me when I say this: You are interviewing them more than they are interviewing you.
You have nothing to worry about.

 

[yaah]

I have heard many programs talk alot of BS when on the interview trail. What do you think about this? Like sending you letters in the mail post interview, which don't mean anything.

I wouldn't say the post interview letters don't mean anything. The program likes you enough to send it out. There are different degrees of letters. Some will simply say, "thank you for interviewing, please contact us if we can be of further assistance." Others will say, "You are a strong and qualified candidate and we would feel lucky to have you match with us and you will make an excellent pathologist and by the way, you're really attractive and have you lost weight? We have included this $1000 cash in unmarked bills that you accidentally dropped on the way out."

I don't think also that there is lots of BS, necessarily. There is some glossing over of important points, or focusing on things that aren't that important. You do have to distill it. If a program has a strong selling point it is generally something that multiple people will tell you about. Every program is obviously going to put their best face on for the interview day. But they don't want people coming there who find out they are unhappy and misinformed.

You shouldn't be swayed necessarily by a letter (or a phone call) from a program. But it does tell you that they care enough about quality resident education to attempt to recruit their best candidates. The converse is not necessarily true, but you should pay attention during the interview day.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Getting post-interview letters is nice and all but ultimately you will be ranking programs based on where YOU want to end up and on where you think you'll be happy.

I doubt any programs will bother to write negative post-interview letters such as: "Please don't rank us", "You looked fat in that suit", or "Please look elsewhere for your residency training." If they didn't like, they probably just won't rank ya right?

If they really liked you, they might send you a laudatory letter. Great! However, if I get such letters, I'll still take them with a grain of salt. From talking to my (real) classmates who matched in 2002, I've heard of plenty of stories where people ranked programs based on these letters or "assurances" from program directors that they would rank the student highly...and the student ended getting screwed.

 

[garfield]

It is true our program does write post-interview letters only to those that the program thought especially highly of. But there are probably plenty of programs who may just send the letters to everyone. So, to echo Andy, take it with a grain of salt. Truly, it is best to rank the programs based on where you want to be/where you'll be happy... don't try to guess how the programs will rank you. It'll be the best for all concerned.

 

[RyMcQ]

It is important to interview that the programs have as much riding on getting good applicants as you do getting into a good program. If your interview is adversarial, you may want to consider that a red flag.

 

[Doctor B.]

I can't stress enough what Garfield and Andy said: rank where YOU want to go, not just where you think you will get in. This is a big decision so you want to rank only those programs you will be happy at.

 

[deschutes]

Any thoughts on running a mock interview?

I don't have my copy of Iserson's with me so I do not really know what I am pre-emptively striking against. It just sounds like a good idea.

 

[yaah]

If you are the sort of person who would benefit from a mock interview, by all means. But as I say about many topics, there are two kinds of people in the world: Those that would benefit from a mock interview and those that wouldn't.

I fall into the latter category. I can't fake it like that. Sure, I could do a mock interview but it isn't going to give me any more confidence or help me prepare anymore. At that point in my life I had interviewed for high school, college, med school, plus different committees and such along the way. The only thing a mock interview was going to give me was, perhaps, some of the questions that I hadn't thought of. And frankly that felt like a waste of time. There will still be occasional questions that throw you off, but that's the point of interviews. If everything is expected and goes to plan, what fun is it? I guess I'm just sort of a person who does better just winging things. Like when I wrote papers in college, the first draft was always the best.

But look - preparing for that debate last thursday didn't really help GWB that much, now did it?

 

[b&ierstiefel]

If you are the sort of person who would benefit from a mock interview, by all means. But as I say about many topics, there are two kinds of people in the world: Those that would benefit from a mock interview and those that wouldn't.

I fall into the latter category. I can't fake it like that. Sure, I could do a mock interview but it isn't going to give me any more confidence or help me prepare anymore. At that point in my life I had interviewed for high school, college, med school, plus different committees and such along the way. The only thing a mock interview was going to give me was, perhaps, some of the questions that I hadn't thought of. And frankly that felt like a waste of time. There will still be occasional questions that throw you off, but that's the point of interviews. If everything is expected and goes to plan, what fun is it? I guess I'm just sort of a person who does better just winging things. Like when I wrote papers in college, the first draft was always the best.

But look - preparing for that debate last thursday didn't really help GWB that much, now did it?

Oh man, if mock interviews weren't your thing, what were your thoughts on similated patient encounters (if you med school had them)? Personally, I can't pretend that these patients are FAKE! And I can't even take them all that seriously...even their feedback.

I never prepared for these mock patient exercises either. It was against my very being to prepare for something that was so fake. Like you I would just wing it and hope for the best. Then it was feedback time where I would get lots of, "You have good people skills and you're nice...but you don't seem to know much about ______ (e.g., hospice care)." And my brain shuts off and all I think is, "For the love of God, just say I passed and let me go!"

 

[deschutes]

If you are the sort of person who would benefit from a mock interview, by all means... At that point in my life I had interviewed for high school, college, med school, plus different committees and such along the way.

Thanks. That pretty much convinces me!

It's less a "sort of person" thing than a "lack of experience" thing. I've run into oh, two formal interviews in my life? I guess I'd sooner give my good old dependable prof yet another something to laugh about than to make an avoidable mistake at the first interview.

You had a high school entrance interview??? 😱

 

[yaah]

You had a high school entrance interview??? 😱

Yup. My high school can be found
here. Feel free to make fun of me. My high school counts as "distinguished alumni" such luminaries as President Bush #1, President Bush #2, and others. 🙄

And Andy - simulated patient encounters are an abomination. The less said the better.

 

[deschutes]

Feel free to make fun of me. My high school counts as "distinguished alumni" such luminaries as President Bush #1, President Bush #2, and others. 🙄

Not to mention Dr. Ackerman! (- and that's going to be the last on-topic remark that I can think of!)

Make fun of you? There's a whole lotta pre-empting going on...
Andover has very nice grass! Almost worthy of bare feet.
I'm sure half the significance of the name and location is lost on me though.

Who made the public vs. private decision?

~
My high school has a website! It didn't when I left.

It was an all-girls' school (you can laugh now!)
We wore uniforms and had short hair. Quite the boot camp. Medium of instruction was one of 3 languages, predominantly Mandarin Chinese.
With the result that when I was 15, I could name the cellular organelles in 3 languages.

That is all in the past.

 

[yaah]

Andover is one half of the Philips Academy schools. The other being Exeter. People who go to Exeter say Exeter is more famous. People who go to Andover say Andover is more famous. Whatever.

Yes, nice grass there. The graduation ceremony was actually an amazing thing. We were led in by a bagpipe bang. Fantastic.

 

[LADoc00]

Andover is one half of the Philips Academy schools. The other being Exeter. People who go to Exeter say Exeter is more famous. People who go to Andover say Andover is more famous. Whatever.

Yes, nice grass there. The graduation ceremony was actually an amazing thing. We were led in by a bagpipe bang. Fantastic.

What class did you graduated from Andover in?

This is too spooky
😱

 

[yaah]

1995. The same year the english dep't chair was arrested for child porn, I believe, or perhaps that was 1996. Either way, I finished in 1995.

I was but a humble day student. The only times I have been back since were for my sister's graduation and the couple of times I drove by it on the way from my parents' house to Worcester. There is a new science building that puts most colleges to shame.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

The principal at my high school was in a lawsuit for sexual harassment the year after I graduated in 1994. Apparently, he had been having an affair with one of the secretaries in the office. Interestingly, her son was a friend of mine since junior high. I knew something was up when I went over to his house and saw the principal there. Andy's like, "Um...WTF?...Ohhhhh...you sneaky little bastard "

Anyways, don't remember the outcome of the lawsuit but apparently he moved to North Carolina and became a principal there. What a world we live in!