How Bad To Not Rank Candidates

[rocknhardplace]

Hi all:

I would like to ask those on the other side of the table (Residency Program Directors or Current Residents who interview incoming residents.)


In your experience, how often do you not rank candidates? How bad of a "screw up" the candidates must do for you not to rank them?

I had an interview two days ago. It was quite short. No clinical questions, just "personality" of interview. I think I screwed it up very bad and losing sleep over it. 🙁((

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[KARM12]

Hi all:

I would like to ask those on the other side of the table (Residency Program Directors or Current Residents who interview incoming residents.)


In your experience, how often do you not rank candidates? How bad of a "screw up" the candidates must do for you not to rank them?

I had an interview two days ago. It was quite short. No clinical questions, just "personality" of interview. I think I screwed it up very bad and losing sleep over it. 🙁((

If you want an honest answer.....It depends on a lot of factors...we will end up not ranking 1/5-1/4 of the candidates that we interview. Where I did my residency, they only ranked about half of the people they interviewed. I also know places that rank all or most of the candidates they interview.

There are a lot of factors that go into this decision. Some people just seem like they won't fit well based on your interaction with them and the goals of the program. I look at the qualities I've seen in past residents that made them successful or struggle. I look at how well I think I could see that person working with our teams and incorporating them into the department initiatives. Some candidates seem uninterested, uninformed, arrogant, or are just too much/too little personality to do well in our program. It also depends on how comfortable the program is with scrambling...we've had good luck in the post match in yrs past, often times getting better residents than had applied to our program originally.

 

[rocknhardplace]

Thank you, Karm12:

I wish I don't have to wait until March 21 to see the results. It is killing me slowly.

 

[MustLoveDrugs]

You're going to be your toughest critic no matter how well you perform in the interview. Ever think you bombed a test then ended up passing it? Yeah, same concept. I thought I screwed up an interview question at the site where I ended up matching. Turns out, it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Just breathe and try to focus on other things. I hate to say it, but there's nothing you can do about it now - send a nice thank-you note, reiterate why you belong there, and wait for the match results.

To add to what Karm said, some programs have a policy where they won't rank someone if even 1 interviewer says "no" to them. It happened to a girl I interviewed with at a site - both ended up scrambling. When she contacted them about possibly scrambling into their program, they told her that they wouldn't let her because 1 of the interviewers had given her a negative review, which eliminated her from their rank list and from the possibility of scrambling there. Just depends on the program.

 

[rocknhardplace]

You're going to be your toughest critic no matter how well you perform in the interview. Ever think you bombed a test then ended up passing it? Yeah, same concept. I thought I screwed up an interview question at the site where I ended up matching. Turns out, it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Just breathe and try to focus on other things. I hate to say it, but there's nothing you can do about it now - send a nice thank-you note, reiterate why you belong there, and wait for the match results.

To add to what Karm said, some programs have a policy where they won't rank someone if even 1 interviewer says "no" to them. It happened to a girl I interviewed with at a site - both ended up scrambling. When she contacted them about possibly scrambling into their program, they told her that they wouldn't let her because 1 of the interviewers had given her a negative review, which eliminated her from their rank list and from the possibility of scrambling there. Just depends on the program.

Thank you.

 

[bananaface]

This is the first year I have participated in the ranking process for a site, but I suspect that the % of interviewees ranked is pretty variable by site and year. It depends on how many people the program finds to be unsuitable or a poor fit in the interview, whether or not they opt to rank people who are decent candidates but not really outstanding, and how many people they interview relative to how many they feel they need to rank in order to match. Dropouts also come into play. Sometimes you hear about those and end up not ranking people who have notified you of their intent to take a position elsewhere.

My site would still have a ton of really great candidates who didn't have us on their radar before available if we had to scramble. But, we are definitely not wanting to wait until the scramble to find someone.

Accredited sites should have pre-selected evaluation criteria for their candidates. Rank order should not be solely a matter of personality. Ranking criteria need to be documented and applied fairly so that they can be legally defensible. Personality and fit can and should count. But, even if the interview itself was fairly laid back, I am sure they were also looking at other stuff, such as letters, transcripts, motivation, and your personal goals and interests.

Is there a specific occurrence that you think red flagged you, or do you just feel that you didn't shine for them? Any word on how long other candidates' interviews were at that site?

 

[KARM12]

If you don't have any red flags and were decent, in my program, we probably ranked you...even if you didn't stand out.

Those who stood out in a good way were probably ranked higher. Those who stood out in a bad way were not ranked at all. Those who did okay were ranked, but towards the end.

 

[all4urx]

What kinds of things applicants did during the interview that really made them stand out? A good public speaker might not be the smartest kid and vice versa. Do other things like GPA, experience, good CV, LORs, etc. still have an impact? guess I'm just curious of how the programs reason out their rank list.

 

[bananaface]

Enthusiasm, interests which fit the offerings of the site, good communication skills, a reasonably laid back attitude (not all high strung or uptight), friendly personality, an ability to connect with our patient population, personal connection to some of the practice issues we encounter, motivation related to that personal connection, and career aspirations which would be furthered by completion of the program.

 

[Dalteparin]

So, rocknhardplace, how did Match Day go?

 

[confettiflyer]

i always wonder how surprised directors/current residents feel when a stellar paper app walks through the door and he/she has the personality of a rock.

 

[bananaface]

Disappointed. Rocks make painful interviewees.