How I Judge PD's

[clement]

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[atsai3]

I'm probably not just speaking for myself when I say that I sorta gauge a PD's bend by resident personalities. I think residents create an overall "theme" at programs and you get a good vibe for whether the PD would take you, if all else were equal. Surely the nicer, outgoing residents self-select when it comes to being the one to represent the group and show applicants around, so it's not always easy to say...But if a PD is nice and his/her residents come off as majorly arrogant, then I def pick up on that discrepancy. This is usually most evident at those programs where I get the vibe that some applicants are invited just to cushion the rank list to avoid going unfilled. Makes me wonder if some places really do have a rank in mind for you before they even meet you and whether the interview won't change much, just fills a "I interviewed them" quota?

Based on my knowledge of the process at 4 programs in two different specialties, I would guess that program directors at most programs don't give applicants a predefined rank prior to interview day. But that is very different from saying that they are keeping a blank slate. Some posters on SDN seem to think or hope that the interview is the great equalizer and that once you are invited for an interview you are on equal footing with all of the other interviewees. That's kind of like wishing for "full resurrection" grading, which is what my undergraduate chemistry class was like: no matter how poorly you did on interim & midterm exams, homework, and class participation, your grade on the final could fully resurrect your overall grade. In the context of applying for residency programs, that would be a stupid policy. Clearly someone with a more competitive application package (better grades, better board scores, better letters, etc) is going to receive greater consideration than someone with a less competitive application package (worse grades, worse board scores, worse letters, etc). However, this is not deterministic -- it's not like the interview counts for nothing. For example, interviews may help us weed out personality-disordered applicants, applicants who have problems with impulse control, applicants whose scores/publications/letters may poorly reflect reality, etc. But I should reiterate that someone with a more competitive application package is going to receive greater consideration than someone with a less competitive application package.

-AT.