How important is the interview?

[Ludy]

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I've heard everything from, "Once you're invited to an interview, you have a clean slate -- all applicants are seen as equals at that point," to "Programs have their rank list made up before they interview; the interview is just to make sure you're not psychotic." While the truth is probably somewhere in between, does anyone know how much the interview actually counts?

It seems like most of us are probably friendly, easygoing people (or at least are capable of appearing that way for an 8-hour interview day 😉 ), so I find it hard to believe that rank lists are based primarily on the interview.

 

[rirriri]

what is an interview?!?

 

[Doctor B.]

From a resident's perspective, the interview is very important. Basically, if we (the residents and staff of the program) don't get a good impression of a candidate during the interview day, they will probably not be high on our rank list regardless of CV. The bottom line is, we want someone we can work with.