How to stand out in an interview?

[studentofsdn]

Just wanna ask a question to quell some interview season anxiety. Theres a residency in my city that I want to attend, I did an away rotation there and got my interview because of it since my step 1 is below their cutoff (they're known to do this for away students). In addition, I got a letter of rec from my attending there. This is a desirable place for me bc of the quality of the program and it being the one place within commuting distance that would allow me to live with my fiancee in an otherwise expensive city. My interview is coming up soon and I wanted to ask is there a way I can make myself stand out any more than I already have to give myself the best shot at this place? Thanks for dealing with my neurotic self and reading this lol.

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[OrthoTraumaMD]

What specialty?


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[studentofsdn]

What specialty?


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Anesthesia

 

[DrSnips]

There's two sides to you, the side we see on paper and the side we see in-person. At this point you can only affect the in-person portion of your candidacy, but make no mistake, this portion matters. We don't want someone in the program with stellar stats if we think they will be difficult to work with. What can you do to stand out in a positive way? Well, imagine the qualities that would give you a positive impression of someone you were meeting for the first time. Did you think they should be articulate, poised, mature, and well-prepared? Should they be interesting to listen to? Passionate about the opportunity and able to express succinctly why it means so much to them? Witty? Appear organized? The list goes on.

In short, if you can name a positive-sounding adjective, we'd certainly appreciate it if you embodied it. There's no shortcut to this, and each interview will play out a bit differently. Keep this in mind -- you should have some loose bullet points for the questions you KNOW you are likely to be asked. Don't rehearse it so many times you sound like a robot. But know that interview day is not the first time you should be thinking about the answers to why you are interested in [your specialty], why you want to go to [institution conducting the interview], what goals you have for your future in medicine, etc.

Being memorable in a good way usually involves being interesting. Do you speak fluent Swahili? Are you a concert-grade contrabassoon player? Do you bake cakes made entirely of ham? It'd certainly be interesting for me to learn what drove you to acquire these unique abilities. Maybe some of the personal characteristics that made you excel in these pursuits will cross-over to making you a better doctor? (*cough hint cough*). Don't try to shoehorn in your uniqueness where it doesn't belong. Be organic.

That last paragraph didn't feel like the perfect end to this post, but I'm tired from typing notes all day, so that'll have to do.

 

[studentofsdn]

There's two sides to you, the side we see on paper and the side we see in-person. At this point you can only affect the in-person portion of your candidacy, but make no mistake, this portion matters. We don't want someone in the program with stellar stats if we think they will be difficult to work with. What can you do to stand out in a positive way? Well, imagine the qualities that would give you a positive impression of someone you were meeting for the first time. Did you think they should be articulate, poised, mature, and well-prepared? Should they be interesting to listen to? Passionate about the opportunity and able to express succinctly why it means so much to them? Witty? Appear organized? The list goes on.

In short, if you can name a positive-sounding adjective, we'd certainly appreciate it if you embodied it. There's no shortcut to this, and each interview will play out a bit differently. Keep this in mind -- you should have some loose bullet points for the questions you KNOW you are likely to be asked. Don't rehearse it so many times you sound like a robot. But know that interview day is not the first time you should be thinking about the answers to why you are interested in [your specialty], why you want to go to [institution conducting the interview], what goals you have for your future in medicine, etc.

Being memorable in a good way usually involves being interesting. Do you speak fluent Swahili? Are you a concert-grade contrabassoon player? Do you bake cakes made entirely of ham? It'd certainly be interesting for me to learn what drove you to acquire these unique abilities. Maybe some of the personal characteristics that made you excel in these pursuits will cross-over to making you a better doctor? (*cough hint cough*). Don't try to shoehorn in your uniqueness where it doesn't belong. Be organic.

That last paragraph didn't feel like the perfect end to this post, but I'm tired from typing notes all day, so that'll have to do.

In the interest of not shoehorning the uniqueness in, how do you work these unique traits into the interview?

 

[Tenk]

Dress well. Show up on time. Smile a lot. Pay attention to all the boring crap they show you. Smile some more. Act excited to be there. Tell them you are excited to be there. Be respectful. Never complain about anything during the interview day to anyone. Be nice to everyone you meet including secretaries. Don’t forget: smile!

Your attitude and presentation > all.

 

[mrbreakfast]

In the interest of not shoehorning the uniqueness in, how do you work these unique traits into the interview?

For me, I thought a lot about the answers to the questions "tell me about yourself" and "why X field" and came up with enough talking points that I could talk for the entire interview (20-25 minutes) to answer those two questions. I kept this rough framework in mind going into every interview, and when I got a question I didn't have an amazing answer to ("tell me about a personal weakness," "tell me about an interesting patient," "what's a challenge you faced," etc) I answered that question and simultaneously worked to steer the conversation back to my mental schematic of "tell me about yourself/why this field" for which I felt like I had a strong answer. For example, if asked to talk about an interesting patient, I picked two: one from which I could transition into why I liked the field, and then one from which I could transition into talking about particular qualities/aspects of myself. It's a nice long answer, ultimately reducing the duration of the awkward "so, what questions do you have for me?" period of the interview. Obviously, I only did this if it felt organic, and if I thought I'd have to force things to continue, I shut my mouth and waited for the next question.

For the actual answers, I thought about my traits I wanted interviewers to appreciate - I have a background and interests which are very uncommon among med students, I'm good at getting patients to like/trust me, and people like working with me - yet which are hard to quantify on paper, so thought about what I could say that might convey that. I wanted to come across as someone who was less impressive as just interesting to talk to, and so tried to focus on being conversive and viewing each interviewer as someone I already knew and didn't have to work to impress. Think about it this way: programs are working hard to sell you on what makes them unique - schedule, facilities, didactics, whatever - so you should focus on the same. Every applicant has Step scores and grades, so show them something only you have.

I've gone into my interviews with the mindset that I had impressed the admissions committee enough to get an interview, so I didn't have to worry about defending myself or pleading my case; rather, I'd focus on showing them I was someone who'd be fun to work with. Just like you, I knew I'd be interviewing with applicants who are stronger on paper than I am, but I've tried to view each interview not as a challenge but as an opportunity to say "forget the numbers, let's just chat."

Finally: smile, sit up straight, dress well, make sure your suit jacket is clean, and act like you're pumped to be there (because you should be).

 

[studentofsdn]

For me, I thought a lot about the answers to the questions "tell me about yourself" and "why X field" and came up with enough talking points that I could talk for the entire interview (20-25 minutes) to answer those two questions. I kept this rough framework in mind going into every interview, and when I got a question I didn't have an amazing answer to ("tell me about a personal weakness," "tell me about an interesting patient," "what's a challenge you faced," etc) I answered that question and simultaneously worked to steer the conversation back to my mental schematic of "tell me about yourself/why this field" for which I felt like I had a strong answer. For example, if asked to talk about an interesting patient, I picked two: one from which I could transition into why I liked the field, and then one from which I could transition into talking about particular qualities/aspects of myself. It's a nice long answer, ultimately reducing the duration of the awkward "so, what questions do you have for me?" period of the interview. Obviously, I only did this if it felt organic, and if I thought I'd have to force things to continue, I shut my mouth and waited for the next question.

For the actual answers, I thought about my traits I wanted interviewers to appreciate - I have a background and interests which are very uncommon among med students, I'm good at getting patients to like/trust me, and people like working with me - yet which are hard to quantify on paper, so thought about what I could say that might convey that. I wanted to come across as someone who was less impressive as just interesting to talk to, and so tried to focus on being conversive and viewing each interviewer as someone I already knew and didn't have to work to impress. Think about it this way: programs are working hard to sell you on what makes them unique - schedule, facilities, didactics, whatever - so you should focus on the same. Every applicant has Step scores and grades, so show them something only you have.

I've gone into my interviews with the mindset that I had impressed the admissions committee enough to get an interview, so I didn't have to worry about defending myself or pleading my case; rather, I'd focus on showing them I was someone who'd be fun to work with. Just like you, I knew I'd be interviewing with applicants who are stronger on paper than I am, but I've tried to view each interview not as a challenge but as an opportunity to say "forget the numbers, let's just chat."

Finally: smile, sit up straight, dress well, make sure your suit jacket is clean, and act like you're pumped to be there (because you should be).

Thanks so much this gave me a great idea of how to interview. Never really understood the concept of "selling myself" until this. Any idea about if I should also express to them how badly I want to be there or that they're my #1 program during or after the interview?

 

[DrSnips]

In the interest of not shoehorning the uniqueness in, how do you work these unique traits into the interview?

Through use of your interviewer's open-ended questions. "Tell me about yourself" is a question that, after touching all the key professional notes, can go wherever you would like it to in order to make you stand out. There are other similar open-ended questions you will be asked.

What I meant by don't shoehorn it in, is don't try to squeeze it in for a question that doesn't apply. If I ask you to tell me about a time you had a disagreement with someone and how you went about trying to resolve it, that's not the time to hear about your hobbies. If that sounded ridiculous to you that I would even have to specify that, congratulations, you will not fail on the questions that are designed to test "emotional IQ".

 

[colbgw02]

Assert your dominance by loudly asking when you arrive, "who was the hardest MFer before I walked in?"

 

[DrSnips]

For me, I thought a lot about the answers to the questions "tell me about yourself" and "why X field" and came up with enough talking points that I could talk for the entire interview (20-25 minutes) to answer those two questions. I kept this rough framework in mind going into every interview, and when I got a question I didn't have an amazing answer to ("tell me about a personal weakness," "tell me about an interesting patient," "what's a challenge you faced," etc) I answered that question and simultaneously worked to steer the conversation back to my mental schematic of "tell me about yourself/why this field" for which I felt like I had a strong answer. For example, if asked to talk about an interesting patient, I picked two: one from which I could transition into why I liked the field, and then one from which I could transition into talking about particular qualities/aspects of myself. It's a nice long answer, ultimately reducing the duration of the awkward "so, what questions do you have for me?" period of the interview. Obviously, I only did this if it felt organic, and if I thought I'd have to force things to continue, I shut my mouth and waited for the next question.

For the actual answers, I thought about my traits I wanted interviewers to appreciate - I have a background and interests which are very uncommon among med students, I'm good at getting patients to like/trust me, and people like working with me - yet which are hard to quantify on paper, so thought about what I could say that might convey that. I wanted to come across as someone who was less impressive as just interesting to talk to, and so tried to focus on being conversive and viewing each interviewer as someone I already knew and didn't have to work to impress. Think about it this way: programs are working hard to sell you on what makes them unique - schedule, facilities, didactics, whatever - so you should focus on the same. Every applicant has Step scores and grades, so show them something only you have.

I've gone into my interviews with the mindset that I had impressed the admissions committee enough to get an interview, so I didn't have to worry about defending myself or pleading my case; rather, I'd focus on showing them I was someone who'd be fun to work with. Just like you, I knew I'd be interviewing with applicants who are stronger on paper than I am, but I've tried to view each interview not as a challenge but as an opportunity to say "forget the numbers, let's just chat."

Finally: smile, sit up straight, dress well, make sure your suit jacket is clean, and act like you're pumped to be there (because you should be).

This is good advice. The best interviews are conversations, not interrogations.

 

[nimbus]

Assuming you have decent numbers and references, it is more important to be normal than it is to be unique.