Inappropriate and/or Interesting Residency Interview Questions

[Voxel]

Anyone get some type of these questions on the residency interview circuit?

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[pags]

Educate me. What is an inappropriate residency interview question?

 

[Voxel]

I have heard from some of the women in my class getting the "Do you plan on getting married and having children etc." As for interesting, I was asked what is the difference between leadership and management?

 

[pags]

Well, I've been asked:
Where else have you gotten interviews?
What is osteopathy?
Why did you choose to go DO?
Why didn't you apply to DO programs?
Are you cocky?

It's interesting that the majority of radiologists are men and 4/7 of the PD's I've met with so far have been women.

 

[Mr. happy clown guy]

I got "What was your most difficult question you have been asked so far and how did you answer it"

 

[LegallyBlind]

I'm ALWAYS asked:
"Where else have you applied/have interviews scheduled?" Is this to see what caliber of programs we are being considered by; a guage?

"What do your parents think about having you move so far from home?" What's the point of this question? Do I look that young?

 

[Winged Scapula]

"What's in Ringers Lactate" and "How do you feel about being in your 40s when you are done with Surgical Residency" are the 2 questions that stand out in my mind. The rest were pretty typical, getting to know you type of queries.

 

[jjbiv]

For the non-med types than hang out here, what is the composition of Ringer's?

 

[Leotigers]

Lactated Ringers:

1. Glucose: 130
2. Na: 110
3. Cl: 4
4. K: 3
5. No Calcium or Magnesium
6. HCO3: 27

They probably wanted to know how it differed from NS (Normal Saline) rather than the exact composition. Either way, it was a silly question.

 

[anesthesia33]

LR contains no glucose and 3 meq/l of calcium

 

[anesthesia33]

Additionally it has 130 of sodium, 109 of chloride, and 4 of K.

 

[Leotigers]

Anesthesia33 is correct. I copied the information from the Surgical Intern Survival Guide. They accidentally moved everything one space to the left, so if you move everything down on my list, you would have the correct answer.

Lactated Ringers:

1. None
2. Na: 130
3. Cl: 110
4. K: 4
5. Ca: 3
6. Mg: 0
7. HCO3: 27

 

[Voxel]

Let's get back to the topic of this thread. Please no more about lactated ringers solution on this thread!

 

[pags]

I got two more today:

What two people, dead or alive, would you want to meet?
What is/are your weakness(es)?

 

[Cassidy61]

"What are your top five choices in your rank list right now?"

"If we rank you number one, where will you rank us?"

"What event are you most ashamed of in your life?"

 

[Voxel]

Here's what I've gotten:

So, when are you going to take over the chair of this department? Followed by... What will it be like for me to work for you?

Also, so how do I get my secretary to stop smoking?

 

[bugzee75]

I got the "Why should we rank you number 1" question. I expect to get more interesting questions particularly at my UIC interviews. I heard they ask some unique questions of interviewees.
<img src="confused.gif" border="0">

 

[Stinky T]

"Do you speak Chinese? If you do, this would help you match into our program."

Needless to say, I was pretty ticked off. Of course they did offer $50,000 for the PGY-1 year and almost free housing in the Financial District.

 

[GTMD2Bee]

I got, "Your personal statement is too long. Tell me what it says in 25 words or less."

Same guy, "Consent this resident for an appendectomy."

Otherwise pretty much the standard fare of getting to know you questions.

 

[LegallyBlind]

"What kind of stuff did you do in HIGH SCHOOL?" (nothing in this interview about current issues. basically relying on the past to predict the future)

 

[Voxel]

I guess when you see the previous interviewee leave an office with a look of sheer terror and you are the next interviewee, better expect some pimpin'.

 

[Pinky]

I was asked why I took a Political Science course Pass/Fail during my freshman year in college.

The SF Match applications include your undergraduate grades.

 

[dr figs]

I was asked..."why did u get a B in medical ethics?"
The PD was an Ethics prof......

 

[Farrakh]

Hey Dr. Figs... You got a B in Med Ethics.. U gotta be kiddin!! That was the one "Easy A" that semester!

peace,
Farrakh

 

[dr figs]

even worse.....check this out....holbrooke wrote that i got an A in his class on his rec letter for me! i didnt agreee with a lot of stuff that he was feeding us in class, so i gave him a hard time everytime he wanted to talk smack about something.....that guy was such a clown!

 

[Voxel]

I hope those last two responses were for RESIDENCY interviews.

 

[Voxel]

How about the interviewer who opens up by saying, "So do you have any questions for me?" And then does not really have any thoughts of following this up with any other questions. And while I do have questions, we wound up talking about colleges where his children are thinking about attending? Anyone have similiar experiences?

 

[Pinky]

Voxel,

I've gotten this at least twice at every programs that I've interviewed at for neuro (11 programs). It's been especially true if I'm speaking to the chair or the program director. At the Cleveland Clinic, I interviewed with 6-7 faculty. My last three interviews began with that dreaded question, "do you have any questions for me?" By that point in the day, I had asked all the residents, and many other faculty members the same questions over and over. It seemed quite pointless.

Other faculty will spend the whole alotted time period talking about the program, telling us it's really up to us to decide whether we want to come to the program or not.

I must say though that my favorite type of interview is the one where the interviewer spends the first 2-3 minutes of the interview getting a first glance at your application. That always gives me a good first impression.

 

[Voxel]

what are your thoughts on asking residents about other programs they interviewed at and prelim/transitional programs. I knew some residents personally, so we discussed this privately. But during the time spent with residents, I wonder if this is in bad form? I am specifically wondering if I can ask these questions after I have exhausted my questions about the current place?!

 

[Pinky]

I often ask residents where else they applied and ask them why they chose their current program over program b or program c.

The residents went through the whole application process several years ago. They know what we're most concerned about. Most of them are more than happy to tell us about the different programs that they interviewed at earlier.

 

[Voxel]

I guess when you say choose, you did not mean match. Where people match does not necessarily reflect that they choose this program over program B or C. It may have been choice #2,3,etc on their rank list. Anyway, I am glad to know you were talking with residents about other programs as well.

 

[Pinky]

For a non-competitive field like neurology, one will generally match at one's first choice. So, choose=match.

 

[Sabreman]

I was at UNC and the former Dean of the Medical School was interviewing me for IM. After 20 minutes of general getting to know you chat (typical low-key IM interview), he said "I have only one more question to ask you..."

"What do you think about the health care system in America today?"

WHAT!!?? As if I didn't answer this one when applying for med school, and I did NOT have a good answer ready for this interview. What the heck is up with that? I am already going to be a doctor, and also clearly wanting to go into academics. I rambled on for five minutes as he left me hanging out to dry with an unsatisfied look on his face, and I left with a bad taste in my mouth.

P.S. I have now heard 2 of my classmates (ENT and Plastics interviews) tell me they had to carve an ear out of a bar of soap during the interview! Suddenly I don't feel so unlucky.

 

[pags]

Voxel, I know you will find this funny. I just got back from a radiology interview in NYC where the noon conference was a "see how much the candidates know about GI radiology" session. The attending asked our name, where we were from, and the diagnosis of the displayed film. It was extremely nerve racking and proved obvious that most of us don't know anything about esophageal pathology.

 

[Richard]

Here's one question I received: Do you have a learning disability? We were 30 minutes into the interview and everything was going great but he had one last question that was giving him some concern. He wanted to know why I was graduating in the top 20% of my class but only had average board scores at best. He suggested that I see a counselor so that I could uncover my particular learning disability. This went on for 25 minutes and I left feeling like ****!! By the way, this was a Family Medicine interview which tend to be the easist of interviews.

 

[Voxel]

I would have been glad to trade places with you, pags. Atleast you got the images to look at and I have seen at least 2 conferences on esophageal radiology. I was asked to described findings (without any films) one would find on plainfilms, US, CT, and MRI and the specific radiology buzzwords about very rare diseases. I'm glad I've started reading Brant and Helms.

 

[pags]

So Richard, (nice name by the way ), you are almost done with medical school and now they think you have a learning disability? Aren't they a bit slow? All in jest. That's completely outrageous, unnecessary, and unprofessional. But, doesn't suprise me anymore. After I was called a disservice to the osteopathic profession by a MD for not originally choosing to go osteopathic school first, anything is fair game in my mind.

 

[WSU02]

I've heard of one program that administers a math test to applicants.

Another one that I know of makes the applicants play the game Operation...and they COUNT how many times you hit the side!

One that I have personally experienced - I watched a video on throwing fish (some fish market in Seattle does this) before my interviews.

Kristi