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Thought it would help if people could share what the interview day is like at various programs and what the interview format would be (1-on-1, panel, multiple, etc.). Good luck everyone 
Interview day format
- Thread starter dk23
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get ready to eat and see a bunch of slit lamps! most programs start out with a breakfest. the day is then usually divided into a half day tour (an excellent opportunity to talk with the residents about the program without faculty around) followed by lunch and then interviews. the only panel interviews i had were at colorado and uc davis. the rest were one on one with the dept chair, program director and a few other faculty. i never had a malignant experience. be prepared to answer the question, "so what can i tell you about our program?" or "do you have any questions for me?" suprisingly, you will feel that each program is trying to "sell itself" to you. all in all, it is a very positive (yet expensive) process. you will meet some great people and future colleagues. sometimes it is stressful when you have less than a day between each interview and you get delayed at some random airport. just be in touch with the interview coordinator. any problem that could possibly come up (delay, missed flight, cancelled flight) has occured before and they will work with you. good luck to everyone this year.
Thought it would help if people could share what the interview day is like at various programs and what the interview format would be (1-on-1, panel, multiple, etc.). Good luck everyone
Rochester
Breakast/ Lunch & Chairmen welcome
6-8 (I think) one on one interviews with faculty members including chairman
Tour follows
Dinner with residents
Interviewers were very friendly and they were trying to sell the program.
Standard questions- why ophtho? why rochester (for west coast ppl)? research q's.
Nice facilities- brand new eye center; good resources for research; Chairman and PD from Doheny; retina doc from wilmer, new cornea procedures in peds pts.
Negatives: It's in Rochester, NY.
Pros: At least the weather is better than Buffalo.
Breakast/ Lunch & Chairmen welcome
6-8 (I think) one on one interviews with faculty members including chairman
Tour follows
Dinner with residents
Interviewers were very friendly and they were trying to sell the program.
Standard questions- why ophtho? why rochester (for west coast ppl)? research q's.
Nice facilities- brand new eye center; good resources for research; Chairman and PD from Doheny; retina doc from wilmer, new cornea procedures in peds pts.
Negatives: It's in Rochester, NY.
Pros: At least the weather is better than Buffalo.
Hey, thank you guys for that information....
Baylor: Very well-organized interview day
Overview of program by program director
Breakfast with few residents while waiting for interviewers to call you in
6 13-minute interviews with faculty...why our program? What are your interests? A LOT of detailed questions about extracurricular activities....this kinda caught me by suprise.
Lunch with residents
Tour with residents
Get parking tickets validated and good to go
GREAT day...very informative and very laid back.
Baylor: Very well-organized interview day
Overview of program by program director
Breakfast with few residents while waiting for interviewers to call you in
6 13-minute interviews with faculty...why our program? What are your interests? A LOT of detailed questions about extracurricular activities....this kinda caught me by suprise.
Lunch with residents
Tour with residents
Get parking tickets validated and good to go
GREAT day...very informative and very laid back.
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Again, potentially dated information, but Utah did panel interviews when I was there (7-8 faculty/residents, with one applicant at a time).
Ohio State did pseudo-panel interviews with 2-3 people in the room interviewing each candidate.
Dave
Ohio State did pseudo-panel interviews with 2-3 people in the room interviewing each candidate.
Dave
Among New York programs, the following had panel interviews from what I remember:
-NY Eye and Ear: 4 or 5 panels with about 4 faculty members each.
-NYU: I think 1 huge panel of 8
-Columbia: 4 panels of 2-3 faculty members
As a side note, Dr. Stanley Chang is awesome. He's a genius and one of the nicest people I have ever met.
-NY Eye and Ear: 4 or 5 panels with about 4 faculty members each.
-NYU: I think 1 huge panel of 8
-Columbia: 4 panels of 2-3 faculty members
As a side note, Dr. Stanley Chang is awesome. He's a genius and one of the nicest people I have ever met.
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The Casey Eye interview day consists of two small panel interviews, four and three. They all have your complete file in front of them. There is a grid of attributes they use to score you after your interview session. They say they don't rank at all until after all candidates are interviewed in December.
Lunch is pretty tasty.
Lunch is pretty tasty.
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They had a super-secret special interview day for local candidates that they allowed me to attend when I was there for my away rotation.
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I am not aware of a pre- or post- dinner at Casey, but our arrangements were less formal. I also don't know how many of you will be interviewing for the one remaining slot after they filled the other four spots on our interview day.... 😉
Casey is nice, though, not many of their residents have gone onto fellowships recently - some by choice, some not. I asked about this directly, and they even mentioned that it was somewhat of an abberation that they have two Casey grads in their fellowship programs right now - the last time they'd had a Casey in one of their fellowships was back in the 80s or something.
It rains a lot in Portland, btw. I'm sure you already knew that. A lot.
Casey is nice, though, not many of their residents have gone onto fellowships recently - some by choice, some not. I asked about this directly, and they even mentioned that it was somewhat of an abberation that they have two Casey grads in their fellowship programs right now - the last time they'd had a Casey in one of their fellowships was back in the 80s or something.
It rains a lot in Portland, btw. I'm sure you already knew that. A lot.
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haha thanks xaelia...i'm flying into portland at 2:30 am the morning of my ivw there and flying back east later that night...hopefully the airport has some large sinks for me to shower in, otherwise i'll just stand out in the rain with a bar of soap 😉
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Iowa interview day:
- Arrive at University of Iowa at 7:45 on morning of interviews
- attend grand rounds which they have *every* morning - very impressive!
- intro to the program and breakfast by the residents via a ppt presentation
- start interviews = 3 interviews with 2 interviewers each lasting 20 mins
- also interspersed in the day is a tour and 1 hour in one of the clinics shadowing a resident
- If you've scheduled a prelim interview at iowa you can do it on the same day!
- last interview is 5:10 though many people end earlier
- dinner out on the town with residents at 6:00
- Arrive at University of Iowa at 7:45 on morning of interviews
- attend grand rounds which they have *every* morning - very impressive!
- intro to the program and breakfast by the residents via a ppt presentation
- start interviews = 3 interviews with 2 interviewers each lasting 20 mins
- also interspersed in the day is a tour and 1 hour in one of the clinics shadowing a resident
- If you've scheduled a prelim interview at iowa you can do it on the same day!
- last interview is 5:10 though many people end earlier
- dinner out on the town with residents at 6:00
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I'm currently a second year resident at Casey and I thought I'd add my two cents
Sometimes the residents go out after the interview day - applicants are obviously invited, but it's not funded/endorsed by the program, so you certainly don't have to come.
In the past five years or so, we've averaged one out of the four residents in each class who applies for a fellowship. My personal opinion is that we train some of the best comprehensive ophthalmologists in the country. In addition, we get excellent preparation for fellowship. I think the reason we don't have as many residents apply for fellowship has more to do with the individual residents than with the quality of our training. We've matched people at great retina, cornea, and plastics programs in the past few years.
It does rain, but that's what makes it so green.
Overall, I highly recommend Casey. If any of you have questions about the program, please feel free to PM me and we'll talk.
Sometimes the residents go out after the interview day - applicants are obviously invited, but it's not funded/endorsed by the program, so you certainly don't have to come.
In the past five years or so, we've averaged one out of the four residents in each class who applies for a fellowship. My personal opinion is that we train some of the best comprehensive ophthalmologists in the country. In addition, we get excellent preparation for fellowship. I think the reason we don't have as many residents apply for fellowship has more to do with the individual residents than with the quality of our training. We've matched people at great retina, cornea, and plastics programs in the past few years.
It does rain, but that's what makes it so green.
Overall, I highly recommend Casey. If any of you have questions about the program, please feel free to PM me and we'll talk.
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we interview on fridays.
arrive 7:30, meet the chairman, PD and residents
we interview 6 people/day
8:00 grand rounds
9:00-12:00 interviews. you will have a total of 5 (1 with the chairman, 1 with the PD, 1 with the chief resident, 2 others with various faculty)
12:00-1:00 doheny's signature "box lunch" with the chairman, PD and residents
1:00-2:30 tour of doheny and LAC+USC medical center
2:30 optional shadowing of residents in clinic at LAC+USC. you'll meet your potential patient population and see firsthand the volume of the resident clinic.
6:00-8:00 optional dinner with the chief resident and residents at a local mexican or cuban restuarant
good luck!
arrive 7:30, meet the chairman, PD and residents
we interview 6 people/day
8:00 grand rounds
9:00-12:00 interviews. you will have a total of 5 (1 with the chairman, 1 with the PD, 1 with the chief resident, 2 others with various faculty)
12:00-1:00 doheny's signature "box lunch" with the chairman, PD and residents
1:00-2:30 tour of doheny and LAC+USC medical center
2:30 optional shadowing of residents in clinic at LAC+USC. you'll meet your potential patient population and see firsthand the volume of the resident clinic.
6:00-8:00 optional dinner with the chief resident and residents at a local mexican or cuban restuarant
good luck!
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Arrive at 7am for grand rounds
short presentation by chair
20 apps split into 2 groups, 1 group is AM interviews PM tours, other is vice versa.
seven 15 minute interviews with Chair, PD, other faculty. All one-on-one.
Lunch
Tours of eye institute, hospitals.
Lots of down time, chatting with residents.
Finish by 5pm
Optional dinner w/ residents. About 1/2 of apps made it.
DTW airport about 15-20 min away with no traffic.
Residents all very happy.
High salary, low cost of living, no real commute to speak of. Fantastic program.
short presentation by chair
20 apps split into 2 groups, 1 group is AM interviews PM tours, other is vice versa.
seven 15 minute interviews with Chair, PD, other faculty. All one-on-one.
Lunch
Tours of eye institute, hospitals.
Lots of down time, chatting with residents.
Finish by 5pm
Optional dinner w/ residents. About 1/2 of apps made it.
DTW airport about 15-20 min away with no traffic.
Residents all very happy.
High salary, low cost of living, no real commute to speak of. Fantastic program.
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Pre-evening dinner/drinks w/ residents.
Arrive 7:45am for grand rounds. Very lively.
Split into AM/PM interview/tour groups.
5 interviews, 2 faculty 1 applicant, 20 minutes each.
Residents very available, spoke to many of them. Plenty of time to talk to them.
Lunch w/ residents and some faculty.
Tour of MEEI, shadow resident in ED for 20 minutes
Small group personal meeting w/ Chair, free T-shirt.
Residents happy, lots of trauma experience because of dedicated eye hospital.
Finish by 5.
Arrive 7:45am for grand rounds. Very lively.
Split into AM/PM interview/tour groups.
5 interviews, 2 faculty 1 applicant, 20 minutes each.
Residents very available, spoke to many of them. Plenty of time to talk to them.
Lunch w/ residents and some faculty.
Tour of MEEI, shadow resident in ED for 20 minutes
Small group personal meeting w/ Chair, free T-shirt.
Residents happy, lots of trauma experience because of dedicated eye hospital.
Finish by 5.
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-start off the day with grand rounds
-breakfast
-then, everyone sits in a room and waits to be called
(residents are available during this whole time for chatting/questions)
-4 interviews: 3 one-on-one with faculty and one with 3 students to the chairman
-lunch (sandwiches, cookies, and fruit)
-tour of the hospitals which are interconnected in one building, research lab, and then a drive past the sea wall/beach
-breakfast
-then, everyone sits in a room and waits to be called
(residents are available during this whole time for chatting/questions)
-4 interviews: 3 one-on-one with faculty and one with 3 students to the chairman
-lunch (sandwiches, cookies, and fruit)
-tour of the hospitals which are interconnected in one building, research lab, and then a drive past the sea wall/beach
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I suppose I'll post about Pittsburgh, if only for posterity, since the last interview day is already in progress.
- 8 AM, light breakfast, then a presentation from the PD.
- 9 AM until 2 PM, essentially three interview blocks of four one-on-one interviews with faculty, and one one-on-two with the chairman and an additional faculty. Your interviews will all be grouped so they are back-to-back. If you're not in a group being interviewed, they'll take you on tours of the hospital and Eye & Ear institute.
- Lunch is served around 1pm. If you're in the last interview block, you might not get lunch. 🙁
- 8 AM, light breakfast, then a presentation from the PD.
- 9 AM until 2 PM, essentially three interview blocks of four one-on-one interviews with faculty, and one one-on-two with the chairman and an additional faculty. Your interviews will all be grouped so they are back-to-back. If you're not in a group being interviewed, they'll take you on tours of the hospital and Eye & Ear institute.
- Lunch is served around 1pm. If you're in the last interview block, you might not get lunch. 🙁
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Hey everyone,
It seems that a lot of people are starting to hear from programs for interviews, which is great. For those who haven't heard yet, I understand that the vast majority of interview invites occur in October.
With a lot of people preparing for interviews, and asking questions about what to expect, I found this thread from last year- it seemed like it might be really helpful. Hopefully as we each see programs we can add to this/comment on what others have said.
Good luck!
It seems that a lot of people are starting to hear from programs for interviews, which is great. For those who haven't heard yet, I understand that the vast majority of interview invites occur in October.
With a lot of people preparing for interviews, and asking questions about what to expect, I found this thread from last year- it seemed like it might be really helpful. Hopefully as we each see programs we can add to this/comment on what others have said.
Good luck!
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Casey has the most beautiful facilities and scenic views among any ophthalmology program. The program is good and has only a few minor warts, I think. I would have liked to go there.
