Interview Prep

[dogjam]

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For those of you lucky enough to be on the other side of this process, do you have any advice for interview prep apart from the common-sense stuff like familiarizing yourself with the program, curriculum, major research, strengths, etc.?

I'm specifically wondering if there is ever any pimping during the interview? I know some programs have you meet with the physicists, and I'm wondering if I'm going to get the pimp-down about RBEs or something.

Any thoughts/experiences to share?

Thanks,
DJ

 

[Gfunk6]

Know your research inside and out. Some investigators will put med students on papers if they cleaned the glassware. Sooner or later, you will interview with someone who knows your chosen research field inside & out and they will ask probing questions. Nothing makes you look more clueless than being unable to answer basic questions about your published work.

Everything else is too random to really prepare for, especially pimping. Keep in mind that some questions have no right or wrong answers but rather are meant to gauge your thought process. Stay cool and don't get flustered.

 

[Seldon1985]

Ditto GFunk.

In fact, there was one place that had printed out several of my papers and started asking me really detailed specifics from the methods sections. It actually developed into a nice conversation, since I knew my research and could prove that my first authorship was deserved. Definitely know your research cold and anticipate the questions.

As for your physics pimping question, I didn't really have an experience like that at just about any place. I really enjoyed my physics interviews, and throughout the process, I actually learned a lot more about how physics integrates with us on the medical side.

Keep asking questions or PM. Good luck!

 

[RadSki]

Ditto on knowing your research.

I've never heard of anyone being pimped by physicists or radiobiologist. You really aren't expected to know radiobio or physics before residency. If you've done any research in those fields though, be ready to discuss it with them since they'll definitely be interested.

And don't be this guy:
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hWIr9_noRo[/YOUTUBE]

 

[FSU2013]

shotgun - that was hysterical.

 

[Brim]

Interview prep

🙂

 

[nothingman]

+1 to Brim's post and posts above. For a bit of seriousness, the research part is key. That said, I have not been grilled on ridiculous minutiae (possibly because most of my research was in an unrelated field), but it helps to be able to put your work in context of a "big picture" story within a few sentences, clearly outline what exactly you did (as compared to others on the paper), and describe how what you learned and experienced (not only in terms of the scientific "answer" but also in terms of technique/the scientific "struggle/process") will help you achieve your future goals. (E.g. "I learned x,y,z, about the subject I studied, but I also grew as a person/scholar because of a,b,c that I encountered in the process and this will make me a better researcher down the line.")

Secondly, I was asked extensively about "why rad onc," clearly a reasonable question. What I think helped was being able to relate this choice both to past experiences both scholarly and personal, and to justify my choice of specialty with respect to my future goals (e.g. I'd like to be a physician-investigator down the line and I feel that the field is a good niche for me based on the following interests [ ], and also allows for a more natural division of time between clinic/lab than e.g. med onc, etc.)

All told, the vast majority of the interviews were very conversational and chill. No malignancy/horror stories. 🙂