Interview Preparation

[MDSlacker]

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What do you guys recommend doing for preparation for dermatology interviews. I have just done prelim/ty interviews so far and pretty much just showed up and talked about whatever with my interviewers and I think they have gone well so far and I was initially planning to do that but I heard from other students that they "prep" for interviews. What do you guys do to "prep" for interviews. I'm not exactly sure what one can do but some thoughts would help. If you feel more comfortable PMing me instead of posting that is fine.

 

[DermViser]

Know your research inside and out. Nothing looks worse than not knowing something in your publications when you're an author on it. DIGA has a set of interview questions as well that you may want to look at: http://www.derminterest.org/Links/DIGAResources.aspx

Be prepared to answer why you want to go into derm and make sure your app proves it. That's the biggest pet peeve of derm faculty, someone says, for example, they want to be able to help the underserved with their specialty, but nothing in their CV proves that. It looks fake and contrived and faculty catch onto it.

Also, be aware that you're being watched by everyone: the secretary, the program coordinator, residents, fellows, etc. Not to get you nervous, but at least act like you want to be there. You'll be amazed the things people do and how that filters back up to program faculty, bc the applicant completely let their guard down.

Oh, and make sure you've fully researched the program where you're at -- meaning who you're interviewing with, what their interests are, what that program offers, etc.

 

[Dral]

There are several prep books. You can find them on amazon or similar.

 

[Dermione Granger]

As above, and make sure you have some questions to ask the faculty and PD. Look up the program and find something interesting to ask, like "tell me more about the transplant clinic?" "what are the community outreach projects listed on your website?".

 

[MDSlacker]

To kind of go along with some of the previous posts, I know you are told that you should have questions ready to ask but if you are interviewing with 15 people should you have questions ready to ask each of these people? Or is it fine to just say you don't have questions?

Also should I send thank you notes to all interviewers and contacts or just the director and coordinator? Thanks for all the help

 

[DermViser]

To kind of go along with some of the previous posts, I know you are told that you should have questions ready to ask but if you are interviewing with 15 people should you have questions ready to ask each of these people? Or is it fine to just say you don't have questions?

Also should I send thank you notes to all interviewers and contacts or just the director and coordinator? Thanks for all the help

It's never fine to say on an interview that you don't have any questions. Derm or otherwise. You can always come up with different questions. Or you could repeat the same question for each person, or maybe tailor it if necessary.

I would send thank you notes to the people you esp. connected with on the interview. As you will likely be interviewing with every faculty member - there will be some who you like, some you won't, and some that are lukewarm. You could do PD. I don't think it's necessary to do program coordinator but it is a good touch, I think.