Interview Socials/Dinners

[DK2014]

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Do pre-interview or interview socials & dinners have any role in how schools rank you? I know program directors say they are not part of the interview responsibility, but do they really not factor in your enthusiasm for a school if you attended the social with residents?

 

[futuredoctor10]

Do pre-interview or interview socials & dinners have any role in how schools rank you? I know program directors say they are not part of the interview responsibility, but do they really not factor in your enthusiasm for a school if you attended the social with residents?

Good Question. Residency programs *do* factor in social interaction whether from lunch, the interview day, or pre-interview dinner.

 

[physicsnerd42]

If you get drunk and hit on the residents, then it’s used to (not) rank you. Otherwise, we don’t take attendance and don’t give feedback to the people making the ranking decisions.


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[Ismet]

If you get drunk and hit on the residents, then it’s used to (not) rank you. Otherwise, we don’t take attendance and don’t give feedback to the people making the ranking decisions.


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This will vary by program.

We are encouraged to provide feedback on our interactions with the applicants, whether it's at the dinner, the tour, lunch, etc. 98% of the time I have nothing to say but good things. Just don't act weird or inappropriate or completely anti-social and you won't be in the 2%.

Not going to the dinner likely won't hurt your chances just like going to the dinner likely won't boost your chances. It's just a time to hang out with residents away from the program administration and ask questions.

 

[DocGraham]

You should try and go to as many (all) of the dinners/socials that you can. Even if it’s just for your own benefit of testing fit with a programs group of residents

 

[BigRedBeta]

There are several things in the interview/matching process where it won't matter for 95% of applicants, because it's utterly forgettable. But if you do something that puts you in that other 5%...well you've absolutely destroyed your chances. How you act at dinner or a social event is one of those things.

It will still depend on the program, though. My residency program wanted us to report back anything we could add to their assessment. I'm pretty sure that I gave opinions on most of the applicants I met, but most of the time is was limited to "they asked good questions" or "they are couples matching with someone doing Ophtho, so we need to really hope they like the program down the road". I can remember only one time where I gushed over an applicant, and part of it I think was directly due to the fact that I was in our program office to talk about a different applicant who was in that 5%. Literally the single worst applicant I ever met and I had to pass that along information along immediately. The other applicant that I loved was truly great, but I think in a vacuum, I probably wouldn't have been so quick to praise them.

 

[Marie0123]

As others have said, it is absolutely program-specific. In our program, the social event is to benefit the applicants to give them a sense of resident life outside of the formality of an interview day. Residents aren't asked to evaluate applicants in any way - sometimes residents do offer some insight (on their own accord), but most of the time it's a "yeah, he/she was great"...which doesn't give us much to go on so we don't notate it anywhere.

(1) Go to the socials if your schedule allows
(2) Don't be a jerk
...that's pretty much it.