Interview thoughts from a PGY1

[CS_22]

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We're starting interviews at my program on Monday, and I remember how hard it was to narrow them down, and then to rank them (unless your the classmate kbrown was referring to). I thought I'd at least offer to be another resource for all of you who are interviewing this year. If you have any questions about the places I interviewed at, I'd be willing to share my thoughts. If you PM me, I'll be a little less discreet. Here's where I interviewed-

Wash U
Emory
Georgetown
East Carolina
Palmetto - South Carolina
Iowa
UF - Gainesville
Texas A&M - Scott & White
Maryland
Louisville
Virginia
Resurrection

Good Luck with interviews.

 

[drakken]

How did you feel about these two programs and when you left the interview did the PD let you know where you really stood?

thanks

 

[EctopicFetus]

for those interested I interviewed at

U of A
Orlando
Cook
Resurrection
Harbor
LAC+USC
Henry Ford
Wash U

 

[EctopicFetus]

CS Whats up man.. been a while I hope things are going well in the Lou.

 

[CS_22]

It has been a while, hasn't it?

I kinda got caught up in the first year of residency, and we just had a meeting where they brought up interviewing. Didn't even realize it was that far in the game, ya know? So thought I'd get back on here and offer as much advice as I could. I remember being completely lost.

How are things with you? How's arizona treating you and the misses? St Louis is great. Actually we're closing on a house in exactly two weeks. Took us a while, but we came around.

Hope all is good.

CS

 

[CS_22]

How did you feel about these two programs and when you left the interview did the PD let you know where you really stood?

thanks

I don't know if I can speak for everyone else here, but there was never a PD that really let me know where I stood. I thought for the most part, there was always a good cop/bad cop feel to interviews, and that the PD almost always played the bad cop.

You'll do fine. But I really enjoyed both of those programs. Both finished in my top 5.

 

[Hercules]

If anyone has questions you can PM me as well. I interviewed at:

UAB
Carolinas
Vandy
UNC
Emory
Virginia
Wake Forest
Orlando

 

[BKN]

I don't know if I can speak for everyone else here, but there was never a PD that really let me know where I stood. I thought for the most part, there was always a good cop/bad cop feel to interviews, and that the PD almost always played the bad cop.

😕 Well would you have preferred bad cop/nightmare cop?

That's fascinating, I wonder how you got that impression? I'm pretty sure nobody's using that as a planned tactic, nor would I think that very many of us see ourselves as tough guys. I suspect that the residents and junior faculty are just friendly and enthusiastic, but the senior faculty and PDs have been doing this a long time and,
1. recognize that only 1/10 or less of the interviewees will end up at the program,
2. know that most of the interviewees will make very good EPs,
3. Know that other members of the committee will have different favorites,
4. know that for the upper half (at least) of the pool, it's the interviewee's desires that control the match,
5. and have a certain cynicism informed by experience about expressions of undying enthusiasm for their program.

For all of the above reasons, the PD may not want to "make a deal" and may be rather neutral about the whole thing.

 

[CS_22]

😕 Well would you have preferred bad cop/nightmare cop?

That's fascinating, I wonder how you got that impression? I'm pretty sure nobody's using that as a planned tactic, nor would I think that very many of us see ourselves as tough guys. I suspect that the residents and junior faculty are just friendly and enthusiastic, but the senior faculty and PDs have been doing this a long time and,
1. recognize that only 1/10 or less of the interviewees will end up at the program,
2. know that most of the interviewees will make very good EPs,
3. Know that other members of the committee will have different favorites,
4. know that for the upper half (at least) of the pool, it's the interviewee's desires that control the match,
5. and have a certain cynicism informed by experience about expressions of undying enthusiasm for their program.

For all of the above reasons, the PD may not want to "make a deal" and may be rather neutral about the whole thing.

haha

Maybe I could have phrased this a little better. But it was just my impression that the younger faculty/senior residents who are involved in the interview process seemed to ask 5-10 minutes of questions, and then reverted to the whole "let me tell you about our residency/town/hospital..." to sell you on the program. However, its the PD's who always seem a little more stoic in the interviews, asking the more serious questions about damning comments on your Dean's Letter.

To think, I seriously thought this was planned.

 

[drakken]

😕 Well would you have preferred bad cop/nightmare cop?

That's fascinating, I wonder how you got that impression? I'm pretty sure nobody's using that as a planned tactic, nor would I think that very many of us see ourselves as tough guys. I suspect that the residents and junior faculty are just friendly and enthusiastic, but the senior faculty and PDs have been doing this a long time and,
1. recognize that only 1/10 or less of the interviewees will end up at the program,
2. know that most of the interviewees will make very good EPs,
3. Know that other members of the committee will have different favorites,
4. know that for the upper half (at least) of the pool, it's the interviewee's desires that control the match,
5. and have a certain cynicism informed by experience about expressions of undying enthusiasm for their program.

For all of the above reasons, the PD may not want to "make a deal" and may be rather neutral about the whole thing.

I appreciate your thoughts on that as I guess I am still so excited and truly interested in each program and what we can give to each other that I had not thought about how jaded you must become over time. Still it would be nice if everyone could really be upfront to avert some of the anxiety and game playing that goes on. I am a real straight shooter so this is difficult at times. Thanks again for your honest reply.
Drakken

 

[EctopicFetus]

It has been a while, hasn't it?

I kinda got caught up in the first year of residency, and we just had a meeting where they brought up interviewing. Didn't even realize it was that far in the game, ya know? So thought I'd get back on here and offer as much advice as I could. I remember being completely lost.

How are things with you? How's arizona treating you and the misses? St Louis is great. Actually we're closing on a house in exactly two weeks. Took us a while, but we came around.

Hope all is good.

CS

Life is good. Im lovin it here. we bought a house and did some remodeling and are finally done (or 99% done). The little lady is also enjoying it. It is weird that recruiting time is here. Ive been keeping busy thats for sure. PM me with whats really doing. Winter approaches for you!

 

[kbrown]

hi all,

cs_22, nice comment about the "classmate". anyhow, i am up for offering info on programs, here's my list

East Carolina
Hennepin - rotated there
Christiana - rotated there
Maine
Regions
UMKC
Resurrection
Mayo
Henry Ford - resident here

 

[CS_22]

hi all,

cs_22, nice comment about the "classmate". anyhow, i am up for offering info on programs, here's my list

East Carolina
Hennepin - rotated there
Christiana - rotated there
Maine
Regions
UMKC
Resurrection
Mayo
Henry Ford - resident here

K Bizzle

What's going on? How's life treating ya? I'm working in the department this month, actually just waking up after an overnight shift in Trauma/Critical Care. Hope all is well for the both of you. Call me soon.

 

[Dukes]

Nice idea for a thread. I would have wanted to see one like this last year. If there was one I missed it. Here is mine if anyone has questions especially for those coming to EVMS:

EVMS
MCV
Syracuse
Stony Brook
South FL
Albert Einstein Pa
St. Lukes Pa
Brigham
Yale
Brooklyn
Beth Israel NY
MCG

 

[Hawkeye Kid]

for what it's worth, i'm in. here's my list:

denver
mcw (home program)
northwestern
metrohealth
cinci
vandy
hennepin
pitt
indy (where i matched)

feel free to pm me with ?s (the more specific the better).

 

[WilcoWorld]

Happy to answer whatever questions I can:

Christ
Cinci
Indy
Ressurection
U of I Chicago
Wake Forest
Regions
Virginia (Norfolk)
Medical College of Wisconsin

 

[kbrown]

K Bizzle

What's going on? How's life treating ya? I'm working in the department this month, actually just waking up after an overnight shift in Trauma/Critical Care. Hope all is well for the both of you. Call me soon.

i'm on ob this month. i would rather undergo a colonoscopy than be on this rotation. funny...i was gonna do ob. ahh, thank god for me coming to my senses. anyhow, i finished up the department last month. it was nice. got some lines (yeah), the whole reason i am doing EM...procedures. the people were sick as hell. i had a lady with bacterial endocarditis (heroin IVDA), febrile to 39.6, trying to signout AMA. i'm like what the hell dude, you can seriously blow through your aortic valve and die, but whatever. she stayed, but damn....the nerve of some people. anyhow, i do SICU next month...merry freakin' christmas to me. i'm certain my program hates me, ob followed by sicu...they hate me. oh well, i am on a run of nights, but i will call you in the next couple of weeks. peace out.

bizzle

 

[corpsmanUP]

To add a few different programs:

LSU-Baton Rouge
Texas tech
Scott and White
Duke
Indy
Iowa
Case Western
Ohio State
Penn State
Geisinger
Maricopa
Mayo
Christ Advocate
UI-Peoria
Pitt

Hell, they were all great programs and in retrospect I wish I would not have stressed over it so much. I met great people everywhere and only 1 or 2 programs were places I really did not want to end up. But the odds of matching at your last two places is pretty low.

 

[kat999]

Very Helpful BKN, thanks!

 

[EMRocksmyworld]

I realize this is a very old thread, but any PGY-1s out there willing to do the same for us MS4s this year? I could DEFINITELY use some advice from someone with no impact on my future at this point in the process.. Anyone willing? I will of course pass on the torch next year in return 🙂

 

[Pure Anergy]

Is there anyone who would be willing to be a sounding board about how to rank some programs? I think I've already exhausted the patience of all the people I know IRL. 😳

 

[alexmtr]

Yeah.... that 'gut feeling' thing everyone’s talking about that’s supposed to make the ranking easy is not doing it for me… 😕

 

[jbar]

A program director had a good thought experiment. He said to pretend like it's match day, you open the envelope....and it says program X. Now how do you feel?

I tried it and realized that one of the places I thought would be high on the list I actually was sorta disapointed that the envelope didn't say program Y.

Also going to the gut feeling, I was grouped together those programs where I felt like I really clicked with the residents, then decided based on those other factors (location, rotations etc) It's much more manageable to sort when you are only thinking about three or four programs.

Also I'd really just worry about your top 4 or so. Lots of people on the interview trail were laughing about how much time they spent on programs 10 and 11 and it really didn't matter.

 

[in1Q84]

Wow, thanks Jbar! I will try that.

 

[alexmtr]

@ Jbar - I did the 'subgroups' thing already, but I definitely like the 'imagine the match day' idea 🙂
I got the 'do not worry about the bottom of the list too much' thing as well, but you can’t help but have an occasional middle of the night panic attack about not being as smart and funny as you think you are and ending up in your #9 choice…. 😱