Interviewing? Advice from an M1.

[medicalmatins]

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Now that I'm a medical student, I realize all the things I want to know about life as a medical student. Now, I'm not so embarrassed to ask; but when I was an interviewee, I was worried at every moment that I'd do something wrong and wouldn't get in. One of the hardest times were the student panels. Here are a batch of questions you can ask (you don't have to ask all of them, but pick a few you're most interested in and maybe they'll get the flow going between you and the students).

Ask the first- and second-years (not the people who present the curriculum) what the curriculum is like:

• what is the grading system?
• what's the class average on a test?
• (how) are you ranked?
• what classes are required; what aren't?
• how often do you have tests?
• do you learn by system, by region, by clinical presentation...?
• when do you get clinical skills?
• do you have problem-based learning or clinical correlations?
• are you required to shadow or volunteer?
• when do you see standardized patients or use the simulation center?
• are the students competitive?
• what percentage of the class attends lectures?

Ask third- and fourth-years what their rotations are like:

• what is a typical day?
• do you do a lot of scut? (see below for definition of "scut")
• do you know what specialty you want to enter?
• how much time is given to study for Step 1? was that enough?

Good luck!

 

[TheMightySmiter]

Awesome, I totally bookmarked this post. 🙂 I always hear current med students saying things like, "This is what is REALLY important in choosing a med school," but how are pre-meds supposed to know that? Anyway, thank you, and I'll definitely ask some of these questions on interviews. 👍

 

[NickNaylor]

This would be my list of things to ask/worry about, in approximate order of importance:

-Grading system, including rankings
-Curriculum, what's required, what isn't, and how long you're in class for in an average week
-Time provided to study for step 1
-Rotations, are you reasonably protected from scut?

 

[zwitterion34]

This would be my list of things to ask/worry about, in approximate order of importance:

-Grading system, including rankings
-Curriculum, what's required, what isn't, and how long you're in class for in an average week
-Time provided to study for step 1
-Rotations, are you reasonably protected from scut?

Would you be willing to describe in brief detail what you mean by scut? Thanks.

 

[jessiemsy]

thanks for this! I have been thinking to myself what questions I'll ask the students on my interview. Any advice on questions to ask the admissions committee?

 

[gettheleadout]

Would you be willing to describe in brief detail what you mean by scut? Thanks.

Any labor required of students not intended to facilitate learning in some way.

 

[zwitterion34]

Any labor required of students not intended to facilitate learning in some way.

Is that making coffee, taking out the trash, etc.?

 

[CodeBlu]

Is that making coffee, taking out the trash, etc.?

That's taking blood to the lab and doing scut work.

 

[ppfizenm]

Is that making coffee, taking out the trash, etc.?

Yeah, they get the med students who are paying 50,000 a year to be there make coffee and take out the trash. I hear they clean the toilets too.

 

[zwitterion34]

I think this is the best definition. I had to search many threads to find this definition.

scut work 👎: a medical term used to denote work done by a medical student, intern, or junior resident that is considered of little or no educational value (eg drawing blood on difficult sticks, calling the lab, providing patient transport to radiology, fetching old medical records, filling out paper work). these activities are typically time consuming, monotonous, and detract from a students/resident's true purpose in a teaching hospital. oftentimes, this work could be completed by support staff (phelebotomists, nurse's aides, nurses, physician assistants, technicians, high school drop outs, well trained pet animals) if they were made available by the hospital.

This is the thread. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=85531

 

[NickNaylor]

Yeah, they get the med students who are paying 50,000 a year to be there make coffee and take out the trash. I hear they clean the toilets too.

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but you'd be surprised.

 

[gettheleadout]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but you'd be surprised.

This was my thought as well.

 

[ppfizenm]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but you'd be surprised.

Sarcasm.

 

[alwaysaangel]

scut work 👎: a medical term used to denote work done by a medical student, intern, or junior resident that is considered of little or no educational value (eg drawing blood on difficult sticks, calling the lab, providing patient transport to radiology, fetching old medical records, filling out paper work). these activities are typically time consuming, monotonous, and detract from a students/resident's true purpose in a teaching hospital. oftentimes, this work could be completed by support staff (phelebotomists, nurse's aides, nurses, physician assistants, technicians, high school drop outs, well trained pet animals) if they were made available by the hospital.

I don't really know if I agree with this definition. There is a lot of stuff in there that yes you will have to do as a med student, you will have to do as a resident and you will have to do as a physician. For example, drawing difficult sticks is actually an important skill, especially if you go with US or EJ. Calling the lab and filling out paperwork is part of life as a physician, I say get used to it now.

To me scut is collecting vitals with no intent of actually seeing/caring for a patient, getting coffee or paper for a superior, pushing patients to radiology, getting food for the team. However, if you have a good team that works to teach you - you often do these things anyway to make the life of the team easier.

Scut is probably in the eye of the beholder but what you really want out of your rotations is ownership of your patients and an understanding of how their work up works.

 

[Morsetlis]

You should probably learn whether the average grade on exams is a 70% or a 90%... and what is passing 😀

 

[medicalmatins]

@jessiemsy, I don't remember too many opportunities provided for questions from the adcom, but questions for them include: how many students are prematched, how many prematched students matriculate, and whether scholarship application is separate from the admissions application. Generally, though, most of the information adcom has for you is a) on the website or b) in nifty handouts they give you on interview day.

@Morsetlis, that is a good addition. Also ask what percentage of the class goes to lectures, since that characterizes the professors, the student body, and the school; if the number seems low to you, ask why. It will tell you more about the place: maybe transportation is really hard in town, or maybe the students are all pursuing a ton of extracurriculars. At interviews, you must gain as complete a picture as possible of your potentially-future life at that school.

 

[Schizotypy]

Bookmarked. Thank you for this post!

 

[cpcc]

In the end, it doesnt matter. totally depends on the personality who is managing the show at the end. All a skull and bones club. No transparency. kiss a lot of ass and be a good scut puppy. Complaining to the ACGME basically makes for a bad year to all.

 

[Bacchus]

Now that I'm a medical student, I realize all the things I want to know about life as a medical student. Now, I'm not so embarrassed to ask; but when I was an interviewee, I was worried at every moment that I'd do something wrong and wouldn't get in. One of the hardest times were the student panels. Here are a batch of questions you can ask (you don't have to ask all of them, but pick a few you're most interested in and maybe they'll get the flow going between you and the students).

Ask the first- and second-years (not the people who present the curriculum) what the curriculum is like:

• how often do you have tests?
• do you learn by system, by region, by clinical presentation...?
• when do you get clinical skills?
• do you have problem-based learning or clinical correlations?
• are you required to shadow or volunteer?
• when do you see standardized patients or use the simulation center?
• are the students competitive?

Ask third- and fourth-years what their rotations are like:

• what is a typical day?
• are you in the hospital or the clinic more?
• are you independent?
• how much? do you like that?
• are you on call?
• when?
• do you rotate alone or with a group?
• how many students per faculty member on these rotations?
• do you enjoy your time or feel pressured?
• why did you choose to do rotations in the order you did?
• did you get your first choice of rotation orders?
• do you know what specialty you want to enter?

I wish I'd known this! Good luck!

Not attempting to rain on the parade...

Everything bolded will be rotation and site specific except for the order of rotations. Some schools let you pick, others pick for you.

 

[medicalmatins]

Not attempting to rain on the parade...

Everything bolded will be rotation and site specific except for the order of rotations. Some schools let you pick, others pick for you.

^And this is why you want to listen to M3's and 4's talk, not just M1's! Excellent point, thanks Bacchus.

Getting a flavor of the M3's/M4's day tells you about local opportunities, and there are so many of these (and so many non-local ones, like away rotations) that the questions I posted might not be as helpful as I thought. (Bacchus, what should we ask M3's/4's?)

 

[ManBroDude]

Plus, how are you supposed to find out about all those succulent away rotations from an M1?

 

[robertch8]

Thanks for the tips! What about good questions to ask the interviewer? I could use a couple of good questions to ask.

 

[medicalmatins]

Thanks for the tips! What about good questions to ask the interviewer? I could use a couple of good questions to ask.

Brilliant question. I just raked through some old threads. SDN members have recommended several things:

follow-up with questions you can't read about on the website. Some examples could be:

• What do you feel makes your institution unique?
• Why did you choose to work at this institution?

Whatever you say, just be sure you're going to get an answer you think would be beneficial to you. Asking a question for a questions sake is someone ridiculous and often times transparent.

This thread is very nice. And this thread notes that while prepared questions are a good policy, you shouldn't be limited to them.

 

[chiz2kul]

Ask the first- and second-years (not the people who present the curriculum) what the curriculum is like:

• how often do you have tests?
• do you have problem-based learning or clinical correlations?

only things worth asking imo. plus like bacchus mentioned, most of the 3rd/4th yr stuff is rotation specific anyways. But its good to know where rotations are held, and the general 'feel' about it.

IMO - grading system and time for step 1 studying are v important.

 

[NeuralNetwork]

only things worth asking imo. plus like bacchus mentioned, most of the 3rd/4th yr stuff is rotation specific anyways. But its good to know where rotations are held, and the general 'feel' about it.

IMO - grading system and time for step 1 studying are v important.

I tried to kill the bug on my screen that turns out to be your avatar, good game

 

[medicalmatins]

only things worth asking imo. plus like bacchus mentioned, most of the 3rd/4th yr stuff is rotation specific anyways. But its good to know where rotations are held, and the general 'feel' about it.

IMO - grading system and time for step 1 studying are v important.

So true. Updating first post to reflect this and other suggestions.