Hi all, I'm going to be interviewing at my home institution soon. It's a good program, but I already know that I do not want to go there for residency. I scheduled an interview more for the "courtesy" and to maintain good relations with the department. They have helped me so much, and I really appreciate it. So if it comes up during my interview how seriously I am considering staying here, what should I say? I'm assuming people will just tell me to be honest, but I feel rude doing so and I wonder if the interviewers will question why I decided to interview with them at all. Anyone in the same situation or have received good advice about it?
Interviewing at home institution
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I definately would not say " I dont want to be here at all". That would not be a good idea. I would tell them that I plan on making my decision after all my interviews are completed and that i'm keeping my options open until then. This way you didnt lie or back urself in a corner.
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Its time to learn the art of polite conversation/the little white lie, etc. As noted above, you don't have to lie but rather say something benign like, "I've enjoyed my time here and think this is a great program, but I owe it to myself to investigate other places before commiting myself."
They will not pressure you more to tell them how you are ranking them (unless they fancy an NRMP violation). I wouldn't worry about it - programs give applicants whom they have no intention of ranking "courtesy interviews" (we did for all our home students) so there is no shame in you accepting what you see as a courtesy on your part.
They will not pressure you more to tell them how you are ranking them (unless they fancy an NRMP violation). I wouldn't worry about it - programs give applicants whom they have no intention of ranking "courtesy interviews" (we did for all our home students) so there is no shame in you accepting what you see as a courtesy on your part.
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As above.
If you are applying for a competitive specialty, or even a semicompetitive one, I would not sneeze at any interview invite you get. Acting totally uninterested will assure that you don't get ranked, most likely. I had little interest in staying @ my home program to do IM, but I went to the interview and I acted interested. You never know when you might need a fallback...
If you are applying for a competitive specialty, or even a semicompetitive one, I would not sneeze at any interview invite you get. Acting totally uninterested will assure that you don't get ranked, most likely. I had little interest in staying @ my home program to do IM, but I went to the interview and I acted interested. You never know when you might need a fallback...
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If you strongly have no intention of going there, why did you apply in the first place? I think I'm in the minority as far as not applying to my home program, but it seemed like a waste of everyone's time for me to go and pretend that I want to stay there when I absolutely do not.
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ladygrey
If you are a strong candidate in a noncompetitive field, you don't really have to apply to your home program if you know you don't want to go there. Most people apply to their home program thinking that at least they would rank it, and that "the devil you know" might be better than "the devil you don't know". Also, most students feel like they know their home program is going to take a certain number of it's own med students, so why not give it a shot? If you are applying for something like fp/psych/peds/IM and know you are a competitive candidate, then I don't think applying to your home program is obligatory if you aren't that interested.
If you are a strong candidate in a noncompetitive field, you don't really have to apply to your home program if you know you don't want to go there. Most people apply to their home program thinking that at least they would rank it, and that "the devil you know" might be better than "the devil you don't know". Also, most students feel like they know their home program is going to take a certain number of it's own med students, so why not give it a shot? If you are applying for something like fp/psych/peds/IM and know you are a competitive candidate, then I don't think applying to your home program is obligatory if you aren't that interested.
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I've told my home programs mild lies about my residency intentions- I am probably not going to stay around here, but I've had good responses (at least I think they're good) to the questions about my intent. "I'm interviewing at multiple programs at various places in the country to try to find the best fit for me. With the economy as it is, my husband and I have a lot to consider in trying to decide whether or not to sell our house and move..." blah blah blah.
