MD/PhD interviews

[coriannegirl]

I was invited for my first MD/PhD interview today and I have no idea what to expect. While our advisor crams mock MD interviews down our throats (I did 4), I don't know what to expect from 2 days of grilling for an MD/PhD program. I'm expecially nervous because I'm was a non-science major (music performace). I was wondering if the questions were solely based on our research experiences and what kind of level of detail we're talking about. If anyone could give me advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

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[solitude]

I was invited for my first MD/PhD interview today and I have no idea what to expect. While our advisor crams mock MD interviews down our throats (I did 4), I don't know what to expect from 2 days of grilling for an MD/PhD program. I'm expecially nervous because I'm was a non-science major (music performace). I was wondering if the questions were solely based on our research experiences and what kind of level of detail we're talking about. If anyone could give me advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sure people will give you advice on here, but I haven't gone through any interviews yet myself, so I'll abstain. A great website to check out that may answer your questions is: http://www.mdphds.org/ I think if you go to programs or something like that, you can find interview feedback on a wide range of schools.

 

[Dr. MightyMouse]

hey congrats on getting the interview!
When I had my MD/PhD interview, it consisted of 4 individual interviews: 3 were PIs currently working in various departments (oncology, neuroscience and pathology) and the last interview was with the director of admissions. Generally speaking, they were all pretty easy going, nothing too crazy. They all pretty much asked about my research and what I planned on getting from the MD/PhD. Make sure you have answers ready to the big questions: Why MD/PhD, Why at this school, Why not just MD, Why not just PhD, etc. There are a bunch of other threads on this forum that shed a little more light on the interview process I would suggest lookin at those as well

Good luck!

 

[Dr. MightyMouse]

i forgot to ask, where are you going to interview? perhaps there are some people who have already interviewed there who could help out a bit

 

[Caribou]

It varies hugely between schools how detailed their questions will be. Some schools, my interviewers have asked very few, general questions about what my research consisted of and why I wanted to pursue an MD/PhD. At other schools they've asked very detailed questions, including several questions of how to design experiments to test particular hypotheses. For the most part they have been pretty laid back and quite enjoyable. I wouldn't stress too much. Congratulations on your first interview invitation!!!! Good luck!!

 

[Neuronix]

This question "What should I expect in the MD/PhD interview" comes up very frequently. Any of the comprehensive FAQs (see my sticky) or a search will easily cover it. That being said, I know you're nervous so I'll make you a quick response.

To summarise, the interview is not "two days of grilling", but rather 1 hour of grilling and 47 hours of selling you their program. I'll explain. There are two types of interviews:

1) Interview with the director/asst. director/adcom or with a committee. This is the interview that really matters. There's usually only 1 or 2 of these per visit. They will ask you the usual questions, "Why MD/PhD? Why not MD alone? Why not PhD alone? Tell me/us about your research experience" You can expect this to be the real interview. You shouldn't expect really any major curveballs. All of the talk will be about your app, your research, etc. From your MDApplicants profile, it looks like you're interviewing at UMaryland first. That was my first interview also. If it's like what it was 5 years ago (!), the committee interview will be what really counts.

2) Interview with whatever researchers they set you up with. This is to sell you on the school. They will typically do 95% of the talking. You don't prepare for these interviews, as you will rarely get a word in edgewise. The almost sole purpose is to sell you the school. Yes, they may be able to write evaluation forms about you, so you want to stay awake (HARDEST PART!) and try to form intelligent questions if you ever get room to ask any.

Sure, there may be exceptions, but this is usually the case. Don't focus on the weird reports you occasionally get. MD/PhD interviews tend to be more straightfoward than MD interviews, but that being said, every applicant I have told "STOP WORRYING!" has come back and said "Neuronix, you're right." Trust me.

To answer your questions specifically:

You were a non-science major. So what? If you have the research experience, you have the research experience. They can theoretically ask you any level of detail about your work. Usually they're trying to get an impression of you. "Tell me about your research" is your opportunity to summarize what you've done, and your responses to their questions will probably give them their gut feeling about you, how well you understand what you're doing, and how insightful you might be in the future. These questions are usually one of: how does/could this apply to medicine? What do you want to do next? Where do you see this project going? Or some nit-picky details about the actual science you were doing. The level of detail is in many ways determined by whether or not the interviewer knows anything about the research you do. Sometimes you get someone who does what you do and you get really in depth, and sometimes you get someone random and the questions are really softball. Don't be worried. If you know your stuff, you know your stuff. Also, they recognize that you are an undergrad--not a post-doc. Nobody is going to say "You were a music major? WTF are you doing here?" They wouldn't bother interviewing you if they felt that way. They might ask you about it, you tell them whatever reasons you have for getting to where you are now, and you move on. It's not a big deal.

 

[dave613]

Eric is giving you very good advice here. Take his word. Evidently, I wouldn't be applying to MD/PhD programs if it weren't for all of his insightful and USEFUL advice he's given me over the past few years.

Good luck at Maryland.

This question "What should I expect in the MD/PhD interview" comes up very frequently. Any of the comprehensive FAQs (see my sticky) or a search will easily cover it. That being said, I know you're nervous so I'll make you a quick response.

To summarise, the interview is not "two days of grilling", but rather 1 hour of grilling and 47 hours of selling you their program. I'll explain. There are two types of interviews:

1) Interview with the director/asst. director/adcom or with a committee. This is the interview that really matters. There's usually only 1 or 2 of these per visit. They will ask you the usual questions, "Why MD/PhD? Why not MD alone? Why not PhD alone? Tell me/us about your research experience" You can expect this to be the real interview. You shouldn't expect really any major curveballs. All of the talk will be about your app, your research, etc. From your MDApplicants profile, it looks like you're interviewing at UMaryland first. That was my first interview also. If it's like what it was 5 years ago (!), the committee interview will be what really counts.

2) Interview with whatever researchers they set you up with. This is to sell you on the school. They will typically do 95% of the talking. You don't prepare for these interviews, as you will rarely get a word in edgewise. The almost sole purpose is to sell you the school. Yes, they may be able to write evaluation forms about you, so you want to stay awake (HARDEST PART!) and try to form intelligent questions if you ever get room to ask any.

Sure, there may be exceptions, but this is usually the case. Don't focus on the weird reports you occasionally get. MD/PhD interviews tend to be more straightfoward than MD interviews, but that being said, every applicant I have told "STOP WORRYING!" has come back and said "Neuronix, you're right." Trust me.

To answer your questions specifically:

You were a non-science major. So what? If you have the research experience, you have the research experience. They can theoretically ask you any level of detail about your work. Usually they're trying to get an impression of you. "Tell me about your research" is your opportunity to summarize what you've done, and your responses to their questions will probably give them their gut feeling about you, how well you understand what you're doing, and how insightful you might be in the future. These questions are usually one of: how does/could this apply to medicine? What do you want to do next? Where do you see this project going? Or some nit-picky details about the actual science you were doing. The level of detail is in many ways determined by whether or not the interviewer knows anything about the research you do. Sometimes you get someone who does what you do and you get really in depth, and sometimes you get someone random and the questions are really softball. Don't be worried. If you know your stuff, you know your stuff. Also, they recognize that you are an undergrad--not a post-doc. Nobody is going to say "You were a music major? WTF are you doing here?" They wouldn't bother interviewing you if they felt that way. They might ask you about it, you tell them whatever reasons you have for getting to where you are now, and you move on. It's not a big deal.

 

[acf11]

This question "What should I expect in the MD/PhD interview" comes up very frequently. Any of the comprehensive FAQs (see my sticky) or a search will easily cover it. That being said, I know you're nervous so I'll make you a quick response.

To summarise, the interview is not "two days of grilling", but rather 1 hour of grilling and 47 hours of selling you their program. I'll explain. There are two types of interviews:

1) Interview with the director/asst. director/adcom or with a committee. This is the interview that really matters. There's usually only 1 or 2 of these per visit. They will ask you the usual questions, "Why MD/PhD? Why not MD alone? Why not PhD alone? Tell me/us about your research experience" You can expect this to be the real interview. You shouldn't expect really any major curveballs. All of the talk will be about your app, your research, etc. From your MDApplicants profile, it looks like you're interviewing at UMaryland first. That was my first interview also. If it's like what it was 5 years ago (!), the committee interview will be what really counts.

2) Interview with whatever researchers they set you up with. This is to sell you on the school. They will typically do 95% of the talking. You don't prepare for these interviews, as you will rarely get a word in edgewise. The almost sole purpose is to sell you the school. Yes, they may be able to write evaluation forms about you, so you want to stay awake (HARDEST PART!) and try to form intelligent questions if you ever get room to ask any.

Sure, there may be exceptions, but this is usually the case. Don't focus on the weird reports you occasionally get. MD/PhD interviews tend to be more straightfoward than MD interviews, but that being said, every applicant I have told "STOP WORRYING!" has come back and said "Neuronix, you're right." Trust me.

To answer your questions specifically:

You were a non-science major. So what? If you have the research experience, you have the research experience. They can theoretically ask you any level of detail about your work. Usually they're trying to get an impression of you. "Tell me about your research" is your opportunity to summarize what you've done, and your responses to their questions will probably give them their gut feeling about you, how well you understand what you're doing, and how insightful you might be in the future. These questions are usually one of: how does/could this apply to medicine? What do you want to do next? Where do you see this project going? Or some nit-picky details about the actual science you were doing. The level of detail is in many ways determined by whether or not the interviewer knows anything about the research you do. Sometimes you get someone who does what you do and you get really in depth, and sometimes you get someone random and the questions are really softball. Don't be worried. If you know your stuff, you know your stuff. Also, they recognize that you are an undergrad--not a post-doc. Nobody is going to say "You were a music major? WTF are you doing here?" They wouldn't bother interviewing you if they felt that way. They might ask you about it, you tell them whatever reasons you have for getting to where you are now, and you move on. It's not a big deal.

Dead on Advice

 

[bottles999]

Congrats Coriannegirl!!!! Definitly Great Advice above!

Only additional thing to watch for during the interview. When ya get the adcom/admin interview, the one that counts, if they start doing more of the talking about THEIR School or THEIR Research... You can guess you've done your job by selling yourself to them and now they are selling their school/program to you. Sometimes its hard to detect, but alot of times its pretty obvious, even during the interview. Thats when you can really relax, atleast for the rest of that particular interviewer.

Good LUCK!

 

[coriannegirl]

Thanks so much for your responses! I'm a little jumpy because most of my research experience has been collecting data and following PI direction rather than anything involving experimental design. I understand what I'm doing and how it fits into the larger picture, but will pretty much fall apart if someone asks me what part of the experiment I came up with.

Oh, and I am interviewing at UMaryland!

 

[bottles999]

Thanks so much for your responses! I'm a little jumpy because most of my research experience has been collecting data and following PI direction rather than anything involving experimental design. I understand what I'm doing and how it fits into the larger picture, but will pretty much fall apart if someone asks me what part of the experiment I came up with.

Oh, and I am interviewing at UMaryland!

The best policy in interviews is NOT to lie or BS about your contribution. That would definitly send up red-flags more so than not having the experience at all. If you present what you did, explain what constraints were put on you by your PI or your particular time committments etc.. that prevented you from contributing more. Then explain what you would have liked to have done more and get exposure to this or that...

In addition make sure you can paint the big picture of what your PI is trying to acomplish and then explain your role - data collection, maybe data analysis if you were involved in that as well.

I mean the interviews I have had thus far, no one expects you to have done original work. If ya have, thats a great advantage, but its not a requirement. Remember their evaluating your 'potential to be'... not as if you are and have a line of accomplishments to validate that - at this stage of the game.

Relax - they are very enjoyable experiences and you meet some interesting interviewers as well as other potential candidates.

 

[Neuronix]

Thanks so much for your responses! I'm a little jumpy because most of my research experience has been collecting data and following PI direction rather than anything involving experimental design. I understand what I'm doing and how it fits into the larger picture, but will pretty much fall apart if someone asks me what part of the experiment I came up with.

I was the same way when I applied. I don't remember anyone asking me that question. You would think adcoms would ask that considering that idea of independant research being better, but based on my experience I don't think it gets asked often. The questions for me were more along the lines of why were you doing it, what else needs to be done, what are other people doing, etc...

 

[chirurgino]

The advice already given has been great--I'll just emphasize that one of the top questions to answer in the interviewer's mind is: Will this person be able to finish this program? There's nothing worse than for a program to invest a spot in someone and have them drop out as soon as they have the 1st two years of med school paid for. (anecdotally, a very high-profile MSTP program had twin brothers both drop out in this way several years ago--very bad form, which did not go over well with some powerful people) This is what they're assessing when they ask you why not just MD, why not just PhD? Just make sure that you can clearly can answer that question for yourself--can you finish the program--and you've cleared a big hurdle.

 

[CaipirinhaQuinho]

The best policy in interviews is NOT to lie or BS about your contribution.

Hey bottles if you avatar S. pyogenes?

 

[bottles999]

Hey bottles if you avatar S. pyogenes?

Why YES it is! Gotta luv flesh eating bacteria! Like this one over the Mad Cow one, also big on the prions, they have at the mini mircobes.

Thanks for noticing... hope I dont get in trouble for copy right infringement

 

[vector07]

One other piece of advice [that I gleaned from reading a thread on this forum].

When answering any of the questions "why MD/PhD", "why not phd only", and "why not MD only", it is very important to be clear and concise in your answer. Don't go into your life's story for why you're choosing this path. In fact, I recommend you only briefly discuss the events leading to your application to MD/PhD. Much more important is answering the question of what you will do with this degree. How will getting a dual degree fit into your vision of the future?

The same is true when you're asked about your research--be short and clear. In 1-3 minutes, you can explain your reseach like a publication. Explain the background, summarize the methods used, and discuss the results and conclusions. Emphasize your role in the process. Let the interviewers probe you about your research, and be prepared to offer details; but don't delve into unnecessary detail voluntarily.

I'm also going to repeat some advice from above. DONT STRESS OUT. DONT WORRY. I know, it's nearly impossible to comply with this advice. But in all seriousness, chilling out in an interview just might be the most effective way of doing well. I dont know why this is, and I certainly can't tell you how to calm yourself before that first interview. I can only say that you will do a better job of being yourself if you aren't flippin' out inside your head during that interview.

Lastly, I'm also majoring in an unusual field for an MD/PhD applicant. Maybe not quite as unusual as yourself. In any case, this is a strength. Just be prepared to talk about that, because nearly every interviewer is going to say "wow! that's very exciting.. now how did you get interested in an MD/PhD as a music major?" Remember to follow the guidance above--be short and to the point in your response.

Good luck to you!

 

[Vader]

One other piece of advice [that I gleaned from reading a thread on this forum].

When answering any of the questions "why MD/PhD", "why not phd only", and "why not MD only", it is very important to be clear and concise in your answer. Don't go into your life's story for why you're choosing this path. In fact, I recommend you only briefly discuss the events leading to your application to MD/PhD. Much more important is answering the question of what you will do with this degree. How will getting a dual degree fit into your vision of the future?

The same is true when you're asked about your research--be short and clear. In 1-3 minutes, you can explain your reseach like a publication. Explain the background, summarize the methods used, and discuss the results and conclusions. Emphasize your role in the process. Let the interviewers probe you about your research, and be prepared to offer details; but don't delve into unnecessary detail voluntarily.

I'm also going to repeat some advice from above. DONT STRESS OUT. DONT WORRY. I know, it's nearly impossible to comply with this advice. But in all seriousness, chilling out in an interview just might be the most effective way of doing well. I dont know why this is, and I certainly can't tell you how to calm yourself before that first interview. I can only say that you will do a better job of being yourself if you aren't flippin' out inside your head during that interview.

Lastly, I'm also majoring in an unusual field for an MD/PhD applicant. Maybe not quite as unusual as yourself. In any case, this is a strength. Just be prepared to talk about that, because nearly every interviewer is going to say "wow! that's very exciting.. now how did you get interested in an MD/PhD as a music major?" Remember to follow the guidance above--be short and to the point in your response.

Good luck to you!

This is EXCELLENT advice.

I hear propranolol (a beta-blocker) works for symptoms of nervousness...

 

[Dr.Watson]

Vector is right on. Keep your answers short and sweet with room for elaboration and perhaps begging a question. It'll keep interviewers engaged in the conversation if they're always asking questions. People zone out during long answers.