Negative Experiences with OMFS Programs

[dentmass]

Hey guys, I was wondering what experiences you've had interviewing or on externships. Based on the experiences of a couple upperclassmen from my school and another school, I've heard about interviews where the attendings were unprofessional because the interview itself points to a culture less than desired if they are treating applicants like that.

Rutgers - In a 2 on 1 room, an attending was on the computer or his phone the entire interview and would chime in occasionally. This was rude for applicants to fly in and interview with a program and for a guy to sit there and be completely uninterested. This apparently happened to multiple interviewees. In another interview, an attending walked out on one of the applicants in a 2 on 1 interview and didn't come back to the room because he was uninterested in the applicant. A lot of people ranked them super low this cycle because of the interview.

UIC - As part of a panel, the chairman was riling up the applicants and making them uncomfortable on purpose and see how'd they would react.

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[BlackThought]

1) Try not to base your opinions on other people's anecdotes.
2) Those anecdotes you outlined sound pretty subjective. You may have some sensitive upperclassmen.
3) You may want to be careful with the name drops. Small community. [Edit: good move removing the names]

Note: I'm not at either of these programs.

 

[dentmass]

I was hoping people would share some negative experiences they had at places either via interview or externship! Isn't that the point of a forum? Posts created based off of people's anecdotes and what they think - also why we have usernames and it is anonymous. Literally every post is based off subjective experiences here. There are threads proclaiming certain programs are malignant, which programs people liked, how they viewed externships, etc.

It's 2019. If you do something in public, be full expected for the possibility of it coming up in social media. In fact, in a small community you should probably do your best to act in your best behavior towards applicants and people who are future colleagues.

 

[Tootyfruity]

No program is malignant if they're all malignant.

 

[shulk]

Here's a few I can remember, both positive and sort of negative.
1) At michigan we were treated like kings! Incredibly friendly and seemed excited for us to be there, got a great dinner at an actually good place, good catered lunch. A tour of the michigan stadium. A gift bag with chocolate and mints. The residents also seemed very happy.
2) NYU 6yr has you do the MMI interview they give to med school applicants. This really isn't very fun. I got a glimpse of how awful it must be to apply to medical school these days (now a lot of places make you take a lengthy personality assessment exam in person which you have to go travel to in addition to all of the other hoops) Not really the OMFS program fault I think

 

[toothsucker]

I had a few programs where the first thing the interviewer asked me was "what did you get on your CBSE?"

Like... come on man.... it's at the top of my resume. And in my PASS app. And the reason you called me to interview here. It would have felt a bit more "professional" if they knew the absolute basics about me since I flew in, got a hotel, etc. etc.

 

[vellnueve]

The fact that you view that as a negative experience is highly disturbing

Annoying, perhaps. But I doubt you have any idea how tiring it is to interview 15-20 people a day

 

[toothsucker]

The fact that you view that as a negative experience is highly disturbing

Annoying, perhaps. But I doubt you have any idea how tiring it is to interview 15-20 people a day

Look, it’s obviously not a huge deal, but it shouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination to realize that it looks good if you show a candidate that you know the basics about them. And considering most candidates form opinions about the entire program’s culture in the span of a day and a half, that makes the difference in someone ranking your program higher or lower.

You guys will match higher ranks if you show the candidate you are interested in them individually. And if you are a program that doesn’t really care because all spots get filled regardless, then more power to ya.

 

[resiliens]

One interviewer knew he wasn’t going to accept me and invited me to interview anyway. He literally told me mid interview.

Why do people do stuff like this? Aren't there better ways we call can spend our time?

 

[Captain Underplants]

Hey guys, I was wondering what experiences you've had interviewing or on externships. Based on the experiences of a couple upperclassmen from my school and another school, I've heard about interviews where the attendings were unprofessional because the interview itself points to a culture less than desired if they are treating applicants like that.

Rutgers - In a 2 on 1 room, an attending was on the computer or his phone the entire interview and would chime in occasionally. This was rude for applicants to fly in and interview with a program and for a guy to sit there and be completely uninterested. This apparently happened to multiple interviewees. In another interview, an attending walked out on one of the applicants in a 2 on 1 interview and didn't come back to the room because he was uninterested in the applicant. A lot of people ranked them super low this cycle because of the interview.

UIC - As part of a panel, the chairman was riling up the applicants and making them uncomfortable on purpose and see how'd they would react.

What difference does it make? If you can't handle the "disrespect" then you're obviously not a good match for the program, wouldn't you rather know that BEFORE you're stuck there for four or six years?

Believe me a lot of it is intentional, trying to pull psychological mind games to see how you respond. Are you going to blame your B in D2 year on the instructor or will you accept fault? Are you confident you're a good fit? I've been on interviews were the chairman was directly insulting applicants in a joking manner, put his feet on the table (socks off), others were they refuse to meet with you unless you come to the OR (wearing a bunny suit) and some were they pimp you on obscure **** that you have no right to know as a D4/fresh graduate, they don't expect you to know it. THey want to see how you react.

And if you honestly take offense to that then you're probably not a good fit with the program, because the disrespect, name calling and general **** attitude won't magically disappear once you're a resident.

I for one would be thankful they're showing their true colors instead of pretending their **** doesn't sink

 

[Orthofanathgnic]

(wearing a bunny suit)

Is there a story for this one?

 

[Captain Underplants]

Is there a story for this one?

I won't lie. When I heard it the first time I thought they had a suit like bugs Bunny. Turns out this is called a bunny suit

 

[resiliens]

I won't lie. When I heard it the first time I thought they had a suit like bugs Bunny. Turns out this is called a bunny suit
View attachment 268155

I'd be okay with it if not for that god awful hood

 

[Captain Underplants]

I'd be okay with it if not for that god awful hood

Personally I wasn't a fan of this simply because as an applicant you made the time and financial arrangements to fly across the country to interview at this program; but the program itself can't be bothered to clear their schedule of OR cases for the day.

 

[yappy]

What difference does it make? If you can't handle the "disrespect" then you're obviously not a good match for the program, wouldn't you rather know that BEFORE you're stuck there for four or six years?

Believe me a lot of it is intentional, trying to pull psychological mind games to see how you respond. Are you going to blame your B in D2 year on the instructor or will you accept fault? Are you confident you're a good fit? I've been on interviews were the chairman was directly insulting applicants in a joking manner, put his feet on the table (socks off), others were they refuse to meet with you unless you come to the OR (wearing a bunny suit) and some were they pimp you on obscure **** that you have no right to know as a D4/fresh graduate, they don't expect you to know it. THey want to see how you react.

And if you honestly take offense to that then you're probably not a good fit with the program, because the disrespect, name calling and general **** attitude won't magically disappear once you're a resident.

I for one would be thankful they're showing their true colors instead of pretending their **** doesn't sink

Imagine a world where applicants acted professional and so did faculty surgeons. lol @ meeting in the OR - orchestrating some sort of situation like a scene from a movie - it's all laughable.

 

[vellnueve]

Personally I wasn't a fan of this simply because as an applicant you made the time and financial arrangements to fly across the country to interview at this program; but the program itself can't be bothered to clear their schedule of OR cases for the day.

Sometimes you have bad traumas or emergent cases that need to go that day. We usually defer ours on interview days but now and then we’ve had to take care of something. It happens everywhere I would imagine.

 

[Captain Underplants]

Sometimes you have bad traumas or emergent cases that need to go that day. We usually defer ours on interview days but now and then we’ve had to take care of something. It happens everywhere I would imagine.

Agreed, and totally understood; however I know for a fact that they had OR cases every day of interview (they had 5 interview days, and the same thing happened over the last several years).

 

[ibuprofen400mg]

There are tons of programs out there. If you had bad experience with one or two programs, just move on and apply to other programs.