Please advise me on Pathology Residency interview coming up

[desperate1]

Hello all,

I was lucky enough to find a spot for pgy1 pathology. it's kinda late in the game so i was wondering if any one with pathology residency experience could please give me some advice on what to do. I just want to make sure that the interview will go well and that i will get that spot!

1. what should i ask them on interview day?
2. what should i say about me to show them that i'm very serious about joining their program with out sounding like i'm desperately taking whatever they have
3. any do's and don'ts specifically for pathology

any comments or your thought on this matter is greatly appreciated!

thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[gbwillner]

Hello all,

I was lucky enough to find a spot for pgy1 pathology. it's kinda late in the game so i was wondering if any one with pathology residency experience could please give me some advice on what to do. I just want to make sure that the interview will go well and that i will get that spot!

1. what should i ask them on interview day?
2. what should i say about me to show them that i'm very serious about joining their program with out sounding like i'm desperately taking whatever they have
3. any do's and don'ts specifically for pathology

any comments or your thought on this matter is greatly appreciated! this interview is on monday, july 28!

thanks

I would just relax. They will probably already know you are desparate since you are going outside the match and are filling a position off-cycle. They are just as desparate- either they didn't fill and are scrambling for warm bodies or they already had a drop-out and are scrambling for a replacement.

 

[desperate1]

Thanks! That makes me feel better!

I was just wondering if people have been given a pathology related case to solve during an interview, or like a slide to look at and explain what it is. I heard some programs do that so I want to be prepared.

Have a good Sunday y'all

 

[yaah]

That's pretty rare. The purpose of pathology residency is to learn pathology, after all. Programs don't expect you to come in knowing all the answers to things. If by remote chance they do show you a slide, it's probably because they want to see how you think, not that they want to see if you get the right answer.

 

[cytoborg]

I would think showing slides would be pretty rare. Look up whatever you can on the program online - educate yourself as much as possible so you can ask specific questions and show you're interested in that program. Also, be able to clearly state why you are interested in pathology and what experience you have in the field.
Do NOT say:
-You don't like patients
-You hated med school and/or no other specialty interested you
-You just want to do research
-You want a good lifestyle
-This is your backup specialty
Do say:
-You are prepared to work hard
-You enjoy variety
-You're prepared to learn massive amounts of information
-You have excellent people skills
-You like the area and/or have relatives/friends in the area
Good luck tomorrow.

 

[LADoc00]

~hint: you like all "pretty colors" especially pink and fuschia.

~remember to ask about all the resident keggers and TGIFs, will show you arent socially ******ed

~in general emphasize you are more than willing to help plan parties, in office B-days celebrations and other such activities.

~your hobbies include:
1.) authentic Cuban cigar smoking (perferably Montecristo Habana Especial when you can get them..and you have a reliable source)
2.) Texas hold em poker (the only TRUE game of poker)
3.) golf (you have a plus handicap and owned St. Andrews in your last trip there)
4.) you drink only Robert Parker 94pt+ wines or BETTER (Opus One barely crosses your lips, usually with disdain) or Old Man River Bourbon Whiskey (perferably Rare Breed WT)
5.) European sports cars capable of >187mph (and you drive track on weekends)
6.) Eastern European fashion models
7.) Real estate, commodities and foriegn currency trading
8.) Vacationing at Four Seasons hotels, especially Monte Carlo, Venice and New York, weather permitting
9.) Esoteric pigmented lesions that arise on thighs of young women, because you need 1 pathology oriented hobby

 

[Arctic Char]

can you explain how you have an interview off-season to begin with? did you just send programs your CV and documents with a cover letter (+ transcripts, MSPE, USMLE score, etc etc)???

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

9.) Esoteric pigmented lesions that arise on thighs of young women, because you need 1 pathology oriented hobby

I about lost it when I read this one!

 

[Arctic Char]

~hint: you like all "pretty colors" especially pink and fuschia.

~remember to ask about all the resident keggers and TGIFs, will show you arent socially ******ed

~in general emphasize you are more than willing to help plan parties, in office B-days celebrations and other such activities.

~your hobbies include:
1.) authentic Cuban cigar smoking (perferably Montecristo Habana Especial when you can get them..and you have a reliable source)
2.) Texas hold em poker (the only TRUE game of poker)
3.) golf (you have a plus handicap and owned St. Andrews in your last trip there)
4.) you drink only Robert Parker 94pt+ wines or BETTER (Opus One barely crosses your lips, usually with disdain) or Old Man River Bourbon Whiskey (perferably Rare Breed WT)
5.) European sports cars capable of >187mph (and you drive track on weekends)
6.) Eastern European fashion models
7.) Real estate, commodities and foriegn currency trading
8.) Vacationing at Four Seasons hotels, especially Monte Carlo, Venice and New York, weather permitting
9.) Esoteric pigmented lesions that arise on thighs of young women, because you need 1 pathology oriented hobby

haha, i can imagine this going over really well with the tech staff

 

[desperate1]

Wow, you guys are really funny, i mean, DocLA!

So the interview went well, thanks to all of you experts out there. I truly appreciate you guys taking the time to comment on everything! (CYTOBORG)

I met with 5 people from the program, PD, Chairman, other attendings. They were all super nice. I had something in common with all of them, so the conversations were good.

They said that they will make a decision soon. As far as my start date, that's up to the university due to licensure issues, as in, it will take time for me to get a temp license. The PD did mention that I will be a year late in starting fellowships if I am a few months behind. But at this point, I just want to start working so that's not important yet!

If you guys have any other advice as to speeding up the licensing process, please let me know.

I got the position from just luck/fate! I called them up and they have an opening, but I'm also doing research here, so it was easier to call them too.

Thanks again y'all

 

[rirriri]

Wow, you guys are really funny, i mean, DocLA!

So the interview went well, thanks to all of you experts out there. I truly appreciate you guys taking the time to comment on everything! (CYTOBORG)

I met with 5 people from the program, PD, Chairman, other attendings. They were all super nice. I had something in common with all of them, so the conversations were good.

They said that they will make a decision soon. As far as my start date, that's up to the university due to licensure issues, as in, it will take time for me to get a temp license. The PD did mention that I will be a year late in starting fellowships if I am a few months behind. But at this point, I just want to start working so that's not important yet!

If you guys have any other advice as to speeding up the licensing process, please let me know.

I got the position from just luck/fate! I called them up and they have an opening, but I'm also doing research here, so it was easier to call them too.

Thanks again y'all

congrats man!

remember that once you start, you can put this whole debacle behind you and get to work!

 

[desperate1]

Thanks ririririririririri,

Of course I will be working really hard once I get it. I have another interview with the Clinical Pathologists next week. After that, the PD will make a decision. At this point, he is still waiting for me to meet those people first.

If you have any advice on what I should do specifically for the CP people, please let me know. The AP interview went really well. The chairman emailed me and said some nice things, but I'm still cynical until I have a contract! Oh, I notice that the CP people that I'm meeting, there's only 1 MD, the rest are Ph D's. I didn't know that you can do CP with PhDs!

Thanks again for your comments!

 

[desperate1]

Hello y'all,

What is clinical pathology?

I was wondering if there is a link/post on here or anywhere that fully explains everything about Clinical Pathology? I need to be well informed so I won't be surprised when I talk to these Clinical Pathologists next week!

Thanks

 

[yaah]

Look under the FAQ or under the "websites" sticky. There are links explaining things.