I have my first residency interview next week, any advice with regards to what sort of questions to expect? I've read a lot about what type of questions to expect in a general residency interview, but was wondering if there are any specific to psych that I should prepare for. Also, I have 2 areas of psychiatry that I'm really interested in pursuing that are not necessarily similar, should I talk about both, or just focus on one? Thanks in advance!
Preparing for interviews
- Thread starter axm028400
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I would talk about what you like in each field. I happen to like a couple of areas in psych especially, and I think they will want to know what motivates me for each of those.
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Most of the programs that you will be interviewing for will ask you standard questions:
1) Why Psychiatry?
2) Why this program?
3) Do you have any questions for me?
Now each program will differ in that they can ask more questions such as where do you see yourself in x years? Any plans to specialize? Research interests? Also anything in your application is fair game, so review your application materials.
You should have thought about these before hand, and please have at least 2-3 questions to ask the interviewers (even if you just got the answer from the last interviewer). You could always ask, what are positive and negatives here? Any changes that you foresee in the next couple of years? What are the caps for inpt? Where do graduates end of after they finish here, etc?
Good luck. And believe me you will likely feel more confident and polished after you have interviewed once or twice.
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You should have questions prepared for both residents and attendings. I was interviewed formally/informally by a senior resident at most programs.
For senior residents:
- When you graduate from residency here, is there any kind of patient you won't feel prepared to treat? (I found substance abuse and eating disorders to be common answers.)
- What kind of changes has the program made while you're been a resident? What changes are being discussed?
- Is there formal mentoring? What kind of help do you get with career / fellowship planning?
- For outpatient, what kind of supervision do you have? Is it heavy in any particular field (i.e. CBT, analytic)?
- How has the program dealt with resident personal/family/medical emergencies? (I didn't ask this in formal interviews. I found this was a good way to get info on how the residency coped with pregnancies, without pegging myself as a potentially pregnant resident.)
- What do residents do for fun? Are most residents married or single?
Questions for PD or residents:
- For programs where you start some outpatients during PGY-2 - Is there dedicated time to see patients or do you have to do it on your own time? If on your own time, is this difficult?
- How do residents get patients for their outpatient practice? Is anyone overseeing residents' patient load to make sure that they are balanced between different diagnoses?
- Diversity of patient population?
- What fellowships do residents commonly pursue (if this info isn't on the website)?
- Is didactic time protected? (If it isn't when you're an intern, you can forget making it to most didactics.)
- How will the program deal with the new ACGME rules? Will PGY-2s be taking all overnight call? Will there be a nightfloat system, and for whom? Will it change the structure of rotations?
Do not be surprised if you get asked questions about your family of origin. I was asked, "Tell me about your family," "Tell me what you were like in high school," among other similar questions.
Have a story ready about a memorable patient. Ideally, it should make you look good. Be able to answer the question, "Why was that memorable for you?"
Be ready for interviewers who have never reviewed your files and who will ask you open-ended questions like, "Tell me about yourself." Make sure that what you say matches up with your PS and CV (i.e. don't try to sell yourself as a researcher if you haven't done any research and your PS doesn't say a word about it).
Everything in your file is fair game. If you listed an interest (psych-related or not), be ready to talk about it.
For senior residents:
- When you graduate from residency here, is there any kind of patient you won't feel prepared to treat? (I found substance abuse and eating disorders to be common answers.)
- What kind of changes has the program made while you're been a resident? What changes are being discussed?
- Is there formal mentoring? What kind of help do you get with career / fellowship planning?
- For outpatient, what kind of supervision do you have? Is it heavy in any particular field (i.e. CBT, analytic)?
- How has the program dealt with resident personal/family/medical emergencies? (I didn't ask this in formal interviews. I found this was a good way to get info on how the residency coped with pregnancies, without pegging myself as a potentially pregnant resident.)
- What do residents do for fun? Are most residents married or single?
Questions for PD or residents:
- For programs where you start some outpatients during PGY-2 - Is there dedicated time to see patients or do you have to do it on your own time? If on your own time, is this difficult?
- How do residents get patients for their outpatient practice? Is anyone overseeing residents' patient load to make sure that they are balanced between different diagnoses?
- Diversity of patient population?
- What fellowships do residents commonly pursue (if this info isn't on the website)?
- Is didactic time protected? (If it isn't when you're an intern, you can forget making it to most didactics.)
- How will the program deal with the new ACGME rules? Will PGY-2s be taking all overnight call? Will there be a nightfloat system, and for whom? Will it change the structure of rotations?
Do not be surprised if you get asked questions about your family of origin. I was asked, "Tell me about your family," "Tell me what you were like in high school," among other similar questions.
Have a story ready about a memorable patient. Ideally, it should make you look good. Be able to answer the question, "Why was that memorable for you?"
Be ready for interviewers who have never reviewed your files and who will ask you open-ended questions like, "Tell me about yourself." Make sure that what you say matches up with your PS and CV (i.e. don't try to sell yourself as a researcher if you haven't done any research and your PS doesn't say a word about it).
Everything in your file is fair game. If you listed an interest (psych-related or not), be ready to talk about it.
