Questions during hem/onc Interview

[Immunoonco]

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Hello everyone,

Would you please share your experience (whether recent or past) on what kind of questions are asked during interview? Is the interview mainly focused on applicant's CV and experience, future plans and goals , or just getting to know the person better with general questions. I would really appreciate any input from anyone.

 

[bobsmith]

Yes. To all of the above.

Most of my interviews had some combination of:
1) "Tell me about yourself" / How did you end up wanting to do heme/onc
2) General question about my research projects, my role, what I learned
3) General question about how I envision my career
4) Asking me what qs I have about how program / how this program can get to those career goals

A good number of the interviewers just jumped to number 4: "You seem like a good candidate. What can I tell you about this program?"

But of course, anything on your CV / application is totally fair game (as it should be - it's your life and you put it out there!) and I definitely had one or two interviewers ask me genuine questions about one of my publications from undergrad

 

[HemeOncApplicant]

What are good questions for you to ask interviewer during an interview specifically when they ask do you have any questions

 

[lulu09]

Tons of questions about research. The more academic and research-heavy the program is, the more they will ask you about research. I had entire interview days where I spoke about nothing but research. No one actually scrutinized my publication record though and asked me to really describe a paper or abstract. Most were content with my 1 minute "executive summary/elevator pitch" about research and the conversation just segued from there.

You will have a lot of people asking you what exactly in heme onc you what to specialize in. If you already have something in mind, great. If you don't, I would actually recommend you to come up with something because it is kind of awkward to be too undifferentiated (most people want to tell you about Dr. so-and-so doing XYZ at their institution, and if you say "I don't know yet," it's hard to continue the conversation). Don't lie though, lest some annoying interviewer starts pimping you about the field that you feigned interest in. Also, don't say benign heme just because that's the least popular subfield and you'll get credits that way. One of my coresidents actually got burned when he showed up to interviews saying precisely that and thinking he would get some advantage by saying it.

But don't sweat the interviews too much. I only had one bad interviewer (out of several dozen) and this guy brazenly asked me, "why should we take you when the candidate who I just interviewed has more publications?" Needless to say, I was really turned off by this and the program automatically dropped several ranks on my final list.

 

[blackcadillacs]

Are the 'difficult patient encounter,' 'conflict with a team member' situational type questions also common in fellowship interviews?

 

[jlm2yb]

What are good questions for you to ask interviewer during an interview specifically when they ask do you have any questions

The number one question I’d ask programs was where they saw the program in ten years. Are they building or revamping? This typically means there’s funding and money funneling in. If they don’t have a vision for their program then they certainly don’t have a vision for its fellows. Good luck!

 

[beyondbethany]

In a similar vein, I would always ask how the program accepts feedback from fellows to initiate changes and for recent examples.