Residency interview prep advice & curveball questions asked

[Mat the coolcat]

Hey all, just wondering what resources y'all are using for interview prep this upcoming residency season.

Also curious for folks who matched EM in the last couple years what "curve ball" questions you got asked on your interview trail. This request is both for preparation and entertainment...

Cheers,

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[surely]

Hey all, just wondering what resources y'all are using for interview prep this upcoming residency season.

Also curious for folks who matched EM in the last couple years what "curve ball" questions you got asked on your interview trail. This request is both for preparation and entertainment...

Cheers,

I had veeeery few weird questions. Almost all of my interviews were just conversations. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed interviewing and going to pre-interview dinners.

One of my interviewers asked me an obviously very canned question and tried to make it seem personalized... "You seem like someone who's had a lot of good mentors. Tell me about those relationships."

I was like...what? Nothing in my application particularly screams that. What am I supposed to say, "well, sometimes, late at night, I browse through @gamerEMdoc's comment history"??

I think I spun it into how I think mentorship is v important and how I love mentoring people. What I didn't say is I actually secretly hate asking for help, haha.

 

[Mat the coolcat]

hahaha that's perfect

 

[deleted547339]

Hey all, just wondering what resources y'all are using for interview prep this upcoming residency season.

Also curious for folks who matched EM in the last couple years what "curve ball" questions you got asked on your interview trail. This request is both for preparation and entertainment...

Cheers,

Generally the places that do “unique” interviews have a reputation as such. There was a place when I was a med stud that asked people to interpret EKGs - I declined that interview off. Most are just casual conversations. As the people a year ahead of you about their specific experiences, that will likely yield you better data.

 

[Apollyon]

Generally the places that do “unique” interviews have a reputation as such. There was a place when I was a med stud that asked people to interpret EKGs - I declined that interview off. Most are just casual conversations. As the people a year ahead of you about their specific experiences, that will likely yield you better data.

Was that Tampa? Do they still do that? Or, was it another?

More than 15 years ago, for OB/GYN at Columbia, they gave applicants a test of 50 or 100 questions.

 

[Mat the coolcat]

Generally the places that do “unique” interviews have a reputation as such. There was a place when I was a med stud that asked people to interpret EKGs - I declined that interview off. Most are just casual conversations. As the people a year ahead of you about their specific experiences, that will likely yield you better data.

That's a good thought I didn't think of that. I assume this info is somewhere on SDN? Like in the residency rank list pieces?

 

[bravotwozero]

One question that I got in every single residency interview was ‘what can you bring to our program?’. Be ready for that one.


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[DrMcCoyDO]

Also curious for folks who matched EM in the last couple years what "curve ball" questions you got asked on your interview trail. This request is both for preparation and entertainment...

The department chair at one interview asked me to tell him something about myself that would make him remember me. I guess my answer helped; because, that’s where I matched!

 

[Mat the coolcat]

The department chair at one interview asked me to tell him something about myself that would make him remember me. I guess my answer helped; because, that’s where I matched!

That’s a pretty smart thing to ask. Nice work!

 

[KGflyboy]

I had a wife and kids when I started residency. Assistant program director's first question asked for a basic intro of myself. After a quick summary of myself including my family and my hometown, she asked me a follow up question.

"What will be your #1 priority, us or your family?"

I explained my family will always be more important to me personally, but that won't prevent me from dedicating enough time and effort into residency. Being a father and husband first won't affect my ability to be a good resident and doctor.

She rolled her eyes and clearly didn't like my answer about family being more important than her program. I knew right then and there I would rank that program very poorly.

 

[Mat the coolcat]

I had a wife and kids when I started residency. Assistant program director's first question asked for a basic intro of myself. After a quick summary of myself including my family and my hometown, she asked me a follow up question.

"What will be your #1 priority, us or your family?"

I explained my family will always be more important to me personally, but that won't prevent me from dedicating enough time and effort into residency. Being a father and husband first won't affect my ability to be a good resident and doctor.

She rolled her eyes and clearly didn't like my answer about family being more important than her program. I knew right then and there I would rank that program very poorly.

^The balls on this guy! Good for you man and I agree.

That’s a great example in the importance of being honest in interviews. (Bet she loses the eye-roll after she has a couple of her own...)

 

[surely]

I had a wife and kids when I started residency. Assistant program director's first question asked for a basic intro of myself. After a quick summary of myself including my family and my hometown, she asked me a follow up question.

"What will be your #1 priority, us or your family?"

I explained my family will always be more important to me personally, but that won't prevent me from dedicating enough time and effort into residency. Being a father and husband first won't affect my ability to be a good resident and doctor.

She rolled her eyes and clearly didn't like my answer about family being more important than her program. I knew right then and there I would rank that program very poorly.

That's a terrible question that helps no one. The correct response to "my wife and I have 3 kids" is "I'm happy to say our program is very family-friendly. We do family cookouts, have a resident spouse GroupMe, have great health insurance, daycare on site, let residents control scheduling so it's easy to swap shifts" etc.

 

[CajunMedic]

Tiny office with PD. Back facing the door and up against the wall (which drives me nuts)...

"Which one of the 7 ACGME Core Competencies do you feel is the most important and why?"
"Ummmm"
(PD proceeds to rattle them off and I answer)

"You're wrong, and here's why..."-spends the next 15 minutes telling me why I'm wrong and he's right


Interviewing there again this year, gonna be ready this time!

Same Program, Core Faculty: "You're from Louisiana, if you match here, will you cook for us?"

 

[deleted547339]

I had a wife and kids when I started residency. Assistant program director's first question asked for a basic intro of myself. After a quick summary of myself including my family and my hometown, she asked me a follow up question.

"What will be your #1 priority, us or your family?"

I explained my family will always be more important to me personally, but that won't prevent me from dedicating enough time and effort into residency. Being a father and husband first won't affect my ability to be a good resident and doctor.

She rolled her eyes and clearly didn't like my answer about family being more important than her program. I knew right then and there I would rank that program very poorly.

I had a similar question. I answered that my faith, family and health were all more important than my job. My interviewed nodded in agreement. I was happy to match at that program.

 

[deleted547339]

That's a good thought I didn't think of that. I assume this info is somewhere on SDN? Like in the residency rank list pieces?

It may be, but people don’t like to publicly post this kind of stuff. It’s a small world and you’re not all that anonymous in places like this. People you know are more likely to be honest when it’s not recorded.

 

[Apollyon]

Pffh. If the program does douchy stuff like that, it's on them. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. If the EM program at John Smith likes to pimp students, name names. Seriously - what do YOU have to lose?

 

[ThreadStalker]

I got "What element on the periodic table would you be?" and "What's your dream car?" from the same interviewer. I suppose you could argue that these questions may give you a sense of the personality of the person you're interviewing, but it just made me think that he really did not care about who came to his program.

 

[Mat the coolcat]

I got "What element on the periodic table would you be?" and "What's your dream car?" from the same interviewer. I suppose you could argue that these questions may give you a sense of the personality of the person you're interviewing, but it just made me think that he really did not care about who came to his program.

I hope you answered with Erbium (...Er) lol.

I think sometimes faculty get thrown into interviewing us kiddos and they just have to improvise...or have fun with it...

 

[thegenius]

One question that I got in every single residency interview was ‘what can you bring to our program?’. Be ready for that one.

Yea man, be prepared to sell yourself big time. Tell them what you bring to the program, and how you are going to make your class better than previous classes. Make'm drool over you.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

I was like...what? Nothing in my application particularly screams that. What am I supposed to say, "well, sometimes, late at night, I browse through @gamerEMdoc's comment history"??

This is indeed the correct answer to this question.