Resident Dinners

[mw8791]

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Hi guys. I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts about missing an "informal dinner" at one residency program in order to travel to another interview. If we don't go to the dinner will that impact how they rank us? Or are the dinners just there to provide us with more information about the program?

 

[2020]

If you want to cover all the bases, you attend. However, if you attend and miss an interview, you will have 0% chance of getting in at the place you missed. Skip the dinner.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

At many programs, your ranking is determined at the end of the interview day, and at Iowa, it's before the dinner. Your presence at the dinner will not increase the ranking (keep in mind that there are always the exceptions); however, it can result in your ranking going down if you're a drunken and stuttering fool. I don't see this happening often, so I encourage you to attend the dinner if possible to learn about the program and residents. Otherwise, you won't be missed.

 

[dyk33]

At many programs, your ranking is determined at the end of the interview day, and at Iowa, it's before the dinner. Your presence at the dinner will not increase the ranking (keep in mind that there are always the exceptions); however, it can result in your ranking going down if you're a drunken and stuttering fool. I don't see this happening often, so I encourage you to attend the dinner if possible to learn about the program and residents. Otherwise, you won't be missed.

Dear Dr. Doan,

how is the ranking actually determined and how important is interview in determining the rankings? i'm asking this because i saw that some of my interviewers had scoring sheets in front of them with numbers even before i met them and i had the impression that doing well on interview could give you one or two points more or so (based on the scale i thought they were using) or none as everyone seems to get great interviews. since you are on admission committe, can you shed some light on this mysterious process?

 

[Andrew_Doan]

I can't speak for other programs, but it's certain that each program has their own formulas for ranking. I think the interviews are extremely important. Many programs score the applicant after each interview. The combined scores will help with the final ranking. At Iowa, we re-evaluate each applicant after the interviews. Often, I've seen applicants match because of a positive impression on the day of interview.