suits in interviews?

[pezzang]

Do interviee generally wear suits in med schoo interviews? or do they just wear semi formal tie, blazer thing? I don't have a suit and am thinking about getting it now if it's generally accepted in med school interviews as i will be applying in this upcoming cycle. Please let me know! Thanks!

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[fotografía]

Most people wear black suits. Think funeral.

 

[GATC]

yeah, you need a suit.

 

[spicedmanna]

Do interviee generally wear suits in med schoo interviews? or do they just wear semi formal tie, blazer thing? I don't have a suit and am thinking about getting it now if it's generally accepted in med school interviews as i will be applying in this upcoming cycle. Please let me know! Thanks!

An interview is NOT a semi-formal event. Even though many schools will give the impression that it is laid-back and informal, it is in fact a formal professional meeting. Approach it as such and give it the full out treatment. You have one shot to impress; make it count for all it's worth. This means shelling out the cash to buy a decent formal suit, tie, dress shirt, dress socks, and dress shoes. You can find some good deals out there with minimal effort. Buy what you can at your budget level, but I would advise against going semi-formal. With that said, there's no need to be a clone either.

 

[xylem29]

no - i've been on the trail and from what i've seen, a suit is not an absolute necessity. For guys I have seen:

suit or blazer (with tie) & slacks combo. I've seen some guys with full suits that still didn't look very professional or good - so it doesn't really matter if you get a suit.

I'd say, just make sure you feel good and confident with whatever you are wearing - and make sure that you look clean. And honestly, I really don't think that interviewers care too much, as long as you look clean and professional. My best advice would be - focus on making yourself standout through your character, not on how you look (that's superficial and immature anyway) b/c like I said, as long as you look clean and professional - nothing matters beyond that.

 

[Funky]

no - i've been on the trail and from what i've seen, a suit is not an absolute necessity. For guys I have seen:

suit or blazer (with tie) & slacks combo. I've seen some guys with full suits that still didn't look very professional or good - so it doesn't really matter if you get a suit.

I'd say, just make sure you feel good and confident with whatever you are wearing - and make sure that you look clean. And honestly, I really don't think that interviewers care too much, as long as you look clean and professional. My best advice would be - focus on making yourself standout through your character, not on how you look (that's superficial and immature anyway) b/c like I said, as long as you look clean and professional - nothing matters beyond that.

it's better to be overdressed than underdressed.
You don't want to be the one guy standing out in business casual.

 

[gary5]

Yes, you should buy a suit. This is a formal event.

 

[Tired Pigeon]

it's better to be overdressed than underdressed.
You don't want to be the one guy standing out in business casual.

Also keep in mind that if you're that "one guy" dressed differently, it might subtly undermine your confidence on interview day. You want to show interviewers your "best" self, so I think it's worth it investing in professional attire.

IF you don't gain too much weight in med school (looking at the MS3's and MS4's in my school, I have to say that's a big "if") you have the added bonus that you'll be able to wear this again for residency program interviews.

 

[HoolaHoopMaster]

Nah, I hate wearing suits - I feel like all those greedy business students during summer internship recruitment for NYC finance jobs.

Are we getting a job? or are we requesting admission to a school? I prefer to look like a student, not a business exec - so I weak a black blazer, khaki slacks, dress shirt and tie with dress shoes. Does this mean I just pulled them out of the closet? Hell no, I went and bought it all brand spank'n new. So far of my 8 interviews, i've had 2 acceptances, 2 waitlists, and still waiting.

Seriously, the people who interview you are usually practicing docs, PhD teachers at the school, or med students. The med students don't care. The practicing docs that work at the med center are always in a rush and don't care, and the PhD's always wear homemade sweaters with teddy bears on them!

This whole culture of dressing up so much for med school interviews was not created by the schools - it was created by the students. Whatever we wear is up to us - just don't look like a piece of crap - duh.

 

[Robizzle]

I prefer to look like a student, not a business exec - so I weak a black blazer, khaki slacks, dress shirt and tie with dress shoes.

You wear the above as a student?

If I went dressed as a student, it would be baseball cap, random t-shirt, hoody, jeans, and timberlands/sneakers.

 

[Nomemory]

You wear the above as a student?

If I went dressed as a student, it would be baseball cap, random t-shirt, hoody, jeans, and timberlands/sneakers.

Dickies, white undershirt and Chucks here.

 

[HoolaHoopMaster]

You wear the above as a student?

If I went dressed as a student, it would be baseball cap, random t-shirt, hoody, jeans, and timberlands/sneakers.

Wow, I love how people play semantics all day long just for fun. Ok, you're right, blazer and tie is not what I look like as a student at school. I probably look more like you - with my jeans, t-shirt, and nike's. But when I'm in the interview room with a med student doing my interview, then I think that I look like a person applying for a STUDENT position, not an I-banking job. Are we crystal? Or did I misspell something?

 

[Law2Doc]

then I think that I look like a person applying for a STUDENT position, not an I-banking job. Are we crystal? Or did I misspell something?

You are applying for entry into a profession. (Med school is just the gateway, not the position -- you are applying to med school because you want to be a doctor, not a student.) Professionals wear suits. That is the appropriate dress for a med school interview. That a few folks get by with blazer and tie doesn't mean they were dressed appropriately -- and while most interviewers probably won't hold it against them, some certainly will. Some of those interview forms interviewers fill out have sections on "appearance". You are being judged on this.

 

[NervousNed]

geez, wear the suite, that shows to them you are taking this seriously and take this interview as something very important, so what if your being interviewed by students practicing physicians etc, you better show them that you are serious about whats happening, dont come off as cocky, as if you are above the system

 

[QuakerPreMed]

One minor comment as a fashionable man: DO NOT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, wear white gym socks with your suit and black dress shoes. I saw this more times than I could imagine. Buy some nice dress socks and wear them, please.

Oh yeah, and wear a suit. If you really feel sneaky, wear a tie that matches the school colors.

 

[undrcovrgunner]

One minor comment as a fashionable man: DO NOT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, wear white gym socks with your suit and black dress shoes. I saw this more times than I could imagine. Buy some nice dress socks and wear them, please.

Oh yeah, and wear a suit. If you really feel sneaky, wear a tie that matches the school colors .

Hmmm...

 

[LizzyM]

Blazer/shirt & tie/trousers/dress shoes is perfectly acceptable. Until about 10 years ago, this was the "uniform" look for interviewees as well as for the alumni weekend crowd. This interview season, I saw a few men dressed this way and frankly, it was refreshing change from the funeral look that we (the adcom interviewers) all make fun of.

 

[Nomemory]

One minor comment as a fashionable man: DO NOT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, wear white gym socks with your suit and black dress shoes. I saw this more times than I could imagine. Buy some nice dress socks and wear them, please.

It needed to be said.

 

[QuakerPreMed]

Hmmm...

I have no shame, I actually did this at about half the schools I interviewed at. Granted, I have a lot of ties...

 

[lovexn]

Unless you lost your suit in checked in luggage, wear a suit. That separates you from a PhD applicants who tend to be more laid back.

 

[LizzyM]

Unless you lost your suit in checked in luggage, wear a suit. That separates you from a PhD applicants who tend to be more laid back.

I've interviewed them too, and none of them were so formal that they wore blazers OR ties. Most were wearing crew neck sweaters or turtlenecks. The blazer & tie is very "old school" and preppy and isn't going to raise any eyebrows-- it is what most faculty interviewers wore to their interviews.

 

[StringerBell]

Oh yeah, and wear a suit. If you really feel sneaky, wear a tie that matches the school colors.

I did that, purely by accident.
Although I do have my burgundy tie if USC should ever come through with an interview. :/

 

[fang]

Wow, I love how people play semantics all day long just for fun. Ok, you're right, blazer and tie is not what I look like as a student at school. I probably look more like you - with my jeans, t-shirt, and nike's. But when I'm in the interview room with a med student doing my interview, then I think that I look like a person applying for a STUDENT position, not an I-banking job. Are we crystal? Or did I misspell something?

The most important part of whether you're accepted or not is your application, not what you wear. However, I think dressing formally for your interview shows professionalism and that you're capable of moving past that student phase and being an adult. They do expect you to dress formally, so something else will be a statement.

In 4 years you'll be in a position where complete strangers will trust you implicitly. You can still be young/unique/daring/crazy as you want to be in your free time, but when you're with patients you need to respect the fact that they need you to be a professional.

So how does wearing khakis to an interview translate to being anything less than professional with your patients? An interview presents the choice of whether you will wear something to gain the approval of your interviewers at the expense of expressing a style you might not like (too old? like your mother? like you're going for an "NYC finance job"?). In a similar situation, maybe the choice will be whether you modify your behavior to promote the trust of your patients/collegues even if it's not entirely natural for you. Examples are anything from not chewing gum in the OR to not wincing with disgust when someone shows you some nasty injury to waking up at 3 AM so you can see all your patients by rounds.

By the way, you can still have some style-- wear great shoes, cufflinks, interesting tie, hairstyle, or whatever, as long as you're dressed in a way that communicates that you realize this is a formal meeting and that you care about the interview.

 

[foofish]

An interview is NOT a semi-formal event. Even though many schools will give the impression that it is laid-back and informal, it is in fact a formal professional meeting. Approach it as such and give it the full out treatment. You have one shot to impress; make it count for all it's worth. This means shelling out the cash to buy a decent formal suit, tie, dress shirt, dress socks, and dress shoes. You can find some good deals out there with minimal effort. Buy what you can at your budget level, but I would advise against going semi-formal. With that said, there's no need to be a clone either.

While I agree with the content of the post, I just feel compelled to point out that "semi-formal" dress is actually dressier than professional....prom or homecoming in high school were semi-formal/formal events. I just had a a vision of girls showing up to med school interviews in evening wear....

 

[eekonomics]

Do interviee generally wear suits in med schoo interviews? or do they just wear semi formal tie, blazer thing? I don't have a suit and am thinking about getting it now if it's generally accepted in med school interviews as i will be applying in this upcoming cycle. Please let me know! Thanks!

Buy a suit - you'll need it for residency interviews anyways!

 

[baylormed]

Most people wear black suits. Think funeral.

While you can wear black if you want to, it is better if you go for the very dark grey or navy blue. Same goes for girls (I'm a girl).

 

[Fiddlergirl]

You don't have to spend a lot to get a suit. I went out and bought one for job interviews (I'm taking a year off, so I need to actually support myself for awhile) and found a nice secondhand suit for under $50. Oh, and I'm going to agree with "black is depressing." Mine is a very dark green.

 

[senioritaelena]

Yah, definetly a suit.

But it might depend what school you interview at. At my last interview there was one girl in beige cotton/khaki pants and a dark green kind of jacket/blazer (she also had a huge head of dreadlocks), as well as one girl in a suit with frills on the jacket and a turtleneck (It was 15* C) and these peakaboo heeled shoes with a pock a dot bow on them and one other girl in dress pants and a solid coluored long sleeve T-shirt.
Personally, I was suprised by these outfits, but I am not sure what the school staff/faculty/interviewers thought.

 

[Tired Pigeon]

Yah, definetly a suit.

But it might depend what school you interview at. At my last interview there was one girl in beige cotton/khaki pants and a dark green kind of jacket/blazer (she also had a huge head of dreadlocks), as well as one girl in a suit with frills on the jacket and a turtleneck (It was 15* C) and these peakaboo heeled shoes with a pock a dot bow on them and one other girl in dress pants and a solid coluored long sleeve T-shirt.
Personally, I was suprised by these outfits, but I am not sure what the school staff/faculty/interviewers thought.

I think in general you want to be remembered based on what you said in the interview, NOT on what you wore. If anything about your appearance on interview day is something people will remember months down the road, you've got the wrong look.

 

[babycapybara]

What about for the women? I really don't own any "professional" clothes. Are nice beige pants and a blazer acceptable? Pants suit vs. skirt? I was thinking something from Ann Taylor..."relaxed work" style.

(all hypothetical of course...no interviews coming up..yet!)

 

[spicedmanna]

While I agree with the content of the post, I just feel compelled to point out that "semi-formal" dress is actually dressier than professional....prom or homecoming in high school were semi-formal/formal events. I just had a a vision of girls showing up to med school interviews in evening wear....

Thanks for the clarification. I guess I'm showing my lack of fashion knowledge.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Blazer/shirt & tie/trousers/dress shoes is perfectly acceptable. Until about 10 years ago, this was the "uniform" look for interviewees as well as for the alumni weekend crowd. This interview season, I saw a few men dressed this way and frankly, it was refreshing change from the funeral look that we (the adcom interviewers) all make fun of.

Interesting. Is there some equivalent dress for women that's acceptable? To me, the medical community does seem a little more casual in terms of expectations for appearance than the banking/legal community, so I guess I can see where different dress is okay.

I'm also wondering if there's been just a general ramping up in people wearing suits for everything at a younger age. Do high school students wear suits to college interviews? I saw a picture in the paper of a group of students from my high school who went to a Youth in Government conference, and all the guys were wearing suits. I remember going to that exact same conference 10+ years ago, and no one wore suits.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Buy a suit - you'll need it for residency interviews anyways!

Probably good advice for a guy, but it doesn't work so well for women. Our suits are a little more fashion dependent, so it's unlikely that you'll want to wear a 4 y/o suit for interviews.

 

[Law2Doc]

Blazer/shirt & tie/trousers/dress shoes is perfectly acceptable.

I'm not so sure this is true everywhere. Certainly all the interviews I've been on both the interviewer and all fellow interviewees were in suits. And the one person I know who was forced to do a blazer/tie look due to some lost luggage got multiple comments from interviewers along the lines of "a bit casual today, aren't we?". (He was able to use it as an ice-breaker, but it was not unnoticed).

 

[anybutpretty]

Can women wear ties with their suits? Is that too weird? I kinda like them, myself...

 

[somemaybedoc]

I've noticed that the black suit dominates when premeds are buying, but for the rest of the world gray and navy are the standard suit colors.

 

[Bernie3144]

I've noticed that the black suit dominates when premeds are buying, but for the rest of the world gray and navy are the standard suit colors.

FWIW

I've heard 2 opinions about solid black from advisers and was told to go with either a shade of gray or black w/ stripes (that are not too noticeable):

1: Solid Black = Funeral/Depressing
2: Solid Black = Over-confident/Cocky

I was also told by people who conduct professional interviews that solid colored ties show that a person is not comfortable with expressing themselves.

If an applicant has mediocre numbers, as dumb as it may sound, appearance is graded and could play a minor role as a tie-breaker.

PS - Make sure your belt matches your shoes, if you're gonna play the "wear no white socks w/ black shoes" card

 

[xylem29]

You are applying for entry into a profession. (Med school is just the gateway, not the position -- you are applying to med school because you want to be a doctor, not a student.) Professionals wear suits. That is the appropriate dress for a med school interview. That a few folks get by with blazer and tie doesn't mean they were dressed appropriately -- and while most interviewers probably won't hold it against them, some certainly will. Some of those interview forms interviewers fill out have sections on "appearance". You are being judged on this.

seriously? well - if this is true, then get a friggin suit!

Personally for me, I love wearing my suit - seldom do I get a chance to wear one and feel like mr bush or a b-exec. Getting to wear power suit to work everyday is cool, but since I won't be entering any profession that requires that, i'll take every opportunity i get to wear one - med school interviews is one such opportunity!

But I seriously thought that the blazer + slacks combo (navy blazer with cream or grey pants OR grey blazer with navy pants) was appropriate.

 

[LizzyM]

Beige pants with a blazer is suitable, IMHO, only between May 1 and September 30, or if the temperature is above >79 F. (so a more liberal interpretation of the rule in the South). Otherwise the blazer is blue and the trousers are charcoal gray wool (not cotton "Dockers", for the love of Pete, but real trousers).

Women should wear a tailored skirt (or slacks) and jacket with a blouse (i.e. with buttons) or a pullover top (no buttons). The most commented on outfit of the season was on a woman who flashed far too much breast -- enough that all four interviewers commented negatively!

Interview clothing for med school applicants has become something of a costume. Applicants wear them for interviews, a few years later for more interviews and never again. Generally, it pays to buy quality but in this case you can sometimes get away with buying cheap (thrift shop or discount) and having it tailored to fit as it is something you'll only wear 10 times or so-- not as if you are hoping to wear it once a week for a few years (as businessmen do).

 

[braluk]

Hey LizzyM; this is OT but did you ever admit anyone who came to their interviews with something outrageous on?

 

[LizzyM]

Hey LizzyM; this is OT but did you ever admit anyone who came to their interviews with something outrageous on?

.

 

[foofish]

No, but the chairman of the adcom said he would admit on the spot any man who came to the interview wearing a red plaid sport jacket. So far, no one has been admitted on that (santa) clause.

...and as we speak, every male applicant for the 2008 cycle is scrambling through the SDN archives to figure out which med school LizzyM works for (while simultaneously Googling "red plaid sport jacket")....

 

[ShyRem]

I wore a black suit to one and ONLY one of my interviews. Got rejected. I refused to wear black to any other interview; I was the splash of color in a sea of black. More my style.

 

[psipsina]

When I was shopping for my interview suit a lady who worked in my department as an assistant for two transplant surgeons gave me some input that really altered my choices. She told me that she had seen residency applicants who were rejected because of an interviewers judgement of an outfit, an example she gave me was a female interviewee who had work a pink shirt, and the interviewer decided this was a sign that she was frivolous? ? She and I both thought this was utterly bizzare, but the point was that there are still some stuffy oldfashioned people who might end up being your interviewer and judge you on your outfit, so the safest bet is to pick something conservative. No one is going to reject you for looking too conservative, and its just plain not worth the risk in a game like medschool admissions to make a statement with your clothing. I went with a skirtsuit (more traditional apparently for women) with a blue buttondown shirt and some nice closed toe kitten heels. My suit was black because it looks nice against my skin/hair but greys and navys are perfectly conservative too. I think its a ridiculous way to judge people who will probably wear scrubs for the majority of the next four years but I certainly didn't want to roll the dice on this one.