What exactly are resident social events like?

[repoetic]

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I got invited to an in-person social event for one of the residencies I'm pretty interested in. I thought these were a relic of a bygone era. I don't feel comfortable in bars for a lot of different reasons, but it sucks because I get the sense there's an expectation I go.

Can someone tell me what actually happens at these? Do they have like a room set aside for the event? I figured if there are 100s of people applying to the program we'd totally overrun the restaurant. How will I actually meet any of the residents? Is it a sit down dinner or do people usually just mill about and greet everyone for a bit? Sorry for the specific questions. I'm super introverted and normally just dread this kind of thing. I figured people who matched when these were more popular could tell me how the event usually flows. Thank you so much everyone!

 

[LucidSplash]

At a bar, there’s usually some pitchers of beverages (beer and soda) and some platters of bar foods and it’s a mill around situation. Some have a room and some have an area within the larger room. Because these events are on weekdays, the bars aren’t super crowded like they would be on a weekend. At my residency the attendings didn’t come but there were some places I interviewed where they did. The residents come and everyone hangs out and you should plan on making conversation with a variety of applicants and residents. Basically you just need to seem friendly and not completely weird for like 2 hours.

From your perspective, this gives you a chance to get some insight into the program. If hardly any residents show up, generally that means they are overworked or don’t give a **** who their coworkers are. You want to avoid a program like this. You can see if you’re going to feel comfortable with this group of people for the next 3+ years. These will literally be the people you see more than anyone else in your life for this time period, and it’s so much better if you vibe with at least a good portion of the team.

It’s fine to be introverted, but you need to put yourself out there on interviews, both in these social situations and in your interviews. Just relax and make some general conversation and ask some benign questions about the program and the specialty you’re interviewing for.

 

[operaman]

Yeah definitely go. I found these some of the most important parts of the interview process both as an applicant and as an interviewer. As noted above, just by seeing who comes out and how many come out you’ll get a sense of the program and how happy people are. Some places really put in the effort and had a great turnout where many faculty came in knowing who I was and my story; others were kinda lame and poorly attended by residents and faculty. That attitude seemed to carry into the interviews as well and definitely had an impact on my ranking of them.

Nobody is penalized for not going as many people miss them due to flights and other interviews, but you’ll miss out on getting to know more people there and the potential to build more connections prior to the actual interviews.

Pretty hard to screw up. Only unforced errors I’ve seen were people who drank too much and acted inappropriately, and others who were just super weird. Like one year there was a dude who walked around the bar doing card tricks, but in a super awkward way. Don’t do that. Just be a normal human and have a good time.

 

[Dral]

All of what you said is likely correct except the 100s of people. Normally when this happened, it was just the people interviewing the next day.

It could be at a bar or a restaurant, it could be sit down or milling around. It could be in a separate room or in the main bar/restaurant.

My program used to go to an Italian restaurant, sit down. They would bring out food and set it in the middle and people would just grab what they wanted. It could be program/specialty specific, but I remember most of mine during interviews being sit down dinner type events.

Have a drink or two if you feel comfortable with that. Or just get a glass of soda or something. No one cares what you eat or drink (as long as it's not too much). Like operman said, just be a normal human and go in with the right attitude. I understand it could be difficult, but instead of going in dreading an anxiety inducing interaction, go in with the intent of finding out the what the program and people are about - think less of it as you on audition. Going in with the attitude of you seeing if the program is right for you (not the other way around) hopefully will cut down on the anxiety and give you a bit more confidence overall. However, you do have to remember that you are being judged to see if you're right for the program as well.