What to say when a program asks about other interviews?

[ophthopleaseplease]

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I have the questions "How many interviews do you have" and "Where did you interview before this program" asked at 2 of 4 interviews. What is the importance of these questions and is there a best way to answer them? If I have had lets say... 13 invites but can only go on 10 is it better to say the former or the latter number? Any point in excluding a different "tiered" program from the list when mentioning it?

 

[JayZBlue]

They are just trying to make conversation. Don't think too much into it. Just relax and be yourself.

 

[DrZeke]

They are just trying to make conversation. Don't think too much into it. Just relax and be yourself.

Agreed. Just gotta answer and don't try and sound defensive or weirded out.

 

[OphthoApplicant04]

Just tell the truth. Keep answers political -- absolutely no badmouthing, and try to keep your compliments generic ("It's a great program") rather than telling them what specifically you liked just in case that highlights a weakness of the place you're interviewing... (I'm sure saying "The fact that they have a resident run clinic is a huge plus" won't help you too much at a place without one, and while maybe that means fate will place you in the right residency for you, you wouldn't be going on the interview if something didn't interest you)

 

[doctoritis]

.

 

[OphthoApplicant04]

Don't lie... but you can always give a politician's answer. 8 interviews is "around 10". (kind of like when someone says they go to a top 10 medical school, they are at #9 and not #2).

But I wouldn't overthink it. For all they know, you're such a rock-star that your advisors told you to keep your interview count low..

 

[elementals]

also, how many is "not many"? that was just a rhetorical question, but my point is i think SDN numbers are super inflated -- remember last year the national average # of offers was only 4.3! so i suspect the overall average # of interviews is probably actually around ~6, and not the ~15 we're seeing on SDN. so i doubt you actually have a "red-flaggable" number.

 

[ophthope]

If you guys keep overthinking this stuff you're going to kill yourself with worry and probably be so stressed that you seem weird during the interview. The best interviewer is one that can just talk to you. If they ask you how many interviews you have, just friggin' tell them. If that number is large or small and brings up some other issues, just talk about that stuff. If you've only got 3 interviews because your Step 1 score was 225, they already know anyway. But if you're somebody with a 225 that is stone-cold normal and able to have an interesting conversation and seem to be a hard worker you just might match.

But if you're going this anal-retentive on every possible interview question... that's not going to be you. You can't predict if an interviewer is going to respond better if you "omit a different tiered program" on a list of how many interviews you have (seriously?). Learn to stop worrying and love the bomb. That's going to do you a lot more good than trying to analyze every possible conversational outcome.