What to wear to pre-interview dinners?

[Ludy]

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I'm going shopping for my interview suit next week, and I just realized that I may need something new for the night-before dinners as well. Are these formal? I can't imagine that the residents come from the hospital all dressed up, but what are the interviewees expected to wear?
Thanks for your help! 🙂

 

[njbmd]

Originally posted by Ludy
I'm going shopping for my interview suit next week, and I just realized that I may need something new for the night-before dinners as well. Are these formal? I can't imagine that the residents come from the hospital all dressed up, but what are the interviewees expected to wear?
Thanks for your help! 🙂

Hi there,
You need to have a business casual outfit and a business outfit with you. The business casual will do for the night-before dinners as they are generally not formal. Just remember that you are "on" for this stuff too.

Good luck!
njbmd

 

[edinOH]

Wear something you can get absolutely sloppy drunk in. 😀

 

[Tazmaniac]

I imagine that if they judge you harshly on your dress on the night before, you wouldn't have a good time at the residency, period.

-Todd MSIV

 

[Winged Scapula]

Our interviewees are generally expected to dress professionally at these dinners. Matter of fact, so are we - the residents are not allowed to come in scrubs and while we may not don suit and tie, I would recommend any candidates dress as if they were there for an interview, or at the very least "business casual" (ie, nice shirt, jacket, perhaps no tie).

Check with the program coordinator as to the appropriate dress for your programs.

 

[panch]

I would and did dress comfortably with dress shirt and dress pants.

I at first went for the tie thing as well, but i found that i was the only one with a tie on at most places (including the residents) and would end up taking it off during the evening anyhow.

My one major piece of advice is: do not drink too much (as i did at a couple of places). It makes you look pretty bad in the residents eyes, and I felt the cold shoulder the next day [of course i realized early in that night i didn't want to go to these places anyhow after the first half an hour, so hey why not take them up on some good wine....]

One caveat: some specialties and programs are more prone to expect to watch you hold your liquor. Alright, it seems that the jock-like expectation of most ortho residents and applicants i know is true. Of course, many of them had some pretty interesting stories to tell about their interview dinners later on.

 

[Asher]

I will most likely play it safe and wear the standard black pants, twinset, and my pearls. It won't be original but it should be appropriate.

I won't be ordering any alcoholic drinks either. I'm not a big drinker (I have a glass of wine maybe every six months or so) but even if I did drink more regularly I've heard enough residents criticize applicants who drank too much (which depending on the resident could range from a couple of beers to getting very, very drunk).

 

[Scrubbs]

I think it really depends on the specialty and program. I'm in Emergency Medicine, and all of my pre-interview things were very casual. It was a great way to get to know the residents and ask questions in a relaxed atmosphere... and everyone generally had a few drinks on the program 😉. I never drank too much because I didn't want to feel hung over the next day. I would definately check with the residency coordinator though, as I did hear about friends having more formal dinners, generally with attendings present. Most of mine were at bars/cafes with just a few residents - no faculty. Good luck to all!

 

[DrQuinn]

Originally posted by Scrubbs
I think it really depends on the specialty and program. I'm in Emergency Medicine, and all of my pre-interview things were very casual. It was a great way to get to know the residents and ask questions in a relaxed atmosphere... and everyone generally had a few drinks on the program 😉. I never drank too much because I didn't want to feel hung over the next day. I would definately check with the residency coordinator though, as I did hear about friends having more formal dinners, generally with attendings present. Most of mine were at bars/cafes with just a few residents - no faculty. Good luck to all!

Agree with Scrubbs. I'm in EM too, and all of our dinners were casual. Some places took us out to really really nice places to eat, and some of those places required a shirt and tie, but the interivew information told us that... other places were at regular restaurants, so you could feel comfortable in khakis and polos for guys, and girls semi casual.

Q, DO

 

[fourthyear]

If they say casual and it's at a bar, go with casual pants/shirt but NO jeans or anything that casual. If they don't say how to dress, I'd rather be too dressed up than not enough. I usually went with a skirt and top/sweater, with a jacket. If it looked like everyone was dressed up, I wore the jacket, but if I felt too overdressed, I took it off and left the sweater skirt combo, which looked more casual, yet still classy.

I guess it depends on specialty too. I interviewed for surgery, where attendings tend to be more conservative. If you're doing peds or something where people tend to seem less uptight, they may be looking for people to be more relaxed and casual.

 

[Jaded Soul]

Digging up this old thread to see if anyone had any comments about this subject.

 

[southerndoc]

Also an EM guy here, and all but one of my pre-interview dinners were casual. Most of the applicants wore jeans. I wore jeans, button up shirt, and a leather jacket to the pre-interview dinner at the program where I matched. They must not have held it against me (nor winning the "who can drink the most" and "who's got the best dance moves" contests). 😀

 

[pikachu]

Do most programs offer these dinners?

 

[Jamezuva]

do they hold it against you somewhat if you don't attend these things??

 

[Bobblehead]

The dinner is mainly for your benefit and allows you to ask the residents questions you'll likely not have time for during the actual interview date. For the most part missing it only hurts your ability to formulate an overall impression of the program.

 

[southerndoc]

do they hold it against you somewhat if you don't attend these things??

Some of them might. I know the faculty often ask if you were able to make it to dinner the night before. Generally if someone is really interested in their program, they will attend the dinner. However, many circumstances can prevent you from attending (late flights, etc.).

 

[Jaded Soul]

Also an EM guy here, and all but one of my pre-interview dinners were casual. Most of the applicants wore jeans. I wore jeans, button up shirt, and a leather jacket to the pre-interview dinner at the program where I matched. They must not have held it against me (nor winning the "who can drink the most" and "who's got the best dance moves" contests). 😀

I've gotten a couple of invites that say the pre-interview dinner dress is casual and that jeans are fine. For other people who have been through it, do people actually show up wearing everyday clothes, or do they still tend to dress up a bit, despite what the invite says?

 

[Retinamark]

It seems for guys that you can't go wrong with dress pants & a nice long sleeved shirt, but the real question is tie or no tie & jacket or no jacket?
Would people agree that a suit is definitely too formal?