Why do some residency interviewers only ask one or two questions?!

[badskittles]

Hello SDN users,

I was wondering why some residency interviewers ask literally 2 questions and then will open up for questions?! At times, for a given program, there would be only two interviews and each about 20 mins each. But, some of these interviewers would barely ask any questions!?

In addition, I have been explaining why I made a drastic decision to switch from applying to psychiatry to IM in my fourth year given that my fourth year rotations are mostly psychiatry rotations. Would this come off as bad?

Wanted to hear your thoughts on the matter, thank you!

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[Lost in Translation]

Because canned questions are boring but need to be asked just so they have a standard answer to compare to other applicants.

The interview is an opportunity to talk about yourself, gas yourself up.

 

[guytakingboards]

They're human beings and they might not be up for an extended interaction with a stranger at that particular moment. Sucks but its the honest truth. Back when I did residency interviews, we did 10-12 interviews per day. "so what questions do you have for me?" might be the first words out of my mouth in the last few sessions unfortunately.

Sometimes the criteria for being an interviewer is having a pulse and being available, regardless if they're actually any good at interviewing or actually interested in it. Been on both sides of the "warm body" interview where the interviewer is there cuz someone else is suddenly unavailable. That interview doesn't move the needle one way or the other and is probably a waste of time, but hey you're there and someone has to talk to you.

 

[Sleepingdoc]

All i want to know during an interview is that you are a good human being who can take care of other people, not just someone who gained knowledge through books. You dont need miss america questions to know that, just two questions are enough.

 

[mrbreakfast]

Remember that the main goal is to attract applicants, not screen people out. People who work for a program want to make it appealing to you by telling you more about it. You should be interested in the program (ideally) and will have questions.

And while there is a screening component to interviews, as noted above this can be easily satisfied with a few questions. The main screening goal of interviews is to make sure you aren't such a weirdo, a sociopath, or a jerk that you're unable to hide it in a 10 minute conversation.

 

[OchemOficionado]

I had one interviewer that asked me nothing and simply talked excitedly the whole time. Haha.

 

[Green_Goose]

How important is it to sell my med school accomplishments during the interview vs just having a regular conversation with my interviewer? For example, does it matter if I just have a good conversation going about sports rather than trying to discuss my application strengths?

 

[guytakingboards]

How important is it to sell my med school accomplishments during the interview vs just having a regular conversation with my interviewer? For example, does it matter if I just have a good conversation going about sports rather than trying to discuss my application strengths?

I think you gotta feel it out. The interview is not meant to be a recitation of your CV. It's meant give each side a chance to figure out if they want to work with each other for the next X number of years.

Now if the person isn't super familiar with your CV (/didn't read it), it might be helpful to hit some highlights as a segue into other topics. E.g. how your interests align with the program's goals/features. But I wouldn't go overboard talking about every research paper you've written etc...

Maybe if its a higher up (PD/aPD), you mention some of your more impressive hooks if you have any.

I've sat in the committee meetings after interview days and a common complaint was "oh that person is weird, i wouldn't want to work with them for the next 4 years".

 

[cj_cregg]

How important is it to sell my med school accomplishments during the interview vs just having a regular conversation with my interviewer? For example, does it matter if I just have a good conversation going about sports rather than trying to discuss my application strengths?

They will ask what they want to know about, and the adcom has your application in hand. They know what extracurriculars you have done, what your grades are, whether you have published research, etc. You don't need to reiterate that in the interview just for the sake of reiterating it, and you especially don't need to shoehorn your application strengths into an unrelated conversation. The point of an interview is to make sure you're a person who's relatively easy to talk to and be around, and to give you an opportunity to ask questions about and get to know the school. Making a stretch in the middle of talking about the world cup to bring up your experience tutoring orphans is not likely to make people think you're easy to talk to and be around.

 

[Green_Goose]

I think you gotta feel it out. The interview is not meant to be a recitation of your CV. It's meant give each side a chance to figure out if they want to work with each other for the next X number of years.

Now if the person isn't super familiar with your CV (/didn't read it), it might be helpful to hit some highlights as a segue into other topics. E.g. how your interests align with the program's goals/features. But I wouldn't go overboard talking about every research paper you've written etc...

Maybe if its a higher up (PD/aPD), you mention some of your more impressive hooks if you have any.

I've sat in the committee meetings after interview days and a common complaint was "oh that person is weird, i wouldn't want to work with them for the next 4 years".

This makes sense, thank you! At my last interview, the only question one of my interviewers asked was 'why our program' and the rest of the time was spent in small talk/him selling the program to me, so I figured the interviewer was familiar enough with my CV.

 

[guytakingboards]

This makes sense, thank you! At my last interview, the only question one of my interviewers asked was 'why our program' and the rest of the time was spent in small talk/him selling the program to me, so I figured the interviewer was familiar enough with my CV.

That could mean a few different things.

1) he reviewed your CV and was satisfied with your credentials. So all he needed was the "why us?" question answered and then the rest of the time was a casual conversation where he's low-key gauging if you're socially normal AND selling the program to you -- this is the probably the case/most common explanation.

2) more cynical answer: he's lazy and didn't review your CV. Small talk and him talking about the program requires minimal prep and effort. Back when I interviewed people, we got 20min blocks. I could easily chew up 10-12min selling the program without really engaging in a real conversation. Not saying I didn't prepare, but after a while you develop your stock talking points and can just run through them without much thought. It takes effort to review your CV and integrate that knowledge into the conversation. (Flip side also applies, it takes effort for the candidate to look up the program and tactfully integrate that info into the interview).

I'd assume scenario 1 but there's no way to know if it was really scenario 2.

 

[GetAdmittedMD]

It could also partially be the 3am test. That interviewer is trying to decide if they can bear being around you at 3am on call without losing their mind. They will ask 1-2 canned interview questions because they have to but then the focus shifts to whether or not you would be a good fit at that program. Most residency interviews are not about your academics/application but rather if they can spend the next 3-7 years working with you.