Preparing for Interviews!

Hey Folks,
I am going to put some things out here and the “collective brain” can add and substract from them.
First of all, congratulations to everyone who has gotten interviews and to those who have applied and are in the waiting game. This is a tough time and you have to hang in there. You have to get into the “Zen of Uncertainty”. While you are doing that, you can focus on my little interview pearls.
1. Find out something about the medical school(famous alums,notable programs or researchers,curriculum). Look at my thread about 31 Things that I wished that I had asked during the Medical School Interview. This information can also be found on the AMCAS website or the UVa website.
2.Pick out good professional interview attire. This need not be (and probably should not be) a black suit and white shirt. You can wear colors as long as you are neat, professional and well-groomed. This means: no strong perfume, no extreme hairstyles, no long witchy fingernails and no stiletto high heels, no dangly extreme earrings. Almost every school has a tour so wear comfortable, well-kept shoes that accentuate your outfit.
3.Make a copy of everything that you have included in your application. Keep a separate folder for each school that you have applied to. Put things in there like the names of the persons who interviewed you (for thank-you notes), the names of the office personnel if they were especially helpful (drop a thank-you note); any correspondence that you have received from each school etc. Put a stick-on note on the outside of the folder with dates and times for interviews. If you receive a rejection, put that letter into the folder too. You may want to follow-up to find out how you can make your application more competitive. Take your folder with you to the interview. Also have copies of your letters of recommendation and your personal statement. You may be asked about something on these. You can also clutch your folder to keep your hands from shaking.
4.Make a list of questions that you want answers before you leave the site. Things you may want to know: Where do the students study most of the time? What resources are available for students with families? Where do most students live? Do you need a car during the first and second years? Where are the clinical affiliate hospitals located and how long does it take to get to these hospitals?

5.Do some reading about some of the ethical issues that confront physicians in todays environment: Health care resource allocation; Medicare funding for prescription drugs; gastric bypass surgery in the pediatric patient population; obesity in the United States; competition from mid-level practictioners, partial birth abortion. Have well-informed opinions and be prepared to discuss these issues.
6.Have an answer for the question: What are you going to do if you don’t get into medical school this year?
7.Allow yourself plenty of time to get to the interview on time and unhurried. If you find yourself arriving early, use this time to walk around and speak to students. Ask questions? Are they happy? What’s great about being a student at this school? Do the same with any faculty that you might meet.You can also do a quick walk through the hospital if possible. Most medical school tours do not include a hospital tour. You especially want to see the cafeteria and sample the food since this may be your only option on call nights. Check out the residents! They will be the main source of your education during third and fourth year.
8.Be sure to come back for a second time to schools that you are trying to choose between. You are only going to see what they WANT you to see on interview day. If you really want to see the real deal, come after you get your acceptance letter and spend some time sitting in class and checking out the library/computing facilities.
9. Allow yourself plenty of time to get to your flight or train. You don’t want to be watching the clock during your interview!
10. Put on your interview garb, sit in front of a mirror and criticize yourself. Sit, stand, extend your hand. Do you make a good impression? Do you project energy? Do you project warmth and interest? Do you make good but not unnatural eye contact? Practice with a friend. Don’t go into an interview cold and un-prepared.
11. Be polite to everyone. Smile and relax. Everyone is nervous. Don’t let anyone “psyche you out”. If you have been invited for interview, you are well-qualified to sit in the freshman medical class. Don’t sit there and try to compare yourself to others that are interviewing. You are an intelligent and unique person with all of the necessary tools for medical school. Don’t forget things like tissues and a needle and thread in case your nose starts to run or you lose a button at the last minute. Extra panty hose are good to have in your purse.

Another question you should consider rehearsing the answer to: “So, tell me about yourself.” It’s a deceptive icebreaker sort of question but you want to give it a lot of thought, because you get the opportunity to set the tone and perhaps the trajectory of the rest of the interview with what you say in response.

Another question that came up during interviews was “why should we accept you?” and “tell me three strong points and three weak points about yourself”

Hi Folks,
I thought of a few more questions that frequently make the rounds in interviews:
1. “Sum up your personal statement in a few words.” This is where taking a minute to re-read your statement can help.
2. “Why medicine and why now?” Usually said to non-traditional students who have been successful in other careers.
3. “Do you think that you can function in an environment where younger people are your superiors?” Another question asked of non-traditional applicants.
4. “What kind of practice do you envision for yourself after your residency?” Answer this one honestly folks. Do not try to anticipate what the interviewer might want to hear such as I plan to go into primary care etc. If you don’t know, say that you don’t know but you want the opportunity to have lots of different experiences.
As I think of others or hear others from the folks around here, I will post them.
Natalie

Just a couple of things to add to the already very complete list…
1. I would take Natalie’s perfume comment one step further…no perfume at all (many people are allergic to it), and be sure to wear deoderant. Interviewing can be a “nervous” experience.
2. As Mary mentioned some time ago, be sure to take an extra shirt/blouse/shell top along (male or female) just in case you spill something all over the front of you as you are headed out the door for your interview. Spiteful tomatoes seem to be my downfall rather than toothpaste or raspberry jam. :slight_smile:
Cheers,
Judy

Greetings.





I would like to ask a question about something Natalie said. Is their an underlying or not so latent bias against any particular specialty? What if I am pretty sure that I want to specialize in psychiatry or geriatrics, for instance. What if my interviewer thought the psych people were not real docs…or something to that effect. Or, are they balancing some ratio of types of specialties they want to graduate from their school.





I know that these biases do exist…to some degree, but will they keep you out and are they better off left unsaid in an interview.














Thanks for any honest insight.

Quote:

Greetings.
I would like to ask a question about something Natalie said. Is their an underlying or not so latent bias against any particular specialty? What if I am pretty sure that I want to specialize in psychiatry or geriatrics, for instance. What if my interviewer thought the psych people were not real docs…or something to that effect. Or, are they balancing some ratio of types of specialties they want to graduate from their school.
I know that these biases do exist…to some degree, but will they keep you out and are they better off left unsaid in an interview.


Thanks for any honest insight.


Hi there,
Some schools pride themselves in turning out primary care docs. Howard, my alma mater for example, has a chartered mission to train docs that are interested in serving underserved patient populations. If this is uncomfortable for you, you will be miserable at Howard because their patient base is largely underserved (read poor, Latino, African-American and Vietnamese). If you found yourself sitting in an interview at Howard, don’t say that you want to go into primary care for the underserved just because of the school’s mission but rather say that you are keeping your options open. I promise you that I knew that I wanted to work with the underserved but surgery was far from what I wanted to do when I entered med school. Now, I want to practice surgery in the inner city. In short, if you have an idea of what you want to do, state this and be ready to back up what you say. If you have an interest in psychiatry (as much of a specialty as anything else) have some idea of what interests you about psychiatry and be prepared to explain your interests rather than “defend” your interests. The very best clinical preceptor that I had at Howard was my psychiatry professor (Dr. Bennie Franklin Carter) whose lessons are still helpful to me as a General Surgery resident. His ability to practice medicine far outpaces many of the docs that I have met in any specialty.
In short, be honest rather than trying to anticipate what an admissions committee member might “want” to hear.
Natalie

Quote:

In short, be honest rather than trying to anticipate what an admissions committee member might “want” to hear.
Natalie


This is key. Also, recognize that since you do not yet have experience with different fields of medicine, your preference for a particular field might change over time. I know we say this in various ways on various threads, but the reason I bring it up here is that you need to recognize this could happen and you need to recognize that your preference for a particular specialty is, of necessity, not as well-informed as will be your preference in a few years. So do be enthusiastic and well-informed about a specialty if you’re expressing a preference. Also be humble and ready to acknowledge that you don’t know everything about that or other fields of medicine just yet.

Thank you all for your valuable insights.
My question stems, in part, from an experence that I had in a business school healthcare administration class taught by two doctors associated with Baylor College of Medicine (great class). Anyway, one of the docs made a comment off the cuff that the psych residents were “weird”. He also said something like, you can always “tell who the psych students are.” I did not ask him to explain his comments and I am taking this out of context. But, it stuck with me.
I do realize that if I make it that far, I do have a lot to experience before making a decision. I think about other stuff too…like surgery…that would be…I fantasize about surgery. I will probably have a better shot at being a “weird” psychiatrist…the world needs more of those…
Again, thank you both for your thougts and insights.
Michelle

Quote:

Thank you all for your valuable insights.
My question stems, in part, from an experence that I had in a business school healthcare administration class taught by two doctors associated with Baylor College of Medicine (great class). Anyway, one of the docs made a comment off the cuff that the psych residents were “weird”. He also said something like, you can always “tell who the psych students are.” I did not ask him to explain his comments and I am taking this out of context. But, it stuck with me.
I do realize that if I make it that far, I do have a lot to experience before making a decision. I think about other stuff too…like surgery…that would be…I fantasize about surgery. I will probably have a better shot at being a “weird” psychiatrist…the world needs more of those…
Again, thank you both for your thougts and insights.
Michelle


Hi there,
There are always stereotypes in anything. Surgery residents are often labeled as being arrogant and obnoxious. I am, at times both arrogant and obnoxious. I am, at times pretty weird too. Stereotypes in medicine are like stereotypes in anything and are not to be taken seriously. I have friends in Psychiatry who are as arrogant and obnoxious as I am and I have colleagues in surgery that are a weird as I am. Laugh at the stereotypes but don’t put too much stock in them. Anyone who is a good and informed clinician who knows their patient base well, is practicing good medicine weird or otherwise. At times, we all kid each other about fitting or breaking the stereotypes of the various specialties.

Natalie
Arrogant, obnoxius and downright weird

Lots of great suggestions above.
As for psych, the only thing I would add to what folks have already said is that if you want to be a psychiatrist you need to know why not a psychologist or a therapist with a master’s degree. What is it about being a psychiatrist specifically that is appealing to you?
This brings me to the broader point that is worth knowing, and the best piece of advice I heard before going to interview:
“Whatever you say, be ready to back it up.” (a Stanford student giving a presentation at SFSU)
That is, if you’re involved in something, know about it, and be ready to explain it. If you’ve done research, you need to actually understand the research; if you’ve worked in an emergency department, you should understand the broader issues that confront the ED. You should be observant and reflective about your work. So, if you do research and all you can do is explain how to do the lab assays, this suggests that you did not bring a very inquisitive mind to the process. Alternately, if you can explain it in a way that a non-professional could understand it, including explaining the question to be answered and the relevance of answering it, then you will do very well. I use research as an easy example but it could be anything.
Good luck to everyone still on the interview trail!
cheers
joe