an academic medicine weblog
In the last post on the laboratory for graduate students, post-docs and PIs, I got into the basic approaches to the lab interview. It appears that structured interviews, where every applicant is asked the same set of questions aimed at delving into the applicant’s abilities and personality, tend to produce the best results. So how to [...]
Whether you are interviewing others for a job or you, yourself are being interviewed for a job, it is not a bad idea to know what kinds of questions are asked and how. In this post, let’s consider the general approaches that are taken in interviews. I was browsing through the book At The Helm: [...]
Nothing gives me more confidence in a residency program than when I ask an interviewer a question regarding a concern I have about the program and I get a very defensive and accusatory response. Over the last week, I was at a few residency interviews and at one of them, I asked one of the more senior interviewers [...]
Am I the only fourth year medical student interviewing for residency who is concerned with the fact that some birds took down a U.S. Airways A320 plane? Everyone’s probably heard about this, but a flock of geese blew out both engines on this plane and forced it to land in the Hudson river today.
To make [...]
So my favorite knock against me by a residency interviewer so far was within the last 1.5 weeks when I gave a response to an interviewer’s question to which the interviewer responded in a derisive tone, “Didn’t I read that on a fortune cookie? Well, your answer was much cheesier than the fortune cookie.”
The best part [...]
Obviously you will probably have your own personal questions to ask faculty during your residency interviews, but if you are ever at a loss for questions to ask, here are some safe ones:
What medical schools do the current residents come from?
What is the success rate of graduates on specialty boards/fellowship spots/finding jobs?
What are clinical/Non-clinical/administrative responsibilities [...]
Here are two surprising residency interview questions that have previously caught residency candidates off guard:
1) Tell me a joke.
2) What are five things you can do with a potato [or some other object]?
Note, do not tell a dirty or sexist joke–no matter how funny. I have it first hand from a faculty member who does [...]
So my first residency interview did not go at all as I expected. I think I was asked two questions the whole time: what do I like to do for fun and to talk about my PhD dissertation. Actually, I was asked one other question over and over again: “what questions do you [...]
Final stages of preparation. See my earlier post questions not to mess up during an interview. Reviewing my questions not-to-miss. Looking up faculty in the department doing research related to my interests. Gaining an understanding of that research. Probably should have done this sooner, but who has the time? Which is why I’m putting it [...]
Tomorrow. I made into Chicago in one piece with little trouble. Note, if you do fly to Chicago–either Midway or O’hare airports–and you’re not renting a car, take the metro/subway/L (whatever you want to call it) into town. It costs much less than a cab ($2 vs. $50) and it’s convenient.
Ran into some trouble at the [...]
I was talking to a buddy of mine who is interviewing at various universities for a faculty job right now and he mentioned to me that some of his interviewers remembered him from his residency interviews. This reminded us of an important point–
Good grades and professional accomplishments will get you only so far. [...]
The best advice I ever received regarding interviews was from one of my professors in college, who said, “Don’t miss the questions you’re supposed to get right.” It’s such obvious and yet brilliant advice. In my experience, I would say that everyone knows this without anyone saying it to them, but almost no one really [...]
