It is mid-December and residency interview season is in full gear. 'Tis the season of black and dark blue suits walking through hospital halls.
- How have you prepared your interviews?
- What are the classic types of questions that you'll be ask?
- What should you do about your Twitter and Facebook accounts?
In this inaugural podcast for EMRACast, Rob talks about how to succeed in residency interviews. He covers the classic pitfalls and pearls, along with a list of common questions, which each applicant should be prepared to answer.
I have been informally polling applicants over the past 3 years while they are touring San Francisco General's Emergency Department. It sounds like this season's questions are pretty mellow. Basically programs want to know if you fit the their mission and if you'll be a fun, hard-working person, whom the nurses and other housestaff would love to have on shift at 3 am. This is known as passing the "night shift test".
Some quirky questions that I've heard about are:
- If you were on an island, what 3 things would you bring?
- What song would you like to listen to? I'll play it for you right now.
- Draw a picture representing yourself on this index card. We'll be posting and re-ordering these cards on rank day. I heard someone wrote "#1" and their name on their card. Pretty quick thinking!
- What is NOT in your application?
