¶ Residency Interview Skills and Strategies
What's good everyone . This is Dr Nidarko . Make sure you hit the subscribe button below so that you're always up to date on the new uploads , as well as alerts on this show .
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Run the tape All right . So , like I said , we have a question about the residency interview from Vincent O .
It sounds like Vincent might be a maybe PG or PG excuse me MS , three or four , but the question says I suggest you do an episode on residency interviewing skills one-on-ones panel group how to answer common interview questions like tell me about yourself , how to leave a positive , lasting impression . A role play with Dr Renee would be great .
I don't know if we're going to do a role play .
All right , let's jump right into this . I'm going to knock on the door . No , no , no , no , no , no , that's what we're going to do ?
No , I don't want to do that Like . This makes no sense . I don't want to do that . Can we just talk about the question Don't come in . He's knocking on the door , don't come in Hi , I'm , I'm , I'm a prospective .
I'm prospective student , dr Nidarko , and I'm interested in coming to the school , so let's talk .
Yeah , ok , so to answer this interview question , let's talk first about kind of the gamut of questions , right that you mentioned , right , one on one's panel and group , and people may not understand especially the difference between panel and group , right .
So the one on one is very easy you meet , meet with an interviewer , you're the student candidate and they're the interviewer and you're just kind of having a one-to-one conversation . The panel is actually when you have a panel of interviewers , right ?
So you're one student , one candidate who's coming in and you're getting a panel of people and they're asking you questions , they're firing questions at you . And then the group is when you have a group of students , a group of candidates being interviewed , potentially by a panel and or one other person . So I think that's important to kind of decipher .
How common are these things ?
So I think the one-to-one is actually the most common . I personally have not had and over the years have not had students tell me that they've either had a panel or a group , definitely not a group .
Have you seen panel for residency ? I've seen panel for residency .
Yeah , that's what I was going to say . Maybe a panel , but definitely not a group Group . I would see more for medical school panel for residency .
Yeah , that's what I was going to say . Maybe a panel , but definitely not a group Right Group , I would see more for medical school but not for residency ?
I have not seen that . And what about virtual , virtual ? So it seems like now most people are doing a virtual component . Right , most programs since COVID have moved to the virtual interview and many , many candidates are now doing the virtual component .
I still prefer if I were interviewing , I'd have to say I would still prefer to go and see the place , especially if you're not very familiar with the hospital because you don't know what . Let me tell you something Seeing the hospital can tell you a lot about that place , a lot I went .
I remember I went on one interview and I went to this hospital and that the hospital was so old and dingy I was like there is no way the so the school was at the hospital so no , this was a community program oh , this is a residency program .
Yeah , I got you . Yeah , this was a community program . I'm thinking med school .
No , no , no residency . So I , when I visited the hospital , I was like this place is so dingy , I didn't even rank it , I didn't even . I was like I would rather not match than to end up here for four years . I just I was like I cannot think of myself being here for four years .
So I mean , I know a lot of people are doing virtual interviews and just kind of you know it saves money , saves time . I get that . But if there is a program that you really really like and they give you the opportunity to do it in person , I would actually recommend doing in person so it can get expensive .
So , absolutely , look , I don't know , I don't know the answer to all of this stuff .
I think that if I had an opportunity .
If I had an opportunity , I'd probably just try to do like half and half .
You know , half at virtual , virtual interviews at places that I wasn't ranking very high , and then personal interviews at places that I was ranking very high , because I just remember it being expensive from , you know , getting a hotel flight , like I remember the first time I had my experience with Priceline and I completely messed it up .
Yeah , I had an interview and at Meharry , Right , I had an interview at Meharry . This is from med school and I didn't know how I was gonna pay for a flight to get to Tennessee , so I said I'll try a price line . Hmm , this is if I tell you . This is like 90 , this is 99 so this is like the early . This is early , early price line 98 99 .
Yeah , I'm old , I'm old and I just remember buying a ticket through there and I made a mistake as to when I was supposed to get there and so forth . But guys remember , this is not the Priceline that you know now where Priceline finds you the best price . This is no , you're bidding .
Right , right right .
You're bidding for a price , I remember that and they come back to you with a price .
So you , I remember that was a very inconvenient time of leaving and a very inconvenient time as a matter of fact , it was like after I was supposed to interview oh god yeah , and I couldn't get my money back and you know like I had spent , like on a credit card , like 200 something dollars , which for me was a big deal back then right , like we're talking
you know , I'm not even well , we're talking , I'm 20- at that time right uh yeah , I'm 20 or 21 at that time . So for me , using my credit card , losing out on 200 bucks , that was a big deal . I was embarrassed to even go to my parents and ask them . You know what to do . I never asked them for help in that situation .
I just kind of figured out a way to pay it back and stuff Probably still paying it back right now . I hope not .
You know $4,000 later .
Yeah . So that's why , for me , it was just like all right , like if I had to do it again , I would just say probably half and half . Yeah , you know , because you know nowadays a lot of people are ranking , applying to a lot of different schools , you know , just to increase their chances of getting into that one place . And I get it .
Yeah , what happened 30 years ago is the same thing that's happening now . Right , so I would try to do that . Half and half , yeah , yeah .
No , I agree with that strategy . I think that's a smart economic .
Yeah , it's a blast from the past .
It's a cost-efficient solution , but one of the questions that Vincent wanted answered was kind of answering that common interview question of tell me about yourself . Let me tell you something that is one of the hardest questions .
I feel like it's a trick .
It might be , but it's one of the hardest questions to answer , no matter what , no matter where you are in the process , right , whether it's pre-med ?
or why is it hard ? Why is it hard ?
Because there's so many things to say about yourself . Number one people feel like there's so much to say .
I'm a people person .
Yeah , I'm going to tell you what not to say .
But in a second .
But people feel like there's so much to say . That's number one . Number two people think that they're bragging if they say certain things and people don't want to brag . Correct , and that's a huge problem .
Because if you look at it as a opportunity to brag right which bragging has a negative connotation then two things are gonna happen either you are gonna brag , you can't , you're gonna come off cocky , or you're not going to want to brag and you're not going to showcase enough about yourself .
OK .
So there has to be some sort of happy medium .
Why do they ask this question ? That's what I want to know , because they read your application , maybe .
It might be a blind interview , so you might not have somebody . How ?
often does it occur ?
I don't know how often , but I mean often enough . How often does it occur ? I don't know how often , but I mean often enough . I get a lot of students who say that you know , my interview was blind . Okay , yeah , so they don't get your application , they just meet you .
At that point , though that's not all the time , though that's if you get a blind interview though .
Yeah , that's if you get a blind interview . Yeah .
So I guess what I'm saying is let's say you don't get a blind interview , right ? Let's say , someone has read your file , Someone has read all of these different things , right ? Because sometimes , at least from my perspective , what I'm seeing is the interviewer doesn't even know what they're going to ask you .
They just start asking you questions when they see you right ? So , if they've gone through your application , they've seen your grades , they've seen your letter of recommendations . I don't know what else they get to see letter of recommendations .
I don't know what else they get to see what else is in there . Your personal statement your personal statement .
So then , when you come in right or like , why are they asking Tell us about yourself . Is that like a filler ? Is that ? Trying to see are you someone who's braggadocious ? That's what I'm interested in it might be .
It might just be . You know how are you going to answer this question . What is the most important thing that you want me to take away from this particular interview ?
Should you be trying to go back and like well , what did I write in my personal statement ? And stuff .
So you could . You could pull bits and pieces . I wouldn't necessarily , you know , memorize word for word what you put in your personal statement . The things that I tell students a lot of times is when you are asked that question okay , understand that .
This is an opportunity to advocate for yourself , right , so you can say the word brag if you want , but the reality is , to chone horn yeah , the . The reality is , this is the to this is the opportunity for you to advocate for yourself , right , because who else is going to advocate for you ?
To advocate for yourself , right , because who else is going to advocate for you ? This is your opportunity to do that . So one of the things that I tell my students is figure out what the theme of your interview is going to be .
If you come in with a theme of what your interview is going to be , what you know , the overall arching , the overarching thing that you want this person to remember about you , that's where you start building . It is in that question .
OK , so you're saying that you can take control of the interview or you can have control . Because I think that's the other thing . A lot of folks just feel like they're walking into something and they don't have control Right . So well , how can I prepare for this ?
Yeah , Right , I mean right , but remember that the whole point of it is for you to be able to showcase yourself . So in that sense , absolutely , you have a lot of control over this interview . You may not have control over the questions that they ask you , but you have .
You have control over the answers , and so you know , I I call it um , what would I usually say . And so you know , I call it what I usually say . Oh my gosh , I say there's something that I that I usually say to my students .
But yeah , essentially you can be like one , like a person on , on , like a commentating , you know , interview like news interview , right ? Like a pundit , yeah , like a pundit , where they you know or somebody who comes in to you know to advocate for something right and they ask them a question and they spin that question right To whatever three points right .
So cable news your interviews . That's what I usually say to my students . Cable news your interviews , right . If you cable news your interviews , then Cable news your interviews right . View cable news your interviews . Then what you're doing is you are coming in and there is a message that you want to give . You see , I'm already doing the politician hands .
That's the common .
Right , that's the every politician . That's what she does .
Right , the politician . You know the little fist with the thumb at the top , and then you just hit it .
I did not . You hit it , you hit it right exactly with with that woman , miss Lewinsky , okay you remember what you were doing that time ? That was what 99 , oh my god , was it . Was it 99 ? That's the same time I bought my ticket . I think it's the same day you bought your ticket .
That was crazy , but but yeah , you cable news your interviews , in that you figure out what are the three things that you want your interviewer to come away with and you theme all of your answers around that particular , those particular themes , right ? So if you decide that your theme is , you know your theme is going to be , that you are a how about this ?
How about this ? About this , let's say , I am , I'll do me right and then you tell me , you give me your advice . So I um , I don't know mcats were uh mcat . We passed way past no , I'm letting you know who I am okay and then . But this is what I have and this is what I'm expecting , right okay , so you tell me , you give me your advice .
So my mcats are average
¶ Residency Interview Preparation Strategies
. My letters of recommendation are in my opinion , your board scores or your MCAT this is medical school no , we're interviewing for residency .
Oh , we are , okay , it's a residency interview question .
Oh , they did say that . Okay , sorry my bad . My board scores are average , right . My letters of recommendation are strong in in my opinion , right . What did I say ? That's not I mean from the previous thing when you corrected me , because you still ? Need letters of recommendation . You said you're MCAT , but after that , then what do you mean ?
What are you talking about ? I said okay , not okay , anyway .
So my board scores are good .
My letters of recommendation are good . What else do you have to do for that ? For your dean's letters ? I mean , it's a dean's letter , it's a dean's letter right . Okay , and I am interviewing , at the best , my number one program that I want to go to . I haven't ranked it yet . This is the number one program I want to go to .
This is surgery program , so give me your advice .
What do I do , so remember ?
average board scores .
Yes , okay , which that's another thing that kind of sets this apart Usually from your didn't flunk any classes and that you know those things do matter .
The average student , I get it Right , but good looking , good looking , good looking , keep going , you done . Hey , this is me .
Okay , first thing that I would tell you , first thing I would ask you is you know what are the things that you think you're good at ? Right , that's important , that's tough , but you have to pick something , okay . So what are the things that ?
I'm good at . I'm good at , I'm really good at like I .
Dexterity .
I'm feeling good at dexterity right . I feel like I'm really passionate and like following through on things Like . I feel like I work well in a team . I really enjoy surgery . I really enjoy the aspects of surgery . So I feel like I'm good at like anatomy and things like that it comes naturally to me , Okay .
So then I would ask you how do you know that you're good at those things ? My grades .
Great .
That's it . You know that you're good with your hands because of your grades .
My grades for anatomy are really good , top notch .
Anything else about right , Anything else about you being , you know , really good at anatomy .
Oh , and I've done rotations , I did ER and I did family medicine and they let me do some suture repairs and stuff .
And they always comment .
student Dr Darko , your hand technique is really good . You seem to be able to approximate very well , and you always anticipate if I'm helping them with their suture lacerations or any procedures . I'm really good at anticipating what they need next also okay , very good , look at your face .
Goody two shoes goody , two shoes and I wear a bow tie when I come and I , when I go on my rotations , I wear a bow tie yeah , very good .
and also you said that you were , you were passionate about what ? Now Surgery ? No , you said something before that Didn't .
I say that it wasn't that Anatomy or surgery . I think I'm passionate about surgery .
Okay , you're passionate about surgery . Okay , how do you demonstrate your passion about surgery ?
Like what are some ways that you demonstrated that ? Well , I've done some research in surgery . Like you know , on my surgery rotation I did some , some minor research . I'm constantly interested in like the different types of surgical , like surgical fields . Like I'm really into like what neurosurgery is about , general surgery , like I just enjoy the process or no ?
no , how did you demonstrate that's ?
what I want to know . That's a good question .
Right , how did you demonstrate ? Because here so I'm making that distinction I was what do you call it ?
I was like in charge of my what's that thing ?
What .
The interest group in my school .
Okay , yeah .
Okay , so I was like president of it or whatever you tell me Do they still have surgery groups , of course they do Like the interest groups yeah . Interest groups . I was like I was the president of that .
Okay , that's it . That's it Okay .
¶ Collaborative Teamwork in Residencies
You also stated that you are a team player . How do you demonstrate that ?
I mean all of my rotations . I'm always there to you know , assist , because I , for me , I realized that the only way that I can learn really is by one humbling myself and realizing and letting people know like , hey , maybe I can assist you so that I can see what you're doing and kind of like , see one teach one , what do you call it ?
See one , do one teach one that type of thing .
So for me , I feel like I'm always like in that team cooperative approach of you know , let me watch and see what you're doing , or let me assist you and then hopefully , with that , you'll trust me to let me do something on my own also , so I'm always about the making the team better okay , so some of your answers were really good , okay , and some of your
answers were very generic .
Okay , and that's what I work on with my students , right ? I ? I let them know you have the theme , but the theme cannot be you just generally speaking the entire time , right , what you want is stories .