Are there times where you will be asked a medical question? Sure… some residency programs ask medical questions during the interview… Some surgical residency programs ask about specific surgical techniques. But what are you going to do? Read Harrison’s before the interview?! Read Sabiston’s?! Of course not.

Relax… be yourself… and be familiar with the highest-yield residency interview questions like the ones covered in this video:

If you could sit down with me and ask me any question about your residency interviews, what would it be?

==> Ask Me About Your Residency Interview

If you could sit down with me and ask me any question about your residency interviews, what would it be?

==> Ask Me About Your Residency Interview

I may not get to every question directly, but may be able to post important answers here, in special RookieDoc reports (PDF), on the RookieDoc Squidoo lens, etc.

After shining on your residency interview, that’s when the real work begins.

I have received several questions about how to respond after getting an interview for a residency program. And although most people are aware that thank you letters should be sent, many seem confused about what comes next.

In particular, I saw a question on a forum that seems pretty typical of some of the questions I’ve received lately. You can see the question below and how I responded to it:

Question (unedited): I was wondering if you get replies from the ppl you send a thank you note to , cuz somehow they never write back to me . Is that normal ? or does that mean they hate me ?

My Reply: Don’t expect them to reply.

There are several reasons why I have never replied to thank you letters written to me after I interviewed someone.

1 – There are so many
2 – Because there are so many, my reply would not be very specific for each individual (think form letter)
3 – There’s room for misinterpretation of what is written or for me to misrepresent the opinion of the Program as a whole
4 – I never thought anyone expected a reply

Email… different story. I have replied to some emails with generic things like “Wish you the best”, but I’ve regretted it, because I thought that person might be sitting at home saying, “What does that mean?!… Wish you the best? Is that like ‘have a nice life’ or is it like ‘I really thought highly of you and I wish you the best’?”

So, it’s not about being polite or not.

By the way… I really do wish you the best

Dr. Tori
RookieDoctor.com

Anyway, in an effort to help some of the people out there stressing about interviewing for internship and residency, I jumped onto several forums and began answering some questions.

Most of the concerns and fears centered around actually getting interviews or how to answer the interview questions.

However, there were several threads where people were whining and complaining about their contacts at various residency programs “not coming through”, “leaving [people] high and dry”, “forgetting where they came from”, etc. Basically, several forum goers were complaining that they weren’t getting the favors they thought they were entitled to and were easy to give.

So, I posted the following response. I hope it helps you on your interviews for internship, residency, fellowship, and jobs…

Question: Hey guys do contacts help? One of my friends got an interview through some contacts, problem is i don’t have any!!lolzz

Answer: Contacts do help. I have done it for some and not for others, so you might want to understand why… what goes through someone’s head when you ask them?

Here’s the thing… Your contacts are being asked every year by tons of people to do this same favor. And while you might think it’s because they “don’t deliver”, or “they forgot where they came from”, or whatever… it’s actually not that.

If they recommend everyone who asks, it dilutes the power of their favor. And, if they don’t really know the person, they run the risk of being blamed for having lobbied for bringing that person in (if that person sucks).

So here’s the difference between which of your contacts will make a curbside reference for you and which ones won’t…

… ready?

… it’s not “contacts” at all… so, stop looking for contacts.

It’s RELATIONSHIPS. Just knowing someone’s name or having met them once or twice is irrelevant… However, if you stood out in some way (not just answering questions on rounds)… if you just focus on answering questions right, then you run the risk of not showing the real you… people don’t just care about your medical knowledge… they care about how you fit in as well. What other things will you contribute to the Program, besides medical knowledge?

Let me give you an example… one time in my training, I was taking a break leaning on a wall talking to the janitors and maintenance guys about football (American football – Go Eagles!). While I was leaning there, the Chief of Medicine walked by with a huge glob of white coats behind him. (Inside I was like O my God! My chances here are done.) He stopped in his tracks… stood right in front of me… and just looked at me. The other med students and interns looked at me like, “You’re toast”. While the Chief was looking at me, I shrugged and said, “What?… Football rounds.” and I smiled.

He cracked up laughing and kept walking. Later he struck up a conversation with me about football and later about some other stuff we had in common… cities we’ve lived in, universities attended, etc. When I interviewed at that program and other programs in that city, people said that he mentioned me.

Now, I never asked him to mention me, but he did. The reason… it’s easier to remember a relationship than it is to remember a contact.

So, when you’re on your clinical rotations of 3rd and 4th year, or when you’re on observerships, etc, don’t just concern yourself with answering medical questions. It’s the relationships that will be noticed… relationships with docs, nurses, administrators, secretaries, and patients.

And one last HUGE tip… Focus on what you can do for them, not what they can do for you. If you provide value wherever you go, people will notice in a good way. If the first question in your head is how can this guy help me, people will notice in a bad way.

I hope that helps.

If you have a question for me, Just Ask.