Overview
Be professional
Inteview invitations
Scheduling interviews
Travel tips
Prepare for your interview
Dress the part
Your interview day
The interview
Ask the residents
"Second Look"
Thank you letters

The interview day can be the most important part of your application Meeting people in person can make or break your application. As they say, there is no second chance to make a first impression. There really is no way to make up for a poor first impression. The interview, and any communications that you have prior to the interview, can significantly impact your application. You may begin to receive offers to interview as early as October. Some programs will offer appointments to interview even before the dean's letter is available. Others do not begin evaluating any of their applicants until the dean's letter is ready.

As with the rest of your application, professionalism is the name of the game Whenever contacting a residency program, whether by phone, fax, or email, remember to be courteous and professional. You never know who you may come in contact with. Also, remember to be courteous to the various office staff and administrative people you meet. They meet all the applicants and will remember the applicant who was rude. Often they may be part of the ranking meetings as well.

With the advent of ERAS and the widespread use of the Internet, interview invitations will come via email During the application process, always keep up to date with reading email. This is the preferred method of communication for many programs because it is less costly and less time consuming than postal mail or phone calls. If you plan to be on an away rotation, this becomes especially true. Typically, the program will present to you a variety of dates for which they interview applicants, and you may choose between days. Try to contact the program as quickly as possible to arrange your interview because the spots can fill up quickly. Make sure you have second and third choices available for interview dates.

Scheduling can be critical for the applicant Schedule your most important interviews in the middle of your interview trail.The first few interviews you attend will probably be your most difficult. It takes time to get acclimated to the interview and tour day. Use your first interviews as warm-ups to your more important interviews. Also, try not to schedule your most important interviews too late into the process. As you near the end of the interview trail, you will likely tire of the entire process, and you want to be at your very best for your most key program interviews. Scheduling your interviews in clusters can save you time and money. Generally, programs are quite flexible in scheduling interviews. Often you can cluster your interviews in particular geographic areas. This can save you travel time and money. If you have scheduled several interviews in one area, and are still waiting to hear from a particular program in that region, you may call ahead and try to arrange an interview. Calling ahead to a program and telling them that you will be nearby during a given time period can often secure you an interview. If for any reason you must reschedule your interview, try to do so as early as possible. Even if the day before or the morning of the interview you have an emergency, always phone ahead. No one will fault you for having an emergency, but they will remember you as the person who showed up late without calling first, or as the person who did not show up at all. Scheduling early or late does not necessarily help or hurt your application. Many opinions exist on this issue. If you interview early, you may have a better chance of being reviewed when interviewers and committee members have fewer competitive applicants to compare you against. Interviewing later, you may make a more lasting impression on committee members, who may remember you more clearly when it comes time to create rank lists for candidates. It probably does not make a huge difference if you interview early or late. Plenty of stories exist where candidates matched at their first interview location, or their very last interview location.

There are many ways to save on travel and accommodations during your interviews Planning early can save you money on plane tickets and lodging. You can often ask the residency office for suggestions on inexpensive places to stay. They may even be able to put you in contact with a resident or medical student in the area who you can stay with. Consider emailing the student affairs office if that program is affiliated with a medical school. They may be able to arrange a place to stay. For airline tickets, there are many Internet travel sites that offer good pricing. Sites like travelocity.com and expedia.com offer comprehensive airline, hotel, and car rental packages. Another good site is cheaptickets.com (be aware that cheaptickets.com is notoriously inflexible in changing your flight schedule, and they require a several additional days to mail paper tickets because they currently do not offer electronic ticketing). If you are very flexible with your flight time, you may consider buying your tickets through a business to consumer bidding site such as priceline.com. These sites can sometimes offer excellent pricing, but do not allow the buyer the flexibility of choosing exact flight times. If you have frequent flyer miles, you may want to use them on some of your last minute or mid-week trips, as these can be the most expensive to schedule. Flights including a Saturday night stay often yield the lowest prices. There are many bargains available to student travelers, and you should research these carefully.

Preparing for your interview can be as important as the interview itself Many programs do not have paper brochures for information since the Internet has made it more economical to post information on a website. Browse the program website and learn about the major aspects of the program. It is bad form to ask questions during an interview which make it obvious that you have not reviewed information from the program website. Avoid asking questions that you can find answers to on paper brochures or websites. If you are traveling to an interview, you can print out a few of the key pages from the Internet and read them the night before or on the plane trip to the program. Be aware of various hospitals residents may rotate through, outside clinics, and community outreach programs. You will need to convince your interviewers that you really know something about their program and can give reasons why you are interested in attending their program.

Dress comfortably and professionally on your interview day Again, remember to be professional. Men should wear a jacket and tie while women should wear business appropriate attire. Choose more conservative colors. Don't make people remember you because of your choice of a tie. Make sure all your clothes are ironed and clean. Shoes should be well polished. Remember to wear comfortable shoes, as you will likely be doing a great deal of walking during your day. Lay your clothes out the night before to avoid having to make last minute decisions in the morning.

Residency interviews typically take most of your day Your interview and tour day may start early enough for you to attend morning report or grand rounds. From there you may be invited to attend rounds with a ward team or have breakfast with residents or program directors. Typically, some interviews are conducted in the morning and some in the early afternoon. You can expect to have at least two faculty interviews and possibly a resident interview. This varies by specialty. Generally, you will have lunch with residents present, and sometimes with faculty as well. Take this opportunity to ask residents questions about their program.

Residency interviews are generally nothing like medical school interviews It is refreshing that residency interviews are usually very pleasant. You will find that you spend very little of your time trying to sell yourself to programs or answering, "why should we take you?" types of questions. The entire match process is like the major league baseball draft, and you will be treated like a potential draft pick when it comes to your interviews. In many interviews, you may find that the interviewers have not asked you many questions at all. In fact, they often ask if YOU have questions for them! Be prepared to think up questions to ask your interviewers. Ask thoughtful questions about their program. You may ask questions about the program's stability, future plans/changes, community outreach, research opportunities, plans of graduates, etc. These are all fair questions to ask. Avoid asking questions about benefits or compensation as these may make you appear greedy. These are questions you can ask more freely during your tour or lunch with residents. In general, you should also not ask questions which you can easily find answers to in paper brochures or on the program website. These questions may give the impression that you have not prepared for your interview adequately. This being said, your interviewers may ask you a whole range of questions. Very few interviewers are malignant. Interviewers are interested in finding out about you as well as telling you about their program. Some questions asked of recent applicants include: What can you bring to the program? Why do you want to be a part of this program? What attracted you to this program? Why did you choose to go into internal medicine? Where do you see yourself in 10 years? What makes you different? What are your strengths/weaknesses? Who was your most difficult patient? What are your goals for residency? What do you hope to get out of the experience? Are you really willing to leave the west coast for the east coast? Why? How would you describe yourself? What was your toughest challenge in life? HERE IS A LIST OF FUNNY and REAL QUESTIONS Asked during INTERVIEWs One final tip for interview day: firm handshakes are a must- no "dead fish" handshakes!

Ask the residents during your interview day your most pressing questions You need to be candid and open with the residents you meet. As long as your questions are intelligent, you should not fear that they will reflect negatively upon you. Do not be afraid to ask questions. If you are going to commit yourself to years of training at an institution, you have the right to know the inside story. Some questions you may consider include: Are the residents happy? Are they treated fairly? What are the major problems with the program? What is lacking at this program? Is the administration responsive to resident concerns? Do residents feel that they are taken care of? What is their impression of the teaching quality at the program? Has the program lost residents in recent years? Why? It is also not a bad idea to get a few names, email addresses, and phone numbers for contacts in the event that you think of additional questions when you leave the interview. Interview days can be very tiring, and you may forget to ask questions you would like to know the answers to later on. Don't shoot your mouth off!! Although all the residents will tell you that "you can say anything you want. I'm not on the residency committ." Watch your questions carefully, and for God's sake don't make an @ss out of yourself! Residents WILL be giving their program coordinators the skinny on all the applicants. You don't want to be the one who says, " I'm looking for a really cushy program." Just be careful!

Many programs invite applicants back for a "second look" At the end of your interview day, or perhaps in a letter after your visit, you may be invited back to a residency program to take a more in depth look. These visits are perfect for applicants who desire to attend a program, and have more questions they want to ask of the residents or faculty. The interview day is packed with a scheduled routine. Sometimes there is not enough time to see everything an applicant is interested in seeing. Also, keep in mind that interview days are somewhat "scripted" in that applicants see only what they were meant to see. You may want to return on a day where you can observe morning report, ward rounds, and walk around the hospital on your own to get a better sense of what the program is really like. In addition, it is a great opportunity for you to ask questions you may have neglected to ask on your interview day. Occasionally, the second look can dramatically change your opinion of a program, and these visits can be helpful when occurring close to rank list submission.

After your interview and tour day, consider sending "thank you" letters Within the first week after your interview, you may want to send a simple letter to thank your interviewers and tour guides for their time. These letters are not required, but certainly cannot hurt you. Keep them short and to the point. Feel free to express your interest or desire to attend the program, but do not become overbearing.