December 19, 2024 • 18 mins
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What if navigating the residency interview could be your secret weapon to securing the perfect match? Join us as we unravel the complexities of residency interviews, especially if you're aiming for a surgery residency with average board scores. Discover how to demonstrate your strengths through vivid, tangible experiences and why showing genuine interest is your ticket to success. This episode is packed with actionable insights to elevate your medical career journey.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's good everyone.
This is Dr Nidarko.
Make sure you hit the subscribebutton below so that you're
always up to date on the newuploads, as well as alerts on
this show.
The other thing that you can doto help build this community is
make sure you leave a commentbelow, let us know what you like
, what you don't like about theshow and, ultimately, let us
know who's winning thesearguments, because I need to
know that I'm beating Renee inthese debates.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Run the tape All right.
So, like I said, we have aquestion about the residency
interview from Vincent O.
It sounds like Vincent might bea maybe PG or PG excuse me MS,
three or four, but the questionsays I suggest you do an episode
on residency interviewingskills one-on-ones panel group
how to answer common interviewquestions like tell me about
(00:47):
yourself, how to leave apositive, lasting impression.
A role play with Dr Renee wouldbe great.
I don't know if we're going todo a role play.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
All right, let's jump right into this.
I'm going to knock on the door.
No, no, no, no, no, no, that'swhat we're going to do?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
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 thequestion Don't come in.
He's knocking on the door,don't come in Hi, I'm, I'm, I'm
a prospective.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I'm prospective student, dr Nidarko, and I'm
interested in coming to theschool, so let's talk.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, ok, so to answer this interview question,
let's talk first about kind ofthe gamut of questions, right
that you mentioned, right, oneon one's panel and group, and
people may not understandespecially the difference
between panel and group, right.
So the one on one is very easyyou meet, meet with an
(01:45):
interviewer, you're the studentcandidate and they're the
interviewer and you're just kindof having a one-to-one
conversation.
The panel is actually when youhave a panel of interviewers,
right?
So you're one student, onecandidate who's coming in and
you're getting a panel of peopleand they're asking you
(02:05):
questions, they're firingquestions at you.
And then the group is when youhave a group of students, a
group of candidates beinginterviewed, potentially by a
panel and or one other person.
So I think that's important tokind of decipher.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
How common are these things?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So I think the one-to-one is actually the most
common.
I personally have not had andover the years have not had
students tell me that they'veeither had a panel or a group,
definitely not a group.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Have you seen panel for residency?
I've seen panel for residency.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
Maybe a panel, but definitelynot a group Group.
I would see more for medicalschool panel for residency.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
Maybe a panel, but definitelynot a group Right Group, I would
see more for medical school butnot for residency?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I have not seen that.
And what about virtual, virtual?
So it seems like now mostpeople are doing a virtual
component.
Right, most programs sinceCOVID have moved to the virtual
interview and many, manycandidates are now doing the
virtual component.
I still prefer if I wereinterviewing, I'd have to say I
(03:14):
would still prefer to go and seethe place, especially if you're
not very familiar with thehospital because you don't know
what.
Let me tell you somethingSeeing the hospital can tell you
a lot about that place, a lot Iwent.
I remember I went on oneinterview and I went to this
hospital and that the hospitalwas so old and dingy I was like
(03:39):
there is no way the so theschool was at the hospital so no
, this was a community programoh, this is a residency program.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, I got you.
Yeah, this was a communityprogram.
I'm thinking med school.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
No, no, no residency.
So I, when I visited thehospital, I was like this place
is so dingy, I didn't even rankit, I didn't even.
I was like I would rather notmatch than to end up here for
four years.
I just I was like I cannotthink of myself being here for
four years.
So I mean, I know a lot ofpeople are doing virtual
(04:13):
interviews and just kind of youknow it saves money, saves time.
I get that.
But if there is a program thatyou really really like and they
give you the opportunity to doit in person, I would actually
recommend doing in person so itcan get expensive.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So, absolutely, look, I don't know, I don't know the
answer to all of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I think that if I had an opportunity.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
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 veryhigh, because I just remember it
being expensive from, you know,getting a hotel flight, like I
remember the first time I had myexperience with Priceline and I
(04:59):
completely messed it up.
Yeah, I had an interview and atMeharry, Right, I had an
interview at Meharry.
This is from med school and Ididn'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 sothis is like the early.
This is early, early price line98 99.
(05:21):
Yeah, I'm old, I'm old and Ijust remember buying a ticket
through there and I made amistake as to when I was
supposed to get there and soforth.
But guys remember, this is notthe Priceline that you know now
where Priceline finds you thebest price.
This is no, you're bidding.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Right, right right.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
You're bidding for a price, I remember that and they
come back to you with a price.
(05:59):
So you, I remember that was avery inconvenient time of
leaving and a very inconvenienttime as a matter of fact, it was
like after I was supposed tointerview oh god yeah, and I
couldn't get my money back andyou know like I had spent, like
on a credit card, like 200something 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
(06:20):
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 tomy parents and ask them.
You know what to do.
I never asked them for help inthat situation.
I just kind of figured out away to pay it back and stuff
Probably still paying it backright now.
I hope not.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
You know $4,000 later .
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah.
So that's why, for me, it wasjust like all right, like if I
had to do it again, I would justsay probably half and half.
Yeah, you know, because youknow nowadays a lot of people
are ranking, applying to a lotof different schools, you know,
just to increase their chancesof getting into that one place.
And I get it.
Yeah, what happened 30 yearsago is the same thing that's
happening now.
(07:02):
Right, so I would try to dothat.
Half and half, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
No, I agree with that strategy.
I think that's a smart economic.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, it's a blast from the past.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
It's a cost-efficient solution, but one of the
questions that Vincent wantedanswered was kind of answering
that common interview questionof tell me about yourself.
Let me tell you something thatis one of the hardest questions.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I feel like it's a trick.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It might be, but it's one of the hardest questions to
answer, no matter what, nomatter where you are in the
process, right, whether it'spre-med?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
or why is it hard?
Why is it hard?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Because there's so many things to say about
yourself.
Number one people feel likethere's so much to say.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I'm a people person.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, I'm going to tell you what not to say.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
But in a second.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
But people feel like there's so much to say.
That's number one.
Number two people think thatthey're bragging if they say
certain things and people don'twant to brag.
Correct, and that's a hugeproblem.
Because if you look at it as aopportunity to brag right which
bragging has a negativeconnotation then two things are
(08:19):
gonna happen either you aregonna brag, you can't, you're
gonna come off cocky, or you'renot going to want to brag and
you're not going to showcaseenough about yourself.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
OK.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So there has to be some sort of happy medium.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Why do they ask this question?
That's what I want to know,because they read your
application, maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
It might be a blind interview, so you might not have
somebody.
How?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
often does it occur?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I don't know how often, but I mean often enough.
How often does it occur?
I don't know how often, but Imean often enough.
I get a lot of students who saythat you know, my interview was
blind.
Okay, yeah, so they don't getyour application, they just meet
you.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
At that point, though that's not all the time, though
that's if you get a blindinterview though.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, that's if you get a blind interview.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So I guess what I'm saying is let's say you don't
get a blind interview, right?
Let's say, someone has readyour file, Someone has read all
of these different things, right?
Because sometimes, at leastfrom my perspective, what I'm
seeing is the interviewerdoesn't even know what they're
going to ask you.
They just start asking youquestions when they see you
right?
So, if they've gone throughyour application, they've seen
(09:18):
your grades, they've seen yourletter of recommendations.
I don't know what else they getto see letter of
recommendations.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I don't know what else they get to see what else
is in there.
Your personal statement yourpersonal statement.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
So then, when you come in right or like, why are
they asking Tell us aboutyourself.
Is that like a filler?
Is that?
Trying to see are you someonewho's braggadocious?
That's what I'm interested init might be.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It might just be.
You know how are you going toanswer this question.
What is the most importantthing that you want me to take
away from this particularinterview?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Should you be trying to go back and like well, what
did I write in my personalstatement?
And stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So you could.
You could pull bits and pieces.
I wouldn't necessarily, youknow, memorize word for word
what you put in your personalstatement.
The things that I tell studentsa lot of times is when you are
asked that question okay,understand that.
This is an opportunity toadvocate for yourself, right, so
you can say the word brag ifyou want, but the reality is, to
(10:14):
chone horn yeah, the.
The reality is, this is the tothis 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 dothat.
So one of the things that Itell my students is figure out
what the theme of your interviewis going to be.
If you come in with a theme ofwhat your interview is going to
(10:38):
be, what you know, the overallarching, the overarching thing
that you want this person toremember about you, that's where
you start building.
It is in that question.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
OK, so you're saying that you can take control of the
interview or you can havecontrol.
Because I think that's theother thing.
A lot of folks just feel likethey're walking into something
and they don't have controlRight.
So well, how can I prepare forthis?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, Right, I mean right, but remember that the
whole point of it is for you tobe able to showcase yourself.
So in that sense, absolutely,you have a lot of control over
this interview.
You may not have control overthe questions that they ask you,
but you have.
You have control over theanswers, and so you know, I I
(11:21):
call it um, what would I usuallysay.
And so you know, I call it whatI usually say.
Oh my gosh, I say there'ssomething that I that I usually
say to my students.
But yeah, essentially you canbe like one, like a person on,
on, like a commentating, youknow, interview like news
(11:42):
interview, right?
Like a pundit, yeah, like apundit, where they you know or
somebody who comes in to youknow to advocate for something
right and they ask them aquestion and they spin that
question right To whatever threepoints right.
So cable news your interviews.
That's what I usually say to mystudents.
Cable news your interviews,right.
If you cable news yourinterviews, then Cable news your
(12:04):
interviews right.
View cable news your interviews.
Then what you're doing is youare coming in and there is a
message that you want to give.
You see, I'm already doing thepolitician hands.
That's the common.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Right, that's the every politician.
That's what she does.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Right, the politician .
You know the little fist withthe thumb at the top, and then
you just hit it.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I did not.
You hit it, you hit it rightexactly with with that woman,
miss Lewinsky, okay you rememberwhat you were doing that time?
That was what 99, oh my god,was it.
Was it 99?
That's the same time I boughtmy ticket.
I think it's the same day youbought your ticket.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
That was crazy, but but yeah, you cable news your
interviews, in that you figureout what are the three things
that you want your interviewerto come away with and you theme
all of your answers around thatparticular, those particular
themes, right?
So if you decide that yourtheme is, you know your theme is
(13:01):
going to be, that you are a howabout this?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
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 mcatswere uh mcat.
We passed way past no, I'mletting you know who I am okay
and then.
But this is what I have andthis is what I'm expecting,
right okay, so you tell me, yougive me your advice.
So my mcats are average.
(13:25):
My letters of recommendationare in my opinion, your board
scores or your MCAT this ismedical school no, we're
interviewing for residency.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Oh, we are, okay, it's a residency interview
question.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh, they did say that .
Okay, sorry my bad.
My board scores are average,right.
My letters of recommendationare strong in in my opinion,
right.
What did I say?
That's not I mean from theprevious thing when you
corrected me, because you still?
Need letters of recommendation.
You said you're MCAT, but afterthat, then what do you mean?
(13:57):
What are you talking about?
I said okay, not okay, anyway.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So my board scores are good.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
My letters of recommendation are good.
What else do you have to do forthat?
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, atthe best, my number one program
that I want to go to.
I haven't ranked it yet.
This is the number one programI want to go to.
This is surgery program, sogive me your advice.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
What do I do, so remember?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
average board scores.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yes, okay, which that's another thing that kind
of sets this apart Usually fromyour didn't flunk any classes
and that you know those thingsdo matter.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
The average student, I get it Right, but good looking
, good looking, good looking,keep going, you done.
Hey, this is me.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Okay, first thing that I would tell you, first
thing I would ask you is youknow what are the things that
you think you're good at?
Right, that's important, that'stough, but you have to pick
something, okay.
So what are the things that?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I'm good at.
I'm good at, I'm really good atlike I.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Dexterity.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
I'm feeling good at dexterity right.
I feel like I'm reallypassionate and like following
through on things Like.
I feel like I work well in ateam.
I really enjoy surgery.
I really enjoy the aspects ofsurgery.
So I feel like I'm good at likeanatomy and things like that it
comes naturally to me, Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So then I would ask you how do you know that you're
good at those things?
My grades.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Great.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
That's it.
You know that you're good withyour hands because of your
grades.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
My grades for anatomy are really good, top notch.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Anything else about right, Anything else about you
being, you know, really good atanatomy.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Oh, and I've done rotations, I did ER and I did
family medicine and they let medo some suture repairs and stuff
.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
And they always comment.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
student Dr Darko, your hand technique is really
good.
You seem to be able toapproximate very well, and you
always anticipate if I'm helpingthem with their suture
lacerations or any procedures.
I'm really good at anticipatingwhat they need next also okay,
very good, look at your face.
Goody two shoes goody, twoshoes and I wear a bow tie when
(16:25):
I come and I, when I go on myrotations, I wear a bow tie yeah
, very good.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
and also you said that you were, you were
passionate about what?
Now Surgery?
No, you said something beforethat Didn't.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I say that it wasn't that Anatomy or surgery.
I think I'm passionate aboutsurgery.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Okay, you're passionate about surgery.
Okay, how do you demonstrateyour passion about surgery?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Like what are some ways that you demonstrated that?
Well, I've done some researchin surgery.
Like you know, on my surgeryrotation I did some, some minor
research.
I'm constantly interested inlike the different types of
surgical, like surgical fields.
Like I'm really into like whatneurosurgery is about, general
surgery, like I just enjoy theprocess or no?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
no, how did you demonstrate that's?
Speaker 1 (17:13):
what I want to know.
That's a good question.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Right, how did you demonstrate?
Because here so I'm making thatdistinction I was what do you
call it?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I was like in charge of my what's that thing?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
What.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
The interest group in my school.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Okay, so I was like president of it or whatever you
tell me Do they still havesurgery groups, of course they
do Like the interest groups yeah.
Interest groups.
I was like I was the presidentof that.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Okay, that's it.
That's it Okay.
You also stated that you are ateam player.
How do you demonstrate that?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I mean all of my rotations.
I'm always there to you know,assist, because I, for me, I
realized that the only way thatI can learn really is by one
humbling myself and realizingand letting people know like,
hey, maybe I can assist you sothat I can see what you're doing
and kind of like, see one teachone, what do you call it?
See one, do one teach one thattype of thing.
So for me, I feel like I'malways like in that team
cooperative approach of you know, let me watch and see what
you're doing, or let me assistyou and then hopefully, with
(18:18):
that, you'll trust me to let medo something on my own also, so
I'm always about the making theteam better okay, so some of
your answers were really good,okay, and some of your answers
were very generic.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Okay, and that's what I work on with my students,
right?
I?
I let them know you have thetheme, but the theme cannot be
you just generally speaking theentire time, right, what you
want is stories.
What's good everyone.
This is Dr Nidarko.
Make sure you hit the subscribebutton below so that you're
always up to date on the newuploads, as well as alerts on
this show.
The other thing that you can doto help build this community is
make sure you leave a commentbelow, let us know what you like
, what you don't like about theshow and, ultimately, let us
know who's winning thesearguments, because I need to
know that I'm beating Renee inthese debates.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Run the tape All right.
So, like I said, we have aquestion about the residency
interview from Vincent O.
It sounds like Vincent might bea maybe PG or PG excuse me MS,
three or four, but the questionsays I suggest you do an episode
on residency interviewingskills one-on-ones panel group
how to answer common interviewquestions like tell me about
(00:47):
yourself, how to leave apositive, lasting impression.
A role play with Dr Renee wouldbe great.
I don't know if we're going todo a role play.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
All right, let's jump right into this.
I'm going to knock on the door.
No, no, no, no, no, no, that'swhat we're going to do?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
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 thequestion Don't come in.
He's knocking on the door,don't come in Hi, I'm, I'm, I'm
a prospective.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
I'm prospective student, dr Nidarko, and I'm
interested in coming to theschool, so let's talk.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Yeah, ok, so to answer this interview question,
let's talk first about kind ofthe gamut of questions, right
that you mentioned, right, oneon one's panel and group, and
people may not understandespecially the difference
between panel and group, right.
So the one on one is very easyyou meet, meet with an
(01:45):
interviewer, you're the studentcandidate and they're the
interviewer and you're just kindof having a one-to-one
conversation.
The panel is actually when youhave a panel of interviewers,
right?
So you're one student, onecandidate who's coming in and
you're getting a panel of peopleand they're asking you
(02:05):
questions, they're firingquestions at you.
And then the group is when youhave a group of students, a
group of candidates beinginterviewed, potentially by a
panel and or one other person.
So I think that's important tokind of decipher.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
How common are these things?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
So I think the one-to-one is actually the most
common.
I personally have not had andover the years have not had
students tell me that they'veeither had a panel or a group,
definitely not a group.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Have you seen panel for residency?
I've seen panel for residency.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
Maybe a panel, but definitelynot a group Group.
I would see more for medicalschool panel for residency.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Yeah, that's what I was going to say.
Maybe a panel, but definitelynot a group Right Group, I would
see more for medical school butnot for residency?
Speaker 2 (02:54):
I have not seen that.
And what about virtual, virtual?
So it seems like now mostpeople are doing a virtual
component.
Right, most programs sinceCOVID have moved to the virtual
interview and many, manycandidates are now doing the
virtual component.
I still prefer if I wereinterviewing, I'd have to say I
(03:14):
would still prefer to go and seethe place, especially if you're
not very familiar with thehospital because you don't know
what.
Let me tell you somethingSeeing the hospital can tell you
a lot about that place, a lot Iwent.
I remember I went on oneinterview and I went to this
hospital and that the hospitalwas so old and dingy I was like
(03:39):
there is no way the so theschool was at the hospital so no
, this was a community programoh, this is a residency program.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah, I got you.
Yeah, this was a communityprogram.
I'm thinking med school.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
No, no, no residency.
So I, when I visited thehospital, I was like this place
is so dingy, I didn't even rankit, I didn't even.
I was like I would rather notmatch than to end up here for
four years.
I just I was like I cannotthink of myself being here for
four years.
So I mean, I know a lot ofpeople are doing virtual
(04:13):
interviews and just kind of youknow it saves money, saves time.
I get that.
But if there is a program thatyou really really like and they
give you the opportunity to doit in person, I would actually
recommend doing in person so itcan get expensive.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
So, absolutely, look, I don't know, I don't know the
answer to all of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I think that if I had an opportunity.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
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 veryhigh, because I just remember it
being expensive from, you know,getting a hotel flight, like I
remember the first time I had myexperience with Priceline and I
(04:59):
completely messed it up.
Yeah, I had an interview and atMeharry, Right, I had an
interview at Meharry.
This is from med school and Ididn'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 sothis is like the early.
This is early, early price line98 99.
(05:21):
Yeah, I'm old, I'm old and Ijust remember buying a ticket
through there and I made amistake as to when I was
supposed to get there and soforth.
But guys remember, this is notthe Priceline that you know now
where Priceline finds you thebest price.
This is no, you're bidding.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Right, right right.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
You're bidding for a price, I remember that and they
come back to you with a price.
(05:59):
So you, I remember that was avery inconvenient time of
leaving and a very inconvenienttime as a matter of fact, it was
like after I was supposed tointerview oh god yeah, and I
couldn't get my money back andyou know like I had spent, like
on a credit card, like 200something 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
(06:20):
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 tomy parents and ask them.
You know what to do.
I never asked them for help inthat situation.
I just kind of figured out away to pay it back and stuff
Probably still paying it backright now.
I hope not.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
You know $4,000 later .
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah.
So that's why, for me, it wasjust like all right, like if I
had to do it again, I would justsay probably half and half.
Yeah, you know, because youknow nowadays a lot of people
are ranking, applying to a lotof different schools, you know,
just to increase their chancesof getting into that one place.
And I get it.
Yeah, what happened 30 yearsago is the same thing that's
happening now.
(07:02):
Right, so I would try to dothat.
Half and half, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
No, I agree with that strategy.
I think that's a smart economic.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, it's a blast from the past.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
It's a cost-efficient solution, but one of the
questions that Vincent wantedanswered was kind of answering
that common interview questionof tell me about yourself.
Let me tell you something thatis one of the hardest questions.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
I feel like it's a trick.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
It might be, but it's one of the hardest questions to
answer, no matter what, nomatter where you are in the
process, right, whether it'spre-med?
Speaker 1 (07:45):
or why is it hard?
Why is it hard?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Because there's so many things to say about
yourself.
Number one people feel likethere's so much to say.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
I'm a people person.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, I'm going to tell you what not to say.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
But in a second.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
But people feel like there's so much to say.
That's number one.
Number two people think thatthey're bragging if they say
certain things and people don'twant to brag.
Correct, and that's a hugeproblem.
Because if you look at it as aopportunity to brag right which
bragging has a negativeconnotation then two things are
(08:19):
gonna happen either you aregonna brag, you can't, you're
gonna come off cocky, or you'renot going to want to brag and
you're not going to showcaseenough about yourself.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
OK.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
So there has to be some sort of happy medium.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Why do they ask this question?
That's what I want to know,because they read your
application, maybe.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
It might be a blind interview, so you might not have
somebody.
How?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
often does it occur?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
I don't know how often, but I mean often enough.
How often does it occur?
I don't know how often, but Imean often enough.
I get a lot of students who saythat you know, my interview was
blind.
Okay, yeah, so they don't getyour application, they just meet
you.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
At that point, though that's not all the time, though
that's if you get a blindinterview though.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Yeah, that's if you get a blind interview.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
So I guess what I'm saying is let's say you don't
get a blind interview, right?
Let's say, someone has readyour file, Someone has read all
of these different things, right?
Because sometimes, at leastfrom my perspective, what I'm
seeing is the interviewerdoesn't even know what they're
going to ask you.
They just start asking youquestions when they see you
right?
So, if they've gone throughyour application, they've seen
(09:18):
your grades, they've seen yourletter of recommendations.
I don't know what else they getto see letter of
recommendations.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I don't know what else they get to see what else
is in there.
Your personal statement yourpersonal statement.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
So then, when you come in right or like, why are
they asking Tell us aboutyourself.
Is that like a filler?
Is that?
Trying to see are you someonewho's braggadocious?
That's what I'm interested init might be.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
It might just be.
You know how are you going toanswer this question.
What is the most importantthing that you want me to take
away from this particularinterview?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Should you be trying to go back and like well, what
did I write in my personalstatement?
And stuff.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So you could.
You could pull bits and pieces.
I wouldn't necessarily, youknow, memorize word for word
what you put in your personalstatement.
The things that I tell studentsa lot of times is when you are
asked that question okay,understand that.
This is an opportunity toadvocate for yourself, right, so
you can say the word brag ifyou want, but the reality is, to
(10:14):
chone horn yeah, the.
The reality is, this is the tothis 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 dothat.
So one of the things that Itell my students is figure out
what the theme of your interviewis going to be.
If you come in with a theme ofwhat your interview is going to
(10:38):
be, what you know, the overallarching, the overarching thing
that you want this person toremember about you, that's where
you start building.
It is in that question.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
OK, so you're saying that you can take control of the
interview or you can havecontrol.
Because I think that's theother thing.
A lot of folks just feel likethey're walking into something
and they don't have controlRight.
So well, how can I prepare forthis?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, Right, I mean right, but remember that the
whole point of it is for you tobe able to showcase yourself.
So in that sense, absolutely,you have a lot of control over
this interview.
You may not have control overthe questions that they ask you,
but you have.
You have control over theanswers, and so you know, I I
(11:21):
call it um, what would I usuallysay.
And so you know, I call it whatI usually say.
Oh my gosh, I say there'ssomething that I that I usually
say to my students.
But yeah, essentially you canbe like one, like a person on,
on, like a commentating, youknow, interview like news
(11:42):
interview, right?
Like a pundit, yeah, like apundit, where they you know or
somebody who comes in to youknow to advocate for something
right and they ask them aquestion and they spin that
question right To whatever threepoints right.
So cable news your interviews.
That's what I usually say to mystudents.
Cable news your interviews,right.
If you cable news yourinterviews, then Cable news your
(12:04):
interviews right.
View cable news your interviews.
Then what you're doing is youare coming in and there is a
message that you want to give.
You see, I'm already doing thepolitician hands.
That's the common.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Right, that's the every politician.
That's what she does.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Right, the politician .
You know the little fist withthe thumb at the top, and then
you just hit it.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
I did not.
You hit it, you hit it rightexactly with with that woman,
miss Lewinsky, okay you rememberwhat you were doing that time?
That was what 99, oh my god,was it.
Was it 99?
That's the same time I boughtmy ticket.
I think it's the same day youbought your ticket.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
That was crazy, but but yeah, you cable news your
interviews, in that you figureout what are the three things
that you want your interviewerto come away with and you theme
all of your answers around thatparticular, those particular
themes, right?
So if you decide that yourtheme is, you know your theme is
(13:01):
going to be, that you are a howabout this?
Speaker 1 (13:04):
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 mcatswere uh mcat.
We passed way past no, I'mletting you know who I am okay
and then.
But this is what I have andthis is what I'm expecting,
right okay, so you tell me, yougive me your advice.
So my mcats are average.
(13:25):
My letters of recommendationare in my opinion, your board
scores or your MCAT this ismedical school no, we're
interviewing for residency.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Oh, we are, okay, it's a residency interview
question.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Oh, they did say that .
Okay, sorry my bad.
My board scores are average,right.
My letters of recommendationare strong in in my opinion,
right.
What did I say?
That's not I mean from theprevious thing when you
corrected me, because you still?
Need letters of recommendation.
You said you're MCAT, but afterthat, then what do you mean?
(13:57):
What are you talking about?
I said okay, not okay, anyway.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
So my board scores are good.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
My letters of recommendation are good.
What else do you have to do forthat?
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, atthe best, my number one program
that I want to go to.
I haven't ranked it yet.
This is the number one programI want to go to.
This is surgery program, sogive me your advice.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
What do I do, so remember?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
average board scores.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yes, okay, which that's another thing that kind
of sets this apart Usually fromyour didn't flunk any classes
and that you know those thingsdo matter.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
The average student, I get it Right, but good looking
, good looking, good looking,keep going, you done.
Hey, this is me.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Okay, first thing that I would tell you, first
thing I would ask you is youknow what are the things that
you think you're good at?
Right, that's important, that'stough, but you have to pick
something, okay.
So what are the things that?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I'm good at.
I'm good at, I'm really good atlike I.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Dexterity.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
I'm feeling good at dexterity right.
I feel like I'm reallypassionate and like following
through on things Like.
I feel like I work well in ateam.
I really enjoy surgery.
I really enjoy the aspects ofsurgery.
So I feel like I'm good at likeanatomy and things like that it
comes naturally to me, Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So then I would ask you how do you know that you're
good at those things?
My grades.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Great.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
That's it.
You know that you're good withyour hands because of your
grades.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
My grades for anatomy are really good, top notch.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Anything else about right, Anything else about you
being, you know, really good atanatomy.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Oh, and I've done rotations, I did ER and I did
family medicine and they let medo some suture repairs and stuff
.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
And they always comment.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
student Dr Darko, your hand technique is really
good.
You seem to be able toapproximate very well, and you
always anticipate if I'm helpingthem with their suture
lacerations or any procedures.
I'm really good at anticipatingwhat they need next also okay,
very good, look at your face.
Goody two shoes goody, twoshoes and I wear a bow tie when
(16:25):
I come and I, when I go on myrotations, I wear a bow tie yeah
, very good.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
and also you said that you were, you were
passionate about what?
Now Surgery?
No, you said something beforethat Didn't.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I say that it wasn't that Anatomy or surgery.
I think I'm passionate aboutsurgery.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Okay, you're passionate about surgery.
Okay, how do you demonstrateyour passion about surgery?
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Like what are some ways that you demonstrated that?
Well, I've done some researchin surgery.
Like you know, on my surgeryrotation I did some, some minor
research.
I'm constantly interested inlike the different types of
surgical, like surgical fields.
Like I'm really into like whatneurosurgery is about, general
surgery, like I just enjoy theprocess or no?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
no, how did you demonstrate that's?
Speaker 1 (17:13):
what I want to know.
That's a good question.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Right, how did you demonstrate?
Because here so I'm making thatdistinction I was what do you
call it?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I was like in charge of my what's that thing?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
What.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
The interest group in my school.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Okay, so I was like president of it or whatever you
tell me Do they still havesurgery groups, of course they
do Like the interest groups yeah.
Interest groups.
I was like I was the presidentof that.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Okay, that's it.
That's it Okay.
You also stated that you are ateam player.
How do you demonstrate that?
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I mean all of my rotations.
I'm always there to you know,assist, because I, for me, I
realized that the only way thatI can learn really is by one
humbling myself and realizingand letting people know like,
hey, maybe I can assist you sothat I can see what you're doing
and kind of like, see one teachone, what do you call it?
See one, do one teach one thattype of thing.
So for me, I feel like I'malways like in that team
cooperative approach of you know, let me watch and see what
you're doing, or let me assistyou and then hopefully, with
(18:18):
that, you'll trust me to let medo something on my own also, so
I'm always about the making theteam better okay, so some of
your answers were really good,okay, and some of your answers
were very generic.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Okay, and that's what I work on with my students,
right?
I?
I let them know you have thetheme, but the theme cannot be
you just generally speaking theentire time, right, what you
want is stories.
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