Residency Information

What Will They Ask You?

1. Why did you choose this specialty?

2. Why did you apply to this program?

3. What are your strengths/weaknesses?

4. What are your overall career goals?

5. What do you think you can contribute to the program?

6. What do you do in your spare time?

Be Prepared to Discuss Any of the Following:

1. Holes in your record: grades, time off

2. Anything in your personal statement or anything in your application

3. An interesting experience with a patient

4. A medical problem

5. An ethical problem

6. Current events

7. Family (have a polite way out of this one…)

What Should You Ask Them:

1. What is the patient population?

2. What is the philosophy of the program?

3. What is the interaction between housestaff and attendings?

4. What is the nature and quality of teaching, both bedside and conferences?

5. What type of applicant would you consider ideal for the program?

6. Are any program changes planned in the next 3-5 years?

7. Which departments/sections are strongest? Weakest? How do they get along?

8. Do you consider this a stable program?

9. How long has the Program Director been in his position? Chairman? How is the search going?

10. Who goes to Grand Rounds and other conferences? How often do housestaff get to go to conferences? Who presents?

11. How visible is the chair? Chief Residents?

12. Does the chair spend regular time with the housestaff? If not, who does?

13. Does the chief resident spend regular time with the housestaff? If not, who does?

14. What medical schools have the housestaff come from?

15. What do the residents do when they finish?

16. What fellowship opportunities are available in this hospital?

17. Are the housestaff able to go to good fellowships if they wish?

18. How much patient contact will I have?

19. What types of patients will I see?

20. What is the caseload? (patients/intern)

What You Should NOT Ask Them:

1. Strengths/weaknesses of the program?

2. What are my chances?

3. Is moonlighting allowed? (ask the residents informally)

4. How much scut is there? (see #3)

5. Don’t ask anything that should be obvious, or that is contained in the brochure – you will look unprepared!

What You Might NOT Want them to Ask You (but be prepared to answer anyway):

1. How old are you?

2. What does your significant other do?

3. Don’t you want time off to raise children?

4. What will you do if you (or your significant other) gets pregnant?

5. Are you a feminist?

Difficult Questions You May Be Asked:

1. Tell me everything I need to know about you, personal or academic. This is a VERY common question phrased like this: "Tell me about yourself." Do not wander with this answer, think, formulate an answer and spit it out – make it short and to the point.

2. What are your views on abortion and would you perform one?

3. How will you prevent occupational burnout?

4. How do you feel AIDS has changed medicine?

5. Your biggest challenge over the next six to ten years?

Click on the link below for an "adapted" copy of a form that I used throughout the residency process. This sheet came in handy when going to interviews – it helped me ask certain questions about the programs that were important to me (and to anyone else for that matter) and to remind myself of the program’s features at a later date. I filled this out throughout the interview day, and then later on after the interview day had finished I filled in any remaining items and put down my overall impression of the program, faculty, and residents. I used a scale of 1-10 (it seems most medical students can handle that). After each program I visited, I wrote down an initial score, and then when it came time to rank my programs, it became much easier to sort them out. You will be surprised to see how all the programs blend into one a couple of weeks into the interview season and then when it comes time to put in your list. The system is not perfect, but it can help a lot, especially if you are interviewing at several places a week or to both categorical and preliminary spots and need to keep things separated (like which preliminary programs are the easiest and which categorical programs are the strongest…!). The "DNR" stands for one of two things – "Do Not Rank" or "Do Not Resuscitate," depending on how cynical you are! It will also allow you to write down the names of the people you interview with and their addresses – then you’ll know who and where to write your thank you letters.

Get the printable MS Word file right here!

Get the printable Adobe (PDF) version here!