Preparing For Your Residency Interviews

Residency Interviews Desk

Taking the time to prepare as much as possible can ease some of the nerves + help you ace your residency interviews! I’m sharing how I prepared for my interviews starting a few days before, immediately right before, + what I did post-interview.

My biggest piece of advice would be to bring your best + prepare for every interview. Every single interview is important. You may not initially think a program is at the top of your list – but you never know + you may be surprised! Maybe it’s not your top program, but at the very minimum use this time to perfect your answers + feel more confident in the interview setting. Also use each interview that you have to figure out exactly what it is you are looking for + want in a program.

Pre-Interview: Few Days Before
  • Try on your outfit + test it infront of the camera!
  • Arrange your background for virtual interviews. Ensure that you have good lighting + if you choose to feature something behind you, be prepared to talk about it.
  • Research the program – know their website (+ many now have their own social media with lots of information!)
  • Know why you’re interested in that program – they’ll likely ask!
  • Have a good answer for what you’re looking for in a program + how that particular program fits that!
  • Prepare questions for the residents + your interviewers. Ensure that they can’t be easily answered by their website 
  • Prepare some general answers for questions you can expect to answer. Know what you want to say but don’t over rehearse to the point of sounding like a broken record
  • Be able to talk about every single thing on your application! It’s all free game for them to ask you about + you don’t want to be caught off guard.
  • Attend the resident socials or meet & greets. These are sometimes held days or the evening before. This is a good time to ask questions that are more appropriate for the residents & get a feel for the culture of the program. Be yourself but still be professional!
Pre-Interview: Hours-Minutes Before
  • Remove distractions (not only for your interviewer, but for you as well)
  • Turn your phone + computer on Do Not Disturb mode. Don’t underestimate how distracting a new email or message notification on your laptop can be!
  • Have pen + paper at your desk
  • Chapstick + water (you’ll be talking a lot)
  • Headphones if you’d like them
  • Computer charger!
Post-Interview
  • You’ll never remember the interview as well as you do when you just finish!
  • As soon as you’re finished, update your excel document + write down your initial post-interview thoughts
  • Keep a “running” rank list (for the same reasons as above!) + it will make it a whole lot easier when it comes to finalizing your real rank list
  • Send thank you’s to interviewers & program coordinator within 24 hours! There is a big debate over handwritten versus email. I always felt like handwritten was more slightly more personal; however in the middle of the interview season I actually ended up switching to email for the mere fact that I wanted to make sure my thank you got to the intended person!

A reminder that this is from my personal experience going through the process + the experiences of my peers that have shared their experiences with me. With that being said, things can change year to year + there may be specialty specific things that you need to be aware of! Take advantage of the fourth year advisors at your school.

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