How To Interview For MD/PhD Programs - What I Learned During My Interviews HD

This week’s video is about a couple of the things that I learned during my interviewing process. To get all the details out the way, let me list all the places that so graciously offered me an interview during my application cycle: Einstein, Boston U, Columbia, Harvard, Hopkins, Mayo, NYU, Northwestern, Stanford, UCSF, UChicago, UTHSCSA, WashU, and Tri-I. That makes for 14 interviews. Let me share a few tips and pieces of advice that I picked up along my interview trail. 1. Interviewing is for extroverts. This may not come as a shock to most people, but interviewing is pretty easy for extroverted people. You’re constantly meeting new people, whether it’s a professor, a doctor, your fellow interviewees, deans of programs, or current medical students. If you’re introverted and this sort of thing annoys the bejeezus out of you, make sure you take time for yourself in between the dinners and the campus tours to regroup and breathe. 2. Look put together. Unless you are under considerable financial constraint, make sure that your interview outfit looks put-together. This goes beyond the basic suit and tie or suit and skirt. Make sure your top and bottom pieces are matching. Black is always advised, but any muted color should be fine. Most interview days are two days long, so I recommend having two suits ready. 3. Know and review you stuff. Don’t assume that you know your material so well that you can’t review even the most basic study. Do yourself a favor and take the time to go a little deeper into every project you’ve ever had your hands on so that when someone from that field asks you questions about it, you’re ready. Of course, you can’t predict what kind of questions that a given interviewer will ask you, but it’s better to be informed and ready than not. 4. Always have a compelling reason to go to a given school. There are so many reasons why a given school could be the right school for you: unique research opportunities, teaching style, program structure, location, etc. Find out your why and sell it. You may not know what the program is looking for, but if you are clear with them about what you’re looking for, it could only help to ensure that you’ll end up in the right place for you. 5. Pay attention to the students. If you don’t care to become best friends with your peers in the program, then make sure that you’re able to find friends outside of school, or that you have hobbies that will occupy your (precious) free time. If you feel like you can’t bond with people and develop a social support group, either within or outside of the program, things can get rough. Keep an open mind, put your own emotional well being first, and trust your gut. 6. Be prepared to talk about science. Be engaged with the interviewer, and remember that the interview is also for you. You may want to use your research interviews to quickly weed out who you should and should not do a lab rotation in. A simple question like, “what’s the typical time to graduation in your