A friendly warning to future applicants.....!!!!!

I think this could be a helpful thread - as long as it doesn't become a way for people to take out personal bitterness against programs. In order words, it would help if everyone were objective.

In general, there are a few tips that, if not adhered to, could create a "mistake".

1. Realize that your best interview will be the last one of the season. You get better with each one and you get more comfortable with the format and even anticipating some of the odd-ball questions. Thus, you come across as a more confident individual as the interview season ends. Therefore, if you have any say in it, try to schedule your favorite programs for later in the cycle. But, do NOT make the mistake of viewing your first interviews as "trial runs". This is ortho - there are no trial runs. Hopefully, you also recognize from this advice that doing aways at programs that interview you while you're rotating may not be a great thing.

2. There are NO second rate programs in ortho! Cherish each interview and make up your mind that you're going to do your best no matter what you think of the program/location going in. If you don't think you'd rank a program, do everyone else a favor and DON'T APPLY or at least don't accept the offer to interview.

3. Go to the pre-interview dinners. If you didn't rotate at a program, this may be the only way they have to get to know what kind of person you are. It's also your chance to see them in a relaxed setting. I'm a major introvert and hated those things, but put your game face on and view it as part of the interview (because it certainly is no matter what they say). Be ready to ask intelligent (but not dorky) questions that show you've thought about the program. If you come from a great school or did great on the boards or are junior AOA, don't bring it up - they can read your file and they're not that impressed. The school name on your diploma won't get you a residency.

4. Realize that aways are two edged sword. They can make you look good if you can keep up a strong front to EVERY resident and attending for four weeks. But, all it takes is screwing up or making even one guy not like you to ruin the entire rotation.

Good luck to everyone!

I'd like to respectfully disagree with the pre-interview dinner stuff. I found them to be really lacking in terms of finding out information about a program, or even them finding information about me. I do think this can be a very individualized experience but I stopped going after my fourth or fifth one. It always ended up being a few of the same people competing for the attention of the most important person in the room.

My mistake I wish I could have done over is I mentioned that I was interested in a different specialty in my PS, and I also talked about some leadership stuff I did for an organization for that same other specialty. I think that it was mis-construed as a lack of dedication to a program. Only a couple of programs (one of which I matched at) thought it was great that I explored other fields before settling on Ortho.

OK, let me clarify...yes, the entire application process is extremely individual and each program is unique. Ironically, I matched at a place where I did not rotate and did not offer a pre-interview dinner. Instead, the resident took me to lunch the day of the interview. I really liked that as it gave me a better chance to be open and get to know the residents better.

From what I saw, programs seemed to basically look at applicants in one of two ways - 1. the program looks at the applicant as a whole and tries to assess how well they'd fit the personality of the programs, or 2. the program loosk for specific attributes of an applicant which they view as desirable.

Without spending meaningful time with residents/attendings (i.e. a rotation or attending the dinner, doing a second look, etc) I doubt many people match at programs fitting the first description. In fact, I interviewed at a couple of places where the FIRST question I was asked was "did you attend the dinner last night"?

On the other hand, matching might be more likely with the second description because an applicant's file often tells the interviewers all they need to know.

I can tell you that at my program the preinterview dinner is a big deal since it's a great way to gauge your personality in a more informal setting. This is program dependent I'm sure. You just don't know which programs.

As far as the pre-interview dinner, I always went if I could because I felt it was the good thing to do and thought that I was learning more about the residents/program. However, after my final one I realized that it really was hard to truly gauge what the residents/program were like because you inevitably spend most of the night only talking to just a few people. I had a couple of instances where I got caught in conversations with people that gave me a kind of negative view of the program, but then the next day at the interview I met many more people who were really cool and completely changed that. So, I would say go, be yourself, and try to mingle around as much as possible; but most importantly don't walk away with any final decisions about the program until the interview is over.

This has probably been said and you all probably overtly know this, but just keep in mind that you will not hear about interviews until late October and November (with very few exceptions in early-mid October). Don't be discouraged when a ton of other people in your class start getting invites. Just know that they will start coming. This year, they were even later than what was posted on this website the year prior by about a week or two, so seriously just hang in there.

Best of luck everyone!

Ya I guess for me I kept going to the interview dinners and thinking to myself "there are like 7-10 residents here and like 50 interviewees". Most of the time the residents were talking amongst themselves, and the interviewees were all standing around together talking. Don't get me wrong, I like free drinks as much as anyone, but I just didn't feel like it was critically important like it was told to me on these forums and by people "in the know". If you can make it, it definitely won't hurt you. If for some reason you can't make one of these social events, or you just don't want to go, don't feel like its a detriment to your overall chances.

I had an attending ask me in an interview "so what is your take on these social events before and after interviews?" I gave him some prepared answer about learning more about the program. and he followed up with "what do you think is learned about the program?" And I said..."to tell you the truth, I think these social events are fun, but I think there isn't a lot of free information given by either side at these social events, so most of the time I just gauge the overall moral of the program by how many residents showed up." He laughed out loud and said "I totally agree."

If for some reason you can't make one of these social events, or you just don't want to go, don't feel like its a detriment to your overall chances.

I'm sorry you had some bad experiences but I'm not joking when I say that at some programs these socials do factor into the interview. It's one thing if you can't attend because you have another interview. It's entirely different if you blow it off because you don't "feel like" going.

At the end of the day you don't want to be asking yourself what if...

It seems that a lot of comments regarding the pre-interview events are from the wrong perspective. Having been there last year, I agree that they don't provide a much utility (except for free beer) for yourself. However, take a look through the NRMP match statistics. Program directors consistently rank away rotations, personal interaction and opinion of current residents as the most important attributes for match. If you didn't rotate at a program, these pre-interview events can double or trible your exposure time to current residents who will go and provide feedback the next day about what applicants they did and didn't like (yes, this definitely does happen). It is not so much about you getting to know the program as it is about the program getting to know you outside of professional settings. Do go to them. It won't matter for some places, but for others you'll be a complete unknown if you don't and it will break you.