Interview Questions

I guess we will bump this back up to the top again.

The VAST majority of interveiws are incredibly friendly. These people are trying to decide if you're the one they want to see in the O.R., getting the patient ready, when they have to come in in the middle of the night. It is not a test, just a conversation.

Unfortunately, some people are terrible conversationalists after spending an entire day interviewing applicants, so they may resort to oddities to get you talking.

More generally, don't have canned answers or questions, but be ready to talk in depth about:

1. any research you have done--talk about the science, NOT how much work you did or how amazing you were to come up with the project
2. the city/region where the program is
3. unique aspects of the program organization
4. Your mentors/letter writers and your work with them. Remember that academic ortho is a relatively small world, and many know each other. If your mentors were important in your educational development, let interviewers know how and why, as well as why you think the interviewing program seems like it could offer similar or improved experiences.

Your honest enthusiasm is your best friend in interviews: enthusiasm for orthopaedics, enthusiasm for your research, enthusiasm for medicine in general.

Whatever you do, NEVER criticize people or places if you can at all avoid it. If you speak with respect and admiration for the people you have already worked with, your interviewers can expect that you will ultimately speak with respect and admiration for whatever residency program you complete.

my $0.02

there will be obvious ones "why ortho", "why here" "what are you strengths/weaknesses" "why should we take you versus the jillion other applicants" etc, etc. And there are always some who like ethical questions "what do you do if you attending is drunk" etc. ANd then there are the weird/random ones that mostly just try to catch you offguard or see how you react "what animal would you be and why" "if you could eat dinner with any three people in history who would they be and why". You obviously cant prepare for those, and while you want to have given some thought to the obvious/frequent questions, you dont want to have a ready made answer that sounds like you hav rehearsed it a bunch. Just keep your cool, be honest and answer the damn question without trying to figure out if it is a trick or something. Your confidence, honesty and composure will speak more about you than the answer you are giving.
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I thought that I would bump this back up top as many of us are awaiting invites or are already preparing for interviews. This is a list of topics that was completed by the current intern class shortly after the match. We can add to this list of questions as we begin interviewing.

I don't know if this is in the right spot but...

How conservative are ortho programs in general? Should i choose my silver frame glasses over my black plastic frames? Is the navy suit the only suit? Is laughing and trying to have a little light conversation a no-no?

also...

The "be yourself" thing is hard to capture... people that don't know me think I am an all business guys that gets things done... but those who do know that I love to have a good time all the time... even at work.

How do you show all that without looking like an idiot?... or worse, like a person that is off his mood stabilizers!

Madomi

ps - one of the reasons ortho is so great is because you have people who help each other out! Like you guys... thanks.
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El hueso,
esta aplicando a programas en FL, TX, Chicago, NY? Que piensa de Miami???
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Check out this page. Pretty good sample of questions you will be asked AND questions to ask, which are quite important!

More do's and dont's

-- Don't lie about research (on your application or on your interviews) -- it will only hurt you. Be honest about your involvement on projects. I was asked about one of the projects I had listed on my app, and I told the guy that I've had minimal involvement on that project but have been following it peripherally and hopefully would be more involved in writing the manuscript in the next few months. He seemed to appreciate the honest reply.

-- always be humble. If you're a strong candidate, do not act like you're God's gift to orthopedics when you talk to applicants, residents or interviewers. I met a couple people like that and I just hope one of those jackassess didn't match into the program i'm going to.

-- If you're interviewing in a different region, YOU WILL be asked whether you want to live in that area and why. Have an answer OTHER THAN "Chicago is a nice city with a great night-life". Also, don't create family members who live there. That didn't go over too well -- it was followed up with "did you stay with them last night? "...

"uhm...no...but the hotel staff across the street felt like family".

:roll smile:

I don't have anything in particular to not say, but there is one thing to not do. NEVER for a second make the people at a program feel that you are any less than 100% totally interested in going there. (Be ready to back this up). We had a stellar candidate a couple years ago tell some people when asked about his interest level of going to that progam that it was one of his "safety net schools".
Don't be an idiot.

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h well:

I agree, this has been a very helpful thread, thank you. Does anyone else have have advice as far as what not to do or what not to ask? Did you do or say anything that you got negative feedback on, or got negative vibes?

just want to thank everyone that pitched in a reply to that. Very helpful.

Agree with most everything above. Things I can add:

One question I found favorable responses to when I asked it was at places with big reputations: "to what do you attribute the great reputation this institution and your department enjoys". This seemed to flatter some places and the people liked to talk about themselves.

Also, if you are interviewing outside your home region be ready for questions about why you would want to train/live in that city. I ran into a great deal of skepticism on the part of interviewers especially in the midwest and northeast about whether I would like living there. I think you have to convince them you want to come there or they think you are only interviewing for the sake of having backups. You can see lots of references to this bias in the regionalism thread.

Other thing: ethical dilemmas are presented at a few program interviews. Always take the honest and difficult approach (say yes of course I would rat on my fellow resident if he did something wrong and refused to come clean himself).

For the "Why ortho" question,

I agree with the above: be yourself, don't make "weird" reasons just to be unique. That'll hurt you more than anything.

Now, my top 10 "textbook" answers to that question (and some may disagree):

I like ortho because,
1. Tends to be a young, healthy, and very diverse patient population.
2. People who are "sick", but WANT to get better.
3. The opportunity to FIX many of the problems encountered in practice.
4. [Instant] gratification from being able to fix those problems.
5. Ability to return both form and function to your patients.
6. Opportunities for continuity of care.
7. Biomechanical aspects of orthopaedics.
8. Personalities.
9. Relatively speaking, Orthopaedic research is in it's infantile (maybe adolescent) stage. There's a lot of things on the horizon in the realtively young research world.
10. Very challenging and dynamic field (I'll never be bored).

When ever I was asked that question, I usually ran off these 10 reasons, and my interviewers were unanimously pleased with them. Then at the end I also threw in that I'm a former college athlete and I would like to continue to work around athletes. This is probably my No. 1 reason, but it's a stereotype that many interviewers just don't want to hear as a primary reason. That's why I usually just threw it in as a footnote.

lots of the usual stuff...
why ortho?
what kind of practice do you see yourself in?
what strengths would you bring to this program?
why are you interested in our program?
what is the most important thing to you?
Tell me about yourself./ about your family.
What do your parents do?
Where did you grow up?
What would you do if you couldn't do ortho?
What are your research interests?
Why did you choose XX college? med school?

...to the more creative questions...

What are you most afraid of?
What do you want on your gravestone?
Why did you make a "B" in xxxx rotation?
What do you see in this X ray? How would you treat it?
What would you do with a EKG like this one?

...and, my all-time favorite:
Why aren't you married?

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Thanks, very helpful responses.


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agree with acetabulum.

Your answer to "why ortho" does not have to wow anyone. Be honest and describe what attracted you to orthopedics. Don't try to be unusual, eccentric or funny. Be sincere. There's no right answer to this question. They want to know if your reasons are genuine and not superficial.

As far as the questions, this was the most difficult part of the interview for me. I went on so many interviews, and after the first 3 or 4, I did not bother to do research on the programs cause i was just tired of the whole process. Ask generic and NONTHREATENING questions. Again, don't try to be unusual or unique. Ask standard questions that everyone else probably asks too, but look interested when they answer. I asked the same questions on every interview....multiple times on the same day.

Don't ask questions that would make the program or the interviewer look bad. For example, if you know they don't offer elective time, don't ask them if they do. If you know they're not heavy on research, don't ask them about their animal lab, etc.

I focused on 3 areas, and revised the question depending on where i was:

1. Research
2. Future direction (any changes they anticipate in the next 5 yrs, etc.. see acetabulum's post)
3. Strengths/weaknesses of the program

You will almost always be asked about what questions you have about "X" program. Obviously, do some research if it is indeed a program you are interested in. Most academic ortho programs are in some state of flux-new chair, new professors, ect. Ask how he/she thinks the program is headed in the next few years. If a chair is new, ask them or other professors how that chair is changing things/not changing things. Things like that tend to be good because it shows your knowledge of the program and it lets the person talk about their program.

As a follow up question...

how does one answer the following typical interview questions without sounding like every other candidate?

1. why ortho
2. any questions about our program?

for q1, it seems that most of us are interested in ortho for similar reasons. After being one of hundreds of candidates interviewed year in-year out, how can you stand out?

in regard to q2, It seems that most questions can be answered by exploring the program, looking at the website, speaking w/ residents etc.
From what I understand, however, it is bad form to not have questions for the interviewer.
Does it end up that you ask questions that you pretty much know the answers to?
In which case the interviewer may find the questions shallow and assume that you had not properly explored the program before-hand.



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h well:

when someone asks the question "can you tell us a joke?" in a panel interview, try not to have your joke involve anything about testicles!!!! that didn't work well for me!! lots of stunned faces!
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Yeah, those are a lot of the "basic" questions. very good ones to be ready for also, so I won't echo. The ones that I wanted to add:

1. What sets you apart from the rest of the applicants or why should we chose you? They don't want to hear, "I got great board scores and I'm a hard worker" - so is every one else.
2. What was the last book that you've read? Very popular question. "Harrison's internal medicine" = bad answer.
3. If you could be any [blank] what would you be? The usual "fill-in" is "cell in the body" or "animal." Be creative.

But by all means, be honest, be confident, and be your self. If you lie, you WILL get called on it. Confidence is appealing, arrogance is a turn-off to most people.