Medical Thread

[Laila]

^ Looking forwards to more, helpful information

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Interview Tips:

1. Know thine enemy. I had little time to prepare for a recent interview, so I did the following: I read the programs web page and did not memorize every word but rather took away a few bulletted points about what they claim makes them unique. Often times, at the higher levels of training, the program will tell you who you will interview with. Look these people up and see what they are about. Take a look at their publications via pubmed. You usually have about 30 minutes in which to make a lasting impression. Listen closely during the introductory speech when they tell you about their program. They will tout certain aspects of what makes them unique and give you information about the nuts and bolts of the program. This gives you fuel for further questions when they ask you, in order to see if you are truly interested: "do you have any questions for me?"

Try to tie in your application to those key points you noted that they tout about their program. For instance, at the medical school level, if they say that they have a research elective, etc, you should look up some of their lead scientists and read few quick abstracts of their work. Then you tell them that you are interested in coming to their instutition because you have followed the works of Dr. X, Y, and Z for some time now in the literature and think that the school offers you a unique opportunity to work with these people. Mention specifics. Its sort of like that scene in the usual suspects where the police officer, who had been listening to Verbal Kent (played by Kevin Spacy) realizes that he just had Kaiser Sose sitting in his office. He looks around and sees that Sose has been reading the various news clippings on the wall and was weaving a story together based on these little clippings:

YouTube - Usual Suspects (1995) Shocking Ending HD[/URL]

keep your eyes open and make connections. Convince them that you and they are a good fit.

So as an example, I knew that the center I want to do a heart failure/transplant fellowship at is a tertiary center... but I had no idea that they do a large number of HVADs, LVAD, or where a local quaternary center. I heard all of that during the interview. I was given the names of the 3 people I was going to interview with: The days before, I looked up quickly, 1 to 2 recent strong works by these physicians. During the interviews, as I discussed my own work, I noted to them that I had also read their papers recently. So for instance: One of the gentleman had done recent genetic studies that on phenotypes of coronary artery disease and noted that it might be difficult to go for one specific genetic marker of that disease. I told him about my own interests and studies in the genetics of heart failure and noted that its diverse phenotypic and genotypic basis, yet its common end results (NYHA class heart failures) lends it to being a suitable model to test for genetic markers. I then added that I note this because I had read the gentleman's work on Coronary Artery disease/gentics. His eyebrows raised and he looked happy that I had taken such interest in his program as to look up his work. I threw a few more similar comments his way about how I wanted to come and do advanced training at a center that sees so much transplant and congestive heart failure that is a "quaternary center".

So now, for the medical student who does not know who they will interview with: You do get a list at the beginning of your interview day. Take a quick second to look up these people and their interests on your iphone or droid or something. Understand their background: If you are talking to a primary care doc who does not do much bench side research, hone your interview to that, etc. If you have done a lot of research, you can note to that individual that although your work is predominantly benchside, you are interested in clinical and medical educational research work as well. If you are talking to a big time qualified specialist, you should still have read up on some key faculty doing great work at that school and note that you have been following Dr. X, Y, and Zs work and talk about how that individual shows the academic quality of the center you are interveiwing at.

Basically, show them that you care about their center and did enough of a background check on them to see that you were a suitable marriage of minds.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

Recently had a discussion with a third year medical student here at Yale applying for opthalmology (one of the most competitive specialties). They are at the top of their class and are a reliable source.

I asked them what went into getting a slot/interview. They had done their homework and had a direct discussion with the program director to find out how thousands of applicants are filtered. Turns out here are the criteria:

"i found out how they do residency interviews for optho. its a ten point system. 1 pt for board score, 1 pt for AOA, 1 pt for research in optho, 1 pt for top 25 medical school, 1 pt for top 25 college, 2 pts for recs, 1 pt for an extra degree, 1 pt for class rank, 1 pt for personal statement. and you have to have seven to interview."

The awarding of medical school interviews and subsequent ranking of candidates worked the same way for the committees I sat on, except boards were replaced with MCATs etc.

I hope this gives you a look behind the veil of the process.

Best Regards
BKA

[unknownprince]

who is applying to medical school this summer? Where are you applying?

[BarakzaiAbdali]

So I just had another interview. Some tips to add:

1) If you are interviewing somewhere, find a factoid about that center and stress to your interviewer that you know they have read your file, but you have also read theirs. This can apply to the medical student, the resident, or the fellow going for advanced specialization:

E.g. Lets say you are an interviewee talking to the University of Pittsburgh. So they are a major transplant center. There are few major transplant centers, and on top of this few that do multi organs systems. For example, despite Yale's rep, all their heart transplant and lung transplant patients go to Columbia. For that reason, Yale's strength does not lie in Heart Failure and Transplant. However, Univ of Pittsburgh is a huge monolith giant transplant center. So you can show some initiative and say, whether you a medical student, resident, or fellow, that not many centers are up to the level of U Pitt where you have the chance to take care of end stage patients requiring transplant and then conducting post transplant care of these patients after they get their organ.

2) Hone your dialogue to who you are talking to. For instance, if you have a ton of research on your CV, the assumption is that you are going to be a practicing physician that conducts some research in coordination with your clinical care. Therefore, you have to understand that if you are talking to a medical school interviewer at Yale, and if the person you are talking to is an internal medicine physician or a psychiatrist... note that these people are wary of people that want to dive right into lucrative specialties (usually because their specialities are not lucrative). Thus, indicate to them that you are interested in so many aspects and facets of medicine. Note that your research may be in GI, immunology, dermatology etc, but that you want to take advantage of your 3rd year surgical and medicine rotations to understand where skill meets desire in your own development. One of the key things that has won many an interviewer into my corner was when I noted that there are some people that, for example, "love" neurosurgery but for whatever reason they are not good with technique. Then there are those that hate their career and may be very good at what they do. Both of these groups diminish productivity. I used to tell interviewers that I wanted my personal inclinations to meet my skills at some middle point so that I enjoyed doing whatever it was that I would be good at.

As a practical point, when i was interviewing for fellowship, I applied with a lot of research on my record. So programs knew that I was acclimated to this. However, if you tell a cardiology program that you want to do interventional cardiology, and they have you set up to interview with a bunch of heart failure and general cardiologists, you might be out of luck. The reason for this is that most interventional cardiologists are worked like surgeons and find little time to be able to delve into the bench side research realm in coordination with clinical care. A few exceptions to this rule are Dan Simons at Case (formerly at the Brigham) and Eric Topol. So, if you do decide you are going to be straight up and tell them that you are going interventional, use the example of Dan Simon and indicate that you want to follow in that individual's footsteps. If you provide the guy across from with a roadmap like that, he can see your vision for your career and trust you a bit more!

[BarakzaiAbdali]

who is applying to medical school this summer? Where are you applying?

If you guys are applying and live in the same area, you should form study groups for your MCATs. Seriously, think of it like a MCAT Lashgaar. What you then do is keep each other on track and even take courses together at a commercial program. If not, then you can acquire exam crackers or some equivalent and just set aside 10 hours a day to study in a group. That worked well for some of us way back when we took on that battle.

Also note that an excellent resource is this website:

http://www.studentdoctor.net/

However, many of these people that post here are crazy hard core gunners that try and psyche eachother out. So take everything there with a grain of salt. The most relevent section was the interview section where people post questions they were asked at specific schools.

[IamDZJ]

does anyone know how to cook kaRRo??

[unknownprince]

Thanks BarakzaiAbdali,

I hope everyone here who will be applying exchanges information that will benefit everyone.

[qunduz92]

barakzai, when one is preparing to apply for residency programs during their last year of medical school how does that generally work? what are the requirements for a US med school student to be able to get into a residency besides their USMLE scores? i.e. are there reccomendations and interviews involved in the process?

thanks

[qunduz92]

also barakzai,

say one goes to an osteopathic school instead of allopathic, and obtains an allopathic residency, what changes are there in their qualifications if any?

[qunduz92]

kakar khoray tsange ye

[Admin Khan]

BarakzaiAbdali,
Are there any practice exams available?

[Dreamer]

BarakzaiAbdali,
Are there any practice exams available?

if your talking about USMLE then the USMLE question bank book is a good start... its not that hard!

[qunduz92]

barakzai wrora, i also wanted to know that is it true that with a US medical licensure you can practice anywhere in the world without taking any further examinations?


i hope you reply soon at your earliest convenience.

[BarakzaiAbdali]

also barakzai,

say one goes to an osteopathic school instead of allopathic, and obtains an allopathic residency, what changes are there in their qualifications if any?

Salamoona Khoraay,

When you are a US medical student, you are generally on autopilot in regard to getting into a residency. The complexity in the matter is in regard to which residency you get into (e.g. Internal Medicine vs Pediatrics vs Opthalmology vs Dermatology, etc). To just get into a residency you generally just need to pass the boards which is pretty easy. Meaning you will get into family medicine (easier to get into residency) somewhere in the US without much efforts. Now, to get into Johns Hopkins or Mass General Internal Medicine/Family Medicine or any other prestigious institution, then you need strong board scores.

The top/most competitive/most lucrative residencys (Opthalmology, Radiology, Dermatology, Radiation Oncology, Orthopedic Surgery, Ear Nose and Throat) are extremely competitive and you need top notch board scores to just get an interview. Even then, you have no gaurantee in such fields with just the board scores alone. The interview as well as research/rotation grades/Alpha Omega Alpha Honorary Society membership are crucial.

Now, I do not know that much about the DO pathway (osteopathic), but I do encounter them every now and then in practice. They are much fewer in terms of presence in the fields. They appear to have their institutions that they are parcelled to. I have generally seen them confined to Generalist Medicine/Family Practice, though now and then they crop up in competitive fields. The latter situation is usually when a very driven DO student does an away rotation and impresses folks with performance. In general, folks that do not get into MD schools end up applying to DO schools. That does not mean that they are dumb... it just means that they did not play the game as well. They still have a shot, but its somewhat more limiting as a degree because the MDs attempt to control supply and demand.

OK, Im in an airport and traveling. I have to go now or I will be late for my plane. Will edit this and add to it tomorrow.