Questions graduating med students can ask on residency interviews, and some they shouldn't
"What questions do you have for me?"
Most residency interviews— even the shitty ones on zoom— have a portion where the interviewer allows the tables to turn.
“What questions do you have for me?” They ask, and smile.
Students often struggle with this portion. I always dreaded it. Most of my questions were answered by the residents, perhaps the night before at the reception/ dinner/ online hangout. Some questions aren’t appropriate for faculty, but best placed elsewhere (PD/ the residents). But you have to say something.
Personally, I find questions about the city and town and program to be dull. I find vague questions— tell me about the culture of the program to be painful.
So, I am here to help. Here is what you should ask them instead.
Who is a graduate of the program who makes you proud? What specifically do they do now? How did the program set them up for that? or perhaps put another way: Who is a graduate that represents what your residency does well? Got the most out of your training? What do they do now?
Your interviewer should be able to name a person. Daniel Berry. And say what he did in residency to make the interviewer proud. Dan Berry had no skill in medical education, but because we offer XX, YY and ZZ, he actually discovered he loved it, and honed that skill. He is now program director at XX. Or Julie Smith had never done research, but she met— as often happens here— Bobby Jones on service, and they hit it off. She ended up working with him on research months, published a Nature paper. They she went to the Farber, and now is about to launch her own lab at the Broad. She is so successful now, she doesn’t return my calls. Or maybe it is Jennifer Jones who works in Chinatown free clinic, which she was introduced to here.
Whatever it is, the question tells you both what the interviewer really values and should be very specific, showing what the program did to help them. If the interviewer is vague then I would press them gently but firmly. If they can’t name someone, then they shouldn’t be interviewing applicants.
Can you think of an individual who didn’t do well here? Dropped out or transferred? Decided to switch training programs? What made them switch? Why do you think they weren’t a good fit?
Here again I want specifics— of course it will be anonymous— and I don’t want an evasive answer.
What do you think is the unique strength of this place? What do you have that other programs don’t?
I would be very interested in pressing them till they identified something uniquely good about their program. The more specific the better. Side note: I always find it funny when people say “it’s really affordable here” as a strength of the program. You mean, no one wants to live here, so prices are low... that’s a negative, dude.
Among the faculty, naturally there will be some who residents enjoy working with and others perhaps less so, does your program have a mechanism where the ones that residents enjoy more, get more service time with residents, and the ones that they enjoy less, get less time on teaching service?
In plain English, does the program boot the faculty who suck.
How important are didactic lectures? Do residents ever skip them to do work? Do the faculty ever attend? Do you ever go? How do you like them?
Do the faculty go to the noon talks or morning reports? If the answer is never, then I wonder about the talks, and the faculty.
Sometimes, if I feel cheeky (and it isn’t some place I would rank highly), I ask
How do you think about interviews? Do you put a lot of stock in them, or little stock?
If they put a lot of stock in interviews, then they haven’t studied interview science, which shows they are incredibly poor predictors of job performance.
In the last year, what’s the most interesting case/ patient you saw with the house staff. What happened?
Answers like: I don’t actually rotate with house-staff too often, would annoy me. Then why the hell are you interviewing?
When you went to residency, what were you looking for? And what do you wish you had considered that you didn’t know then?
Are there faculty members/ is there a faculty member here who perennially win the awards (e.g. favorite teacher), what is it about them that connects with residents?
If they do zoom interviews:
What do you think about zoom interviews? Any plans to go back to person.
If they say zoom interviews promote equity, I would not ask: Any evidence to support that claim? They are just making shit up, and repeating things they heard.
Full disclaimer: I offer these questions largely to fill the time, and because I think they are interesting, but I am not sure I would change my rank list because of them. The interviewer you get might just be bad. I would want more data before I act upon the answers, but I find these questions interesting, and you have to say something.
Bonus: Here are some questions you shouldn’t ask:
Why do you think the least successful faculty do the most interviews?
How often does your beeper, beep?
How long does it take to go directly to the airport from the hospital, if say I wanted a change of pace, i.e. go someplace nice for the weekend?
How many more whistleblowers before you lose accreditation?
What percentage of residents use their meal card to buy LaCroix for home use?
Where is the best place to picket when we launch the residency union?
Questions not to ask 😂🤣
As a physician for a few decades and who has worked closely with students, residents and new doctors, i have found a profound current lack of curiosity. Today's training and workplaces discourage asking and just focus on doing. Another questions that a young physician may avoid is asking "why isn't medicine what I thought it would be " or "why am I part of a system that has forgotten how to care for people ?" The answers may rock their world, but ignoring them is just drip drip moral injury.