Medical School Interview Questions

As my clients trudge through their medical school interviews (sometimes in the Midwest and East Coast they really trudge because of the snow), I encourage them to keep their chins up. The good news is that many medical school interview questions are the same from institution to institution.

Practice answering broad questions like "Tell me about yourself,"  "Why do you think we chose to interview you?" and "Is there anything else you want me to tell the committee about you?" Once you've drafted answers that demonstrate your distinctiveness, half the battle will be won.

For professional help with medical school interviews, contact me.

How to Rank Residency Programs for the Match

Getting into residency is hard. Understanding how to rank programs for the Match is easy. Thanks to a Nobel Prize winning economist and his colleagues, the current Match algorithm ensures that your desires are the priority over the residency programs'. What this means practically is that you should rank your first choice first, your second second, etc. There is no need to try to play the system. Please see my Guru on the Go® video "NRMP Ranking to Avoid a Spanking" below for a fun summary and the NRMP® website here for more details about how the algorithm works.

Letters of intent

I receive a lot of inquiries this time of year about how to distinguish one's self after the interview process.

One option is the letter of intent. This is a formal note to program directors and medical school deans that a) states your interest in the institution and b) restates the strengths of your candidacy. As I tell my clients, what you do not want to do in the letter of intent is wax poetic about the program's good qualities. The reader is already familiar with them.

Getting into residency and medical school is never clear cut, so I'll end by saying that the weight that a letter of intent carries is variable. It depends on the reader, the institution, the timing, and the program's interest in you. But in this competitive game of  residency and medical school admissions, taking a little time to make yourself distinctive before decisions are made won't hurt.

Another Plug for the NRMP Program Director Survey

A residency applicant recently asked me if Board scores, grades, and academics in general were no longer significant once someone had gotten past the interview stage; she wondered if those factors were important to get to the interview but not get on the rank list.

Of course, every program is different, but generally, questions like this one can be answered with evidence - using  the NRMP Program Director Survey. (According to the survey, academic issues are still a critical factor in deciding whom to rank.)

If you want to know what Program Directors really want, check out the Survey. The NRMP is very good about culling and publicizing data.