How To Interview For MD/PhD Programs - What I Learned During My Interviews
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2018
- This week’s video is about a couple of the things that I learned during my interviewing process. To get all the details out the way, let me list all the places that so graciously offered me an interview during my application cycle: Einstein, Boston U, Columbia, Harvard, Hopkins, Mayo, NYU, Northwestern, Stanford, UCSF, UChicago, UTHSCSA, WashU, and Tri-I. Here are a few tips and pieces of advice that I picked up along my interview trail.
1. Interviewing is for extroverts. This may not come as a shock to most people, but interviewing is pretty easy for extroverted people. You’re constantly meeting new people, whether it’s a professor, a doctor, your fellow interviewees, deans of programs, or current medical students. If you’re introverted and this sort of thing annoys the bejeezus out of you, make sure you take time for yourself in between the dinners and the campus tours to regroup and breathe.
2. Look put together. Unless you are under considerable financial constraint, make sure that your interview outfit looks put-together. Make sure your top and bottom pieces are matching. Black is always advised, but any muted color should be fine. Most interview days are two days long, so I recommend having two suits ready.
3. Know and review your stuff. Do yourself a favor and take the time to go a little deeper into every project you’ve ever had your hands on so that when someone from that field asks you questions about it, you’re ready. Of course, you can’t predict what kind of questions that a given interviewer will ask you, but it’s better to be informed and ready than not.
4. Always have a compelling reason to go to a given school. There are so many reasons why a given school could be the right school for you: unique research opportunities, teaching style, program structure, location, etc. Find out your why and sell it. You may not know what the program is looking for, but if you are clear with them about what you’re looking for, it could only help to ensure that you’ll end up in the right place for you.
5. Pay attention to the students. If you don’t care to become best friends with your peers in the program, then make sure that you’re able to find friends outside of school, or that you have hobbies that will occupy your (precious) free time. If you feel like you can’t bond with people and develop a social support group, either within or outside of the program, things can get rough. Keep an open mind, put your own emotional well being first, and trust your gut.
6. Be prepared to talk about science. Be engaged with the interviewer, and remember that the interview is also for you. You may want to use your research interviews to quickly weed out who you should and should not do a lab rotation in. A simple question like, “what’s the typical time to graduation in your lab?” let’s you know if this professor is worth your time. Keep in mind that you may not get interviews with the professors that you would like to work with. That’s still no excuse to not engage with the professor. Use every opportunity you have to shine, and use the irrelevant research interviews to practice for the real ones. The research interviews are the most relaxed, informal, and laid-back, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t use them to your advantage.
That’s all folks! Stay tuned to hear about the tips I learned after finishing all my interviews!
General Interview Tips:
www.usnews.com/education/blog...
students-residents.aamc.org/a...
How To Dress For Medical School Interviews:
www.prospectivedoctor.com/wha... - women
www.prospectivedoctor.com/wea... - men
blog.accepted.com/dress-for-m... - women
blog.accepted.com/mens-dress-... - men
General Channel Description: Welcome to MDPhDandMe! My name is Chelsea Nnebe, I am a URM student at Stanford’s MD/PhD program, and I want to take you on a journey with me as I train to become a physician scientist. This platform is meant to be interactive. I want to hear from you! Whether you’re a pre-med, a high schooler, an MD/PhD student, a full-fledged physician-scientist, or just a curious on-looker, I want to know what you all think. Feel free to like my videos, leave a comment, give me (constructive) feedback, and tweet me your questions if you have any. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
FYI: Watching every ad for a full 30 seconds helps me use this platform to support charities and organizations that mean a lot to me. Thanks in advance!
Twitter: / mdphdandme
Instagram: www.instagram.com
Facebook: / mdphdandme
![อยู่ได้แล้ว - LIPTA feat. Mirrr [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-9-hpntNym4/mqdefault.jpg)
FYI: Watching every ad for a full 30 seconds helps me use this platform to support charities and organizations that mean a lot to me. Thanks in advance!
you all probably dont give a damn but does anyone know of a method to get back into an instagram account??
I stupidly lost my account password. I appreciate any help you can offer me.
Really enjoying your videos! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk about these programs and upload your vids. Question, what do you mean that Stanford's research interview doesn't matter?
or don't count* my bad!
Great question MetaLNadia! Basically what I mean by that is most (if not all) of your interviews will be graded in some way by your interviewer. They're probably either instructed to give you a set of scores or write a paragraph about their impression of you. Most schools will allow you to interview with professors that are not necessarily affiliated with the school's MD/PhD program. Ideally, these would be the professors that you asked for or mentioned on your application, but it's not always possible to get those people. Nevertheless, these research oriented interviews do not always count, and the professor interviewing you does not have an evaluation that they have to submit to the program coordinator/director. Every school is probably different, but Stanford has said that they do not count the research interview, and they are not the only school to have stated that. Hope this helps!
Hi I just found your channel and your videos are very helpful. Please how many publications did you have before you applied?
Also, did you have 2 separate interviews for the md and phd program separately or did you only have to do one interview per school.
Hey Blossom! I'm so glad that you're enjoying my channel! I only had one publication before I applied, but I can assure you that they're not that important (unless you're a first-author on the publication). To answer your second question, yes. Most schools conduct MD/PhD interviews over two days where one day is dedicated to the MD/PhD program and the other day is dedicated to the MD program. Typically, during the MD interview, you get to meet other MD applicants. Still, I remember interviewing at a few schools that mixed it all up. Regardless of how your interview day is set-up, you won't have anything less that 4 conversations total with 4 different people, and that's being modest. Most places have you interview with upwards of 8 people over two days, so be prepared to be the full package!
What do you suggest women of color do for hairstyles on interview day? I have naturally puffy and curly hair, and I have found the only way to maintain it is to straighten it and put it in a clip pulled all the way back. I am curious what you did for hair style choices?
Hey Natalie! Great question. I suggest pulling your hair back into a low pony-tail. Personally, I ended up having my hair in box braids for my interviews, but so long as your hair is out of your face, you should be fine. You can also Google professional hairstyles for people with your hair type in order to get more ideas. Hope this helps!
Thank you!
ENFJs represent!