#residencyinterview

[medvily-international]

Did you know? #medvily #residencyinterview #residencymatch #usmle

[medschooltutors]

Wondering how to handle those #ResidencyInterview thank you notes? You’re welcome. 

[thesinglesurgeon]

Interview Season Part 3: Practical Tips For Traveling

Spend the night in the hotel after the interview. This is makes the exhausting interview less tiring when you know you can sip wine at the hotel pool, explore the area, or sleep early after such an intense day. Plus, you can leave your crap in your room, eliminating another awkward step of packing up in the morning and lugging your suitcase around all day in your suit.

Get a credit card to use during interview season. To be clear, I don’t mean “get a credit card so you can spend even more money you don’t have.” What I mean is “you can get a sh*t ton of travel points, so take advantage of the rewards.” I got a Chase Sapphire preferred rewards card. I buy all the airline tickets, hotels, and rental cars with it, but I pay it off each week (granted, I pay it off with loan money, but it’s better than accumulating the 25% interest rate this card has per month). I picked this card because a bunch of articles suggested it was the best one for “beginning travelers.” You get 2x the points on travel, with no annual fee for the first year (then it’s $95 a year). SO far, I have like 10,000 points. Pretty cool.

Rent the car. It’s so much easier and less stressful than hoping the Uber picks you up, that there even is an Uber (one place I went to had zero card available one Friday night). You might have to pay for parking at a hotel, but I made reservations on Expedia in advance, paid at the counter, and ended up paying about $30-$50 a day for unlimited renal car miles. Also, my personal car insurance AND my travel credit card cover rental insurance, so I didn’t need to pay extra for that.

Don’t stay somewhere shitty. Yeah, the Hilton is more expensive than La Quinta, but at the end of you student loan days, another 1,000 you added because of stepping up to nicer hotel accommodations or SUV instead of economy rentals in New Hampshire in December will be worth it. I’m a thrifty and neurotic person, but I’d rather have a clean hotel than a questionable comforter with weird stains on it.

Underpack. I really struggled with this at first, I swore I would need 2-3 additional outfits for travel and exploring. But I really needed 1 pair of pants, a shirt, and a sweater. You don’t care if you wear the same thing 2 days in a row because you don’t know anyone, and even though airplanes are kinda gross, you’re not getting sweaty or actually dirty. So save the luggage space and pack light.

But I brought my own steamer. Is this weird? Yes. But I like it better than ironing and I use one everyday at home. I got this one from Target years ago and it still works great. Plus you can use it on interview social dinner outfits that may not be amenable to ironing, but can be steamed.

Also: roll your clothes into ridiculously small burritos to make room. This will really ensure you need a steamer (but will leave room for one!).

Pack 2 extra panty hoses if you are wearing them. You need one extra in your purse or portfolio (the worse thing is a giant run in your panty hose). Also, I’m not a fan of uber conservative dress, but pantyhose is nice because you don’t have to shave your legs at all. #easy

Only carry-on your bag. I had all clothes and shoes in a roller bag that easily fit into the overhead compartment. Then a backpack with my laptop, books, my portfolio (a purse was way too cumbersome to carry during the actual interview), and toiletries that went under the seat in front of me. Never check a bag, not worth the risk of losing your things. And never volunteer to check your bag no matter how many perks the airline offers you. 

Eat breakfast before the interview day. Enough places either had no breakfast or just not enough food. I would get up early, drive to the Starbucks in the town and get the spinach egg-white wrap they have (and coffee) and then get ready at the hotel. If the hotel had breakfast, I would eat there instead. Do not start the day off without food. If you aren’t a breakfast person, at least have a cliff bar with you at all times. I always had two in my portfolio. Sometimes lunch is hours after you have a skimpy breakfast and all you can do is think about your hunger. Just avoid this whole problem: eat BEFORE the day starts and bring a snack.

Just be early. I say this as a person who is almost always late. But for interview season just find a way to be early. I hung out in several parking garages because I was oddly early, but a few times I could not find the right building or made a wrong exit on a highway system and got seriously lost. Get to the hospital 45 minutes before you are supposed to meet. Just do it.

Clear your head. A great time to do this is while you are awkwardly waiting to walk into the hospital from your cozy rental car since you are so damn early. Listen to a personal fav song. Picture yourself as an awesome doctor that knows what they are doing. Think of you at your best, embody your awesomeness. Get your head clear, smile, and envision greatness, and the day will turn out great =)

[creator-curator]

Pharmacy Residency Interview #3 coming atcha. Tip #1. Plan your travel arrangements better than I did and don't drive 16 hours to an interview.

[thepolishedmd]

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Are you Planning for residency interviews? Check in with Alumni to get good info on the program you’re going to interview at! #medstudentlife #medstudents #residencyinterviews #residencymatch #residencymatch2021 https://www.instagram.com/p/CFkaevVpJOD/?igshid=17aifh0tutoc3

[stellalandeo-blog]

🇵🇪 🇺🇸 #bilingualpost 🇺🇸 One more time! Interview season is around here ... another wave of excitement fill the air! So many possibilities! So much to look 👀 forward to, so many possible neighborhoods we might end up in... different salaries, different perks, different opportunities for our family... how much will tickets 🎫 to Peru 🇵🇪 cost from wherever we end up? It’s an exciting journey! Hope we can go somewhere where we can save up for a home someday... hope it’s somewhere with diverse daycare options reflective of diversity 💛 Hope it has lots of lovely catholic brothers and sisters.. and I hope it is wherever God wants us to go. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ✨Do you move a lot too? How many homes have you lived in? 😆 let me know! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🇵🇪 ¡Una vez más! La temporada de entrevistas está por aquí ... ¡otra ola de emoción llena el aire! ¡Tantas posibilidades! Hay tanto que esperar 👀, tantos vecindarios posibles en los que podríamos terminar ... diferentes salarios, diferentes ventajas, diferentes oportunidades para nuestra familia ... ¿cuánto costarán los boletos 🎫 a Perú wherever de donde sea que terminemos? ¡Es un viaje emocionante! Espero que podamos ir a algún lugar donde podamos ahorrar para un hogar algún día ... espero que sea un lugar con diversas opciones de guardería que reflejen la diversidad 💛 Espero que tenga muchos hermanos y hermanas católicos encantadores ... y espero que sea donde Dios quiera que vayamos. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ✨ ¿También te mueves mucho? ¿En cuántas casas has vivido? 😆 házmelo saber! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #mudanza #interviewseason #medicallife #residencyinterviews #fellowshipinterviews #vidamedica #becomingadoctor #doctorwife #catholicmom #youtubers #igmoms #motherhood #stellalandeo #medicine #careersinmedicine #medicalschool #medicalfamilies #familiasmedicas #familiamedica #familiamédica #becomingadoctor #becomingaspecialist #nursesofinstagram #nursemom #nicunurses #mamaenfermera #perumates #travelingwithtoddlers #movingalot (at Disneyland) https://www.instagram.com/p/B06MqAAgryn/?igshid=10wpvhw8n4syk

[harmonizedu]

Happy Sunday friends :) #Life is a field of trial and error! This is my 3rd tomato planting trial. No need to say what happened to the first two but I️ believe if I️ would give up at any point, I️ wouldn’t be standing here with a handful of tasteful #organictomatoes today! #littlelifelessons and #blessings that we ignore everyday are what we truly need to stay focused on our #biggoals. Whether you are trying to #loseweight, #getinshape, pass that #barexam, get a #residencyinterview or simply starting a new #healthy lifestyle, ignore the pain of the errors learn how to overcome it and let go of the fear of failing. #lifeisbeautiful #simplesteps #weightloss #harmonizedu #harmonywellnesscenter #harmonyweightloss #harmonyweightlosscenter #weightlossla #weightlosscoach

[monsoondiaries]

Love the love — THANK YOU for having me COSGP! Truly looking forward to working with y’all as my fellow colleagues in the near future. The tunnel is long, but the💡 is there. Keep the momentum going, keep your head up and remember, live NOW (fuck your dreams)! . . . . #hustle #residency #residencydiaries #residentlife #graduation #medschool #medschoollife #medstudent #medschoolgraduation #medschoolproblems #residencygraduation #residencylife #residencyproblems #residencymatch #fuckyourdreams #emergencymedicine #thisiswhatadoctorlookslike #doctor #doctorlife #missionaccomplished #emergencymed #doctors #residencyinterviews #residencyprogram #grad #nomoreschool #lightattheendofthetunnel (at Baltimore Convention Center-American Masters) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4ILky_Hln8/?igshid=wtyxqzcirosw

[medschooltutors]

You only get one chance to make a good first impression, right? 

[medschooltutors]

Prepping for residency interview season? Here’s a friendly reminder. #TBT 

[medschooltutors]

Read this before hitting send. 

[thesinglesurgeon]

Interview Season Part 2: Managing Your Invites (I think my best advice yet)

yes, this post is outrageously overdue. But now I have time to actually think about life. Fourth year is definitely the best year of med school, but it’s still med school. I think it’s overly hyped up so M1-M3 have something to hope for, but that post is for another day!

So after meticulously planning interview season, I have some golden advice for managing interview requests that I wish someone had shared with me.

Make a brand new gmail account with some generic “lastnamemedschoolname”@gmail.com. Go to ERAS, enter this as your primary email. Now ALL of your interview communications will come to you ONLY through this email.

Get your smart phone and tablet and whatever else you will be carrying in your white coat pockets with you from September-January. Turn off ALL notifications. No text sounds, no ring tone, no other emails can come through with sound. Have your other non-ERAS email only update when you reload it. No more home screen notifications for anything besides texts. Make your ERAS-email the only one that comes through constantly and WITH SOUND. Download the gmail app which I found notified me faster than through my phone’s email app.

Go to Student Affairs and change your schedule so you are on a rotation where you have your phone with you at all times. For me, that meant nothing in the OR. I chose to go on the SICU during the month of October. I told everyone that I was waiting for ERAS emails and I could not be away from my phone so I would not be going into the OR this month. I then held my phone near and dear to my heart during rounds. The SECOND I heard the classic gmail sound I politely left the rounding circle and went straight for a computer (or just opened the email on my phone) and wrote back to the interview invite within two minutes.

In my white coat pocket, I had four index cards with the months Oct-Jan penciled in as calendars. I would whip those out before typing back a date for an interview to make sure I did not double book. I added dates as soon as I made them onto these little calendars and then added them to my gmail calendar when I got home.

I always would choose the soonest date available on an invite unless I had something else scheduled. This ended up being really nice: I packed 19 interviews in and was done by December 7. I could not imagine trying to interview into January.

I cannot emphasize enough: YOU NEED YOUR PHONE NEAR YOU. I was late 2 minutes to UWash and I missed all open spots. My close friend missed Colorado’s invite on a Sunday morning. You also NEED TO TELL PEOPLE ERAS IS YOUR PRIORITY. Anyone that went to medical school will completely understand the importance of this. 

AS SOON AS YOU GET AN EMAIL, ANSWER IT.

No matter how insane this sounds, it isn’t too hectic in practice. All of my emails came during business hours M-F and most seemed to have reasonable dates or at least sounded flexible. But you will miss an interview that you really want. Or, worse, you never get an invite from a place you want to see and it’s already mid-November. In both cases:

email the program director and coordinator and ask for an interview. I did this three times and each time was offered an interview within 1 day. 

Our school actually advised against this and I’m glad I didn’t listen. Email people if you really want to see their program. Something simple and quick, making it as specific as possible to the program. It has worked for me 100% of the time as well as my friends that reached out for help, rescheduling, or an invite.

If you start to get a lot of invites (lucky you!), politely cancel. I felt weirdly guilty for canceling but it’s not worth the guilt. After I started getting invites from academic programs, I canceled the early community invites I had received. Something as simple as: Thank you for reviewing my application and considering me for an interview. Unfortunately, I need to cancel my interview scheduled for ***. Thanks, your name. Remember, someone might be desperately wanting your spot, so give it someone who wants it, and give them plenty of time to fill your spot (2 weeks at least).

Get a rewards travel card. I got SO MANY BEAUTIFUL POINTS and used it for an epic vacation later in fourth year.

I really wish someone had told me how essential it is to be on top of your phone, and let everyone know about it so they aren’t offended when you drop everything to answer your gmail ding. One day, ERAS season might not be a crazy mess like it is now, but the hard truth is you have to play the game or you miss out on big opportunities. Be a slight phone nut for three months of your life. It was nice because without a zillion notifications popping up (just my ERAS gmail!) I used my phone less overall. I unfortunately do have a weird jumpy feeling still when I hear the gmail app sound...but eventually that should pass!

[medschooltutors]

So many questions about questions, so little time? We’ve got some answers. 

[medschooltutors]

Further proof that #TBT is the Best Day Ever, especially during #Residency #Interview season. #MedEd

[medschooltutors]

Thou shall not ignore this post. #TBT 

[medschooltutors]

*11. Thou shall heed this excellent advice – especially the part about the email address.