Physician residency interviews—a program director's do's and don'ts

Physician residency interviews offer applicants the chance to stand out. How do you make sure that you do so, and for the right reasons? 

Leigh Eck, MD, has interviewed hundreds of physician residency applicants in her time as the director of the internal medicine residency program at the University of Kansas Medical Center. So, it is safe to say, she has a good understanding of interviewee tendencies. Which ones align with what programs are looking for? Dr. Eck offered a list of do’s and don’ts that will help applicants make the right impression during residency interviews.

The AMA helps medical students master the residency-application process so you can make the right decisions about your career, prepare for a knockout interview, explore residency opportunities—all so you can successfully match.

Lack of preparation is noticeable. One key tell is an interviewees comfort level, Dr. Eck said.

Adequate preparation involves going over your own narrative and having practiced responses to questions like why a program or specialty appeals to you. It also can involve doing research on faculty members you will speak with to understand their experiences. 

Before interview day, review “the notes that you have in terms of preparation for questions, reviewing the program, their goals, their aims, their vision, their mission,” said Dr. Eck, during an episode of the “Meet Your Match” series of the “AMA Making the Rounds” podcast. “If you happen to know whom you're interviewing with, reading up on that faculty, I think all those steps as you approach the interview day will allow that to be a more comfortable session for you.”

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• Meet Your Match: How to nail the virtual interview
• Meet Your Match: What to do after your residency interview
• Which factors do applicants weigh most when picking residency programs?
• Ask these questions before finalizing your Match rank-order list
• Residency interviews: Don’t forget to ask these 7 key questions 

Every interviewer is likely to ask about your strengths. When articulating one’s strengths, it is much more effective to draw on anecdotes than to simply assert that you are a great communicator. As the adage goes: Show, don’t tell. 

“When you're articulating your strengths, describe your strengths with a story that defines how you applied that strength to the care of a patient,” said Dr. Eck, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. “That's a really nice way to not come across as boastful, but instead describe your strengths serving your patients.”

The University of Kansas School of Medicine is a member of the AMA GME Competency Education Program, which delivers education to help institutions more easily meet Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) common program requirements. Current program subscribers have access to award-winning online education designed for residents on the go. It’s easy to use and saves time with simple tracking and reporting tools for administrators. Learn more.

Dr. Eck advised students to develop five or six questions to ask in residency program interviews and gather consistent data for Match rank-order list decisions. A well-thought-out question, she added, can show the kind of curiosity that residency programs value in trainees. 

“It's OK to ask the same question to multiple people and gain multiple perspectives,” Dr. Eck said. “Questions that I hear students ask that I think are value-added are when they're asking about potential for changes in the program—when they're asking about potential for leadership transitions in the department.”

“Confidence paired with humility is key,” Dr. Eck said. And, she added, it’s vital that residency applicants approach each interaction, both in an interview setting and outside of it, with courtesy and respect.

“It’s very important that our students approach every conversation with kindness, empathy and professionalism, because ... your interactions with the team at the program will be shared forward,” Dr. Eck said. 

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These questions, which involve the interviewer presenting a clinical or situational case for the applicant to analyze and respond to, are impossible to prepare for. Dr. Eck highlights that it’s not necessarily about getting those questions right, it’s about showing how you think. 

“In case-based scenarios, there's no one right answer,” Dr. Eck said. “It's more of an opportunity to hear the student reflect, to reinterpret, to define decision-making, and then come to a conclusion when put on the spot.”

“What I would encourage students to do is, if they're challenged by a case-based scenario at one interview, to write down the question and sort of rethink it when they have the time and the space to do it after the interview,” she added. That way, “the next time they're approached with a case-based scenario that may or may not be similar, they have a framework that they've developed that they can reapply to the next situation.”

Dive deeper:

• Meet Your Match: What to do after your residency interview
• Which factors do applicants weigh most when picking residency programs?
• Ask these questions before finalizing your Match rank-order list
• Residency interviews: Don’t forget to ask these 7 key questions 

Every applicant has areas on which they can improve. If you frame your weaknesses as areas for growth—rather than apologizing for them—you are showing a willingness to improve. 

“We all have opportunities to grow,” Dr. Eck said. “And when we look around at our peers, we see strengths in others, which we could consider as opportunities in ourselves. So if we don't frame our weaknesses as a negative connotation, but instead as an opportunity to grow and expand, I think that that will translate very effectively in an interview, and we'll de-emphasize a quality about ourselves that we think is less than our peer cohort.”