Prepping for interviews

[Guest]

Any advice for prepping on upcoming interviews? What I've heard is read read a bit about the program, know the structure, read your own papers and maybe the papers of faculty. Any other advice? Thanks in advance everyone

[Guest]

(10-21-2019, 03:48 PM)Guest Wrote: Any advice for prepping on upcoming interviews? What I've heard is read read a bit about the program, know the structure, read your own papers and maybe the papers of faculty. Any other advice? Thanks in advance everyone

Reading the papers of faculty is a bit much, but you should know which ones have major research interests and what they are, helps facilitate discussion. Just make sure you think of a ton of questions to ask. Specific to the program, to the interviewer, and just general questions. It's the best way to show interest.

Go over your answers to general questions you know you're going to get ("why neurosurgery?", "Are you interested in any subspecialty?", "Why [program you're interviewing at]?"). Try not to have something rehearsed and robotic, but have talking points. I also remember there's a couple prominent faculty members at certain programs that always ask "Tell me why we should take you, what makes you special", and "Tell me something about yourself that's not on your ERAS application" (which is stupid because ERAS basically makes you sum up your entire life).

Otherwise I'd say just relax. Interviews don't make that much of a difference. 90% of programs are just making sure you're not a psycho.