'Tell me about yourself'. Often called an 'icebreaker' or 'elevator pitch', this is an open-ended question you are almost guaranteed to be asked. Lets face it, a residency program director has a lot of applicants to interview (on average, a residency program with 7 spots interviews 95 applicants - click to see my previous blog post). There is no way he or she can remember each and every application. This is of even greater concern for 'guest' faculty attendings who serve to interview intermittently throughout the interview season.
'Tell me about yourself' is an opportunity for you as the applicant to put your best foot forward i.e. say everything you had prepared to say and that you wanted to make sure the interviewer has heard. Did you have an exciting research project or a case report that you are working on? Did you have a very moving experience like working in a disaster area or how you discovered your passion for teaching? Here's your chance to shine.
What exactly should you say? Here is a framework:
What exactly should you say? Here is a framework:
Here is an example from a practice interview that I conducted online at ed4medus.com (schedule your practice interview here)
"I am an international medical graduate from India. After I graduated from med school in 2018, I looked closely at my future career options. Fortunately, my brother who lives in California encouraged me to explore medical residency in US. I talked with graduates from my medical school who are in US and I then decided that the high quality of training, education and research opportunities in US residency would be best for my career. I took Step 1 and Step 2CK and then landed in Atlanta for US clinical experience. I am currently a research assistant at Emory University in the Endocrinology division. My role is to survey patients with diabetes on their knowledge of hemoglobin A1c. I ask patients if they know what their A1c is and what should be the target A1c. We hope to correlate this data with their actual A1c. I also observe the attendings in their diabetes clinic. Now the reason why I got very interested in internal medicine is that I love pathophysiology. I find it very interesting that I can apply my knowledge of pathophysiology to understand a patient's problem and come up with a treatment plan. I particularly enjoy talking to patients and explaining complex diagnoses in simple terms while being honest and reassuring to them. I am very interested in training in a community hospital program that is just not too big or small and where I can have opportunities for research and fellowship. In fact, I was recommended to apply here by J_ J___ who graduated from
this program 4 years ago and spoke very highly about the training he
received. I haven't decided which fellowship yet but I find myself drawn to nephrology. I believe that my passion to work hard and train hard in a warm and supportive program will greatly help me grow as a physician." - A.K.
Red flags: Don't make it sound like you gave the exact same speech at another program. You need to personalize your 'elevator speech' to every program. Maybe you have a friend where the program is located. Maybe you know a former grad in that program. Maybe you are interested in the location for your spouse. Maybe you are interested because of school system for your children. Try to give the interviewer as many reasons as possible as to why you would be the perfect fit for their residency program.
So that's it - what is your favorite response to 'tell me about yourself'. Share your wisdom in the comment box below and I will offer my feedback to your response.
Before you go: Here's your golden opportunity to have your voice heard! Write down your ONE question regarding your US residency program application, personal statement, interviews or anything that has been bothering you and keeping you up at night. You can reply at the end of this blog or post a message at my Facebook page.
The top 10 popular questions will be featured on my next blog posts at https://ed4medllc.blogspot.com/ and the winners will receive a coupon each for a FREE practice interview at Ed4medus.com ! Put those thinking caps on and hurry up!
Photo credit for images in this
blog
post: https://www.successco.com/images/2008/06/25/meeting_success.jpg;
https://www.sacmeetings.org/files/images/students/elevator-pitch.jpg
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