CaRMS 2020 Interviews -- DISCUSSIONS

[Ihatecarmsfuck]

Does anybody know the interview date for urology in Quebec? 

[BistroMongre]

How about that Newfoundland weather eh?

[carmsing2020]

3 hours ago, BistroMongre said:

How about that Newfoundland weather eh?

I have an interview on Monday at MUN and was supposed to fly out Sunday morning however i'm concerned about the weather - am not expecting an answer from PGME as it is  the weekend. Anyone else in a similar situation? (also don't want to risk being stranded in St. John's and miss subsequent interview given how powerful this blizzard is)

[Britster]

26 minutes ago, carmsing2020 said:

I have an interview on Monday at MUN and was supposed to fly out Sunday morning however i'm concerned about the weather - am not expecting an answer from PGME as it is  the weekend. Anyone else in a similar situation? (also don't want to risk being stranded in St. John's and miss subsequent interview given how powerful this blizzard is)

I also have one there on Monday. Flight is supposed to be tomorrow evening (I thought I was being smart flying out there early). Going to just be hoping for the best at this point ...

[garlic]

4 hours ago, carmsing2020 said:

I have an interview on Monday at MUN and was supposed to fly out Sunday morning however i'm concerned about the weather - am not expecting an answer from PGME as it is  the weekend. Anyone else in a similar situation? (also don't want to risk being stranded in St. John's and miss subsequent interview given how powerful this blizzard is)

I emailed my program's admin for MUN and they said everything should be fine by saturday, so no alternative interview formats will be offered. YMMV though

[nick]

My flight to St John's for my Monday interview was cancelled, and all subsequent flights for both airlines were either cancelled or fully booked. I e-mailed them to ask for a Skype interview and haven't heard anything yet!

[2020roger]

.

[nick]

11 minutes ago, 2020roger said:

What will happen if the state of emergency is not lifted early enough for us to make it to MUN for the interview on Monday, will it just mean we are out? Im kinda surprised the PD has not provided any update on this very likely scenario yet

I tried e-mailing them and calling them; no luck so far. The CBC says that the state of emergency will last through Sunday, and possibly Monday. From the CBC:

Quote

"Bunker down. We aren't going anywhere anytime soon," said St. John's Deputy Mayor Sheilagh O'Leary. "Do not set your expectations that things are going to shift quickly here."

I guess they can write off a large number of OOP applicants (if they can afford to do that), or they can accept Skype interviews, or they can rank applicants without interviewing them. Or some combination of the above.

[BistroMongre]

For my specialty, they have had unfilled spots in years prior, so I do not think they want to rely solely on local applicants. My flight on Monday was cancelled. Let's hope things clear up so that we can make it out in a timely fashion.

[usmdthrowaway]

Is it customary to send thank-you emails to the PD and program coordinators after interviews? It’s for IM.

[RUSMIMG]

Can anyone please provide some insight to the case scenario portion of Internal Medicine Interview at Western University.

- Is it a clinical case or behavioural and how much time do we get for it.

Thank you very much for your help.

[glisson53]

Has anyone heard from UofT Gen Surg about interview times? 

[bearded frog]

so what happened to y'all's MUN interviews

[Lactic Folly]

And all the MUN medical students who can't fly out

[ArchEnemy]

On 1/19/2020 at 2:34 PM, usmdthrowaway said:

Is it customary to send thank-you emails to the PD and program coordinators after interviews? It’s for IM.

Personally I wouldn't bother. It's usually very objective (in terms of specific scoring) in larger programs like IM or FM. 

[BistroMongre]

16 hours ago, bearded frog said:

so what happened to y'all's MUN interviews

Skype interview happened.

[rmorelan]

1 hour ago, BistroMongre said:

Skype interview happened.

gah I hate skype interviews ha - I hope it went well. 

[garlic]

As the tour progresses, I'm hearing the same few names being brought up by other applicants at the socials/in interview waiting rooms. These students have apparently gotten interviews at almost every program for our specialty. Does this make them the "superstar" applicants that have been described on these forums?

And follow up question: I was talking to one of these superstars, and he said he wasn't happy with his interview performances so far (described them as probably average or maybe slightly below average). To committees, would an average interview significantly drop a superstar's (presumably) high pre-interview rank? Or would they likely still be ranked highly, and it'd take a BAD interview to really change things?

(Note, I'm not trying to be malicious or anything. I'm just wondering random stuff while sitting here in my hotel room hahah)

[ArchEnemy]

1 hour ago, garlic said:

As the tour progresses, I'm hearing the same few names being brought up by other applicants at the socials/in interview waiting rooms. These students have apparently gotten interviews at almost every program for our specialty. Does this make them the "superstar" applicants that have been described on these forums?

And follow up question: I was talking to one of these superstars, and he said he wasn't happy with his interview performances so far (described them as probably average or maybe slightly below average). To committees, would an average interview significantly drop a superstar's (presumably) high pre-interview rank? Or would they likely still be ranked highly, and it'd take a BAD interview to really change things?

(Note, I'm not trying to be malicious or anything. I'm just wondering random stuff while sitting here in my hotel room hahah)

My two cents

Depending on how competitive / small the program is, sometimes an average interview is no different from a bad interview since these individuals are lower on the rank list. From my limited understanding, the smaller, ultra-competitive specialties (think Derm and Plastics) don't go down too far on their rank order. Most who matched were within the top 8 ranked. 

[Raptors905]

9 hours ago, garlic said:

As the tour progresses, I'm hearing the same few names being brought up by other applicants at the socials/in interview waiting rooms. These students have apparently gotten interviews at almost every program for our specialty. Does this make them the "superstar" applicants that have been described on these forums?

And follow up question: I was talking to one of these superstars, and he said he wasn't happy with his interview performances so far (described them as probably average or maybe slightly below average). To committees, would an average interview significantly drop a superstar's (presumably) high pre-interview rank? Or would they likely still be ranked highly, and it'd take a BAD interview to really change things?

(Note, I'm not trying to be malicious or anything. I'm just wondering random stuff while sitting here in my hotel room hahah)

Depends on size of program and which speciality. 
 

yes these are stars. But often the interview for someone they really want doesn’t determine anything other than a flag to disallow someone 

[Lactic Folly]

14 hours ago, garlic said:

As the tour progresses, I'm hearing the same few names being brought up by other applicants at the socials/in interview waiting rooms. These students have apparently gotten interviews at almost every program for our specialty. Does this make them the "superstar" applicants that have been described on these forums?

And follow up question: I was talking to one of these superstars, and he said he wasn't happy with his interview performances so far (described them as probably average or maybe slightly below average). To committees, would an average interview significantly drop a superstar's (presumably) high pre-interview rank? Or would they likely still be ranked highly, and it'd take a BAD interview to really change things?

(Note, I'm not trying to be malicious or anything. I'm just wondering random stuff while sitting here in my hotel room hahah)

Yes, if it's a competitive specialty and those students are landing interviews everywhere (unlike most other applicants), then they are at the top of the pile and very competitive at least on paper.

With regards to interviews, 1) it's difficult for candidates to reliably judge their own performance (and much of the committee's impression will be coloured by their prior knowledge of the candidate and their file anyway), and 2) these top applicants presumably have glowing reference letters, implying good social awareness and skills. They are unlikely to want to come across as arrogant by telling people that they thought they interviewed well *before* match results come out. They may also be genuinely humble and self-effacing people who work hard and are well-liked by others as a result.

[MarsRover]

I have learned to never trust a medical student on their perception of how hard a test was, how well they interviewed, how good their electives went, how much they studied, how their rotations went, etc. etc. 

I have heard way too many times "I bombed X" "I did so bad at X"

I'd just try not to worry or ask about how others are interviewing, just focus on yourself.  

[vascular]

Wondering if anyone here  is heading to Halifax this weekend for interviews? DM me!

[pyridoxal-phosphate]

On 1/29/2020 at 4:21 AM, MarsRover said:

I have learned to never trust a medical student on their perception of how hard a test was, how well they interviewed, how good their electives went, how much they studied, how their rotations went, etc. etc. 

I have heard way too many times "I bombed X" "I did so bad at X"

I'd just try not to worry or ask about how others are interviewing, just focus on yourself.  

xx

[rmorelan]

good luck everyone! 48 hours to go.