Most applicants for residency positions worry about interviews. How should I dress? Will the program director and residency staff like me? If I get the position, will I feel accepted by the other residents? Such questions are natural as each side — the residency program and the applicant — attempts to learn as much as possible in a short span of time.

There have been a number of studies to uncover the key factors programs use to decide which applicants it will rank highly. Here is a synopsis of the results of these studies. The factors residency programs valued most in a prospective resident were as follows:

The compatibility of the applicant (how much they liked you).
The applicant’s ability to grow in knowledge (your learning skills).
The applicant’s maturity (how calm, realistic and confident you appeared).
The applicant’s commitment to hard work (did you seem eager and energetic).
The applicant’s fund of knowledge (your board scores, school rank, articulateness).

Please note that different studies ranked these factors differently, so the order in which they are listed does not imply that factor one is more important than factor five.

Get more information on Interviews here!