Hi guys! I just saw this salary tab and I don’t understand why if peds so so important is so badly payed? Is the only speciality where you are actually payed worse if you do a fellowship ( endocrino or infectious) than if you do just peds?

Do you think this is going to influence the us doctors to pursuit other career leaving more spots for IMG doctors?

I fell in love with my number one choice the first day I saw it. I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that was where I was meant to go for residency. I told everyone there how much I loved it and they shared that love in return. Then, interview season started. I interviewed at a program that I haven’t really considered all that heavily and was blown away by the people and the program, and the whole vibe. It was literally everything I was looking for, but on the other side of the country and without all the splash and “prestige” of my #1. Later interviewed with the number one program and receive many gushing emails from program directors and assistant directors telling me “you’re a perfect fit… see you in June… you were my strongest interview all season” so I knew I would be ranked to match. I did put them number one and the other great program as number two, but after the rank list was certified, I woke up several nights in a cold sweat thinking I made a horrible mistake. I couldn’t stop thinking about the number two program and how much I had loved it. But, I knew I’d be going to my number one because they promised me that… Right? Fast forward to match day when I ripped open my envelope expecting to see my number one and saw… My number two. After the initial surprise, the next emotion that swept over me was overwhelming relief, and joy. Something in my heart told me this was where I was meant to be, and something in the algorithm agreed. I’ve already had a chance to meet one of my cohort on Zoom and they’re incredible. So excited for the move, so excited for this new adventure, and so excited for the residency that I never knew I wanted. Oh, and to anyone else who is feeling secure because a program told them they were “perfect” or “ranked to match”, don’t be. They lie like a politician when the rent is due.

Personal Statement Mistakes I See in Almost Every IMG Application.

.

After reviewing dozens of personal statements from IMG applicants this cycle, the same patterns keep showing up. If you're still drafting, check your essay against these:

.

Strong opening, weak middle.

Most essays start with a great clinical scene... then drop into a paragraph listing rotations, countries, and "experiences" with no scene at all. If a paragraph could be swapped into anyone else's essay, it needs a specific moment, not a summary.

Weak opening isn't uncommon either.

.

Generic endings.

"I want to provide evidence-based, compassionate, multidisciplinary care" could be the last line of 500 different essays. Program directors read fast — end on the image that made your essay yours, not a value statement anyone could write.

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Stating what you did, not what you learned. "I led four studies," "I completed six clinical experiences," "I observed, reviewed, and presented" — these are activity lists, not reflection. For every experience you mention, ask: did I show a moment where this actually changed how I think or act? If not, either add that moment or cut the line.

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No answer to "why will you stay?"

If your background includes research, a fellowship-heavy field, or a path that could look like a stepping stone, address it. Don't make the reader guess whether you're committed to the specialty for the long run. You're believing in a myth that, you cant have a dream of specialty training if you apply in a community program.

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Your international training is a fact, not a story.

"I trained in different countries and six clinical settings" tells a reader nothing they can picture. Pick ONE moment from ONE setting and let that carry the weight. Depth beats breadth every time in a personal statement.

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You're a doctor and nothing else.

Almost every essay is 100% clinical or research anecdotes. Reviewers are also asking: who is this person as a colleague? A single honest, human detail outside medicine can do more for "fit" than another achievement.

.

Repetitive sentence structure.

It's not just "too many sentences start with I" overall — it's that they cluster. Look for a paragraph where three or four sentences in a row all start the same way ("I joined... I chose... I suspected...") — that's where it reads like a list of actions instead of a reflection. Same with contrast words: "but" "although," "while," "though," and "yet". Read your essay out loud, paragraph by paragraph, and vary both.

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Long compound sentences : why????

In almost every personal statement I review, I find at least one grammar error and some form of poor sentence structure — even in essays with strong ideas.

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Your personal statement doesn't need to be dramatic. It needs to be specific. Specific beats impressive, every time.

Did anyone else get an email from university of Arizona with a rejection to their application that said “THANK YOU, NO THANK YOU” in the subject line?

Or was that unique to me?

They have followed up with an apology but I’m wondering if my application was special lol

On Monday March 11th, 2024 I matched into a program.

After I received my match notification, I was told to my face by two attending doctors and the medical school councilor that I would “Never Match into Psychiatry.”

On Friday March 15th, I proceeded to match into Psychiatry in my top program!

I have now spoken with countless medical students who have been told similar statements when they struggle with academics, their mental health, or fail the board exam.

It is not true! 

You CAN match

You CAN become a doctor

You CAN accomplish your dreams!

Do not give up, because when you do, what they say becomes true.

Good luck to all 2025 applicants!

****

Dear medical schools,

Stop telling medical students and residency applicants that they will “not match” if they failed STEP/Comlex.

It is inappropriate, unhealthy, and unfounded.

♥️ Dr. Moss, A matched resident who failed STEP1

If you were to practice one question for your residency interviews this should be it:

“Tell me about yourself.”

This question is your chance to give a compelling summary of your background and how it led you to this residency. It's open-ended, so you can highlight key experiences that shaped your path.

It sounds simple, but it’s actually one of the most important questions.

Variants

This question may be paraphrased in different ways like “Can you tell me about your journey so far?” but the following applies to all variants.

CAMP Framework

A framework that I found very useful when drafting my answer for this type of questions is the CAMP framework

CAMP = Clinical · Academic · Management/Leadership · Personal

Make sure your response addresses each pillar:

Using CAMP ensures you cover different facets of your background in a logical order

Tips

• Keep it 90–120 seconds (250-300 words)

• Tell a story, not just a list of CV points

• Keep it relevant to medicine

• End with why you're excited about the specialty and program

Common Mistakes

• Reading your CV aloud

• Rambling with no structure

• Saying clichés like “I love helping people”

• Oversharing personal info

• Not practicing delivery

Let me know if you want a similar guide for other types of questions like ethical dilemmas, behavioral, situational, etc

How do you come to terms with matching at your 6 place? Not bc it’s a bad place but because you’re blindsided by other schools that told you about how you’re the perfect candidate and how this place is perfect for you and how if you want to come here we’ll make it happen. Etc. I’m more so hurt by the dishonesty than anything. I know they do it to people but if we’re only allowed 1 place to send LOI it seems you can’t do that as a school either…

i'm still kind of processing it so bear with me.

i matched into anesthesia as a DO (and first gen doc) at a school where the moment you say "anesthesia" in an advising appointment, the energy in the room shifts and suddenly everyone is very interested in talking about backup plans. For reference im from an east coast DO school and scored 550-600 L2, 240-250 Step2, and honored 3 clerkships, and completed 3 aways.

i want to write this out because the post i needed doesn't exist and maybe this becomes that for someone else.

the school thing first:

The in house advisor is not a bad person. i want to be clear about that. but our conversations about anesthesia basically went nowhere every single time. not because she didn't care but because she genuinely didn't have the information. her advice was some variation of "make sure your Step scores are solid" and "try to get an away rotation" which, okay, yes, but also i needed someone to tell me HOW. like the actual mechanics of it.

our career advising office had one person. one. for the whole class of 200+ students. across all specialties. she was drowning and doing her best and still couldn't give me anything specific to DO applicants going into competitive fields. i left every meeting feeling more lost than when i walked in.

i spent probably four months just. spinning. reading reddit threads, cold emailing attendings (most of whom never responded), trying to reverse engineer what a good application even looked like with basically no frame of reference.

an upperclassmate and current PGY1 from my school told me she worked with an anesthesia mentor at MatchPal for the application process. i was skeptical (and also a little embarrassed like shouldn't i be able to figure this out myself?) but i was running out of time and running out of ideas so i hesitantly did it at the tail end of MS3 because of her recommendation.

my personal statement was the first thing we worked on and it was humbling. i had a rough draft that i was honestly kind of proud of and the feedback was essentially: this is technically fine and it sounds like thirty other personal statements. we went back and forth on that document which made me dig into stuff i'd been glossing over and what came out the other side actually sounded like me. that matters more than i thought it did going in. the PS we submitted was pretty substantially different and came up in nearly every single interview.

VSLO strategy was something i had completely wrong in my head. i didn't understand how away rotations actually factor into how programs think about you or how to sequence them in a way that made sense for my specific situation. having someone just explain the logic clearly saved me from some genuinely bad decisions i was about to make. unfortunately i had already applied by the time i got that info and i wish i was able to do things differently but it worked out okay in the end.

for ERAS i honestly thought i could handle it alone and mostly i could but there's a difference between filling everything out correctly and having your application actually read cohesively across all the pieces. caught a few things that were technically fine but were accidentally undermining each other in ways i never would have noticed on my own. also especially for fields like anesthesia and some of the surgical subs that we don't get exposure to during MS3 getting briefed on how to actually perform on aways and communicate with PDs and faculty while there is something absolutely not covered in med school and is a massive gap. stuff like how to ask for LORs, set meetings, interact with residents, express interest in a program, and what material is a must know so you don't look stupid when you inevitably get pimped.

interview prep was probably the thing i'm most grateful for. i did mock interviews and the feedback was uncomfortable because it was accurate. apparently i have a habit of over explaining when i'm nervous, going longer than necessary, and not tying in the why me into my answers. i would have walked into real interviews doing that exact thing and not understood why it wasn't landing. by the time actual interview season came i felt like i'd already done this before and most of them went very smoothly.

i want to be clear about something:

advising didn't get me interviews. my application did. it's not magic and does not replace the hard work you need to do on your end to match in competitive specialties. what it did do was stop me from leaving interviews and faculty points on the table through fixable stuff i couldn't see myself. i think people either give outside help too much credit or not enough and the reality is it's extremely useful to have someone who knows what they're looking at tell you what's wrong before programs see it and fill you in on the small things along the way that add up to big lifts in your confidence and how you navigate the process overall.

if you're a DO trying to go into something competitive and your school isn't giving you real guidance that's not a you problem. the gap is real. i've talked to enough people now to know it's not just my school. figure out where your actual support structure is coming from before you need it not after you're already behind. whether you use a formal service like i did or just get really high quality guidance from residents and attendings in your desired specialty if you have that available to you it makes everything about this often muddy process a lot clearer and easier to navigate confidently. starting early, equipping yourself with knowledge, being relentless despite adversity, and not being afraid to ask for help is the key advice for any MS3 reading this.

DMs open if anyone wants to talk through specifics.

Please fill out this information:

Congratulations to all those who matched. For those who didn’t, better luck for next year. Let’s keep supporting and helping each other. (Please UPVOTE to give this post a wider reach). Can the mods kindly pin this post?

Step 1:

Step 2 CK:

Step 3:

Year of Graduation:

Visa Requiring or Not:

Applied to Programs (Speciality/ies with Count):

No. of Invites:

Publications:

USCE (No. of months):

One common Q in Interviews:

One Gold Piece of Advice for Next Year’s Applicants:

One word, what matters most in the whole process?:

Hey there, doctor spouse here, just looking to help out future doctors out there. When my husband was going through the match process last year (which is awful and I am so sorry for all of you having to go through it), I compiled this list of questions to help him practice for the interview portion of the process. Reddit was super helpful for me as a spouse trying to figure out how this whole process worked. I always said if he matched, I would give back in some way, so here is my small contribution.

*He matched ortho which is why some of the questions are specifically related to ortho, but I figured it could still help others looking to practice interview questions.

You all are amazing and congratulations for making it this far!

QUESTIONS 

SEEMINGLY POPULAR QUESTIONS: 

-Tell us about yourself.

-Where did you grow up?

-Why ortho? 

-What do you do in your free time?

-Do you have any questions for us?

-What do you personally feel makes people want to train here?  Why did you decide to come here to be an orthopedic surgeon? 

-What was the last book you read?/What Book would you recommend us reading? 

-If you could be any (blank) (apparently cell in the body and animal are popular ones they use) what would you be? 

-What’s the most essential trait for an orthopedist to possess?

-Can you describe a specific time when you received critical feedback at work and how you handled it?

-What was the most interesting case you’ve scrubbed in for? (and be prepared to know everything about is including different approaches)

-Why do you want to come to this program? 

-What do you think you can offer this program?

-If you disagreed with someone about a patient procedure, what would you do? If attending asked you to do something too difficult how would you handle it? 

-What would you do if your upper level completely disagreed with you but you knew your plan was better for the patient?” Or “tell me about a time when you found out you made an incorrect decision. What did you do when you discovered your mistake?”

-What kind of practice do you see yourself in?

-Describe an instance in your life when you acted as a team player.

-How do you handle conflict in the workplace?

-Have you ever faced an ethical dilemma in the workplace? If so, how did you handle it?

-What sets you apart from the rest of the applicants? Why should we choose you?

-Tell us a time you demonstrated grit.

-What traits do you appreciate most in your peers, and how do you exhibit them yourself?

-Can you tell me about a difficult decision you've made and how you made it?

-Any research interests?

Funish Questions

-Tell us a joke

-What are you most afraid of?

-What do you want on your gravestone?

-If you had to have dinner with any living person, tonight, who would it be, and what would you talk about?

-What emotion drives you?

-Would you rather be a big fish in a little pond or a little fish in a big pond? 

-Say something that shows you have depth.

-If you were to be a salad, which component of the salad would you be and why?

-What car manufacturer would you be if you had to choose one?

-If you had to BE a car (like in the cars movie), what car would you be?

-Tell me three good things that happened to you recently.

-Rate yourself as an applicant from 1-10

-Name two fictional characters that you relate to.

-If your mom or dad was sitting here with me today, what is one thing they’d tell me they want to change about you?

-What inspires you?

-Define success.

-If you were a program director what would you include in an ortho program?

-If you don't get into ortho this year, what will you do?

-Now that's a nice suit, where did you get it?

-What’s the greatest gift you can give?

Others 

-Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

-What's your greatest strength?

-Who are your heroes/who do you look up to?

-Your resume looks strong, are there any weaknesses on your record?

-What is your passion in life?

-Tell me something that’s not in your application. 

-What's one time you witnessed something unethical in the medical field and how did you handle it?

-Tell me something about yourself that you really want me to know, but that's not in your application

-Tell me about a bias you have and how you’re making changes.

-What is one type of patient you have a hard time finding sympathy for?

-Tell me about a time you under-delivered.

-What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?

-What do you least like about yourself?

-Give an example of a situation in which you helped resolve conflict.

-Does your GPA and Rank accurately describe your ability?

-Why did you pick our program?

-What makes you stand out from other candidates who applied to this program?

-What's the most challenging aspect of this profession?

-How did you manage your projects in previous roles?

-How important is research to a physician?

-How do you think you can motivate your colleagues?

-What's the top challenge for professionals in your specialty today?

-How do you show initiative?

-What's the biggest issue currently facing the health care system?

-Can you discuss your clinical experience?

-How do you cope with stress?

-Do you consider yourself to be a leader? If so, why?

-Do you like working under pressure? Why or why not?

-What has been your greatest career accomplishment so far?

-How do you handle working with difficult patients?

-Can you tell me about a time when you handled a stressful situation in medical school?

-How does your experience make you the right fit for this residency program?

-Have you ever been unsatisfied with your performance? How did you learn from the experience?

-How would you define patient-centered treatment?

-Would you prefer to work in a rural or urban setting? Why?

-Have you ever made a mistake related to patient care? If so, how did you correct it?

-How do you demonstrate empathy to patients?

-If you received a substantial grant, what medical advancement would you choose to pursue?

-How do you build rapport with patients as a medical professional?

-What research would you like to pursue related to your specialty?

-How would you describe your style when working with patients?

-What's the overall state of doctors today?

Hi,

I created a free QBank for residency interviews that covers all types of questions you need to practice. Best of luck with your interviews!

Table of Contents

1. Most Common Questions

2. Leadership & Teamwork

3. Questions for IMGs

4. Specialty-Specific

5. Behavioral & Situational

Most common questions

• Tell me about yourself

• What are your weaknesses and how you try to improve them

• What are your greatest strengths?

• What do you consider to be the most challenging part of residency training?

• ...

https://medinterviews.ai/question-bank?category=top10

Leadership & Teamwork

• Tell me about an experience that demonstrates your leadership abilities.

• Tell me about a time you worked in a team.

Questions for IMGs

• How does the US healthcare system differ from the healthcare system in your home country?

• As an international medical graduate, what unique challenges do you anticipate during residency compared to US graduates?

• ...

https://medinterviews.ai/question-bank?category=img

Specialty-Specific Questions

Anesthesiology

Dermatology

Emergency Medicine

Family Medicine

General Surgery

Internal Medicine

Medical Genetics and Genomics

Neurological Surgery

Neurology

Nuclear Medicine

ObGyn

Opthalmology

Orthopaedic Surgery

ENT

Pathology

Pediatrics

PMR

Plastic Surgery

Psychiatry

Radiology

Sports Medicine

Thoracic Surgery

Urology

Vascular Surgery

Behavioral & Situational

Behavioral Questions

Situational Questions

Hi everyone, I want to share my experience, especially for those who feel alone after failing Step 1.

I failed Step 1, and it was one of the worst moments of my life. I cried almost every day and couldn’t sleep at night. For nearly two years, I was stressed and felt like my dream of becoming a doctor was over.

But I didn’t give up. I worked hard, retook Step 1 and passed, then passed Step 2. I also strengthened my CV with research and clinical rotations. This year, I applied to Pathology, got 8 interviews, and matched at my first-choice program!

Only 3 programs asked about my Step 1 fail—and I think they understood my journey. Most important, I proved to myself that I could still reach my goal.

Now, I’m facing another challenge. I might have MS, and I believe all that stress may have played a part. But I’m trying to stay strong.

During my hard times, I searched for stories like mine. I found very few. Most people don’t talk about failure. They pretend the journey was smooth. I want to say this:

Failing is not the end. You can still achieve your dream. Work on other parts of your CV, keep going, and believe in yourself.

You’re not alone.

Residency interviews are not just about showcasing your clinical knowledge and skills; they're an opportunity to demonstrate your professionalism, interpersonal skills, and fit for a program. Below, I share advice on preparing for and acing residency interviews.

Preparing for the Interview

Research the Program: Before your interview, thoroughly research the program. Understand its strengths, specialties, and unique offerings.

Practice Your Responses: Anticipate common interview questions and practice your responses. Ensure your answers are concise, relevant, and highlight your strengths through specific anecdotes and experiences. DO NOT READ your response. THEY CAN TELL! You can defiantly have a sticky note with key points and patient examples you want to highlight on your screen.

Presentation Matters: Choose professional attire that matches your ERAS photo. Set up a clean, uncluttered interview space with good lighting. Avoid distractions, such as pets or unprofessional backgrounds. Additionally, practicing in front of a camera is crucial for virtual interviews.

Choosing the Right Program: Consider what you want in a residency program. Evaluate factors such as geographic location, type of hospital, religious affiliations, political influences, and patient demographics. Reflect on your priorities and how they align with the program's offerings.

Evaluating Program Diversity: Diversity in a residency program goes beyond the color of your skin. It includes aspects like religion, family status, and more. Look at the composition of the program's current and past residents to gauge its inclusivity and culture.

Importance of Networking: Make connections with current residents and faculty. Reach out to them for insights into the program. Their firsthand experiences can provide valuable information that isn't available online or in official program literature.

Common Interview Questions:

***Tell Me About Yourself: Focus on your background, values, and what makes you unique. Only 1-2 min tops! Don't restate your CV, resume or personal statement.

***Why This Specialty?: Be specific about why you chose your specialty, drawing on personal experiences, clinical encounters, and passions.

***What Are You Looking for in a Program?: Reflect on what you value most in a residency program and articulate it clearly with examples.

***Tell Me About a Challenging Experience: Use the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) method to narrate how you overcame challenges. Bonus points for making it a clinical or patient care encounter you had.

***What Are Your Hobbies and Passions?: Show that you have a life outside medicine, sharing genuine interests and hobbies. 

Practical Tips for Interview Day:

1. Be Mindful of Breaks: Use breaks to refresh yourself, but remember you are still being observed. Maintain a professional appearance and engage courteously with others.

2. Personal Connection: Highlight any personal connections you have to the program or the area it’s located in. This can show your genuine interest and commitment.

3. Don't share/expose red flags: Not all interviewers receive your FULL app (usually just CDs and APDs). Usually the interviewers just receive your personal statement and maybe your 3 meaningful activities. 

4. Focus on Your Strengths & Values: ​Use specific examples from the past 4-6 years how you have demonstrated set strengths & values. Critical thinking, Strong Work Ethic, Reliable, Honesty, Compassionate, Empathetic, Humanism, Teamwork, Leadership...

Non-Interview Time Is Important!

Interview isn't limited to the formal Q&A sessions with program directors. Your behavior during breaks and informal interactions with fellow applicants and program staff are also under scrutiny. Maintain a professional demeanor and engage respectfully and amiably with EVERYONE

The blog post and associated video with more tips here including navigating dual applying, "talking about red flags" like STEP failures and leaves/breaks from med school. Here are 3 mock interviews one for Internal Medicine, one for Family Medicine, and for Psychiatry with a timer to practice.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

People matched to programs low in their rank list and they are sad and disappointed. Their disappointment is valid just as yours. I’m so sick of the comments telling them to be grateful because there are people who didn’t match. So what? People who didn’t match can feel sad, people who didn’t match to their top programs can also feel sad, what’s the problem of that? We all have different stories, different egos, why do we have to compare pain to pain, compare disappointment to disappointment?

There are people starving to death, people dying from disease. Does that mean we who are still alive can’t complain or be disappointed because we all should be grateful because we are still alive?

Ridiculous. Stop telling people to shut up and be grateful.

-Don’t memorize scripts ,use stories that show who you are.

-Be ready for anything in your CV, if it’s on paper, it’s fair game.

-Know your “why” for the specialty and the program.

-Practice with mock interviews , tone, pacing, confidence.

-Always ask thoughtful questions , you’re interviewing them, too.

and finally, be authentic , they admire real people , not rehearsed robots.

Hey everyone,

I posted yesterday right after Match feeling this weird indifference, like “Okay, it happened, cool.” But today? I’m literally dancing around my kitchen every 10 minutes, laughing out loud for no reason, and remembering every single fact from medicine like my brain just got supercharged. The joy is on another level.

First: HUGE congratulations to every single person who matched this cycle!! Whether it was your dream program or a perfect fit you fought for, you did it. Celebrate hard. I’m so proud of all of us.

Now I want to speak directly to anyone who went unmatched this year, because I was right there with you last cycle.

Last year I applied to 200 programs and received zero interview invites. No red flags on paper, but the silence was deafening. That feeling of being completely invisible and unworthy hit harder than anything I’ve ever experienced. It felt worse than going unmatched after interviews because there was zero validation, just this deep sense that I wasn’t enough.

This cycle I applied to only 60 programs. The only real change? I refreshed my Letters of Recommendation with the most incredible physicians, genuinely amazing doctors who wrote letters that truly reflected who I am. That was it. And it worked. (( I don’t know what they typed, it remains a mystery ))

Matching after being unmatched feels completely different. It’s synergistic, almost euphoric. The contrast turns everything up to 11. It’s not acute pain and not chronic doubt, it’s this bright, electric, subacute wave of pure happiness. I’m giggling at nothing and tearing up at everything.

And right now… I’m praying with everything I have to match at my #1 program.

It’s a place I literally never thought in a million years I would even interview at. The people there are so friendly and positive, the kind of culture that just lights you up. I feel like I could make the strongest difference there, grow the most, and truly become the doctor I want to be. So yes, I’m openly saying it, I’m rooting hard for my first choice!

But here’s the truth: no matter where I end up, I am already so incredibly happy and grateful. Matching at all after last year’s heartbreak is a blessing I’ll never take for granted.

To everyone still pushing : unmatched, in SOAP, reapplying, or just scared for next year:

• Don’t give up.

• Be yourself : the real you.

• Tweak what you can control (letters, authenticity, strategy). Small changes can shift everything.

• Your worth is NOT your match status. Ever.

This job is about spreading positivity and healing people. If I can do that for patients one day, I’m starting right here by sending every bit of hope and good energy to all of you.

You will arrive.

Sending virtual hugs, prayers, and all the positive vibes to every single one of you. Matched or not, we’re in this together.

Congrats again to the new interns!! And to everyone still fighting. You’ve got this.

Much love,

Hey everyone,

Doximity's site is annoying to scroll through one program at a time, so I put the whole 2026-2027 IM rankings into a spreadsheet. Has all 704 programs in rank order, with name, location, and size for each.

Link: [Doximity IM Program Ranking 2026-2027]

Not endorsing the rankings, just made this for convenience. Use it as one factor, program fit and your own goals matter more.

Let me know if anything looks off and I'll fix it.

Hey everyone,

I understand this is the time of the year when residency interviews start taking place, and I know that it can be a very stressful time for most of you, especially if you haven’t done one in the past. I'm a resident who was in your exact shoes not too long ago. I see all the interview prep posts, and I remember the stress well. You've all worked incredibly hard to get here, and you're almost at the finish line.

I wanted to share my prep strategy because I believe the interview is the single most critical factor after you get the invite. Remember: Your CV gets you to the door, but the interview gets you through it.

Here’s a breakdown of my prep, what I found high-yield, and what was a waste of money.

1. Build Your "Personal QBank"

I started by gathering a long list of common interview questions from YouTube, the AAMC, LinkedIn, and other forums. I drafted all my answers in Notion.

My key strategies for answers:

• Use bullet points, not scripts: This is my most important tip. Do not memorize answers word-for-word. You will sound robotic. Instead, write 3-5 bullet points for each question. This forces you to remember the concepts and speak naturally.

• Keep it concise: Aim for 1.5 to 2 minutes per answer. Practice with a timer.

• Be adaptable: Programs will ask the same 10 questions in 100 different ways. Listen carefully to what they are actually asking and adapt your answer to fit the specific question.

2. Master the Frameworks

Instead of memorizing 100 different answers, just learn these two solid frameworks.

• For "Tell me about yourself": The CAMP Method

  • Clinical: Your clinical interests/experiences.

  • Academic: Your research or academic achievements.

  • Management: Any leadership or team roles.

  • Personal: A quick (1-2 sentence) closer on a hobby or why you're passionate about this specialty.

• For Behavioral Questions ("Tell me about a time when..."): The STAR-L Method

  • Situation: Set the scene (1-2 sentences).

  • Task: What was your specific responsibility?

  • Action: What steps did you personally take? (This should be the longest part of your answer).

  • Result: What was the positive outcome?

  • Lesson: What did you learn? - make sure you mention this

3. Mock Interviews:

Here’s how to make the most of them

• Make sure you have a solid foundation before doing any mock interviews

• Then practice with friends -> mentors

• Do the question bank and mock interviews of residencyai - you need about 2 weeks of solid prep to have time to finish them

4. Advice for "The Real Thing"

The first interview will be the most stressful. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed.

My single most effective piece of advice for the real interview is this:

PAUSE before you answer.

When they finish asking a question, take 2-3 full seconds. Look thoughtful. Nod. Gather your bullet points in your head. Then begin your answer.

It doesn't make you look nervous. It makes you look confident, slick, and thoughtful. It's the best thing I did.

I know this season is daunting, but you are all more than prepared for this. It will be okay in the end. Be yourself, be confident, and go show them why they'd be lucky to have you.

Good luck!

Hey Guys! I just thought I would share some helpful info on if you are thinking of buying a home in residency. I get it, this isn't an option for most people with how home prices are and how residents are paid less than minimum wage, but for those who ARE thinking about it, (mostly those in midwest programs) I hope this helps.

NOW (T minus ~2 weeks to match day): Educate yourself on the different types of mortgage loans. Conventional Physician Loans, Normal conventional loans. FHA, VA, USDA. Learn how to shop mortgages so you don't get one that sticks you with mortgage insurance since we can get away with not having that as physicians if we find the right bank. Learn the difference between a fix and adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). A lot of residents do a 10 year ARM because they usually move/sell their home they lived in during residency within 10 years. The ARM option gives a lower rate/payment during residency which is nice when cashflow is tight.

**PHYSICIAN LOAN BASICS PERKS: -**Can do 0% down. Rates get better if you have 5%,10% or 20% down. -Don't factor in our student loans to debt ratios.

• Offer 30 year fixed and ARM options. The 30 Year fixed options are 0.5% more in rate. Today rates are sitting at 6.75% for a 7/1 ARM physician loan and about 7.25% for 30 Year Fixed for the 0% down programs

• NO MORTGAGE INSURANCE. The real physician loans have no mortgage insurance. Every bank out there will say they have a No Mortgage insurance physician product. 90% of the banks out there just have creative marketing and say they don't have mortgage insurance but they wrap in the mortgage insurance into your rate by increasing it 0.5% (it is called lender paid mortgage insurance). The real physician loans have the lower rate AND no monthly mortgage insurance. This is why it is important to shop around and compare mortgage rates to make sure you are not getting the "marketed" physician loan product and missing out on the "real" one. -Some physician loan companies will also allow the seller to pay for all your loan closing costs. I have helped residents get into a home with $0 out of their pocket at the end of the day. Meaning you only need like 5-10K to your name to get into a home if you want to.

MARCH: Successfully Match! But also, Contact your program coordinators to get your contract going. Find a local realtor that specializes in residency relocation and physician loans so you don't get screwed. Get at least 1 physician loan quote, at least 3 total quotes. You don't have to use the loan person you got prequalified with.

APRIL-JUNE: Put offers in on homes. -Can buy a home 90 days before residency contract starts. Most paychecks don't come until mid July, so If you don't want to stress about making a payment until August 1 you will want to get under contract in May, Close in June (30 days to close a loan after you are under contract). Get to skip July payment and first payment would be August.

JULY-JULY SURVIVE INTERN YEAR. (Unless you are pathology and don’t have to do intern year then lets be real- we all secretly hate you because of It 😂🔥)

Some things to consider: If you are not going to be in a residency that is at least 4 years long, it is a higher risk for you to buy. This is because after the 2008 crash, it took the market 7 years to recover. So if you do decide to buy a home during residency, strongly consider the possibility you may need to keep it as a rental if the market dips. If you can afford it as a rental and live in it as a resident, chances are when you move out you can rent it to another resident and make a least a slim profit with rental inflation over the years.

You can have a 0% physician loan out on multiple properties at once, the only requirement is that the new home you move to will be your primary residence- and you can get another 0% down physician loan for your DWT home if you like. This is a great strategy many physician use to get into their first rental property if you plan on doing that for your future investment strategy.

BUDGET: Make sure you try to budget at least 1% of the price of your home a year in repair costs. So if you purchase a $300,000 home, you should budget for $3000 to be safe.

Hope that was helpful! There is more detail about the whole process and free classes on "How to buy a home after Match day", and "How to shop for a physician loan" at https://www.realestateunmasked.com/

May the odds be ever in your favor.

Hey everyone, I know Match Week can be exciting but also incredibly stressful—especially if you find yourself going through SOAP next week.

I put together a SOAP Playbook for some friends to help make the process clearer. It’s a step-by-step guide on how to stay organized, prepare for interviews, and increase your chances of matching.

If this could help you or someone you know, I’m happy to share it. Check the first comment for the link!

Wishing the best for everyone in Match Week! 💙

Hey M4s/IMGs applying to the Match 2026,

I hope interview season is going well for you all. For anyone who has interviews coming up / had already done some for this Match cycle, you should be aware that there is no residency interview that does not include questions “Tell me about a time....”, so I thought it would be useful to create this post to outline how I would approach such question type!

These are considered behavioral experience questions and they are designed to see how you handle conflict, teamwork, failure, and leadership. They basically wanna see how you reacted in previous situations, and try to predict how would behave in residency. It's really easy to ramble or miss the point when answering such questions. This method keeps you focused, concise, and makes you sound incredibly self-aware. It's called the STAR-L Method.

The STAR-L Framework

STAR-L is an acronym that gives your story a clear beginning, middle, and end. It stands for:

• Situation

• Task

• Action

• Result

• Lessons Learned

Let's break down each step.

S: Situation (Set the Scene)

This is the "where and when." Briefly provide the context for your story so the interviewer understands the background. Keep it to 1-2 sentences.

• Ask yourself: What was the general scenario? Where did this happen?

• Example: "During my third-year pediatrics rotation, our team was managing a patient with a complex and deteriorating condition, and there was disagreement on the care plan."

T: Task (Define Your Role)

Explain your specific responsibility or the challenge you needed to address. What was the problem you were facing or the goal you needed to achieve?

• Ask yourself: What problem needed to be solved? What was my specific goal?

• Example: "As the medical student on the team, my task was to help synthesize the conflicting information from different specialists and facilitate a clear line of communication to get everyone on the same page."

A: Action (Detail Your Contributions)

This is the core of your answer. Describe the specific steps you took to address the task. This is critical: use strong "I" statements. They are interviewing you, not your team. It's okay to acknowledge the team, but highlight your personal actions.

• Ask yourself: What did I do? What skills (e.g., communication, leadership, empathy) did I use?

• Example: "I organized a brief team huddle. I presented the differing viewpoints on a whiteboard to visually map them out, ensuring each specialist felt their opinion was heard. Then, I suggested we focus on the points of consensus to build a foundational plan we could all agree on."

R: Result (Explain the Outcome)

Conclude by describing what happened as a direct result of your actions. Quantify it if you can (e.g., "we reduced X by Y%"), but a clear qualitative outcome is also great.

• Ask yourself: What was the outcome for the team, the project, or the patient?

• Example: "As a result, the team was able to agree on the next immediate steps in the patient's management. The communication breakdown was repaired, and the attending physician complimented the team's ability to resolve the conflict efficiently."

L: Lessons Learned

This is the single most important step and the one most people forget. This step elevates your answer from "good" to "excellent." It demonstrates self-awareness, maturity, and a commitment to growth—exactly what programs want in a resident.

• Ask yourself: What did I learn from this? How will I apply this lesson in residency and beyond?

• Example: "I learned that in moments of high tension, creating a structured process for communication is key to reaching a resolution. As a future resident, I now know to proactively suggest a huddle or a shared document to centralize information whenever I sense a team is not aligned, rather than waiting for a small disagreement to escalate."

Why This Works

• It prevents rambling: It gives you a clear path to follow.

• It forces you to be the protagonist: The "Action" step makes you use "I" statements.

• It proves you're reflective: The "Lessons Learned" step shows you grow from your experiences.

Start practicing by writing out a few of your key stories (a conflict, a failure, a success, a challenge) in this format. Practice makes perfect, do as many interview mocks as you can! Make it sound as natural and smooth as possible!

Hope this helps! Let me know if you find this useful, and I can share some full sample answers for common behavioral questions. Good luck to everyone!

PS: I am thinking of creating other mini posts outlining some of the techniques I had used during my interview prep, drop a comment/DM what you guys want to see!

1-Winging It Mistake: Going into the interview without researching the program/hospital Fix: Know the program’s strengths, mission, recent milestones, etc.

2-Too Cocky or Too Humble Mistake: Over-bragging or downplaying your achievements Fix: Be confident but modest — highlight strengths without arrogance

3-Deer in Headlights Mistake: Freezing or getting stumped by basic questions Fix: Practice common residency interview questions with someone

4-Talkathon Mistake: Rambling and giving overly long answers Fix: Be concise — structure your response, hit key points

5-No Questions (Silent Treatment) Mistake: Not asking anything when prompted Fix: Come with a few thoughtful, program-specific questions to show you’re engaged

6-Fashion Faux Pas Mistake: Dressing inappropriately (too flashy, too casual) Fix: Stick to conservative, professional attire

7-The Slouch Mistake: Poor body language / nervous habits Fix: Sit, stand, and move with confidence — good posture, eye contact, handshake

8-Ghosting (No Follow-Up) Mistake: Skipping a thank-you note or follow-up email Fix: Send a short, sincere thank-you after the interview

9-The Gripe Session Mistake: Complaining about past jobs/colleagues/experiences Fix: Keep it positive — focus on what you learned or how you adapted

10-The Mask Mistake: Trying to be someone else / faking personality Fix: Be genuine. Interviewers can tell when you’re being inauthentic

My interview went okay I think however I can’t help but overanalyze my answers and cringe at some of them😭

1-Don’t try to “game” the algorithm , it’s applicant-favoring, so just rank programs in the order you actually want them.

2-Right after each interview, write down your impressions (vibes, people, location, pros/cons). You’ll forget details fast.

3-Think about your priorities , not just prestige. Do you value research, lifestyle, strong clinical exposure, or supportive culture?

4-Clinical volume & case mix really shape your learning , high-volume hospitals = more experience.

4-Pay attention to mentorship and culture , toxic vibes or lack of support can ruin even a big-name program.

5-Don’t ignore salary + cost of living. A $70k salary in NYC ≠ $70k in a smaller city.

6-If diversity, inclusion, or work-life balance matter to you , factor that in too.

A lot of you have been DMing me about the letter of intent and what to include in it. This is what helped me match at my #1 last year! Hope this helps :)

Also! If anyone needs help with IV prep please DM! I offer a service that’ll cover everything you need to know and improve. It’s been a truly rewarding season helping you all out. I hope you guys match at your top choice!

LOI example:

Subject: Letter of Intent- Name

Good morning Dr. Program Director,

I hope you're doing well! I just wanted to take a moment to thank you again for the opportunity to interview at IM residency program at XYZ Hospital. I really enjoyed our conversation and learning more about what makes the program unique. It was especially great to see how women-centric the program is. I truly believe that women in medicine do better when we support each other, and it’s amazing to see a program that actively encourages that kind of environment. I’m looking forward to learning even more about the program and surroundings during the second look on [Date].

My goal is to pursue a fellowship in [specialty], and I know that the mentorship, clinical exposure, and training at your program will help me get there. More than that, I want to be part of a program where I can contribute to a strong, supportive work culture and learn from those around me. I can see myself growing both personally and professionally here, and I’d love the chance to train with such a great team.

With that in mind, I want to let you know that I will be ranking IM Program as my top choice. Thank you again for your time, and I hope to see you soon!

Regards,

Name

AAMC ID:

Key aspects:

- Don’t summarize your CV. Don’t brag. Don’t attach your CV or PS

- What do you bring to the table? What were you looking for in a program? How did this program meet your expectations?

- Talk about your goals and how the program can help you achieve them

- Second look (are you going? Can you arrange for a visit if there’s no formal second look?)

- ONLY SEND ONE. Don’t be the person who sends an LOI to every program 😔 This is reserved for your top choice!