Thursday, November 12, 2009

Tag Team

As the interviews slowly trickle in, we have to become increasingly strategic in planning interview dates. The three highest priority programs are, of course, Mr.'s two away programs and his home program. So far he has heard from and scheduled interviews for one away and his home program. We have the interview dates for his other away, and one conflicts with the interview we have scheduled for his home program. It is imperative, then, that we schedule his interview from his other away (assuming he's offered one) for the date that doesn't conflict with his home program.
Not only does the day we want not conflict with Mr.'s already scheduled interview, but it also does not conflict with interviews from any other programs that we know of, so we expect it to be the popular choice among those invited. Therefore, Mr. must be in the first half of those who respond. It's an ugly, competitive process with a lot of people reaching for the same thing. It can be tricky, then, on days like today when Mr. has a shelf exam. He won't be able to check his email for 3 full hours, plenty of time for others to respond should he receive an offer.
That's where I come in. Having been some sort of assistant for years now, it is not out of character for me to draft someone else's correspondence or to reply to an invitation on behalf of someone else. So, at my desk job, I will keep constant watch on his email in order to pounce on an interview offer from his 2nd away, should he receive one.
Of course, there's that whole watched pot thing again, so who knows if my services will be needed anyway! Here's hoping we hear soon...

126 days until Match Day

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

"Tetris" That In There

Dear fellow children of the 80's, remember Tetris? Of course you do. You probably still play it on your phone or computer. Though nothing can beat the memories of playing it on the original Nintendo, with Russian music celebrating your win. In fact, in college I once found myself at an Ozma concert where they played a cover of Korobeiniki (I subsequently downloaded it and added it to a number of playlists on my iPod).
A refresher for those less geeky than myself:
The point of Tetris is to position the dropping game piece so that no empty spaces are created. Once a row has been filled with squares, it will disappear. The trick, obviously, is to strategically pack all of the pieces as tightly as possible by appropriately rotating and shifting the dropping pieces.
This skill that so many of us 20-somethings learned as children has a number of practical applications. Mr. often uses it when packing a trunk of a car with a number of suitcases or grocery bags. to "Tetris" everything in there, he properly arranges the items to allow for little wasted space.

Last night I had what I felt was a Tetris moment. Only this time, instead of fitting together tangible objects, I was fitting Mr.'s interview schedule. Due to the limited time between now and the rank list due-date, many interview dates overlap. In order to maximize interviews, we want to try to schedule multiple interviews on the same weekend (one Friday, one Saturday). Of course, many programs also have social events the night prior, which can make traveling difficult. On one weekend, Mr. has a Friday interview scheduled in the Northeast with a social event the evening prior. Yesterday he accepted an interview in the Midwest for the next day (Saturday) that also has a social event the evening prior. Without knowing the start time of the Midwest social event, we estimate the gap between the end of the interview and the start of the social event is no less than 6 hours. Luckily, we found a direct flight that should take off roughly 3 hours after the end of the Northeast interview and land about an hour prior to the earliest likely start time of the Midwest social event. Unfortunately, the cost for that flight one way (there may be other Midwest interviews the following week, so we didn't want to book the return yet) would have been $600. Luckily, we were able to switch around his Thanksgiving flights to account for that and another interview trip using a multi-destination trip planner to arrange everything for far less. What a relief! Now we just have to hope nothing else changes between now and then. ...Easier said than done...

127 days until Match Day

Saturday, November 7, 2009

A Watched Pot Never Boils

Mr. hates that saying. As a scientist, he finds it ridiculous. All else equal, the water will boil at the same rate whether it is watched or not.

Of course, that saying is all I could think of as I eagerly looked for news of interviews on Thursday only to learn Mr. didn't receive any that day. I was getting anxious and becoming distracted from work and school.

Yesterday, though, I couldn't afford to be distracted. Work was piling up, and if I didn't tackle it then, it would only get worse. Meanwhile, Mr. received 3 more interview offers. The first little gush after what had so far been only a trickle.

So, the lesson of the day is this:
Be prepared, have a calendar ready to know which date to choose if given a choice, and be ready. Put the proverbial water into the proverbial pot and turn on the proverbial stove. But after that, live your life, do what you need to do, and trust that the water will boil in time.

131 days until Match Day.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Thank You Note

As I understand the world, it is common courtesy to write a Thank You note to anyone who takes time out of his/her schedule to interview you.
From the Emily Post Institute:
"At the end of the interview, stand, thank the interviewer for her time, look her in the eye and shake her hand. A short note of thanks—nothing fawning—is also appropriate. "

Of course, in medicine and the highly competitive world of residency applications, students do not want to miss any steps. I'm under the impression that it is very common to send thank you notes after residency interviews. Students debate between e-mail and snail mail, but I don't think that really matters. Mr. doesn't have the email addresses for those who interviewed him, so he plans to send letters. I think a hand-written note on nice stationery is more appropriate, but will that be feasible during what will hopefully be a busy season of interviewing in December and January?

I have never been on "the other side" of residency interviews. The closest experience I had was as an assistant to an attorney on the recruiting committee. She received thank you notes (handwritten cards), but most of the time she shrugged them off "he just doesn't have the grades" or "there are no openings". So, while I believe it is common courtesy to send a thank you note, I'm not convinced it truly makes that big of a difference.

Later in the process, I hear that many write "love letters" to programs. I don't even know what Mr. will do when he hears about that. I think he just likes to get stressed out about inconsequential things. 13 hour surgery? Very cool. 3 succinct but personal thank you notes? The world will end. Ultimately, he just wants to do a good job and be good at what he does. Schmoozing is not his thing... but does he need to do it in order to do what he wants?

133 days until Match Day.



Update: Mr. tells me the etiquette for residency interviews is different than any other type of interview. I'm skeptical. Perhaps he's referring to the "love letter" process that will happen later on?

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Happy Election Day!


Just got back from voting! The polls opened at 6am, so I dragged STM with me to our location at 6:30. The lines weren't too bad for the presidential election, but because there are more offices this time and fewer obvious names, I thought people might be taking longer.

We were the first ones there for our election district and possibly the youngest they expect to see all day.

Nevertheless, it was fun! Yay, civic duty! If you have an election in your town today, research the candidates (if you haven't already) and then get out and vote. :)

In other news... 135 days until the Match!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Interview Update

I spoke to Mr. Friday night after his interview as he played Mario with one of his younger brothers, so, perhaps this isn't as thorough a report as I'd hoped.
He was scheduled to begin at 8:00am and had 3 15-minute interviews, including one with the chief resident. There was a lot of downtime at the interview, and it ended with a lunch. Overall it seems it was a positive first experience.

Everyone is looking for something different (operating experience vs. didactics vs. research vs. prestige vs. location vs. lifestyle...), and I'd rather not comment on his priorities right now, but he did like the program and thought it went well. Many programs are reviewed on Orthogate.

Now if he can just get some more offers...