On the Road Again...

After a nice 2 1/2 week break for the holidays, Mr. is back on the interview trail. This weekend is one of the most popular weekends for orthopedic residency interviews, and Mr. is booked solid. Four interviews in four different cities, none less than 350 miles from the next.

Of course, the entire country was dumped with snow, so that should make traveling interesting.

Yesterday, Mr. traveled from New York to a Mid-Atlantic city without hassle. Upon arriving, he learned from the program coordinator that she was able to put him in an earlier time slot. While he had already paid hundreds of dollars to switch to the later flight to his next destination in the upper Midwest, it was all moot when both flights were canceled today. As far as I could tell, there was one direct flight between where Mr. was and where he was headed that was not canceled. I'm not sure how he did it, but he was able to get on that flight.

While the flight took off 16 minutes early, the destination airport was closed when Mr.'s flight approached. Luckily, they weren't diverted, but it did take an extra half hour (or so) to land, getting in 8 minutes later than planned.

I haven't spoken to Mr. since; I suspect he may have actually gotten to attend the social event that, had everything gone as planned, he would have had to miss.

Update: The social event started an hour earlier than I thought, and by the time Mr. got his car and to the hotel, it was too late. Oh well; at least he got in in time to get a full night's sleep!

Four more flights to catch to get to two more interviews. Wish him luck!


70 Days until Match Day...

Informal Pre-Interview Social Event

Mr. has been on three residency interviews so far, but last night was the first pre-interview social event to which spouses were invited. Luckily it was nearby, so I was able to attend!

Here's my take:

What to wear
With orthopedic surgery, I've found that most of the social events are in private rooms at sports bars, dive bars and breweries. They're obviously pretty casual, but it's still part of an interview. Last night, most people were in jeans. I was in a jersey-knit modal wrap dress, tights, and stilettos. I'm happy with my choice. While I was dressier than almost everyone else, it was still a pretty casual dress. Plus, I'd rather err on the side of over-dressed than under-dressed.
For women attending these events, though, I think the ideal outfit (if highs are 60 or colder) is a cute sweater dress, tights, and flat boots. It's very casual, very appropriate for a bar but still an acknowledgment that it is a networking event.
If you're not a dress person, fear not; trousers are appropriate (unless it's at a swanky venue... so far, that has not been the case for Mr.).

Who to talk to
Anyone! I had a great time last night talking to the other applicants and their significant others. However, you certainly want to talk to those in the program and their significant others.

What to ask about
I think it's good to ask the residents and their significant others about the lifestyle, the housing options, the city (if you don't already live there), and life in general. It's good to get a feel for how happy they are in their program and express your willingness to live in the city of that program.

Overall, have fun! Don't dance on any tables or wear lampshades, of course, but be yourself and help your spouse be him/herself. Have fun finding the right program for you.

"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

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?

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...

Prep for Interview 1

Once upon a time (June, to be exact), all of our umbrellas broke. All were over a year old, a fair lifespan for an umbrella in NYC, most even older. So, Mr. decided he would buy a new umbrella, a really nice one. Still, when I came home, I was surprised to find he had spent $70 on a really nice big umbrella that is roughly 3' tall folded. While I remarked how nice it is, I also balked a little at how impractical it is. Personally I was just thinking of city use. I always carry my umbrella in my purse so that I'm always ready. Obviously a big umbrella won't fit. It also won't fit in a backpack or briefcase, which means Mr. has to plan to carry it when it might rain. He has to carry it in his hand - one whole hand, that's 50% of his holding capability! In a city where people don't drive, the ability to carry things is vital.
Mr. also bought me an umbrella on his trip - a basic black folded umbrella that fit in my purse. While nowhere near $70, the cost was still significantly more than drug-store or street umbrellas, so I expected it to be high quality and was glad to have something reliable in my purse.
June 2009 was a very rainy month in New York, and it rained the night before Mr. left for his away rotations. I remember because I had left my black umbrella open to dry by our front door (so I wouldn't forget to put it back in my purse). However, two days later as I waited for the M60 bus to LaGuardia (I was off to visit a friend for the 4th), it started to sprinkle. When I reached in my purse, extra stuffed with my laptop and my quart-size bag filled with 3 oz liquids, I discovered that my umbrella was not in there. It then started to pour. I tried to stand under a tree, which worked well when the rain was light but was little help when the sprinkle became a downpour. I was drenched. Once on the bus, I texted Mr. to lament how I'd forgotten my umbrella. As it turns out, he had taken it with him on his away rotations. "It was out". Yes, out, drying out where I'd have to trip on it before forgetting to put it back in my purse. Mr. had been afraid he wouldn't be able to take his big umbrella with him on the plane, so he took mine instead. As you can guess, I bought another umbrella while visiting my friend, one that fits in my purse, so I wouldn't have to go two months without.
Now Mr. is flying out today, and it is yet again rainy in New York. My new umbrella is safely tucked away in my purse and very girly. The black umbrella is in less than perfect condition but still, in my opinion, perfectly usable, particularly if it's just going to be used to and from a car as it would be on this trip. Mr. disagrees, so his first mission last night was to find out if he could take it with him. He'll have a suitcase, a briefcase and a large umbrella, all to carry-on. I imagine they'll let him through, but I'm still a little nervous he's risking losing a $70 umbrella to the TSA. We'll see how this goes.

Mr.'s second mission was figuring out what to wear. While on one hand I can appreciate fretting over such a thing, on the other, I have little sympathy for a man in this situation. I mean, nice shoes, suit, button-down shirt, tie. If this were me, the question would be dress, skirt suit, or pantsuit with a million different ways to accessorize each style. But I digress.
His favorite suit is a dark-grey pinstripe (pictured left), and his other is solid navy. He's wearing the pinstripe. Now for the shirt and tie. Somehow this turned into a process, but he ultimately decided on a white shirt and a patterned tie. It looks nice. I suppose the big debate was whether or not to wear a different colored shirt (he has a dark purple one from Express that looks amazing), but at least for the first few (assuming he gets more than this one, haha), he should play it safe with the white. If other people are having more fun with it, he can switch it up.
Hmm... I hope he knows about the sometimes, always, never rule of buttoning his suit jacket. I'll remind him.

Interview prep isn't all umbrellas and suits, though. Mr. has to do his research on the program as well. What's it known for, who the program director is, etc. etc. I printed off the program's AMA Freida profile, and I'm hoping he found the rest on the program's website and Google news.
Enough typing; time to send my MD-in-training off to his first residency interview!

140 Days until the match!