- Today, I'm going to talk about how to answer
the tell me about yourself question.
That's a staple of medical residency interviews.
If you're watching this video,
you've probably already experienced most
of the challenges that doctors in training face,
like getting into medical school
and certain parts of the USMLE.
At this point you've even done,
some or most of your rotations.
Now that you've submitted your ERAS application,
there's one more box to check
before you become a resident doctor,
nailing your residency interviews.
Clearing those other hurdles will undoubtedly
have equipped you with a valuable training, in how to handle
the stressful and uncertain match process.
However, residency interviews are notoriously unpredictable,
which can make preparing for them a challenge.
Luckily, there are some standard questions
that will show up again and again like,
tell me about yourself, by preparing an excellent answer
in advance, you can set yourself up, for interview success.
(air whooshing)
(typing sound)
(air whooshing)
Hi, I'm Dr. Pranjal Gupta Medical School Admissions Expert
from Shemmassian and Academic Consulting.
In this job I'll help you understand the purpose
of the tell me about yourself question and why
it's an important aspect of your residency interviews.
I'll show you a great example response
and explain why it works.
Plus I'll also give you a step-by-step method
to create a strong answer, of your own.
Let's get started.
(air whooshing)
first, Let's talk about why residencies,
interview you in the first place.
After all you've already submitted plenty of materials
that should give them a sense of who you are,
like your grades, USMLE scores of CV, letters
of rec and more, these materials will go a long way
in highlighting your academic accomplishments,
but they most likely won't convey certain things
that residency committees are
also interested in understanding, like your personality
and your social skills.
That's where interviews come into play.
Residency committees use interviews to get a sense
of three key attributes.
You're personable, and it's easy to connect with you.
Doctors interact with people all day every day
whether that's with patients or with fellow medical staff.
Being friendly and sociable is a must which brings us
to our next point.
You don't exhibit interpersonal difficulties such
as social awkwardness or argumentativeness.
You should also show that you know how to get along
with others and can foster a pleasant atmosphere.
No one wants to work with someone,
who makes them feel uncomfortable
or who has a huge ego.
You're as polished in person as you seem
in your applications.
You might be able to edit your ERAS to perfection
but you'll have a harder time concealing red flags
or missteps during an in-person interview.
Remember, that key difference between residency interviews
and interviews for med school
is that committees aren't just hiring a student
or an apprentice.
They're also hiring a colleague,
whose personality and professionalism,
must fit with the existing team.
So, given the importance of conveying who you are,
beyond your stats then tell me about yourself question
is one that you want to get right.
(air whooshing)
Tell me about yourself?
You've probably heard this question
in every interview you've been in.
Usually as an opening question.
However, it's such an open-ended prompt
and many residency applicants are unsure of how
to handle this in its context.
You might wonder, should you talk about your interest
in that residency specialty?
Should you go over your clinical experiences
and academic accomplishments?
You might even suspect
that it's a deceptively simple trick question.
Rest assured that it's not a trick question.
But some responses will be more effective than others.
One common misconception is that you need to start
the interview by immediately launching into a discussion
of all your accomplishments
and medical experiences, especially the ones that relate
to the specialty you're trying to match into.
Some applicants think that by not doing this they'll run
the risk of seeming less enthusiastic or less dedicated
than other candidates.
This isn't the case.
while you can and should discuss your experiences eventually
it's important to keep in mind that tell me about yourself
is meant to give your interviewer a sense of who you are
as a person, and whether you'll be a good fit
for their program.
Your goal in answering this question should be
to humanize yourself and show that there's more to you
than being a great medical student.
Which is why reiterating your stats,
isn't a particularly effective tactic.
Remember that the fact that you've been invited
to interview means that your academic stats,
extracurriculars and clinical experiences,
have already been deemed good enough.
And keep in mind that your interviewer
has access to and might already
be familiar with what you've already submitted
in your application.
That's why you don't need to worry about making sure
that your accomplishments are at the forefront
of the conversation.
You won't be rejected from a residency just
because you didn't mention your amazing test scores
or recite every extracurricular you've participated in.
Instead, here are the things you should focus on.
Conveying who you are, not only as a medical student
but also as a human, describing the events or situations
in your life that have led you to medicine,
making a positive first impression that's personable,
polite and polished.
So, how should you approach the tell me
about yourself question?
A strong response,
will first describe your personal background
before transitioning into how it's led you into medicine.
Since this question will most likely come towards
the beginning of your interview, you can think
of your response, as an introduction to yourself.
Another way of thinking about it is you're telling the story
of how you arrived at where you are today,
a medical student and a future physician.
You should aim to keep your response relatively short,
say around one to two minutes
while covering multiple aspects of yourself.
Let's go over a step-by-step method you can use
to craft a great answer.
To begin brainstorm some topics you might want to talk
about to open up your response.
Common topics include,
elements of your upbringing like where you grew up
and what your family was like, your educational background,
personal interests or hobbies that are important to you,
where you live and what your life is currently,
such as if you're married or have children,
other circumstances that have made a significant impact
on your life.
Once you finished brainstorming reflect
on why these topics are key to understanding who you are.
For example, maybe you moved to Boston for medical school
but you strongly identify
with the easy going West Coast culture you grew up in
or perhaps your immigrant grandparents lived
with your family and were essential
in helping you maintain cultural and linguistic ties
to your ethnic background.
Or maybe you're a marathon runner
which has helped improve your physical and mental endurance.
Next narrow your list down to three to five topics
that you want to talk about.
Then think about how at least one of those topics could act
as a pivot that connects to medicine or the residency.
For instance in our sample response that you'll hear
in just a minute, the applicant talks about how his interest
in dark room photography, led to an interest in radiology
or to offer another example, Perhaps your spouse grew up
in the city where the residency is and the two of you would
be excited to live near family.
Once you found your pivot, you can then touch briefly
on your interests and experiences in medicine.
Remember that talking about these things isn't the point
of this question you don't need to go into too much in-depth
in fact, if there's a medical topic that you want
to make sure to talk about in detail,
it'll get more attention if you bring it up later
However, ending your response by noting your excitement
about medicine or the residency,
will go a long way towards setting the stage
for a great interview.
After you've put it all together make sure
to take the time to practice delivering your response.
While you do want to focus on remembering
the content you've prepared, you should also make sure
that your delivery is conversational and fluid.
Nothing will ruin your amazing answer more
than seeming robotic instead of natural.
(air whooshing)
Now I'll share a great response
to the tell me about yourself Interview question.
Once I finished reading the response I'll talk
about why it works.
I grew up in a Japanese American family in Boulder.
As the eldest of four kids I was expected
to help around a lot, whether that was staining wood
for my moms frame shop or mixing chemicals
for my dad's dark room.
When I was young, I resented it a little.
But now that I'm a dark room photographer myself,
I realize that it was actually the beginning of my interest
in chemistry, which I took to CU Boulder
and then to medical school at UC Davis.
I ended up getting very interested in radiology
which can actually feel a lot like a darkroom at times.
At Davis I discovered another hobby
that's becoming important to me, which is cycling.
It's been a great way to stay engaged with the outdoors
while balancing my stress levels during med school.
I'm really excited to be interviewing in Pittsburgh
because I know that the hills here will give me a run
for my money. (air whooshing)
(air whooshing)
Notice that though this interviewee he keeps it short
and sweet, we could still learn a lot
about him like his cultural background,
what his family was like, where he grew up,
where he went to school, what his hobbies are
and what led his interest in a specialty.
He also suddenly drops
that he's figured out an effective way to handle stress.
And that even as a child, he was taught how to work hard
which are two important qualities for doctors.
This response works because it paints a vivid picture
of who this applicant is, beyond medicine
while still conveying why he'll do well at the residency.
(air whooshing)
The open-ended nature of telling me about yourself,
can make it an intimidating question to answer.
But it's actually fairly straightforward
It's a valuable opportunity
to give residency committees insight into who you are
as a person, and why you might be someone,
who they'd like to have around for the next few years.
A great response will act as an introduction
to you and your path towards medicine, and will pave the way
for a successful residency interview.
And that's it for this video, If you found it helpful
be sure to subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out
on new videos.
And, if you're feeling like you need extra help preparing
for your interview, check out the description
for more information
about our one-to-one interview coaching services.
We'd love to help you match
with your dream residency program.
Alright, thanks again for watching
and we'll see you next time.