The topic of residency interviews have been making its rounds on #MedStudentTwitter, and I wanted to share a few of my own personal thoughts about the interview process. I’m a peds attending at Arnold Palmer Hospital at Orlando Health @APHospital

I LOVE interviewing applicants who are interested in our program. I promise not to waste 20 minutes of your time asking you why you want to be a pediatrician, because we all know it’s AMAZING to have the privilege to get up and take care of babies and kids every day

Plus, I can read your personal statement that tells me why you chose peds. I enjoy reading your LORs that tell me how awesome you are clinically, and that you treat your patients and families with respect and kindness. That you speak to them in terms that they understand

I’ll find something in your ERAS application that is completely not related to medicine. If you like to cook or bake, tell me your favorite recipe. If you played sports in college, tell me more about your experience as a collegiate athlete

If you like music, tell me what instrument you play or the last concert you went to. If it was Beyoncé, then sorry I’m not sorry we are talking about Bey for the rest of our time together and how she should have won that Emmy for Homecoming over James Corden

If you like to travel, I’m going to ask you the last place you visited or where you want to visit next. And we won’t spend much time talking about medical mission trips. These trips aren’t bad, but tell me how you advocated and improved child healthcare in your OWN community

If you like to run, tell me about your favorite distance to run. I’ll ask you what your next race is that you’ve signed up for and share with you my next race too. If you have a dog, I’m also not sorry that we’re talking about dogs for the rest of our interview

And as we are talking about everything non-medical in your application, in my mind I am thinking to myself - do I want to take care of kids with this person? Am I able to trust them to tell me the truth, and call me when they’re worried about a kid who might be getting sick?

And I hope the medical student is also thinking to themself - can I call Dr. Moorjani when I am worried about a patient? Would I feel comfortable calling her at any time if I start to get worried about our patient?

(Spoiler: please please please call me anytime)

Bottom line: when I have the opportunity to meet an applicant who wants to become a pediatrician and is interested in our residency program, I want to learn about you as a person and a human being. We’re all more than our board scores and grades. Thanks for reading