Residency Advice: Dr. Jeffrey Ponsky | St. George's University

The interview is a small part of the whole process of selecting people for residency.

Residency programs want candidates with bright eyes and full hearts, meaning desire and enthusiasm.

Candidates must have passed their USMLE and have good letters of recommendation as baseline requirements.

Asking people who will write bad letters of recommendation to write for you is an intelligence test that many candidates fail.

During interviews, candidates should make eye contact and look interested in what the interviewer is doing.

Residency programs want a partner in the education process.

Interviewers want to know that candidates are willing to invest in their own education.

Candidates should give interviewers a plan and vision for their future during the interview.

An enthusiastic, engaged candidate can overcome merely adequate grades in the selection process.

During interviews, candidates should not be shy but also should not be a jerk.