I gazed from the plane window, watching the city of Dallas come into view. My stomach was a pit of anxiety, aware that the fate of my career hinged on my academic and social interview performance in the coming week. As the plane landed, and throughout the whole week of CRIP, I still couldn’t shake the fear.
But now! The weight of the world has been lifted. Interview week at CASPR/CRIP has officially ended, and I hope to share the good and the bad. If you’re reading this, you’re already taking steps to help yourself become successful in this process.
For those who may not know exactly what I’m talking about, CASPR/CRIP is the interview week that all 4th year podiatry students undergo, in order to match into a residency program. Rather than travel to ~10+ hospitals, the residency programs send directors and program representatives to interview all their applicants in one spot: Frisco, Texas (about 30 minutes from Dallas). This process saves applicants from having to pay for transportation and accommodations across the country, so technically the CASPR/CRIP organizers do financially help the students out by doing this.
Most interviews cover some aspect of social questions to assess an applicant’s personality, ethics, and bedside manner. Interviews also ask academic questions to evaluate one’s baseline knowledge, problem-solving skills, and how the applicant reacts to stress when they don’t know the answer.
Here are some tips for a successful week of interviews:
· Prepare diligently early on!
Social questions:
The best and only way to truly prepare for social questions is to talk out loud. But where to start? I began by asking myself a few questions and jotting down in a word document what came to mind. This helped me refine exactly what I wanted to express to a program. Ask yourself “what are my best qualities?” Then think of examples where you can talk about how you demonstrated that quality.
Some examples:
- “One of my strengths is communication. I feel that people perform best as a team when they know what is expected of them and they know the timeline. I do my best to either email or text others so that there isn’t a misunderstanding, and I believe that helps everyone be more efficient”
- “I am very optimistic, and I feel this helps me to be a great team player. I try to always have a positive attitude, but when I do go through negative experiences, I do my best to take a step back from the situation, and reflect on how it could have been handled better.”
Another important social question to prepare for is the open-ended “tell me about yourself.” This one is a little tricky, because I think it is an art to describe yourself both honestly, while also appealing to the qualities that a particular program values. It is fair to say most programs want a hard-working, intelligent, punctual, and ethical resident who respects the chain of command. But doing your research is important here, and if you did not spend an externship month, it is somewhat expected that to have some knowledge about the program before the interview (either from a phone call or visit). Remind the program about your visit, and express to them what you learned from that. Specifically – tell them why you are a good fit for their program.
Saying “Although I didn’t have an externship with you, I visited and learned about the clinic/journal club/residents/etc. I enjoyed it because X, Y, and Z” will go a long way when a program considers their applicants.
Lastly, competitive programs will want applicants who are ambitious. Another common question asked is where you see yourself in the future 5 or 10 years. This also shows a lot about where your passions lie, and what type of resident you might be at their program. Ideally, your residency program will have all the opportunities to get you to your goals!
Academic questions:
This one is a challenge to address, because there are many ways to approach this. In a nutshell, you must:
- Read the handbooks. Prism should be read cover-to-cover. Crozer has the basics, and not knowing some of this material could hurt you.
- Make cases. This is an excellent use of time after covering the basics. Contact upperclassmen for practice cases (I have a bunch!) and when making them yourself, try to make them as hard as possible. Then go through a “mock” interview where you challenge a classmate with the case you made. This helped me the most after going through Prism and Crozier
- Practice reading x-rays out loud. You will be asked this!
- Read articles, particularly landmark articles. Also, for programs that publish a lot of research, make sure that you have read at least a few of their articles prior to the interview. Some programs like to ask questions about their research so be ready for that!
- Read PMP Primers. These WesternU resources have a lot of basic material that basically synthesizes a faculty’s approach to the cases you’ll see. The PMP Trauma primer is great for ankle fractures.
The most common academic topics I saw were complicated diabetic foot wounds and ankle fractures. You’ll be expected to discuss what is important for evaluating these common presentations (as if you were standing in the emergency room as the on-call resident). It is important to mentally consider what makes conditions considered “podiatric emergencies.” The programs basically want to be assured that you won’t kill their patients :)
· You’re interviewing the programs too
During my weirdest interview, I was handed a piece of paper with some cognitive puzzles to solve. They did not want me to talk while I worked on the puzzles, so there was a lot of awkward silence. They also didn’t smile or seem very happy. My overall impression was that they were uninterested during the 20 minutes. So, I did not rank them at all and that is ok!
· Psychology of expressing interest
This is a concept proven with job interviews, dating, and therefore also residency interviews (since it is pretty much a combination of the first two!) If you already have sights set on a certain program, tell them before CRIP. If at all possible, visit your #1 program in the fall at least once before CRIP. Emphasizing your interest with enthusiasm (not insecurity!) goes a long way. Mention your interest again during the interview. Follow up with a thank you email.
· You’re smarter than you think you are
It is SO EASY to be overwhelmed with stress in this process. Students spread rumors constantly. I heard of many students who heard rumors about a particular interview being “too hard” and that caused many others to cancel their interviews at the last minute. This is frowned upon and I would not recommend cancelling interviews at CRIP unless there is a medical issue.
Speaking of medical issues, I went through constant nausea and insomnia, in addition to dealing with an upper respiratory sickness right before CRIP started. I heard of students fainting, getting stress-induced hives, and crying in this process. It sounds dramatic and in hindsight, the hype is over exaggerated. Overall, the interviews are generally easier than anticipated. There are always exceptions but for the most part, the students who studied hard and practiced with mock interviews do very well.
· Scheduling
This is a tough one to plan for but if possible, cluster interviews with ~ 30 minutes in between them. Try not to have big gaps such as a 9am interview and a 4pm interview. If possible, space them out so you don’t have to have 6 in one day (like I did!) but sometimes there isn’t much flexibility. Interviews take place over a 6 day period. If you can, don’t schedule any on the very last day.
For your top programs, one suggestion is to schedule them after an earlier “practice” interview so you can warm up. Try not to schedule interviews right before lunch or at the end of the day as interviewers will be likely mentally fatigued. That being said, if you do well in an interview it doesn’t really matter what time it is.
While in Texas…
Don’t study there
Unless it's a light review for peace of mind, at this point the information is in your mind or not
Book accommodations early
Airbnb: generally cheaper but the ubers back and forth will add up
Embassy Suites: this is where the interviews are held. Would not recommend staying here as it is a high-stress environment.
Walking distance hotels (Hilton Garden Inn, Hyatt, and others…)
Pack snacks
These saved me for when I was too stressed to eat a full breakfast or lunch. Yogurt, nuts, pretzels, and fruit can help.
Overall this is a pretty surreal experience, hearing about the experience of others is helpful but there is nothing like going through it! Have faith in yourself and your 4 years of training and you will succeed :)
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
A few of the WesternU Class of 2019 at CRIP in Frisco, TX!
Killing time between interviews in the Embassy Suites lobby!