Tips for the "Second Visit" after Residency Interview

An offer for a second visit or second look from the residency program, after your first interview, is certainly a good sign indicating you are being considered a good candidate for the program and could also mean that a prematch offer is likely then. For the program itself, a second visit presents them with an opportunity to know you better personally, to see if you are really interested and possibly have you interviewed by faculty that could not do so the first time.

Since I recently had an email asking what should a candidate do then and whether it will merely be a repeat of the previous interview, I am mostly pasting that reply here:

Q. When should you schedule your second visit ?

A. If the program is known to offer prematches and if you have information about which month are they offered, then that month would be a good time to schedule your second visit. If no prematches are ever offered, then doing a late second visit works in your favor - here's why. Refer to Mandy's Prematch Algorithm about how to find out if the program offers prematches

Q. What Questions could you ask on your second visit ?

A. Questions for the second visit could circle around specific clinical services at the program, livability in the area, buying versus renting houses, on call hours, moonlighting, visa questions, etc - basically anything you can think of as more specific as opposed to general. Think as if you already matched with them & just arrived for starting the program the next day - that will help you decide what to ask.

AND in addition you could do two more things:

a. Request meeting with a specific faculty that you have fellowship interests and ask him about current projects and how you could be involved

b. request seeing the facilities in the domain of your fellowship interest (like the cath lab, cardiac icu, etc. if you were a cardio aspirant)

Q. What should you wear for the second visit ?

A. If you are not going to be interviewed by anyone formally on the second visit, wearing a business attire without a suit is fine. Plus, you could always emails the program coordinator about a suggested dress-code. As usual, when it doubt - its always better to over-dress :-)





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