Questions to Ask During a Residency Meet and Greet
For residency applicants working out which questions to ask residents at dinner the night before interview day, at a resident social hour or on a virtual meet and greet. The 60 questions run in the order the evening does: openers for the first minutes at the table, life in the city, the daily work, teaching and support, the candid ones that wait until the table has relaxed, and a few to close on. A pre-interview dinner is usually the one part of the visit with no program director in the room, so spend it on what only residents can tell you.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Openers
Which year are you in, and did you come straight from the hospital tonight?
Why ask it
Year and rotation tell you how to weigh everything else this person says, since an intern on wards and a senior on elective live in different programs. If they came from a shift, you also learn what time that shift let them leave.
How did you end up here, and would you rank it the same way again?
Why ask it
If you only get one question in, make it this one. A quick yes with a reason attached and a slow remark that the place has grown on them are both polite answers, and they do not mean the same thing.
What did you not know about this place until you started?
Why ask it
It asks for whatever is missing from the website and the interview-day slides, good or bad. Sometimes the surprise is in the program's favor, such as a strong clinic or a generous attending nobody thought to advertise.
Do the residents spend time together outside the hospital, or does everyone scatter?
Why ask it
The usual answer is yes, so wait for a detail: a named place, something that happened last weekend, whether the years mix. Scattering is not a bad sign where most residents have families nearby, though it does change what arriving alone would be like.
Did you come to this dinner as an applicant, and what do you remember about it?
Why ask it
It puts the resident back in your chair for a moment. The follow-up worth having is whether what they were told that night turned out to be true.
Where were you before this, and how did the move go?
Why ask it
Easy to answer, and a natural way into rent, neighborhoods and what the program did or did not help with. Now and then it turns up a resident from your own region or medical school, who can compare the two for you.
How well did you know your co-interns by the end of the first month?
Why ask it
Orientation, a shared first rotation or a class group chat usually explain a quick yes. If half the class were still strangers by winter, the schedule keeps people apart.
Do residents sign up for these dinners, or do you get asked?
Why ask it
Volunteers and conscripts give different evenings, so ask it with a smile. People who put their names down to meet applicants after a full day of work are telling you something no recruitment slide can.
Life Here
Where do residents live, and what are people paying?
Why ask it
Residents know real rents in a way that a relocation page does not. Salary is easy to compare across programs and useless without this, since the same number is comfortable in one city and tight in another.
How do people get to work, and is parking included?
Why ask it
A small thing that repeats every day for several years. Paid parking, a long shuttle, or a commute that is unpleasant at 5am adds up in a way that people underrate when comparing programs.
Do you feel safe walking to your car or the train after a late shift?
Why ask it
Residents leave at hours when the garage is empty and the shuttle may have stopped running. Find out what the hospital offers, such as an escort or a lit route, and whether people use it.
What do residents here do on a day off?
Why ask it
You hear about the city and, more usefully, whether days off come in a form people can use. A table that struggles to think of anything has answered a different question.
Where do residents eat and drink when the program is not paying?
Why ask it
The dinner venue is chosen to impress, so ask about the ordinary places. You come away with prices, neighborhoods and a sense of whether people have the energy to go out at all.
Do any residents here have kids, and how does that go?
Why ask it
Steer it toward what happened, not the policy: who took parental leave recently, how the schedule absorbed it, and whether it lengthened their training. Leave rules differ by employer, specialty board and country, so get the written version from the program as well.
If you moved here with a partner, how hard was it for them to find work?
Why ask it
A program can be right for you and wrong for the person coming with you. Residents with partners can name the local employers and say how long the search took, which no interviewer can.
Does the salary cover rent, loans and a life here, or do people pick up extra shifts?
Why ask it
Put it to a resident whose situation is close to yours, since a single intern and a parent of two will answer differently. Whether moonlighting is allowed, and from which year, depends on the program and on local licensing rules, so check on interview day.
What is it like to arrive here knowing nobody?
Why ask it
Some programs are full of people who trained or grew up locally and already have a life outside the hospital. If that is the pattern, ask how the residents from elsewhere found their footing.
What is this city like in its worst month?
Why ask it
Everyone sells the best season. The dark winter or the humid summer, described by people who walk to the parking garage before dawn, is a fairer picture.
How easy is it to get home from here for a weekend?
Why ask it
Flights, drive times and whether a weekend off is long enough to use them matter more over several years than they seem to in interview season. Ask someone whose family is as far away as yours would be.
The Work
What time did you get out yesterday?
Why ask it
One concrete day beats any general statement about the hours being reasonable. Put it to residents on different services and you have a range by dessert.
What time do you have to be in on the busiest service, and how early do you pre-round?
Why ask it
Start times are rarely printed anywhere and can differ a good deal between services. Pair this with the leaving time and you have the real length of the day.
Who covers when somebody calls in sick?
Why ask it
A named backup resident each week means the program has planned for illness. If the answer is that people come in sick or a co-intern absorbs the list, there is no margin, and you would be the margin.
What do residents do here that nurses, techs or transport would do at another hospital?
Why ask it
Blood draws, wheeling patients to the scanner, chasing outside records. None of it shows on a rotation list, and an hour of it a day is an hour taken from patients or sleep. Residents who rotated elsewhere as students can compare.
How do residents and nurses get along here?
Why ask it
A lot of what makes a night shift bearable is the nurse on the other end of the page. An example helps more than an adjective: who steadied them as a new intern, or which unit everyone dreads calling back.
How many patients are you carrying on a busy month?
Why ask it
Swap in cases, consults or clinic slots if that is how your specialty counts work. Where there is a cap, residents know both the stated number and the real one, and what happens when the list goes over shows how the program treats its own rules.
How do nights work here, and how many weeks of them did you do this year?
Why ask it
Night float, 24-hour call and mixed systems all exist, and each resident will have a strong view of theirs. The count of weeks matters because a tolerable system becomes a hard one when it comes up too often.
When was your last golden weekend, and how often do they come round?
Why ask it
A full Saturday and Sunday off is the unit residents plan their lives around. An exact date offered without thinking is a good sign, and someone counting back through the months is a less good one.
What is the hardest rotation, and what makes it hard?
Why ask it
Every program has one and residents will name it instantly. The reason is what matters: busy and well supervised is a normal part of training, while busy with nobody to call is a different thing.
How late does charting keep you, and do people finish notes from home?
Why ask it
Notes written at the kitchen table are work that appears on no schedule. You will also hear whether the electronic record helps residents or fights them, which colors every shift.
How many hospitals do you rotate through, and how far apart are they?
Why ask it
A second or third site can mean a different record system, a different parking arrangement and a much longer drive. Ask which site residents like least and why.
On a call day, when and where do you eat?
Why ask it
It sounds trivial and it is one of the quickest reads on workload. Listen for meal money, a cafeteria that stays open overnight, or a shrug and a mention of the vending machine.
How much vacation do you get, and do you get a say in when?
Why ask it
The number of weeks is published, so the part only a resident can answer is the second half: whether requests are honored, whether weeks are handed out by lottery, and whether anyone has been called back. A week you cannot move is worth less than it looks on paper.
How hard is it to swap a shift for a wedding or a family event?
Why ask it
Most residents have tried this and remember how it went. A chief who helps and co-residents who trade without keeping score make a rigid schedule livable.
Support
Do you actually get to didactics, and is that time protected in practice?
Why ask it
Nearly every program calls its teaching time protected. The resident version is whether the pager goes to someone else for that hour, and whether anyone notices when an intern is missing from the room.
On nights, which senior or attending is physically in the hospital with you?
Why ask it
In house and available by phone are different levels of backup, and which one you get varies by program, by service and by year. Ask for the last time the resident needed help at night and how long it took to arrive.
What do attendings expect from an intern on the first day?
Why ask it
Expectations that start low and rise week by week describe a supported start, and a list of things you should already manage alone describes a steep one. Either way you leave with something concrete to prepare before your first day.
What happens when an intern asks a senior something they should already know?
Why ask it
The tone of this answer is the culture of the workroom. Interns who are afraid to ask stop asking, and that is a safety matter as much as a comfort one.
How much autonomy do you have now compared with your first year?
Why ask it
One for a senior resident, and an example beats an impression: who decides the plan on rounds, who runs the code. Some people want to be left to run the team and some want an attending close by, so there is no right answer to wait for.
Are there fellows on your services, and who gets the procedures when there are?
Why ask it
Fellows can mean more teaching or fewer chances to do things yourself, and which it is differs service by service. Official case and procedure numbers are a matter for interview day, but residents can say whether they have to compete for them.
How did you find out how you were doing in your first six months?
Why ask it
Some programs give feedback at the end of every rotation and some leave it to a twice-yearly meeting. If the first real news came from an evaluation form months later, expect to have to go looking for feedback yourself.
Which attending do residents most hope to be paired with, and why?
Why ask it
Names mean nothing to you yet, so follow the why: teaching on rounds, staying late to help, trusting a resident's plan. Count how many names come up, too, since one beloved attending is not a teaching culture.
Does the program director know what you want to do after residency?
Why ask it
A yes with a story means leadership meets residents one to one and remembers them. In a large program the honest answer may be an associate director or a mentor instead, which is fine as long as somebody does.
Where did the last couple of classes go afterwards?
Why ask it
Residents know where their seniors ended up, person by person: fellowship, a hospital job, a practice back home. The part no match list shows is whether those were first choices and who picked up the phone to help.
Who do you go to when something goes wrong?
Why ask it
The useful answer is a name, and how fast it comes. A specific chief or faculty member offered without thinking means the help is real, and if the table goes quiet, ask what the last person in trouble did.
If a resident needs a doctor's or therapist's appointment, how does that get arranged?
Why ask it
Most programs list wellness resources, so ask about the mechanics: who covers the hour, and whether anyone has to explain why they are leaving. Insurance and confidential services differ by employer, so confirm the details with the coordinator.
Is anyone here training on a visa, and how did the program handle the paperwork?
Why ask it
Skip it unless it applies to you, and if it does, raise it early so there is time to find the resident who went through it. Which visas a program sponsors can change from year to year, so get the current policy from the coordinator in writing.
Candid
Has anybody left or transferred out, and what happened?
Why ask it
Ask gently, of one person, and expect that everyone at the table knows the story. Someone switching specialties or following a partner is ordinary, and two people leaving the same class over how they were treated is not.
What do residents here complain about to each other?
Why ask it
Parking, the cafeteria and the record system are ordinary grumbles and can be discounted. Complaints about being unsupported, unheard or unsafe are the ones to write down afterwards.
When you go over on hours, what happens after you log it?
Why ask it
The question is whether honest logging leads to a schedule fix or to an awkward conversation. Work-hour limits come from the accreditor or from law, depending on where you train, so the useful part is how this program responds, not what the limit is.
What has changed here because residents asked for it?
Why ask it
A test of whether feedback goes anywhere. One specific change, even a small one like a repaired call room or a reshuffled night rotation, means residents have some say over their own conditions.
How long has the program director been here, and is any change at the top expected?
Why ask it
Residents usually hear about a departure before applicants do. A new director can be good news, but you would be ranking a program whose next few years nobody at the table can describe, so raise it again on interview day.
Has the program added residents or sites recently, and did the workload follow?
Why ask it
Growth can mean more colleagues to share call, or the same team stretched over another hospital. The residents who were here before and after are the only ones who can say which it was.
Has anyone here taken a research year or changed track, and did the program make room?
Why ask it
Flexibility is easy to promise and best judged by one real case. Ask how long it took to arrange and who had to approve it.
What kind of person would be unhappy here?
Why ask it
A kinder and more answerable way of asking what is wrong with the place. Residents can usually sketch that person, perhaps someone who wants heavy research time or a small class, and you can hold the sketch up against yourself.
Closers
What is the interview day like here, and who should I be ready for?
Why ask it
Residents have watched plenty of interview days and know which faculty member asks about your research and which just wants a conversation. Practical details, like where to park or when the breaks fall, are worth getting tonight too.
What should I ask the program director that residents cannot answer?
Why ask it
It sorts the questions for this table from the ones for the interview, and sometimes surfaces a live issue such as a pending curriculum change. Residents may be curious about the answer themselves.
What would I notice on a visit that does not come across on a video call?
Why ask it
For the virtual meet and greet, where you cannot see who sits together or who arrives late from a shift. Push for the workroom, the call rooms and the streets around the hospital, which a recorded tour tends to skip.
Is there anything you would want to know if you were sitting where I am?
Why ask it
It hands the conversation over, and a resident who has been waiting for an opening will take it. Save it for late in the evening, when they know enough about you to aim the answer.
Who else should I talk to tonight?
Why ask it
Purely practical and easy to forget. It gets you to the resident whose situation resembles yours, whether that means a parent, someone who moved a long distance, or someone from your background.
Could I have your email in case a question comes up before rank lists are due?
Why ask it
The question you most need answered may not occur to you until you are comparing programs weeks from now. Programs and matching services set their own rules on contact after interviews, so follow what you were told and keep any later message to a question or two.
Working a residency social
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How the evening actually works
It is informal, and it is not off the record
Programs differ on whether residents are asked about applicants afterwards, and you will rarely know which kind you are visiting. Treat the evening as one that counts a little without performing for it: be on time, be kind to the servers and the other applicants, and let the residents do most of the talking.
Talk to three or four people, not one
Any single resident's view is shaped by their year, their rotation this month, and their mood. Asking the same two questions of several people is how you get a range instead of an anecdote, and it is also easier than sustaining one long conversation.
Find the residents in the middle
Interns are still in the hardest stretch and have nothing to compare it with. Residents in their final year are busy with what comes next, and the rough parts have had time to soften. Someone in the middle has seen a full year and is still living in it, which in a three-year program means the second years.
Ask about today, not about the program
Specific questions about yesterday, this rotation, or last week get honest and detailed answers. General questions about culture and support get the same three adjectives at every program you visit.
At the pre-interview dinner
Pace the list to the evening
Openers and Life Here suit the wait for food, when the whole table is listening. The Work and Support go better once people have split into twos and threes. Hold the Candid group until you have one resident to yourself, and use the Closers as people reach for their coats.
Choose a handful before you arrive
Pick eight or ten questions, with at least one from each group, and let the rest go. A dinner where you got through a list is a worse dinner than one where a resident talked for ten minutes about a single answer.
Order like a guest
Choose something mid-priced that you can eat while talking, and follow the residents' lead on courses. If they order a drink, one is plenty and none is fine. If the invitation does not say who is paying, ask the coordinator beforehand instead of finding out at the table.
Change seats once
At a long table you will only hear the two or three people nearest you. Arriving a little early, or moving when dessert comes, is the simplest way to speak to residents from more than one year.
If the meet and greet is on video
Breakout rooms are short, so skip most of the openers and bring three questions that need a resident to answer. Keep your camera on, leave room for the other applicants, and use the last minute to ask who you could email about housing or family life.
If you cannot attend
Tell the coordinator as soon as you know and ask whether there is another way to speak with residents, such as a call or a later virtual session. Programs differ on whether the dinner is optional in practice, so ask instead of assuming.
Reading the room
- Who came. A dinner attended by residents from every year, on a weeknight, means something different from one covered by two people who were assigned.
- Whether residents talk to each other or only to candidates. Programs where people are friends look different from programs where people are colleagues.
- How they talk about their seniors and their attendings when the answer is unguarded.
- Whether anybody arrives late from the hospital, and whether that is treated as normal.
- How quickly a hard question gets answered honestly rather than deflected with a joke.
- Whether the same complaint surfaces from unconnected people. That one is real.
Save these for the formal interview day
- 1Board pass rates, case or procedure numbers, and anything that needs an official figure.
- 2Curriculum changes, new rotations, and questions about program leadership plans.
- 3Research support, funding for conferences, and protected academic time.
- 4Contract details: salary, benefits, leave allowance, moonlighting policy, visa sponsorship.
- 5Anything you would want in writing, since a resident's answer at a dinner is not a commitment from the program.
- 6Follow-ups on anything a resident told you that surprised you. Ask the program directly rather than repeating who said it.