30+ Questions to ask in Your Residency Interview

My co-residents and me (middle) on our last day of teaching the 1st year DPT students in their MSK course

You often hear that you should never leave an interview without asking the interviewer your own set of questions. “You’re interviewing us as much as we’re interviewing you” is a common refrain from graduate and post-graduate programs, such as a residency.

I applied to only one physical therapy residency program: The Ohio State University’s Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Residency. Blessedly, (the absence of a red squiggly line is how I’m just now realizing that’s a real word), I got in.

Here are all of the questions I prepped for my Ohio State interview. You’ll notice that some of the questions are generic enough for any program to answer and others are Ohio State or Columbus, OH-specific.

questions to ask during the residency interview:

Generic:

1. How will you know I’m successful as a staff physical therapist, and how will you know I’m successful as a resident?

2. What are you looking for in a resident?

3. Do you allot any time for regional conferences?

4. What are some of your ongoing research projects, and are they open for resident involvement?

5. What does success look like 6 months into the residency versus towards the end?

6. Where do you see this residency in 5 years? Do you anticipate any significant changes over the next few years?

7. Why did you decide to teach in this residency?

8. What is the biggest challenge residents face and how have you seen residents overcome it successfully?

9. Are there opportunities to supervise DPT or PTA students in the clinic?

10. What are some of the greatest strengths of this program that a resident may not see on day 1?

11. What opportunities exist for pro bono work or other community outreach?

12. What does a typical mentorship session look like? Are the expectations the same across all mentors?

Program specific:

1. What is your favorite part about living in Columbus, OH?

2. Where are your past residents now? (Are they still working at their residency site, are they program faculty, did they go on to pursue a PhD or other degree, did they leave the state, or physical therapy entirely?)

3. Why do you enjoy being a mentor in this residency? Is there anything about the current mentorship model you would restructure?

4. What resources does the program, Columbus, or Ohio State in general, have in place for residents who are struggling - either with specific components of the residency, or other life problems?

5. Could you tell me what the didactic sessions look like?

For the clinic director:

1. How much time do clinicians get for evaluations, follow-ups, re-evals, etc.?

2. Is there a ramp up time, or are residents expected to see a full caseload ASAP?

3. On an average day, how many patients should I expect to treat?

4. What are the productivity standards and how will I know that I am meeting them?

5. What support is available for continuing education?

6. What changes do you anticipate the clinic to undergo over the next 5 years?

7. What is your favorite part about working in your clinic? How would you describe the clinic culture?

8. Are there opportunities to collaborate with other medical specialties at this location?

9. Who is the patient population you serve? What are the surrounding community’s demographics?

10. How many evaluations can I expect to perform in any given day? Is there a daily and/or weekly limit on new patient evaluations?

Answers to seek before the Interview:

Questions I would not recommend asking, but would suggest knowing the answers prior to your interview (clarifying questions in the interview are, of course, OK). Do a Google search, read the program website, chat with current and former residents, and check program social media for the answers before you ask in the interview:

1. Where is the program located? Some programs may actually be housed at branch campuses, and you want to know where you’ll be living before you accept a position.

2. How long is the program? Don’t make any assumptions. Every residency program is different (at Ohio State the ortho residency is 16-18 months, but is only 12-13 months at Duke), and even different specialty program timelines vary within the same university. For example, at Ohio State, the sports and orthopedic physical therapy residencies are 1.5 years long, but the Women’s Health residency ended approximately 2 months before that, the oncology residency was approximately 13 months long, and I think the neuro residency ended somewhere in between.

3. How many residents do you anticipate taking this year? A good question for program leadership, but I would ask this in an email or phone conversation prior to your official interview. Last I heard, Duke accepted 1 ortho resident, Ohio State usually takes 3 ortho and 3 sports residents and they do their didactic and research work together, and some programs take 10+. Each option has its advantages and downsides, and you’ll want to dig deeper into the best setup for you.

4. Outside of patient care, what roles do residents regularly take on? I sought a program that required residents to complete some form of research, allowed residents a big part in teaching in the DPT program’s MSK course, and would be supportive of the resident taking time to attend regional and national conferences. Not every program is set up the same, make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.

5. What is the program’s first-time specialty board exam pass rate? What is the eventual pass rate? What test prep resources are available for residents? Does the program pay for the exam fee?

stand out on interview day:

If possible, research who will be interviewing you prior to interview day. I had the names of all the clinicians, clinic directors, researchers, and former residents who would be interviewing me. I spent some time before the interview day looking into each of these people - their clinical passions, where they completed their own residencies and fellowships and terminal degree programs, their hobbies, research interests, and more.

This showed that I had put in the time to get to know the people behind the interview and that I cared about who they were as people, not just about what they could do for me.

I personalized my questions for the interviewers based on these tidbits (example: “Dr. ‘X,’ I saw that you did both your residency and fellowship here. What was it about Ohio State that drew you here, and what or who was it that made you stay?”) and got a lot more out of the conversation than I had in other interviews I’d been in prior.