Dr. Goatee

In searching the internet for possible residency interview questions, I stumbled upon some other 'tips' about interviewing. Most notably, one site from Rush University offers the following prescription for a successful personal presentation:

Dress should always be conservative, tasteful, neat—and comfortable.

Have the appearance of a successful, mature physician, not a medical student.

MEN should wear a suit, not sport coat or khakis.

• Navy or gray, solid or pinstripe.
• White or pale-blue shirt.
• Conservative tie: solid, stripes, or small pattern (red or navy).
• Keep jewelry to a minimum.
• Short hair, preferably no goatees.

It's not just the Chicagoans at Rush that offer this advice. I found websites penned by schools from LA to Boston arguing for a clean shaven face. But there are other things I noticed about these suggestions:

Dress should always be conservative, tasteful, neat—and comfortable.
Okay, I buy this. Comfortable helps when you're running to catch your next flight, too.

Have the appearance of a successful, mature physician, not a medical student.
I think I have this down, what with being older than most of the residents at some programs; in five interviews (three schools, so far), I've received the follow-up question, "How old are you?"

Men should wear a suit, not sport coat or khakis.
Okay, I'll give here. Although when I interviewed at UW for the MD/PhD program, I wore khakis and a tie - no jacket. Look where that got me!

Navy or gray, solid or pinstripe.
Evidently black is out?

White or pale-blue shirt.
Whoops again. I don't own white or pale blue.

Conservative tie: solid, stripes, or small pattern (red or navy).
My real goal here is: not ugly.

Keep jewelry to a minimum.
Nickle allergy keeps this in check for me.

Short hair, preferably no goatees.
Does a shaved head count for short hair? Maybe shaving up there will cancel out the apparent transgression I make with this:



I did end up shaving, but it was the top of my head...