This past week was the final week in the six weeks and one of the tasks we were supposed to accomplish was scheduling two interviews. Now, as neurosurgeons are extremely busy, it was difficult finding these interviews. For every ten doctors I would call, I would maybe get two responses. Initially, it was frustrating. I did not want to keep calling because it seemed like no one was responding. But, as the week progressed, I got a lot more responses. In fact, my first interview was this past Friday.
Although I was looking forward to the interview, I was extremely nervous. Being my first interview, I had absolutely no idea how it was going to go. Was conversation just going to flow normally? Would the doctor I was interviewing be nice and open or was she going to be hostile and serious? Did I even know what to ask her? All these thoughts and doubts were running through my mind, but the moment I stepped into her office, I immediately knew the interview was going to go well.
Dr. Rickert greeted with a smile and was cordial and very willing to answering all of my questions. She not only offered me valuable information about the field of neurosurgery, particularly vascular neurosurgery, but she also shared with me some of her personal experiences.
This upcoming week, I have three interviews scheduled on Tuesday, one of which is with a pediatric neurosurgeon. One thing I plan on doing in preparation for these interviews is doing a little bit more basic research so that I have a better understanding of general procedures and terminology. It feels like all that we have spent the last 5 weeks planning for is finally beginning to result in fruition.
