Interview Timing Question

[FatKid]

Hi everyone. I know that the prime interview season is November to January. (right???)

My question is when do usually you get MORE interviews? November or January?

I'm deciding what my schedule is going to be next year depending on when most interviews come?

Should I pick my really light easy month for November or January? (December is already set and I can't change it)

[gutonc]

Originally Posted by FatKid

Hi everyone. I know that the prime interview season is November to January. (right???)

My question is when do usually you get MORE interviews? November or January?

I'm deciding what my schedule is going to be next year depending on when most interviews come?

Should I pick my really light easy month for November or January? (December is already set and I can't change it)

January. You should also do whatever you can to change December to be easy for you. But you'll have way more interview opportunities in Jan than in Nov.

[Rogue Synapse]

I took November off and wished I had taken January off. All of your later interview offers and random rescheduling will take place in January - it's prime time for interviews, and it was a pain in the butt to do that during even a light rotation. In retrospect, I think January is the single most important month to take off.

[southernIM]

Originally Posted by FatKid

Hi everyone. I know that the prime interview season is November to January. (right???)

My question is when do usually you get MORE interviews? November or January?

I'm deciding what my schedule is going to be next year depending on when most interviews come?

Should I pick my really light easy month for November or January? (December is already set and I can't change it)

December was far and away my busiest month. I agree that you should do everything possible to try and change it. After that it was January with Nov a distant third.

Now that said, this is my experience with one field only. The timing of interviews and the difficulty of scheduling varies by field. In my field many programs don't even offer Nov dates.

[Frugal Traveler]

It is really going to depend on your specialty. My school showed us a powerpoint of the most popular interview month by specialty.

I would vote for December/January in GENERAL.

Try to have a crap rotation in November that you can blow off (or the faculty will not mind if you are away for some of the time).

[thefafo]

I had a required rotation in December, and took all of January off and it turned out just fine. I would just check to see what your schools policy is on time off just in case you have to schedule any in December. There were far more dates offered for interview in December and January than November for all the schools at which I applied.

[WhoisJohnGalt]

Originally Posted by Frugal Traveler

It is really going to depend on your specialty. My school showed us a powerpoint of the most popular interview month by specialty.

I would vote for December/January in GENERAL.

Try to have a crap rotation in November that you can blow off (or the faculty will not mind if you are away for some of the time).

I agree that this is specialty dependent... I applied in psych and November was my most popular interview month.

[drknockboot]

Originally Posted by WhoisJohnGalt

I agree that this is specialty dependent... I applied in psych and November was my most popular interview month.

Yep. Check with other people who applied into your specialty. November was huge for med-peds.

[twilightdoc]

I don't recommend scheduling heavily in January, particularly if you are looking at a wide geographical assortment of programs. Weather (like this year) can be a problem for travel, and your ability to reschedule a missed interview is limited. Plus you compromise the ability to take a "second-look visit", either to a specific program or city. But as others have said, it may be specialty-dependent.

[.edu-MD]

Originally Posted by drknockboot

Yep. Check with other people who applied into your specialty. November was huge for med-peds.

Agreed it's specialty-dependent. I interviewed Med-Peds and did half my interviews in November and half in December and was done before Christmas break, just before the first big snowstorm to hit the northeast.

I'm a big advocate for interviewing as early as possible in the season, especially any snow-prone areas. Much less stress and hassle.