Anesthesia interview dates?

[CD125]

Hoping people from this past years cycle can chime in. Was wondering what months I should be taking off. Currently I have November off, 2 week research elective beginning of December, and Radiology for January (which should be chill with me missing days for interviews). Should I keep it like this or make one of the following changes?

1) Switch research to November and have December off. This would leave me free from mid November until January when I start rads.
2) Schedule an anesthesia elective for November and have December off. This would be my 2nd anesthesia rotation and at my home hospital where it is notoriously chill (what anesthesia attending wouldn't let me take some time off for anesthesia IVs amirite?)

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[computernerd225]

Any of those sound fine. I would move the research to November just to avoid having to do some work in the middle of your break, but research doesn't sound that intensive anyways.

 

[Morzh]

Similar situation. Taking Dec off and Nov/Jan as "chill" electives that should be OK with a few missed days. My MS3 observation was that the anesthesiology interviews revved up a little earlier and slowed down sooner than other specialties. Late Oct through mid-Dec seemed to be the heaviest season. Not as much in January, unlike EM for which Jan seemed like the busiest month. Not sure if that's the national trend or just the program here.

 

[afob100]

Completed the majority of my interviews in Nov (started in Oct (17th, 21st, 30th to be exact), then 2-3 a week in Nov and into the first week of Dec). Then things really slowed down with two straggling interviews right before Christmas and one last one in mid Jan. There were also random prelim interviews sprinkled throughout. I would definitely take the month of Nov off and first half of Dec if you can. It also depends on how many/where your prelim interviews are...prob the biggest X factor.

 

[Biochemist21]

In my interviewing experience the vast majority of my interviews were in Nov and the first two wks of Dec. Scheduling in Nov was so dense that for a 2.5wk stretch I literally drove around the country living out of a suitcase (even most economy hotels have next-day laundry if you're willing to pay the exorbitant prices). I just checked my old calender and that stretch had 9 interviews in 20 days (7 anesthesia + 2 prelim).

I would recommend keeping your schedule unchanged. There's not really much in the way of interviews for the last two wks of Dec due to the holidays. I didn't realize how early anesthesia interviews were until I started talking plans with my RadOnc-applying roommate. I think he had only one interview before Jan 1st.

In full disclosure, I was lucky to be off from mid-Oct through mid-Feb, but I realize my situation is not typical .

 

[Wolverines83]

In order of number of interviews:
1)November
2)First 2 weeks of december
3)First two weeks of January = Last two weeks of October

There was nothing the second half of December

Your schedule is fine. Most places have lots of interview dates. If you respond quickly to the emails, you can usually get your #1 or #2 interview date. But make sure to respond really fast to interview invites....like within the hour at most. You'd be surprised how fast they fill up.

 

[Biochemist21]

If you respond quickly to the emails, you can usually get your #1 or #2 interview date. But make sure to respond really fast to interview invites....like within the hour at most. You'd be surprised how fast they fill up.

I would say <15min is ideal. On more than one occasion I caught one of the last interview slots despite calling within 5min of receiving the email.

 

[MikeMerk-MtS]

Had most of my interviews in November, as well, with December being a close second. A few in October, and none in January.

 

[courtnes]

November and December were the heaviest for interviews. I was one of the unlucky people whose interview season stretched from late October to late January due to medicine sub-I in November and scheduling travel/programs offering minimal flexibility on dates. Be prepared, especially if you are interviewing in a wide geographic distribution.

 

[CD125]

Yea I went ahead and switched my research to November. Hoping I can schedule the bulk of my interviews during this chunk of time off.

 

[IkeBoy18]

Yea I went ahead and switched my research to November. So this leaves me from ~Nov 15 until Jan 4 completely off with radiology in Jan. Hoping I can schedule the bulk of my interviews during this chunk of time off.

I think this will work fine. Mine were all in this time frame. Definitely make sure you are vigilant with checking email as others have stated. I responded to a program in 2 min, was told my three choices were full, a week later no less. I was given 2 other dates and I said I would take either within 2 min. Again told they were full and never got off the waitlist.

 

[Wolverines83]

I would say <15min is ideal. On more than one occasion I caught one of the last interview slots despite calling within 5min of receiving the email.

Yeah you're probably right. For the most part, within the hour was enough. Although for one in particular, seven minutes wasn't fast enough.

OP: The key is to accept the offer of an interview and list all the dates you'd like, in order. That way you don't go back and forth with "I'd like Jan 3rd" "sorry...full" then "oh, how about this day?" then "sorry, that's full too...." They'll just get back to you with whatever date they had open.

Just be like "Jan 1, if that doesn't work then how about b, c, d, e, f, then g"

 

[CD125]

Ugh I'll be in outpatient rotation in October...guess I'll have to be pulling out my phone while interviewing/doing physicals on patient...oh well

 

[Wolverines83]

Ugh I'll be in a family med outpatient rotation in October...guess I'll have to be pulling out my phone while interviewing/doing physicals on patient...oh well

Yep...that's where I was. They understand. If not, **** them...your future is more important!

 

[Biochemist21]

Ugh I'll be in a family med outpatient rotation in October...guess I'll have to be pulling out my phone while interviewing/doing physicals on patient...oh well

Just gently inform the patient that this is a phone call/email in reference to another patient, and kindly excuse yourself with promise to return as soon as the issue is resolved. Yes it's a little white lie, and no I'm not advocating for doing this on the regular, but I routinely give my cellphone # to consultants because I'm away from my desk phone and in a patient room. I've never had an issue, patients generally get it, you're busy. The important thing is to return to the pt's room immediately once you finish.

 

[NotFrankUnderwood]

Sorry to bring this up from pseudo death but it was the most recent one I could find. I'm interested in doing a potential 3 week Away from October 26-November 16th in Anesthesia. I'm wondering how flexible programs are with interview dates (primarily applying to west coast if that makes a difference)? Would this be an absolutely terrible idea? The school I'm looking at is one of my top choices, and I don't want to screw up the rotation, but at the same because they responded to me so late, I have already filled up the rest of my away time and wont' have any other opportunities to truly look at the school.

 

[aimedicine]

Interview season start for the most part in November and end in January...so plan to take days off during those 3 months...for those who don't have luxury of really taking time off, its not a bad idea to schedule some ER rotation during those months since ER is shift work you can just schedule your shift around your interview. Otherwise Rads and ambulatory are both chill rotation if you also need time off.

 

[aimedicine]

And Oh by the way get STEP 2CS done and outta of the way quickly...it became a burden on me...you dont want to be worrying about cs in december amd beyond.

 

[courtnes]

Sorry to bring this up from pseudo death but it was the most recent one I could find. I'm interested in doing a potential 3 week Away from October 26-November 16th in Anesthesia. I'm wondering how flexible programs are with interview dates (primarily applying to west coast if that makes a difference)? Would this be an absolutely terrible idea? The school I'm looking at is one of my top choices, and I don't want to screw up the rotation, but at the same because they responded to me so late, I have already filled up the rest of my away time and wont' have any other opportunities to truly look at the school.

My first interviews were the last week of October. Last year it seemed like the heaviest interviewing is November and December, with a couple late October and some programs interviewing well into January. Keep in mind the holidays - end of November and end of December are going to cut into your interview time. I had taken December and January for interview months, but wish I had taken November and December in retrospect. Travel is another time vacuum, and you really want to make it to the pre-interview dinners to see if you like the residents. Good luck!

 

[sleepytime2]

I am under the impression that other than a rare 1 or 2 most interviews are done by mid-December? Would having a step 1 >240 and step 2> 250 make this any more legitimate?

I am trying to figure out if it would be safe to leave the country by holiday time in December and call it quits. thanks for everyones help in advance!

 

[Docuronium]

Did a couple interviews in January---But the vast majority are done November/December.

With those kind of board scores and a smart scheduling plan you should have more than enough under your belt by December to call it good

 

[sleepytime2]

Vickinabox thanks. To your or anyone else, did you find that to be a common theme or is it very variable? I'm trying to decide if it would be feasible for me to leave on a family vacation early in January?

 

[anaesthetic]

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[sleepytime2]

That would for sure be nice anesthetic. Guess I have to weigh the risk of leaving the country late December vs hanging around...

 

[afob100]

That would for sure be nice anesthetic. Guess I have to weigh the risk of leaving the country late December vs hanging around...

You could always schedule some invites for mid/late January at most places if you know you want to leave for a couple weeks in late December. If you just block off whatever time you want to take vacation on your calendar, then just schedule your interviews before and after if you have to.

 

[MDwoman]

So when we get interview e-mails...can we "pick" the date? or do they give us the dates? I have an away rotation at my number 1 spot in late Oct - late Nov b/c that's when I could schedule it. My reasoning was that they would understand that I have to go on interviews. But if we can "pick" dates, I was hoping to load then in late Nov / Dec / Jan. Is that realistic?

 

[sleepytime2]

After we submit our application on sept 15th (seeing that Deans Letter is released on October 1st) when will the majority of interview offers be received? Basically when do we really need to be vigilant about checking our email? It seems to me that last year most places gave all of their invites out by the end of October, Is this correct?

 

[2010houston]

So when we get interview e-mails...can we "pick" the date? or do they give us the dates? I have an away rotation at my number 1 spot in late Oct - late Nov b/c that's when I could schedule it. My reasoning was that they would understand that I have to go on interviews. But if we can "pick" dates, I was hoping to load then in late Nov / Dec / Jan. Is that realistic?

Yes you can generally pick dates-- they will give you a list and you get back to them (as others have mentioned, respond ASAP) with your preferred dates. You won't always get exactly what you want, but especially if you're aiming for later dates that should be pretty doable. When you send the responses, reply with your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices so you don't get caught playing email tag with the coordinator and lose out as dates fill up in the meantime.