Can I do all of my interviews in December?

[BrownieMasshole]

I'm a 4th year med student applying for internal medicine categorical programs. I'm applying to programs in the Northeast/New York area only. I have December and January off and am trying to make some plans for January. Do you think it would be feasible to do all of my interviews in ~3.5 weeks in December (save possibly one interview in January)? What are the experiences of people applying to internal medicine? I plan on submitting my application by the end of September and plan to apply to ~12 programs.

Thanks.

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[elwademd]

I'm a 4th year med student applying for internal medicine categorical programs. I'm applying to programs in the Northeast/New York area only. I have December and January off and am trying to make some plans for January. Do you think it would be feasible to do all of my interviews in ~3.5 weeks in December (save possibly one interview in January)? What are the experiences of people applying to internal medicine? I plan on submitting my application by the end of September and plan to apply to ~12 programs.

Thanks.

programs have already started downloading applications from eras... so, yours isn't in yet, means programs haven't downloaded it... so you might be behind... so you might not have all offers for interview in december.

your best bet would be to get your application in sooner rather than later- after all, what's really going to change in 2-3 weeks on your application?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Also consider that many programs may not schedule interviews during the final one to two weeks of December, given faculty's penchant for taking vacation time then.

In addition, since programs schedule interviews all through the interview season, some may give you a choice of dates and others may not; you cannot count on getting interview offers only in December, especially if they fill up those dates with earlier applicants.

I think it unlikely that you could schedule 12 interviews in 2-3 weeks.

 

[TRAMD]

I did five of my interviews in a hellacious 2 week, 3000 mile driving trip as they were all kind of strung in a row more or less along I-90. It sucked but I saved money.

 

[atsai3]

I'm a 4th year med student applying for internal medicine categorical programs. I'm applying to programs in the Northeast/New York area only. I have December and January off and am trying to make some plans for January. Do you think it would be feasible to do all of my interviews in ~3.5 weeks in December (save possibly one interview in January)? What are the experiences of people applying to internal medicine? I plan on submitting my application by the end of September and plan to apply to ~12 programs.

Thanks.

Very unlikely that the timing will all work out for you since different programs interview on different dates. And it could be quite tiring.

When I interviewed, I went to 12 interviews in 5 weeks and I thought that was exhausting.

-AT.

 

[buckley]

I am leaving the US on the 2nd week of december. Visa expiry. I thought that I could do interviews November to early December. Yikes! Do most programs really interview january...hayayaya!

 

[jennyboo]

I'm a 4th year med student applying for internal medicine categorical programs. I'm applying to programs in the Northeast/New York area only. I have December and January off and am trying to make some plans for January. Do you think it would be feasible to do all of my interviews in ~3.5 weeks in December (save possibly one interview in January)? What are the experiences of people applying to internal medicine? I plan on submitting my application by the end of September and plan to apply to ~12 programs.

Thanks.

YES it is definitely possible to do all of your interviews in one month, especially since it's IM (not too many interviews needed), you're only applying close by and you can either train or drive to them. I was totally able to do it, though I was wiped out by the end of the month. This is what I would do:

1) Get your application in ASAP. Sept 7 is still early but definitely get moving and submit it over the weekend if possible, because people will get invited to interviews in the order their apps are received!

2) Pick which month you want for interviews. December or January. Your choice will be specialty dependent (different fields have different interviewing months). Do keep in mind that most residencies do not interview between Christmas Eve and New Year and only resume interviews in the first week of January. If you want to get away for a couple weeks for vacation, go away for the last 2 weeks of January (allowing you Jan 1 - 14 for interviews) or the last 2 weeks of December (allowing you Christmas but time to interview after you get back). If you want 3 weeks, I'd vote for the last 3 weeks of January provided you get your application submitted this weekend. If you want a full month off, you need to just pick one -- I'm not sure one is better than the other.

3) Don't freak out and ruin your vacation just to go on interviews -- you just need to commit to an interview month and book your vacation month. If for IM you do 8 - 12 interviews, it is VERY possible to do those all in 3 - 4 weeks. You will have to book some back to back, but it is doable.

4) Programs in the same city often ofter interviews on alternating days so you can make the tour while you're in town and then leave without having to return.

I did about 16 interviews in one month, January -- exhausting, but very doable. (I had to apply for both internship and an advanced PGY-2 spot. I did about 6 more in November and December by taking elective days off and asking for a day here, a day there from core clerkships.) The only thing is, don't expect to be able to study for a board exam (i.e. Step 2 CK) at the same time!

 

[gutonc]

I'm a 4th year med student applying for internal medicine categorical programs. I'm applying to programs in the Northeast/New York area only. I have December and January off and am trying to make some plans for January. Do you think it would be feasible to do all of my interviews in ~3.5 weeks in December (save possibly one interview in January)? What are the experiences of people applying to internal medicine? I plan on submitting my application by the end of September and plan to apply to ~12 programs.

Thanks.

As mentioned already, you will really only have ~15 business days to do these interviews b/c, looking at the calendar, the last day for interviews will likely be 12/20 or 21. Most places won't fire back up again until a few days into the new year. So, if you're only applying to IM in NYC area you could do it. If you tack on Boston and Philly you're likely stretching things. 12 programs is more than enough (assuming your Step 1 is >min passing and you have at least made HP on your clinical rotations). In order to make sure you can get your choice of interview dates though, you should submit your app yesterday.