Interview flexibility

[leviathan]

Just wondering how flexible interview scheduling really is? If I am on an important rotation in December that I can't miss any dates for, would I be able to schedule all my interviews in October,November and January? Or are there programs that exist which only interview in certain months, e.g. in my case, December?

Cheers

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Bigbote]

Most programs conduct interviews over a couple of months, so you can definitely get a slot that won't be in conflict with your rotation. Some programs though, as you said, would do a lot of their interviews within a single month, which would be tough luck for you.

I actually had one program assign me the specific date right at the onset, I didn't try to change schedule because I would be able to go anyway, but I don't think they would have been terrible offended if I tried to pick a date that is more convenient.

 

[shantster]

Depends on what specialty you are applying to and how many residents each program takes. For small programs/small specialties, they might only take 2 or 3 people each year. Therefore they might only interview 3 days out of the year. That could be only December. Or you could have a place that only interviews in November (2 dates) and December (4 dates). If you get the invite after the November dates fill up, your only option will be December even if they interview more dates.

My advice is to take a vacation month or something that gives you tons of flexibility in December since most places are interviewing throughout December. A few programs might do December/January only, some might do November/December only, and some might do October through beginning of February, but at least most (if not all) of them will be doing interviews at some point in December. If you only get one month to make a lighter rotation to take off, you get your most bang for your buck with December.

 

[Law2Doc]

Just wondering how flexible interview scheduling really is? If I am on an important rotation in December that I can't miss any dates for, would I be able to schedule all my interviews in October,November and January? Or are there programs that exist which only interview in certain months, e.g. in my case, December?

Cheers

In general, your "job" during 4th year is to line up a residency. You do your best to accommodate your rotations, even offer to make up the time on a weekend or evening, but if there's an interview you want to go to and a rotation director has a problem with that, you need to go over their head.

 

[deleted103644]

Just wondering how flexible interview scheduling really is? If I am on an important rotation in December that I can't miss any dates for, would I be able to schedule all my interviews in October,November and January? Or are there programs that exist which only interview in certain months, e.g. in my case, December?

Cheers

Bad move. Many programs finish interviewing in December. Few interview in October.

 

[mordounhas]

I really only know the Orthopaedic trail well, but if you're not applying in a field where they're willing to let you interview at your leisure or on a wide variety of dates, I wouldn't schedule anything in December or January that would make it difficult to go on interviews. At least for Ortho, almost all programs only have a few days on which you can interview and if you can find Monday-Thursday interviews, you tend to snatch them up in a hurry because the weekends are so busy interview-wise.

I had one run of six interviews in nine days and ran into other people on the trail with similar stretches- this would have been very difficult (ie impossible) to do if you can't miss any days. I took a month of vacation in December and scheduled a lighter rotation in January and don't regret it.

 

[cofcemt]

At least for Ortho, almost all programs only have a few days on which you can interview and if you can find Monday-Thursday interviews, you tend to snatch them up in a hurry because the weekends are so busy interview-wise.

I had one run of six interviews in nine days and ran into other people on the trail with similar stretches- this would have been very difficult (ie impossible) to do if you can't miss any days. I took a month of vacation in December and scheduled a lighter rotation in January and don't regret it.

This just goes to show how much variation between specialties. I did EM and rarely could line up interviews together and almost no programs interviewed on the weekends. Most i did together were 4 within 9 days (including thanksgiving).

Although ~80% of the interviews are Dec/Jan, with most in Dec.

 

[Phyozo]

I did internal medicine and most of our interviews were Dec/Jan with a few doing a bit earlier in Nov. The answer to your question is really to make sure you don't do any important rotations in those months. As L2D said, your primary job is to find a residency. Especially in this era of smart phones, most people (including myself) scheduled interviews within hours of receiving the invite email...In one case, I had to wait on a course coordinator to get back to me about my rotation and ended up waiting 48 hours after receiving an interview invite to a top 10 school only to find that all but one day had already been filled (the last day, in fact). Don't expect people to work around your schedule because there are hundreds of other applicants willing to be flexible that are likely just as qualified as you are.

 

[leviathan]

Thanks for the advice guys. I will definitely rearrange my elective schedule so I'm available for all the interview months.