'20-'21 Interview Timeline

[Shawno19]

Since finishing my application last Tuesday my anxiety has shifted from applications to interviews and have searched a few times since then for any consensus on how the interview timeline will be different this year.

The most common response I had read is "no one knows", which is fine leading up to applications being visible for programs. But I have since heard, 3rd hand, two different things from programs, that they will compress the timeline to make up for the delay, and not to worry if you don't hear back from anyone before Thanksgiving. I understand different programs will have different plans but I am trying to find out which will be the more common one.

Plus hearing from other friends who have not only got interview invites, but have actually already interviewed (not in EM), I am hoping maybe there is more of a sense out there how programs plan on scheduling their interviews. Such as keeping to the traditional vast majority of interviews will be done in November and December, or since the opening of applications were pushed back ~5 weeks expect the whole timeline to be pushed back several weeks to a month.

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[gamerEMdoc]

Since finishing my application last Tuesday my anxiety has shifted from applications to interviews and have searched a few times since then for any consensus on how the interview timeline will be different this year.

The most common response I had read is "no one knows", which is fine leading up to applications being visible for programs. But I have since heard, 3rd hand, two different things from programs, that they will compress the timeline to make up for the delay, and not to worry if you don't hear back from anyone before Thanksgiving. I understand different programs will have different plans but I am trying to find out which will be the more common one.

Plus hearing from other friends who have not only got interview invites, but have actually already interviewed (not in EM), I am hoping maybe there is more of a sense out there how programs plan on scheduling their interviews. Such as keeping to the traditional vast majority of interviews will be done in November and December, or since the opening of applications were pushed back ~5 weeks expect the whole timeline to be pushed back several weeks to a month.

There isn't one. There has never been a consensus. Programs have always done things differently. What we could say, in normal years, is how the timeline normally works for most programs, but there are always outliers. But this year is completely different. We've never seen in my academic career the whole thing pushed back like this. So if someone is telling you "how its going to work" they are guessing.

In a normal year it would take about 4 weeks before you'd see a big wave of interviews come out, typically mid October. There would be some interviews come earlier, but that was when I'd say the initial surge would happen.

My GUESS is, this year you'll see that timeline compressed, and the initial wave of apps will come out about 2 weeks or so after ERAS opens.

Why am I speculating that it will be so much quicker? Well, for one, programs have already lost a month of interviews, they need to get this show on the road, because the match hasn't been pushed back. Second, unlike most years when the ACEP and ACOEP residency fairs happen long after ERAS is already open, residency fairs preceded ERAS opening. And many residencies held their own online meet and greets. Which means they already have a bunch of names of people they know are interested before ERAS even opened. Which will speed up the process of narrowing in on certain candidates from the get go for an initial wave of invites.

Again, this is all my best GUESS from an insiders perspective. Take it for what it's worth. No one really knows how it will really go down.

 

[Shawno19]

There isn't one. There has never been a consensus. Programs have always done things differently. What we could say, in normal years, is how the timeline normally works for most programs, but there are always outliers. But this year is completely different. We've never seen in my academic career the whole thing pushed back like this. So if someone is telling you "how its going to work" they are guessing.

In a normal year it would take about 4 weeks before you'd see a big wave of interviews come out, typically mid October. There would be some interviews come earlier, but that was when I'd say the initial surge would happen.

My GUESS is, this year you'll see that timeline compressed, and the initial wave of apps will come out about 2 weeks or so after ERAS opens.

Why am I speculating that it will be so much quicker? Well, for one, programs have already lost a month of interviews, they need to get this show on the road, because the match hasn't been pushed back. Second, unlike most years when the ACEP and ACOEP residency fairs happen long after ERAS is already open, residency fairs preceded ERAS opening. And many residencies held their own online meet and greets. Which means they already have a bunch of names of people they know are interested before ERAS even opened. Which will speed up the process of narrowing in on certain candidates from the get go for an initial wave of invites.

Again, this is all my best GUESS from an insiders perspective. Take it for what it's worth. No one really knows how it will really go down.

Thank you! I understand every program might have a different plan but I appreciate your expert opinion on which way it might lean.

 

[EKGdoc]

County programs are using a uniform interview invite release date of 11/2/20. So don’t expect to hear from any of those programs b4 then. Good luck, be patient, it all works out in the end.