Call program about interview date if planning to be in the area?

[custard]

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I remember that while applying and interviewing for medical school it was okay to call schools to inquire about the status of your application, letting them know you are planning on being in the area. I got several interviews invites sooner this way. Is this also done for residency programs?

 

[flash]

It's only 9/18 and every program organizes its match process differently. e.g., sees in-house people first, then in state or tier one, then out of state. Other programs have their own selection committee's. Some download a batch a week or every two weeks. I would not call for a status update or attempt to 'speed up' the process. Now if you're legitimately going to be in a more distant area for something, then perhaps something you might inquire about - whether before an invite or not is your call, whether call or email is your call too. I would wait longer, it's only the 18th.

 

[psychattending]

Calling a program at such an early date would be a definite negative to your application. Programs are busy trying to evaluate the avalanche of applications that have and continue to receive.

 

[nitemagi]

Agree with excellent notes above 😀

Don't try to speed it up artificially. If you're traveling cross-county and will be near a program you haven't heard from yet, that's reasonable. I don't think anyone is going to move you to lower in the pile based on the phone call.

 

[psych]

The program director at my school specifically said not to contact a program you are waiting to hear from. She was very adamant about that... But if November rolls around and I still haven't heard from my top choices, I'll probably break her rule.

 

[billypilgrim37]

Don't do it unless you want to irritate the folks substantially. It's on you to coordinate your interviews to other interviews and your travel. Some programs even specifically had their interviews on days that frustrated your efforts to interview at other programs nearby in the same trip.

 

[custard]

If you're traveling cross-county and will be near a program you haven't heard from yet, that's reasonable. I don't think anyone is going to move you to lower in the pile based on the phone call.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This is the circumstance I was thinking about when asking my question. I am currently organizing a multi-city flight itinerary for the interviews I've received so far and there is just one program that I'll be close by which I haven't heard from yet so I figured I would check what the general etiquette was about this. I'll plan on holding off on any calls.

 

[atsai3]

Hard to say what the best advice would be.

I was in your shoes when I interviewed (i.e., I received interview invites in cities where I had applied to other programs but had not heard from those other programs). Because I had a lot of non-interview travel planned, I needed to at least try to string together some interview dates. So I just went ahead and e-mailed/called program coordinators at the other programs where I had not received an interview invitation as of that time. Some of the program coordinators were able to work something out with me, others were not. None expressed irritation that I would be so audacious as to call them before the official interview invitation had gone out.

 

[nitemagi]

Hard to say what the best advice would be.

I was in your shoes when I interviewed (i.e., I received interview invites in cities where I had applied to other programs but had not heard from those other programs). Because I had a lot of non-interview travel planned, I needed to at least try to string together some interview dates. So I just went ahead and e-mailed/called program coordinators at the other programs where I had not received an interview invitation as of that time. Some of the program coordinators were able to work something out with me, others were not. None expressed irritation that I would be so audacious as to call them before the official interview invitation had gone out.

Yep. In fact I hadn't even heard from the program I matched at before contacting them. I was scheduling a full coastal swing and sent an email of interest, which led to a near immediate interview invite. I found out later they had been waiting on my dean's letter and I had likely been in the "maybe" category, with my email triggering a review of my app and an interview invite.

 

[MiddleRoad]

Yep. In fact I hadn't even heard from the program I matched at before contacting them. I was scheduling a full coastal swing and sent an email of interest, which led to a near immediate interview invite. I found out later they had been waiting on my dean's letter and I had likely been in the "maybe" category, with my email triggering a review of my app and an interview invite.

I'm thinking of following the path mentioned above and sending an email of interest to a program that I haven't heard from yet. People received interviews from this program over a month ago (per the interview postings here on SDN) and I've gotten invites from similarly competitive programs.

Any advice on what to say in one of these emails? Is it still too early?

 

[nitemagi]

I'm thinking of following the path mentioned above and sending an email of interest to a program that I haven't heard from yet. People received interviews from this program over a month ago (per the interview postings here on SDN) and I've gotten invites from similarly competitive programs.

Any advice on what to say in one of these emails? Is it still too early?

I'll tell you what I stated - and I wouldn't use this unless it can be truthful. I stated I had heard great things about their program from an attending/mentor (educator and known nationwide), and hadn't heard anything from them at this point. I mentioned I would be in the area and was truly hoping for an opportunity to interview there since I had heard such great things about the program. I also mentioned that if anything was missing from my application to please let me know so I could take care of it.

Interview soon thereafter. 😎

 

[LEdaddy]

I'll tell you what I stated - and I wouldn't use this unless it can be truthful. I stated I had heard great things about their program from an attending/mentor (educator and known nationwide), and hadn't heard anything from them at this point. I mentioned I would be in the area and was truly hoping for an opportunity to interview there since I had heard such great things about the program. I also mentioned that if anything was missing from my application to please let me know so I could take care of it.

Interview soon thereafter. 😎

Thanks! This is helpful.