cancelling interviews

[jazzjazzutah]

i hope everyone is having as much fun as i am on the interview trail. by this time most schools are out of interview spots. if you are considering cancelling an interview, please do it sooner rather than later. there are a lot of applicants whose dream school might just be an interview you are not very interested in and likely to drop last minute (it's always tough to drop interviews). it's also difficult making travel arrangements last minute. good luck to everyone!

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[wannabeOBGYN]

And let us say, amen.

I completely agree! My dream program just told me they wayyy overbooked this year and nobody's canceled in 2 weeks. Help a fellow student out and cancel if you know you don't want to be there.

 

[GuzzyRon]

I completely agree.

 

[residencycoord]

Thank you for taking the time to post this on the forum. As soon as you know if you are not going to interview at a program, just send the coordinator a quick e-mail letting them know. A lot of time and effort go into making the schedules for those days and for some programs, when one person cancels, it throws off their entire day. I even hear that there are some programs that pay for hotel rooms, and if you do not cancel within a reasonable time, the program is charged for those rooms. Also, don't ever be a no-show. There are programs that will contact your medical school to complain. Also realize that some coordinators have very long memories, and if you are planning on applying for fellowship, your name may stick in their mind (and not in a good way).

 

[InWonderland]

Just want to echo this-- I'm waitlisted for a few dates at places I'd LOVE to interview at. It would really suck to not even have a chance at a residency you might love because of scheduling. If anyone thinks they won't go to a scheduled interview, pretty please cancel ASAP.

p.s.-- if anyone is scheduled for UW-Madison for next week Dec. 16 and can't/doesn't want to go, I am first on the waitlist for this and it's my last chance date-wise to interview there. Please cancel today if you're going to anyway!! Thank you!

 

[mdragn]

It was because of this thread that I cancelled an interview yesterday with 1 month plus notice. I was not very interested in the program and would most likely rank it very low based on location alone and opportunities for my partner. My advisor strongly discouraged it because she wants me to rank as many programs as possible, but after 3 days of back and forth, she agreed it was not for me. Hopefully, someone with more of an interest is able to go.

In my program, we are told repeatedly that this year is super competitive and we need to rank as many programs as possible. But how would ranking a program low and most likely being ranked low on that program help me? Anyway, I wonder if I'll regret it later, but I doubt I will even if I don't match.

-Dragon

 

[berger911]

It was because of this thread that I cancelled an interview yesterday with 1 month plus notice. I was not very interested in the program and would most likely rank it very low based on location alone and opportunities for my partner. My advisor strongly discouraged it because she wants me to rank as many programs as possible, but after 3 days of back and forth, she agreed it was not for me. Hopefully, someone with more of an interest is able to go.

In my program, we are told repeatedly that this year is super competitive and we need to rank as many programs as possible. But how would ranking a program low and most likely being ranked low on that program help me? Anyway, I wonder if I'll regret it later, but I doubt I will even if I don't match.

-Dragon

gee wiz! thank you so much! so much sense of entitlement in your post. do you want a cookie? i'll make sure to the tell the match system to grant you your number one choice just because you gave someone an opportunity to interview in a place you essentially have no interest in!

 

[Quink]

Thank you for taking the time to post this on the forum. As soon as you know if you are not going to interview at a program, just send the coordinator a quick e-mail letting them know. A lot of time and effort go into making the schedules for those days and for some programs, when one person cancels, it throws off their entire day. I even hear that there are some programs that pay for hotel rooms, and if you do not cancel within a reasonable time, the program is charged for those rooms. Also, don't ever be a no-show. There are programs that will contact your medical school to complain. Also realize that some coordinators have very long memories, and if you are planning on applying for fellowship, your name may stick in their mind (and not in a good way).

Sorry to say that way too many people seem to think that canceling an interview less than a week before is ok. It is not ok for programs or for other applicants. Unless it is a true emergency, this is just lacking in courtesy.

 

[mdragn]

deleted

 

[HumbleMD]

Sorry to say that way too many people seem to think that canceling an interview less than a week before is ok. It is not ok for programs or for other applicants. Unless it is a true emergency, this is just lacking in courtesy.

Unless you get off the waitlist from a better program with <1 weeks notice. Just hapenned to me. It was worth it.

 

[Irina73]

This courtesy should extend both ways. I had a program cancel my interview 4 days before my flight. I'm very annoyed and somewhat poorer.

 

[Isame]

I've never heard of that happening. What was their reasoning? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[Irina73]

The program said "Our program leadership has determined that we will only be ranking those applicants who have passed USMLE exams on their first attempts. In addition, for applicants from offshore schools, we will only be accepting those whose schools have admission criteria consistent with US allopathic medical schools."

My step scores are 218 and 246, first attempt, but I am a US citizen IMG (MD) and I think they are trying to eliminate IMGs from the interview process. That's fine, but it would have been nice if they decided this before confirming the interview and the meet-n-greet just a few days before the rejection. Interestingly, I have the California letter (PTAL) and this program says that they use the California list of schools.

I partially blame myself because I had second thoughts about the program before I bought the plane tickets because they are currently on probation, and last year resorted to the scramble to fill their slots.

 

[berger911]

The program said "Our program leadership has determined that we will only be ranking those applicants who have passed USMLE exams on their first attempts. In addition, for applicants from offshore schools, we will only be accepting those whose schools have admission criteria consistent with US allopathic medical schools."

My step scores are 218 and 246, first attempt, but I am a US citizen IMG (MD) and I think they are trying to eliminate IMGs from the interview process. That's fine, but it would have been nice if they decided this before confirming the interview and the meet-n-greet just a few days before the rejection. Interestingly, I have the California letter (PTAL) and this program says that they use the California list of schools.

I partially blame myself because I had second thoughts about the program before I bought the plane tickets because they are currently on probation, and last year resorted to the scramble to fill their slots.

that's very unfortunate, especially since those are not bad numbers.

 

[Moosemilk86]

Just a bump to remind everyone to cancel interviews sooner rather than later

 

[JacobMedical]

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