How many interviews should one go on?

[medstudent87]

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I applied to nearly 30 programs. If I (theoretically) get 30 invites, should I just pick the best 10-15 and only go on those? Or should I try to go on all of them? I'm currently getting invites from mid-tier places and I've been scheduling all of them, but my interview month(s) are filling up quickly...and I haven't really heard from places I'd really like to go to....


Sry if this makes anyone that hasn't been getting invites feel bad...that was not my intention.

 

[deleted480308]

I applied to nearly 30 programs. If I (theoretically) get 30 invites, should I just pick the best 10-15 and only go on those? Or should I try to go on all of them? I'm currently getting invites from mid-tier places and I've been scheduling all of them, but my interview month(s) are filling up quickly...and I haven't really heard from places I'd really like to go to....


Sry if this makes anyone that hasn't been getting invites feel bad...that was not my intention.

I would go to every single one that I could afford to go to.....simply increasing your odds. This is not an easy field and you don't get a bunch of "do-overs", so make this time count

 

[p30doc]

How many you need to go on probably depends on how strong of a candidate you are for the programs you are interviewing at. We all have finite resources, be it money, time, or patience for another interview day. I am not a superstar, and will go on as many interviews as time allows. My finite resource may be # of interviews offered 😉. Realistically I doubt I would go on more than 15-20. It seems like it would be severely diminishing returns on chance of matching at that point to me.

 

[medking]

I applied to nearly 30 programs. If I (theoretically) get 30 invites, should I just pick the best 10-15 and only go on those? Or should I try to go on all of them? I'm currently getting invites from mid-tier places and I've been scheduling all of them, but my interview month(s) are filling up quickly...and I haven't really heard from places I'd really like to go to....


Sry if this makes anyone that hasn't been getting invites feel bad...that was not my intention.

Off the top of my head, I believe the last NRMP stats support 11/12 being the magic number for Anesthesia.

 

[partydoc]

When I applied I told myself that the most I will go on is 15. Right now I'm scheduling everything that comes my way, and I will reschedule if programs I would rather be at come along.

I applied to 10 TY's, and will go on as many of those as possible since I only applied local.

 

[geogil]

I would go to every single one that I could afford to go to.....simply increasing your odds. This is not an easy field and you don't get a bunch of "do-overs", so make this time count

This may be sound advice for applying to medical school, but does not hold true for residency. After about a dozen interviews you will have a few clear cut winners, a few losers, and a bunch in the middle that blend together. You will also be several thousand dollars poorer by January. After about a dozen you will not increase your odds of matching appreciably.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I disagree; I'd also go to every one I could afford. You may want to get more selective after you've already got 10+ you're interested in scheduled, but I found several sleeper hits that I whimsically went on for one reason or another - usually a combo of cost and location. For instance, I ended up really liking Oklahoma and Tulane, despite not knowing much about them beforehand. Since you're on SDN, you'll have a nice sounding board for which interviews to pick up.

 

[XRanger]

Yeah I have the same dilemma and I think the limiting factor is the number of dates available. I applied to around 30 anesth and 20 prelim and there's no way I could go to all of them. My interview month is filling up quickly and some of them have residents dinner the night before so it's taking up 2 days. Plus I applied to a lot of west coast and east coast programs so flying back and forth that also takes up the whole day each way

 

[Notanerd]

So if you go by the stats I think you need like 9 or so to be in the 99% safety of matching but personally I think you would only need 5-6 interviews to match but a lot of this depends on who you are. I think a lot of people do not understand that once you are invited to an interview your are considered the same as every other applicant and at that point the program is really just looking to see if you fit in with them... its almost a point of self selection. Are you a pompass ass on the interview trail and really impressed with yourself or are you a humble person that is looking to help your colleagues. Every program has a different personality and that pompass ass will fit in really well at the right place and the chill laid back person will fit in really well at another institution its really about how you fit in. I dont think it can be over emphasized that if you have been invited you are now considered by there program to be good enough to go there i.e. the guy with a 256 on step 1 is scene the same as a guy with a 235 on step one they will not rank 1 high than the other after they both have been invited to interview. Hope this makes sense.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I dont think it can be over emphasized that if you have been invited you are now considered by there program to be good enough to go there i.e. the guy with a 256 on step 1 is scene the same as a guy with a 235 on step one

"Good enough to be there" doesn't mean "the same." As with everything in this game, it depends on where you go. I'm sure there are programs that decide who to interview and then completely disregard everything but the interview when ranking people. I'm also sure there are programs that consider everything as a whole, and I'd guess the latter is probably the more common of the two.

 

[ssmallz]

10-15 seems right.....I wouldn't go on any more than that unless you have extenuating circumstances I.E. you're trying to couple match w/your significant other. It's not that more interviews aren't better but I just don't think they will significantly increase your chances of matching and you will be wasting your time an money.

 

[shift_roro]

10-15 seems right.....I wouldn't go on any more than that unless you have extenuating circumstances I.E. you're trying to couple match w/your significant other. It's not that more interviews aren't better but I just don't think they will significantly increase your chances of matching and you will be wasting your time an money.

Agree. Unless you are couples matching or are a complete dud on interviews, any more than 15 would just be a waste of time and money.