how many interviews?

[ladymaven]

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Hi - I'm just curious how many interviews (on average) you did for your peds residency? I will be starting 4th year in a few months, and would like to get an idea of how many programs I can realistically plan to visit during the interview season. Thanks! Congrats to all! ~LadyMaven

 

[Empedocles]

Hi - I'm just curious how many interviews (on average) you did for your peds residency? I will be starting 4th year in a few months, and would like to get an idea of how many programs I can realistically plan to visit during the interview season. Thanks! Congrats to all! ~LadyMaven

Hi LadyMaven, some people do 5 interviews, while others go to the extreme of doing 15. To my perosnal point of view, >10 its just crazy.

I think that a reasonable # is between 7-10.

For FMG the magic number is 10 interviews, for US graduates it may be lower.

 

[mr.annoying]

That's a good question, and I think it depends on your level of competitiveness, as well as the competitiveness of the programs you're looking into.

Overall, I agree with the above post though... around 10 give or take a few based on your application & the programs you're applying to.

 

[jerseygirl22]

I had no idea where I wanted to go when I started the process...so I applied widely...18 programs...I received 17 interview invites and originally scheduled all 17, but I cut back to about 12 that I actually went on. In the end, I ranked 11 programs for a total of 14 "programs" on NRMP because of the primary care vs categorical options.

I also I got my first choice, so it was completely for my own benefit to see so many places...which notably I did enjoy seeing the differences. In the end, I also went on 3 second looks to figure out my 1, 2, and 3 so plan for that as well.

Hope that helps 🙂

 

[superbeangirl]

I agree that you need to look at how competitive you are for the programs you are applying to. NEVER cut a program out before applying if it's somewhere you'd really want to go, even if you think you won't have a chance - you never know, you might just get an interview.

Anyway, personally I applied to 10 and got interview invites to all. I did 7 interviews and ended up ranking 5 programs. I matched at my #1.

Good luck!

 

[Palmetto]

Applied to/Interviewed with 10, ranked 7 (sorry New York...) Most of my classmates who did pediatrics were in the 5-10 range. I agree that >10 is a little excessive.

 

[gooseHC]

I originally applied widely because of a poor Step 1 score, I didn't know what to expect..applied to 20+ or something. Got interview requests from all but 2...scheduled about 15 interviews, and as the trail went on (and my confidence level came out of the gutter)...I ended up doing 9 interviews, and that was pushing it for being too many..

 

[gwydion04]

... mainly because I was greatly limited by geography (4 years of long distance was long enough for me and my s.o. )

 

[LaFondaDynamite]

I applied to 23, got interviews at all 23. Went on 11 interviews, ranked 9. I was couples matching and had no real clue where I wanted to go.

 

[thos]

Applied to 21. Invited to 19. Interviewed at 13. Matched #1.

I probably over did it. Early in the season I realized I would be fairly competitive, but didn't have that confidence until after a couple of interviews. Believe it or not, the 21 applications came after weeding out several others due to program structure, city, etc. In the end, I agree with the other posters that I could have done well with <10, but I really learned a lot from each interview, and it helped form my opinion of what I was looking for in a program. Plus, I grouped interviews, so it wasn't as bad as it sounds. Of course $ is an issue, so do your best to honestly assess programs ahead of time. Finally, peds is good in that it has a long interview season and offers multiple days per week as options. APPLY EARLY. Your application doesn't have to be complete to get invitations. REPLY EARLY. I was given my first choice of interview days at all 13 programs because I replied immediately.