Interview follies

[PhakeDoc]

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How in the world are you guys scheduling everything? I feel the urge to write an optimization program to fit in all the interviews, and of course [hopefully] not all the invites have come yet...

So, for those who've already been through this process previously...how many interviews did you actually end up going to - neuro and prelim?

I can only imagine the craziness that folks in derm, rads, ortho, etc., have to go through since they need to interview at oodles of places to have the match stats work in their favor.

 

[Amos]

How in the world are you guys scheduling everything? I feel the urge to write an optimization program to fit in all the interviews, and of course [hopefully] not all the invites have come yet...

So, for those who've already been through this process previously...how many interviews did you actually end up going to - neuro and prelim?

I can only imagine the craziness that folks in derm, rads, ortho, etc., have to go through since they need to interview at oodles of places to have the match stats work in their favor.

I think I did 12 or 13 neuro interviews and 5 prelims. All but one of the prelim interviews were set up so they occured the day before my neuro interview at said institution.

After about 10 neuro interviews I got worn out. It was fun traveling all over, but toward the end it was hard to keep up my enthusiasm, especially since I was also studying for step II at the time.

 

[typhoonegator]

Heh, I just pulled out my "application status report" from the bowels of my computer. Memories ensue.

Looks like I applied to 16 neuro programs, and got interview requests from all. I went on 10 interviews, and declined 6. Most of the prelims were affiliated with the neuro programs, so I only went to 2 programs for prelim that I wasn't interested in for neuro.

It appears that I was able to coordinate all my prelim interviews within a day or so of my neuro interviews, except in New York, which required a separate trip. However, this was a few years ago, in the San Francisco Match era, and I think the coordination between medicine/neuro interviewing has improved since that time.

Fitting them all in does require some coordination. I went on a few trips where I went from city to city on the east coast without coming home in between, but I was on elective throughout this period, so it wasn't like I had to be on service or anything. Doing this can decrease the cost a bit as well, since you don't have to keep inefficiently coming home for a few days, just to leave again for somewhere else.