Interview questions.

[DiveMD]

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Does anyone know when I should expect my first interview notification (positive or negative)? How difficult is to accommodate all interviews in a continuous fashion? I would like to “back pack” (without messing up my suit) my entire interview process; starting at home and finishing at home. How much time should I allocate for 8 interviews more or less? One month? Thanks.

DiveMD

 

[xaelia]

There are a couple past threads where folks have posted regarding their interviews that should be pretty easy to find with a search.

As I recall, the first interviews and rejections started to go out near the end of this month.

 

[babyblue_39]

With Ophtho interviews, it will be nearly impossible to arrange interviews in a continuous fashion. Most programs only offer 3-5 interview dates between Oct - Dec. And there are a lot of scheduling conflicts as well. First 2 weeks of Dec. tend to be the most hectic and most people are doing 8-9 in those 2 weeks. But without a doubt, you will be crisscrossing the country for interviews.

 

[DiveMD]

Thanks. Well, I guess bankruptcy is in the horizon.

 

[4424]

there is a residency loan available for 4th yr students. up to $15,000 can be borrowed to be used for interviews and/or relocating at the end of the year. just throwing it out there if that's a help...

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Programs will "try" to be accommodating; however, it's tough to schedule back-to-back interviews when programs may only offer you three interview dates to pick from. Iowa, for instance, has three dates set aside for interview.

Good luck!

 

[Yoshimi79]

also, you have to take a lot of things into consideration when scheduling back to back interviews including flight times/availability/weather, post-interview dinners, how important that program is to you. For example, I had an interview at Iowa on a Friday and an interview at NYEE on a Saturday (the days may be wrong but they were on consecutive days). Nevertheless, Iowa's interview day is long and the only way to schedule a flight out of Iowa to NYC was to take a red eye through chicago. In any case, I ended up cancelling my Iowa interview, after a lot of thought, because it was just goinig to be too much. You have to remember, that you can have 20 interviews but if you're too tired to give it your A+ interview skilz, you'll prob. match but maybe not at your most sought after residency program.

However, you will have to schedule some consecutive interviews in different cities and just have to cross your fingers that the weather will comply and you'll have enough rest to remember that your in LA not Minneapolis.

In any case, good luck and don't sweat too much in the upcoming months. Interviews will come and scheduling will be a bitch, but at least it will be done by dec. 17.

 

[DiveMD]

also, you have to take a lot of things into consideration when scheduling back to back interviews including flight times/availability/weather, post-interview dinners, how important that program is to you. For example, I had an interview at Iowa on a Friday and an interview at NYEE on a Saturday (the days may be wrong but they were on consecutive days). Nevertheless, Iowa's interview day is long and the only way to schedule a flight out of Iowa to NYC was to take a red eye through chicago. In any case, I ended up cancelling my Iowa interview, after a lot of thought, because it was just goinig to be too much. You have to remember, that you can have 20 interviews but if you're too tired to give it your A+ interview skilz, you'll prob. match but maybe not at your most sought after residency program.

However, you will have to schedule some consecutive interviews in different cities and just have to cross your fingers that the weather will comply and you'll have enough rest to remember that your in LA not Minneapolis.

In any case, good luck and don't sweat too much in the upcoming months. Interviews will come and scheduling will be a bitch, but at least it will be done by dec. 17.

Is it correct to say that 75% of the interviews will fall in the last 2 weeks of November and first two weeks of December?😕

 

[4424]

yeah, i've heard the end of the nov and beginning of dec is most of them

 

[speyeder]

Is it correct to say that 75% of the interviews will fall in the last 2 weeks of November and first two weeks of December?😕

I'd say that's a pretty close approximation, unless you're a stellar applicant and you submitted your application really early. In this case, you may be offered earlier interview dates. Some programs interview in late Oct-early November, but this seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

 

[ckyuen]

You can always try to group them somewhat, i was able to get four done in about 9 or 10 days all in same geographic area (1-2 hours ) flying, saved a little, but probably spent it back on hotels and meals

 

[DiveMD]

I guess my question now is: Is four weeks enough for 7-8 interviews?

 

[xaelia]

It looks realistic to fit in 3-4 interviews a week, if you must.

I went through the Program Directory for the schools I applied to, and put the available interview dates into iCal just to see how hectic it might get...some days in December have like ten schools interviewing that day. It looks like it'll be a pain in the butt to schedule interviews that don't conflict, or don't have you flying cross-country twice a week.

 

[rubensan]

I guess my question now is: Is four weeks enough for 7-8 interviews?

give yourself 5 weeks