Interview timeline for PM&R

[SweetD2014]

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I know there are several threads about this topic in general already, but I hear that the timeline for interviews varies somewhat depending on the specialty. From Sept-Jan, when are the bulk of PM&R interviews granted? I hear that in general most are in early December, does this hold true for PM&R as well?

 

[Eilat87]

I know there are several threads about this topic in general already, but I hear that the timeline for interviews varies somewhat depending on the specialty. From Sept-Jan, when are the bulk of PM&R interviews granted? I hear that in general most are in early December, does this hold true for PM&R as well?

Is your handle a sunny reference?

Also wouldn't mind hearing about timeline as well.

 

[RangerBob]

Most of my interview offers were for Nov and Dec, but I had a few for Jan. I took Dec off, so I scheduled as many PM&R interviews that required travel for Dec as possible, and scheduled all my prelim (I only applied to prelim programs within a 4hr drive) and the more local PM&R programs for Nov and Jan.

But if you are going to take time off, I'd recommend taking Dec off, Nov if possible, and Jan as the last choice. Also keep in mind you will probably get tired and somewhat burnt out at the end of the interview season, so try not to schedule top choices at the end. I scheduled only one PM&R interview in January, and all the others that month were prelim interviews. I was able to be excited about the PM&R interview since it had been a while since my last one, and I just tried my best not to fall asleep at the prelim interviews...

I called a few of my top choices to ask what their interview dates were, so that I could try my best to avoid scheduling other interviews on the same dates in case I got an invite. The program coordinators were all happy to tell me (thought the dates were often tentative), and it actually all worked out.

Try your best to be strategic with how you schedule your interviews, but keep in mind it won't always work out. I interviewed at UNC, VCU, and UVA, and was hoping to schedule them all together (I was driving from Chicago). In the end, I made three separate trips to the south. But I was able to group my CA interviews together so I only flew out once and saved some money.

The interview season is so much fun--you're traveling all over and meeting lots of new people (and PM&R applicants are usually rather likable!) Enjoy it as much as you can!

 

[Arthrocity]

Most of my interview offers were for Nov and Dec, but I had a few for Jan. I took Dec off, so I scheduled as many PM&R interviews that required travel for Dec as possible, and scheduled all my prelim (I only applied to prelim programs within a 4hr drive) and the more local PM&R programs for Nov and Jan.

But if you are going to take time off, I'd recommend taking Dec off, Nov if possible, and Jan as the last choice. Also keep in mind you will probably get tired and somewhat burnt out at the end of the interview season, so try not to schedule top choices at the end. I scheduled only one PM&R interview in January, and all the others that month were prelim interviews. I was able to be excited about the PM&R interview since it had been a while since my last one, and I just tried my best not to fall asleep at the prelim interviews...

I called a few of my top choices to ask what their interview dates were, so that I could try my best to avoid scheduling other interviews on the same dates in case I got an invite. The program coordinators were all happy to tell me (thought the dates were often tentative), and it actually all worked out.

Try your best to be strategic with how you schedule your interviews, but keep in mind it won't always work out. I interviewed at UNC, VCU, and UVA, and was hoping to schedule them all together (I was driving from Chicago). In the end, I made three separate trips to the south. But I was able to group my CA interviews together so I only flew out once and saved some money.

The interview season is so much fun--you're traveling all over and meeting lots of new people (and PM&R applicants are usually rather likable!) Enjoy it as much as you can!

How many interviews did you go on and how many did you rank? Where did you end up if I can ask?

 

[padresp]

I interviewed a few years ago. To me at that time, it seemed like a bell curve centered around December. Mostly mid-December, a couple late November, a couple early-mid January.

 

[SweetD2014]

Is your handle a sunny reference?

Also wouldn't mind hearing about timeline as well.

Nice catch Eilat! Yes it is 🙂 a great show.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I've scheduled a PM&R rotation for a slot from mid-Nov to mid-Dec; originally I'd wanted to avoid it, but I just really wanted to get a fourth audition in, and this is at my favorite program in my home state. From what I've heard from every PD I've asked, programs usually understand when you have to leave for interviews, even if it's an "audition"... did I get some bad advice? 😱

Scheduled a rotation for January with a preceptor who will be cool with me leaving as much as I need to.

 

[RangerBob]

How many interviews did you go on and how many did you rank? Where did you end up if I can ask?

I ended up going to 13 PM&R interviews and 10 prelim interviews. It was recommended to me by more than a few people to aim to interview at ~10 programs and rank ~8, but I felt more comfortable with more buffer room, and I was also curious to see a couple more PM&R programs.

People had told me that prelim programs were really competitive so I wanted to be safe and go on a number of those (but I only applied to local prelim programs, programs that would interview me on my PM&R interview day, or those within a 4-5hr drive).

I ended up overkilling my interviews by quite a bit for both based on how I matched, but the thing is you never know which program will impress you the most, so if you have the means, it's always better to check out more programs.

I was willing to go to all the programs I interviewed at, so I ended up ranking them all. I matched at MCW 🙂

 

[RangerBob]

Nice catch Eilat! Yes it is 🙂 a great show.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I've scheduled a PM&R rotation for a slot from mid-Nov to mid-Dec; originally I'd wanted to avoid it, but I just really wanted to get a fourth audition in, and this is at my favorite program in my home state. From what I've heard from every PD I've asked, programs usually understand when you have to leave for interviews, even if it's an "audition"... did I get some bad advice? 😱

Scheduled a rotation for January with a preceptor who will be cool with me leaving as much as I need to.

I think it really depends on the program, the PD, and the attending you're working with. They might think it looks really bad and take some offense that you take time off to interview, but I think most programs would be understanding--PM&R is a pretty relaxed and easy-going specialty 🙂. However, having said that, I wouldn't rotate at my top choice during interview season, because you want to present yourself in the best light possible (though it sounds like maybe it's just your top in-state choice). But, sometimes you just have to do the best with what you have, and if that's the only month that works for you, then you do the best with what you're given.

I want to add that I'd personally recommend against four PM&R electives. I did three myself--one home rotation and two aways, and most attendings/PDs I spoke with felt like three was the upper limit of what they'd recommend.

4th year is possibly the last time you'll get to experience things other than PM&R, so try your best to take electives that will either complement your PM&R residency (or prelim year), or things that just seem interesting that you won't have the chance to experience again.

But, having said that, you should always do what you feel is right, and if four rotations makes sense to you, you should stick with that.

 

[nonotphysicist]

I ranked 10 rehab programs and 5 prelims. The bulk of my interviewing was done in November and December but the range went from October to January. My #1 was the week before Christmas and that's where I ended up.

It was mentioned above, but don't screw around with prelims. Competitive for PMR and competitive for prelim doesn't always overlap, and we're throwing our hats in with people who are going after derm, optho, etc. You know how strong your resume is, so apply accordingly.

 

[Arthrocity]

I ranked 10 rehab programs and 5 prelims. The bulk of my interviewing was done in November and December but the range went from October to January. My #1 was the week before Christmas and that's where I ended up.

It was mentioned above, but don't screw around with prelims. Competitive for PMR and competitive for prelim doesn't always overlap, and we're throwing our hats in with people who are going after derm, optho, etc. You know how strong your resume is, so apply accordingly.

Anyone know which programs have R positions for 2014?

 

[Mog16]

Shoot it seems I may have mis-managed my schedule. I'm set to do an away rotation at my top choice during December so I'll have to hope I can get most of my interviews scheduled in either November or January. Hopefully my away site will offer me an interview for while I'm there...

 

[SweetD2014]

Shoot it seems I may have mis-managed my schedule. I'm set to do an away rotation at my top choice during December so I'll have to hope I can get most of my interviews scheduled in either November or January. Hopefully my away site will offer me an interview for while I'm there...

I got some advice from someone on this forum addressing this, as I'm in the same spot. Really put my mind at ease, I was starting to panic a little (My top choices are all earlier in the semester, so that may make my situation a little different but regardless each audition rotation needs to represent your best effort): Feel out the program once you get there regarding absences for interviews. Especially since it's PM&R (which tends to be populated by nice, reasonable people), most programs will likely be understanding about this. They know it's December, too, so calling ahead to ask regarding their policy once you've already set up the rotation shows that either (a) you're out of the loop and not aware that interviews are in Nov/Dec and just now realizing this, or (b) you're trying to CYA (which is the truth, haha). That being said, any days that you do miss you should make up on the weekends (whether they ask you to or not) to demonstrate that you are invested in the program/rotation.

We're not in an ideal situation - in my case, I got a little greedy/overzealous with the auditions - but I think it's doable. Obviously, I'm going to try to minimize days away for interviews but I'm going to have to take some time here and there to go away for interviews.

 

[pillowface]

Hi everyone! I'm a 3rd year medical student and was wondering if there was anyone with advice about where to do my elective 4th year rotations?
Thanks so much 🙂

 

[Mog16]

Hi everyone! I'm a 3rd year medical student and was wondering if there was anyone with advice about where to do my elective 4th year rotations?
Thanks so much 🙂

Away rotations can be a double edged sword. If you perform well it will greatly help you when it comes time for the program you rotated at to rank you as they had a whole month to see you shine. On the flip side if you perform poorly it can negatively impact where you fall on the rank list. Keep this in mind when you decide where/if to do an away rotation. If you still want to do aways I'd suggest going to places you really would like to end up as having you around for a whole month can really make you stand out in the program's eyes (you're much more of a known commodity than an individual that they chat with for a morning). That being said I did rotations at UC Davis and University of Washington. I really liked both programs and they offered different opportunities to learn about the field.

University of Washington's rotation is ~90% inpatient with some scattered half days in clinic here and there. The teaching and attendings were both phenomenal. Downside to this program is that as a visiting student it can be difficult to find housing that really suits your needs well. My rotation was at harborview but lecture 2x a week was at the U so I'd have an hour bus ride to get there.

UC Davis offered a more diverse experience being ~50/50 inpatient outpatient. You spend 2 weeks in the outpatient clinic seeing a LARGE variety of things (TBI, SCI, amputee, sports, post-polio, NMD etc) and you get the opportunity to rotate through most clinics twice so you can show how much you learned (hopefully) when you return. One inpatient week is consults and the other is general inpatient rehab. Everyone I met at this program (from residents to attendings) were incredibly friendly and very much into teaching.