Interview Timeline

[PropofolandPorsche]

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[flyingdutchman]

I had a couple in Oct, a couple in November, and the majority are scheduled for Dec/Jan. I'd say there were an equal amount of dates available in Nov, Dec and Jan but the December ones seemed to get taken more quickly.

 

[rabble]

The majority of dates I was offered were in November and December, with a few in October and January. I had to schedule most of my interviews for December due to a busy November rotation. Now I wish I had scheduled November to be an off month or a rotation with flexible free time.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

Like what's been said in prior posts: most interviews are in December - January. A number of programs interview in November also (some even start by the second week of November). I had an interview as early as mid October. Most programs will NOT interview the last two weeks of December due to holidays. A small number of programs will do weekend interviews! (e.g. UMass). There are definitely programs that are interviewing into February (e.g. Mount Sinai).

Just to offer my perspective to anyone who may fall into the same problem - I have to do a rotation smack dab in the middle of interview season. This means my entire December and the end of November is off-limits to all but 1-2 interviews. However, I was still able to fit in all prelim and Anesthesia interviews (20+) in that time frame. It does help that I am geographically centered in only one region of the country. Travel time is the biggest problem for interview season!

As for interviewing later vs earlier, everyone will tell you there is no difference and I believe that to be true. Quite a few programs were very upfront about telling us applicants that they have a meeting of all the admissions faculty soon after the interview day ends and they decide who will be on the rank list and who will not. I don't think all programs do this but not all programs are open about their policy anyway (what have others heard?). To add to that, during one of my interviews, they PD showed a study done for ER residency that showed no difference in who matched into a program based on when they interviewed.

I do recommend having a few practice interviews in the beginning. I can definitely say in my first two interviews that I was absolutely horrific.

 

[putyou2sleep]

Just like the others have said: mostly November-January.

I had one in October, 8 in November, 7 scheduled in December, and 1 in January.

I would second doing some practice ones at the beginning, but would also STRONGLY push you to do the ones you're interested in, say as numbers 4-10, because you will get sick and tired of interviewing. I can say that of the 8 I have left, I plan to go to 2 or maybe 3 of them.

 

[geogil]

Unlike ENT or Ortho, Anesthesia programs generally give you several days to choose from and let you schedule your own interviews. I scheduled mine mostly in November and December, but I had a few in October. I wanted Jan free because my wife's due, so I front loaded my schedule. I got most of my anesthesia interview invites by the middle of october, so you should be able to have a good idea of what the fall will look like well before the interviewing begins.

 

[ZzzPlz]

Remember,
Not only do you get tired of interviewing late in the season, but residents and attendings get tired of interviewing as well-- hence, a good interview may be less memorable to all parties.

Interview early at desired programs!

MUAH! My first post!

Cheers

 

[PropofolandPorsche]

Thanks so much everyone. Your comments have been very helpful.