Interviewing: #applied/#invited/#interviewed/#ranked; interview burnout

[Micro115]

---

Members do not see this ad.

For those who are residents and attendings, I was wondering if you could share the # of places you applied to for residency, received an interview invite, interviewed at, and ranked.

Also, after how many interviews did you get "interview burnout" (if that were the case for you)? And with it, did you just feel tired and not as enthusiastic at the interview as earlier ones? Did anyone end up matching at a place where they were already "burned out" during the interview?

I'm applying to many places and plan to go on several interviews (10-15 maybe) b/c right now, I'm pretty flexible and need to get a feel for different programs. Thus, I anticipate coming across this "burnout" but I'm concerned that it'll really affect my interview performance.

Thanks!

 

[red453]

I applied to 30 programs since I was couple's matching. Don't remember the # of interviews I got (20-25 I think), but I went on 15. I was able to spread the majority of them out, which was helpful. I did cluster some of them to allow me to drive and that got a little wearing.

I didn't really reach a burnout because I had to keep going on them so my signficant other had visited the city or planned to visit the city soon too.

I think after 10 though, you just kind of feel like you are going through the motions. I ended up at interview #14 though in the long run.

 

[CrazyPeds527]

Similar story to red:

Couples matched.
Applied to 32, interviews offered at 29, went on 16, ranked 14.
The toughest thing that got me close to burn out was multiple interviews back-to back days. I could do 2-3 in a week, as long as they were mon, weds, fri. Those weeks where I would have one on thursday, one on friday were just brutal, even if they were in the same city. My last 2 or 3 I felt very zoned out. However, my better half matched at a program that was her 2nd-to-last interview and she started the day kinda zoned out, but perked up when the program seemed like a good fit.

I think if you are not couples matching, going on more than 12 for peds is total overkill. Just my opinion 🙂

 

[165808]

Applied to 14, invited to interview at 13, actually interviewed at 12 and ranked all 12.

I was on a time crunch to do them all while I was out in CA for five weeks over Christmas vacation....so I did basically three weeks of 4-5 interviews/week. I got burned out after my first week, I was so done with it after that! But I kept going and tried to keep an open mind....

I matched at my second program I interviewed at. And I scheduled them that way....the ones I thought I was most interested in right up front so that I was still fresh and enthusiastic 😀

 

[Jaydoc311]

I am couple's matching this year (my other half is going in to family med). I noticed that both of you that couple's matched in this thread applied to around 30 places. Is that pretty typical? I think that we are both fairly competitive candidates and had so far planned on applying to 15 different programs around the midwest. Should we be adding more to our list? About how many interviews should we be aiming to go on?

 

[MonkeyRalph]

Not counting the military match or the places I applied for emergency and then withdrew my application from...
I applied to 17 peds programs,
I was invited to 11 peds programs,
I interviewed at 10 peds programs,
I ranked 6 peds programs.
I burned out around peds interview #6, but you should keep in mind that I had already done some EM interviews before I decided on Peds, so it was actually my 8th or 9th interview that I burned out at.
Yes, there is a big differential between my applied/invited number. In order to make that seem less scary for those of you that are applying to Peds, the six places that rejected me were Stanford, UCSD, Mass General, CHOP, Cornell, and Denver.

I matched at the 5th pediatrics program that I interviewed at, which ended up being my #1 choice.
Around interview 6, I became apathetic. Around interview 7, I thought about cancelling the rest, but couldn't change my plane tickets. Around interview 8, I started skipping out early and not going to the social stuff afterwards. Around interview 9, I flat out stopped trying and couldn't even fake interest or make up questions. On interview 10, I literally just sat there for three hours staring at people, went the the airport, got drunk, and went home.
I seriously would not recommend more than 8 or 9 interviews for peds unless you're couples matching or you have a really crappy personality.
I'll also echo what was stated above. Since all of my interviews were out of state, I had to bunch them up (i.e. 3 in NYC in a week, 3 in San Fran in a week, etc), which saved me money, but definitely accelerated my burnout. Try to limit your interviews to 2 per week, 3 max.

 

[m1234d]

I was a very atypical peds applicant, I wasn't sure where I wanted to be, what program size i wanted, level of- lets say- intensity, etc.

I applied to 25 programs, offered 24 interviews, went on 17 of those interviews (I ended up canceling all the Cali interviews), ranked 8, with my 17th interview being my first choice and where I matched. In regards to being burnt out, more than anything, I would get sort of burnt out for the day if when I walked in a place I knew instantly that it was no where in comparison to the other 10 I had already interviewed at. But my second to last interview and my last were both at amazing places and I really enjoyed my days there. I did have one week with 4 interviews in it, and I still didn't mind. I don't know why I didn't really get burnt out, I guess I was curious about all these programs I had heard of. I'm glad I did it, my top 4 programs all ended up being the monsters with 40+ interns per year which surprised me, because when I started out, I didn't think I wanted a huge program.

 

[Weebabes]

I also did the couples match with someone in FM. We applied to I think 8, interviewed at all, ranked 6, and went to our number 1 (which was interview #7). I think it makes a big difference what other program you are coupling with.