Interviews: The earlier the better?

[Almost There]

Should you interview earlier or later. The school I'm applying to interviews more than 400. Would they remmeber me at all if I interview on the 1st week or last week of interviews?

Thanks for any input.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Conventional wisdom (or psychology) has it that the early and the late candidates are remembered - a la the primacy-recency effect. Does it make a significant difference? Probably not, but consider that your interview performance will likely become stronger along the trail and that later interviews might be "saved" for programs you are especially interested in.

Best of luck.

 

[tonem]

Just to add a different perspective...I was told by a residency director that interviewing late could be a disadvantage because the novelty of interviewing has worn off and the "drudgery" of late interviews may color the opinion of the people interviewing you. Of course that's just a theory.

 

[Marc Squillante]

To be honest with you, for most programs, it doesn't make any difference. I would refer you to an interesting study by the EM program @MSU-Kalzmazoo, published in Academic Emergency Medicine within the last couple of years. They looked at rank lists (where candidates wound up on the rank list), and compared that with the dates they interviewed. There was no corrrelation between when people interviewed and how they were ranked numerically. (I realize this applies only to EM in this study).

It's published in the September, 2000 issue of AEM, by Martin-Lee, Park, and Overton.

Hope this helps.

Marc Squillante, DO
EM Program Director
OSF St. Francis Medical Center/ Univ. of Illinois College of Medicine @ Peoria, IL

 

[Almost There]

Thanks for the input. I've decided to do it early and get it over with. Their 1st week of interview was almost fully booked when I called.

Thanks.

 

[LegallyBlind]

Is it true that applicants invited later in the process are not as highly considered as those invited in the earlier rounds?