News and views from the interview trail 2011

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Does anyone have any tips for scheduling intern year interviews in conjunction with radonc interviews? Or does anyone know any dates for radonc interviews this year?

I saw the 2010 thread for dates, and was wondering if radonc programs will have similar dates this year. Just trying to coordinate since I'm hoping to match same city/region if possible.
 
Each rad onc program typically only interviews 2-3 days, but TYs and Prelim years usually have >10. Just keep that in mind when you start scheduling and you will be fine as far as having those conflict. You will probably have to give up a few rad onc interviews when rad onc programs conflict though. There is just no way around that from what I experienced.
 
I wonder when the first interviews will start to trickle out? Even though I submitted on the first day, a bunch of my programs haven't even downloaded my stuff from the post office yet. The NRMP match data says that most programs wait until the deans letter on nov 1st...I feel a little left out with all my buddies going into peds and anesthesia racking up interviews like crazy so far.
 
johno83 said:
Each rad onc program typically only interviews 2-3 days, but TYs and Prelim years usually have >10. Just keep that in mind when you start scheduling and you will be fine as far as having those conflict. You will probably have to give up a few rad onc interviews when rad onc programs conflict though. There is just no way around that from what I experienced.
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Johno, what was your experience with interview timing? were most in december/january? I have seen some programs saying that there interviews are held in november...that seems like pretty short notice to offer an interview that will take place in the same month.
Also, is it realistic to try and schedule interviews on back to back days in different cities? how important are these pre-interview dinners?
 
The programs I have spoken with generally said they don't really look at applications until after dean's letter on November 1.
 
babyjbobby said:
Johno, what was your experience with interview timing? were most in december/january? I have seen some programs saying that there interviews are held in november...that seems like pretty short notice to offer an interview that will take place in the same month.
Also, is it realistic to try and schedule interviews on back to back days in different cities? how important are these pre-interview dinners?
Click to expand...


It is really quite variable. Most of the programs that send out interview invites early tend to be mid-tier or lower. The programs traditionally considered top programs wait for the Dean's Letter with a few exceptions. I had 3-4 interviews in Mid-Late November. Everything else was in Nov/Jan. I almost always got at least 3-4 weeks notice before an interview, but many/most of your interview offers will be for 1 date. I tried to allow at least 1 day for travel esp for my favorite places just to ensure I would make it there. This did not always work out. Also, I think the dinners are pretty important. From what I could tell, certain programs are very interested in their residents' opinions of candidates. The phrase "esprit de corps" was tossed around at many interviews. Plus it is a very good opportunity for you to see if you like the people that work there, because chances are they will recruit similar people in the future. That being said, I did miss 3-4 dinners from being tired or having flight delays.
 
What does the Dean letter offer in terms of new information for programs ? It seems to simply be a rehash of the transcript and CV. The letter does list some specific comments from clinical rotations, that are not all that enlightening.
 
radiaterMike said:
What does the Dean letter offer in terms of new information for programs ? It seems to simply be a rehash of the transcript and CV. The letter does list some specific comments from clinical rotations, that are not all that enlightening.
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I think the main thing PDs glean from them is either your school rank or if no rank where your school places you in the euphemistic distinguished, outstanding, excellent, very good, good categories. I think they also give an idea of your medical school's performance on various metrics compared nationally but who knows how much that matters.
 
The dean's letter conveniently corresponds to the week of ASTRO. I've heard that many programs (or at least ours) wait until after the conference to finalize review of applications and send out invites.
 
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Yes, I also heard that Michigan gave out their first round of IVs this week (from a close friend also applying this year). Any idea how many they interview and how many spots are available for this coming year? Thanks!

Oh, and only 2 applying from my school, that has no rad onc program.
 
FWIW, the timing of your interview invite relative to other people is not necessarily an indication of their interest in you. This is true at some programs and not true at others. I get the feeling based on the timing of invites last year that at some programs they review say 50 apps at a time and send out interview invites on a rolling basis. Other programs do them all at once, send out invites, and then send out a second round as they get cancellations. You can sort of decipher this based on the interview invite and dates threads from the past years.
 
Seldon1985 said:
Yes, I also heard that Michigan gave out their first round of IVs this week (from a close friend also applying this year). Any idea how many they interview and how many spots are available for this coming year? Thanks!

Oh, and only 2 applying from my school, that has no rad onc program.
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via email?
 
we should continue the theme of previous years and start a new thread with 2011 interview invites to make it more organized 🙂
 
Sounds like a good idea, although Im sure that one too will get cluttered with banter. I was looking back through an older interview invite thread (from last year) and by this time last year, several programs had given out invites. Im sure many are waiting for the MSPE/post-ASTRO timeline, but I was a bit surprised at how many programs actually gave out invites before this date last year.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=669691
 
I've read an embarrassing amount of old SDN...I noticed a couple of times residents and attendings from programs posted interview dates before their invites even went out. Hopefully that's what is going on.
 
Yea, I hope so too. Although last year, looks like these were legit invites sent in October. In any event, looks like no one else has gotten anything 'cept Michigan so far this year...
 
Seldon1985 said:
Yea, I hope so too. Although last year, looks like these were legit invites sent in October. In any event, looks like no one else has gotten anything 'cept Michigan so far this year...
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Not sure why there's such a delay this year. Invites were definitely rolling out at the beginning of October last year.
 
Last week I had a TY in one city (we'll just call them TY1) ask me to choose from two possible dates to interview. I replied to this email stating that, from the list of possible dates, I would prefer Dec 3 or Dec 9. And as I awaited a response from TY1, a second TY program emailed me saying that I could interview only on Dec 3. TY1 emailed me an hour later saying that I was confirmed for Dec 3!

I really want to interview at both but...Do programs get insulted if you ask for a change of interview date?
 
Definitely. Hope to hear anything soon.

Knucklehead- This happened to me as well. I just contacted one of my TY (that had originally offered multiple dates) and had it rescheduled no problem. Your IVs arent scheduled for a while, so I think there wont be a problem switching.
 
Just got an interview invite from Cal Pacific in SF. Their dates they interview are Fridays, Dec 3, 10, Jan 7, 14, 21.
 
How many interviews are you guys going to go? I know that we'll go on as many as we can (and how ever many we actually get) but what is the typical ceiling for how many interviews people do? In past years' threads, some people posted that they'd go on like 20 interviews, which seems like it would be incredibly difficult to even schedule those from a logistic stand point. Thanks!
 
i had thought i would go to all that i got invited to...assuming i wouldn't get more than 10-15. however right now i have 8 and have already had multiple conflicts, the dates are all overlapping...i may not even be able to go to my most recent invite

i really dont understand how people went to 15-20 interviews in past years, unless programs add mores dates
 
Seldon1985 said:
How many interviews are you guys going to go? I know that we'll go on as many as we can (and how ever many we actually get) but what is the typical ceiling for how many interviews people do? In past years' threads, some people posted that they'd go on like 20 interviews, which seems like it would be incredibly difficult to even schedule those from a logistic stand point. Thanks!
Click to expand...

It becomes pretty difficult, especially if you trying to interview for TY/prelim spots as well. Even at 13-14 interviews when I was applying, I was having issues with conflicting dates for interviews. I imagine trying to do 20 would be a complete nightmare.
 
Speaking of scheduling nightmares--

if one cannot attend the pre or post interview dinner due to scheduling conflicts/travel arrangements, is it even worth going to the interview?
 
Knucklehead said:
Speaking of scheduling nightmares--

if one cannot attend the pre or post interview dinner due to scheduling conflicts/travel arrangements, is it even worth going to the interview?
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Hell yes! However, I would of course mention this to the PD. They will understand.

These social events are useful to applicants but the real decisions are made during formal interviews.
 
Knucklehead said:
Speaking of scheduling nightmares--

if one cannot attend the pre or post interview dinner due to scheduling conflicts/travel arrangements, is it even worth going to the interview?
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Absolutely attend the interview. Just notify the program coordinator who emailed the invite. Travel is crazy during rad onc interviews. I think there was a week where I was on a plane for 7 days straight. Always attend an interview if you can (assuming you are willing to go there).
 
radoncapp said:
i had thought i would go to all that i got invited to...assuming i wouldn't get more than 10-15. however right now i have 8 and have already had multiple conflicts, the dates are all overlapping...i may not even be able to go to my most recent invite

i really dont understand how people went to 15-20 interviews in past years, unless programs add mores dates
Click to expand...

I went on 14+ interviews and it is a work of art scheduling them all. It can be done if you clear out your schedule as much as possible. I essentially did not have any real rotation for all of interview season.
 
After interview day is over, do you guys wear your interview suits on your flight back home or change somewhere beforehand?
 
cinnayum said:
After interview day is over, do you guys wear your interview suits on your flight back home or change somewhere beforehand?
Click to expand...

I usually just wore my suit on the plane since I didn't have time to change.
 
Anyone know at what time of the day the Mt Sinai interview ends in the afternoon?
 
Now that we're probably more than half way through, how many interviews has everyone decided to go on?
 
12 of 22. Safe to say I'll regret this to some degree when I'm sweating in early march.
 
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Going on 11 and had 11 invites
 
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