planning for interview season

[TheNightingale]

Hello all,

I've been staring at my 4th year schedule for days now, trying to figure out when to take what, and I've come to the realization that I just don't know enough about this process to make these decisions yet. Hoping you all can help!

I currently have Nov-Feb essentially free for electives. Since my school recently got a little upset at people taking time off from electives for interviewing, I'm purposely trying to schedule electives that I know have the most flexibility during peak interview times. I also have a total of 3 weeks of vacation time to put wherever.

So my first question is: when is peak interview time? Dec? Early Nov? Is there no way to know? Also, when you get residency interviews, do they have you choose from just a few set dates? Like 'here choose 1 of 3 dates at the end of Nov'? Or do they let you choose from a whole pool of open dates?

Right now, I was thinking that most interviews happen in December and throughout Jan and so I was counting on putting my most flexible electives here. But I've heard some people talk about getting November interviews, and so I wasn't sure if I needed to try to be prepared for interviews in that month as well.

Really appreciate any advice you guys might have. Since I have few upperclassmen friends, I've been really anxious about how to prepare for the season when so many things are still unknown.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[DrBowtie]

What field? Most specialties have an interview thread from this past application season. Check them out as the timeline of each specialty is slightly different.

 

[TheNightingale]

Internal medicine. I do see the interview thread for this speciality but can't find much mention of when the bulk of interviews happen.

 

[URHere]

IM has a wide interview range (late October-early February), but for most people interviews will be most concentrated in Nov-Dec. I would highly suggest using some of your vacation time during interview season - it will be much, much easier for you if you have a 3 week window where you can schedule many interviews without having to request time off from your electives. Early-mid November or early Dec would be good times - few schools interview the week of Thanksgiving or in late December so avoid using your time off then. As far as which dates will be offered to you, that depends on how competitive you are and when you receive the invite. If you are very competitive for a program, you may be invited to interview on Sept 16th, and offered every one of their available dates. If this is the case, you can decide when your peak interview time will be. On the other hand, if you are less competitive, you may be invited later in the season (and sometimes will only have 1 or 2 dates to choose from). Sometimes you will even be on a waitlist for a particular date. You have little to no control over your interview schedule in that case.

As for scheduling your other electives. If you take 3 weeks off in Nov, I think it would make sense to have your most flexible elective in December or early January so that you can schedule any of your late interview invites during that window. Most people don't interview into February so it doesn't really matter what you do then.