residency interview question

[gardenzebra]

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Alright so I submitted my ERAS a little late (Oct 11). I applied to 40 programs. I received interviews at 10 so far, including my top 2. Most of those I got in the first week and a half. Things seemed to have slowed down considerably and lately the notices are giving me only one interview date option as the other days are full already.
Normally this would be fine, but I am couples matching with someone in Ortho. I am concerned that the interviews I received will not correspond to his interviews, eventhough we are both pretty competetive.
I guess my question is : Do most anesthesia programs offer interviews before the Dean's letter goes out, or can I still expect to receive a few more? Some of those schools state they accept applications until Nov 1, but accepting applications and giving interviews are two different things. Is it okay to email the coordinator to ask about whether the slots are full or is that bad form?

 

[fakin' the funk]

Alright so I submitted my ERAS a little late (Oct 11). I applied to 40 programs. I received interviews at 10 so far, including my top 2. Most of those I got in the first week and a half. Things seemed to have slowed down considerably and lately the notices are giving me only one interview date option as the other days are full already.
Normally this would be fine, but I am couples matching with someone in Ortho. I am concerned that the interviews I received will not correspond to his interviews, eventhough we are both pretty competetive.
I guess my question is : Do most anesthesia programs offer interviews before the Dean's letter goes out, or can I still expect to receive a few more? Some of those schools state they accept applications until Nov 1, but accepting applications and giving interviews are two different things. Is it okay to email the coordinator to ask about whether the slots are full or is that bad form?

To directly answer your question, many programs offer a substantial portion of their interviews before the MSPE. This is evident from the Interview thread on this forum. A small number of programs offer no interviews before the MSPE. (Why, Stanford, why?! 😀) I think many people are expecting maybe 25-50% of their interview invites to come in after the MSPE.

My question to you would be, if you are couples matching with someone in a competitive field like ortho, why did you wait so long to submit ERAS? I mean, you only need 8-10 interviews (for you, in the same region as your partner's) to match, but applying to 40 somewhat "late" doesn't immediately sound like optimal planning. I could be wrong.

If one of you does get an interview at a Program X and the other doesn't, you can always email/call the shunning department to ask again. Nothing to lose.

 

[gardenzebra]

Well to be perfectly honest i wasn't aware that anesthesiology is a rolling application. No one at my school ever told me that an aAll the programs I was applying to said the deadline was Nov 1 and interviews went out Nov. to Feb. I don't know why they just don't come out and say the deadline is Sept. 1st if that is when the real deadline is.

 

[Gimlet]

If one of you does get an interview at a Program X and the other doesn't, you can always email/call the shunning department to ask again. Nothing to lose.

I have a friend who is couples matching in anesthesiology with her fiance(radiology). She was getting a great response to her application, and him not quite as much. When she called to cancel an interview because it wasn't looking like her fiance would get one in that city, the anesthesia program called up their respective radiology program and he magically had an interview by the end of the day! This has since worked a few more times. She's AOA with great stats, so I suppose the anesthesia programs are really fighting to get them both to come there.

 

[gardenzebra]

you know those ortho programs are real pains. Most of his programs don't even start offering interviews until late November, after mine have already started. So 10 it is. Oh well - hopefully we'll have the same 10. We have two that match up at least.

 

[fakin' the funk]

I have a friend who is couples matching in anesthesiology with her fiance(radiology). She was getting a great response to her application, and him not quite as much. When she called to cancel an interview because it wasn't looking like her fiance would get one in that city, the anesthesia program called up their respective radiology program and he magically had an interview by the end of the day! This has since worked a few more times. She's AOA with great stats, so I suppose the anesthesia programs are really fighting to get them both to come there.

Oh man, you just made my day. I'm couples matching also. Good to know that "shenanigans" such as these do happen. 😀

Also, sweet avatar.

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