Residency Interviewing Timing

[MackandBlues]

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So looking at last year's interviewing residency thread most of the dates are November - January. Would it be best to use a vacation month in November or December for interviews to minimize time away from rotations? Thank you.

 

[bravotwozero]

November. Could potentially cram in more interviews. Programs will stand down during holidays near the final week or two in December


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[The White Coat Investor]

If you're going to burn a month (and I think it is a good idea to do so), make it January. The most competitive programs (probably the ones you will be most interested in) may not get back to you soon enough to do November interviews, and December is limited as mentioned. But you may be able to do all or almost all of your interviews in the month of January alone.

 

[b-real]

You may not need to burn much vacation time. I remember that for most of those 4th year electives, they were happy to give me time off. I just arranged it with the attending, not the official coordinator. The prevailing theme was "it's 4th year, I'm surprised you're even here!"

 

[KinesiologyNerd]

You may not need to burn much vacation time. I remember that for most of those 4th year electives, they were happy to give me time off. I just arranged it with the attending, not the official coordinator. The prevailing theme was "it's 4th year, I'm surprised you're even here!"

Ah yes, asking the coordinator and not your attending. Classic mistake.

OP: My strategy is this:
Nov: "easy" community based electives so higher likelihood of being allowed to go on interviews
Dec: 2 weeks of independent study, 2 weeks of vacay
Jan: 2 weeks vacay, 2 weeks "easy" community elective

 

[doggydog]

I'm really envious of those schools that allow MS4s to do independent study or online electives.

 

[MackandBlues]

Thanks everyone - I've got 2 vacation months between July - April to use. There's a really cool EM wilderness medicine elective that looks like a great experience but only offered in November. Just trying to get a game plan together.

 

[bravotwozero]

yeah I'd schedule a rotation like anesthesia during interview season. They really don't care if a med student shows up


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[deleted720339]

Went through this last year.

If you are a competitive applicant, November will probably be the busiest month for you since you will get the first dibs at interview slots.

I recommend Nov for vacation so you can be maximally flexible (keep in mind the week of Thanksgiving is hit or miss for program interviews), something light in December (independent study for 2 weeks before interviews ramp down for the holidays), and then a chill rotation in January (anesthesia, etc).

Best of luck!

 

[gutonc]

Went through this last year.

If you are a competitive applicant, November will probably be the busiest month for you since you will get the first dibs at interview slots.

If you are a competitive applicant, you can interview whenever you want and it will make no difference. You could take the first slot offered, or you could take the last.

Timing of interviews has little or no impact on your spot on the ROL (unless you really blow your first few interviews or are so tired of the whole thing come the last week of January that you slack off the last few).

In general, the last week of November and the last 2 weeks of December are useless to you...don't waste vacation time on them. 2-3 weeks in Nov or Dec and another 2-3 weeks in January are perfect if you can swing it.

 

[Jlaw]

Emb is right, if you are competitive you will get a lot of first wave interviews- i.e. November. Most of the places I interviewed at last year only offered a limited selection of dates initially so you may find yourself with 8 or 10 offers all during the same 3-4 week window. If you are more middle of the road you will probably get dates in December and early January.

Some places will bump you to later in the season if you ask but then you're risking the possibility that they will have a great turnout and decide they don't need to interview you.

As others said- talk to your attendings, I took like 30 days off over two months and no one cared. 4th year is BS anyway, save your vacation for later in the year, once you finish interview season you are going to be burned out.