Significance of getting interviews?

[Anastacia23]

---

Members do not see this ad.

when programs offer interviews is it basically a sign that you have met their selection criteria in terms of step 1 scores, grades etc and now they just want to meet you to make sure you are not a complete jerk? so, does getting an interview mean that i have a decent chance of matching at the place provided the interview goes ok? i guess some places have a "lower" threshold for granting interviews...do u know where i can get info as to how many ppl programs interview per open slot? ugh, i don't like this whole "matching" game and want to get a better feel as to where i stand in this whole process before i actually start rejecting interviews

thanks for any replies!
good luck to all...

 

[AJM]

Residency interviews are very different than med school interviews. Residency programs spend much more time and effort in trying to sell their program to the applicants on interview day, and the interview is almost more about them recruiting you than it is you impressing them. Programs do not waste their time interviewing applicants who they think might not be a good fit for their program, largely because of the effort they spend on any given applicant. They only interview you if they are seriously considering you. Once you interview, you have a very good chance at matching at the program, provided that you don't screw up the interview.

It's hard to find figures as to how many spots per interviewee there are at any given program, because it all depends on how far down a program's rank list they have to go in order to fill their program. Programs don't like to disclose that kind of information. The only place that I know of that gave any kind of probability of matching to applicants was at the Brigham -- a few years ago they told interviewing applicants that if they interviewed and wanted to match at the Brigham, they would have a 50% chance of matching there. I don't know how that figure would relate to any other program, though.

 

[medlaw06]

Residency interviews are very different than med school interviews. Residency programs spend much more time and effort in trying to sell their program to the applicants on interview day, and the interview is almost more about them recruiting you than it is you impressing them. Programs do not waste their time interviewing applicants who they think might not be a good fit for their program, largely because of the effort they spend on any given applicant. They only interview you if they are seriously considering you. Once you interview, you have a very good chance at matching at the program, provided that you don't screw up the interview.

It's hard to find figures as to how many spots per interviewee there are at any given program, because it all depends on how far down a program's rank list they have to go in order to fill their program. Programs don't like to disclose that kind of information. The only place that I know of that gave any kind of probability of matching to applicants was at the Brigham -- a few years ago they told interviewing applicants that if they interviewed and wanted to match at the Brigham, they would have a 50% chance of matching there. I don't know how that figure would relate to any other program, though.

Hey OP...while everything AJM said is true (hey...he/she is the moderator, and there's no way I'm messin' with that ), but here is something that I found that could help out...

if you go to frieda (just type in frieda on your favorite search engine of choice and it's the one under AMA), and search for programs, you'll find that SOME places divulge how many people they interview....HOWEVER, I would not look at those numbers as absolute since it's not always 100% accurate (at least that's what rumorville says), but it can still give you a decent estimate...and it also has some other interesting info about salaries and other things...

also, AJM is ABSOLUTELY right in that programs are trying to get YOU to come to THEM even though, as an applicant, it seems hard to believe....BUT, I have a question for AJM (or anyone else)...I agree that porgrams are trying to sell themselves to you, but it seems kinda hard to do that when they are interviewing like 400 people for 30 or so spots...so, why would a program interview THAT many people and couldn't they be able to find 30 people out of the "top" 200 that they interview, so why interview THAT (i.e. 400) many people...just somethign that I've never been able to understand....and if you could shed some light onto that, it would be helpful!!



AH hell...here's the website:
www.ama-assn.org/go/freida