So when, exactly is "Interview Season" ?

[Effervescent]

Hello all. Still working on planning out the rest of my 4th yr med school electives.

Does Psychiatry tend to have a peak "interview season" where it might be advisable for me to build some "free" weeks into my schedule for interview traveling? My school allows us to take a max of 3 days off per clerkship, and recommends building in "free-time" to accomodate interviews.

Is there any advantage/strategy behind timing one's interviews? (ie - is early "good" because that means the program is really interested in you? Or maybe LATER is "good" because they will have seen you more recently & will remember you better at the time the program is ranking its list of applicants?) Are there regional variations throughout the country for when peak "interview season" is? Or is it pretty consistent nationwide?

Thanks in advance for your input.

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[atsai3]

Hello all. Still working on planning out the rest of my 4th yr med school electives.

Does Psychiatry tend to have a peak "interview season" where it might be advisable for me to build some "free" weeks into my schedule for interview traveling? My school allows us to take a max of 3 days off per clerkship, and recommends building in "free-time" to accomodate interviews.

Is there any advantage/strategy behind timing one's interviews? (ie - is early "good" because that means the program is really interested in you? Or maybe LATER is "good" because they will have seen you more recently & will remember you better at the time the program is ranking its list of applicants?) Are there regional variations throughout the country for when peak "interview season" is? Or is it pretty consistent nationwide?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Interviewing season varies from program to program. If you have a specific set of, say, 10-15 programs to which you are applying, an easy way to identify your peak travel season would be to call up each of the programs and ask them when they generally interview applicants. I did this sometime during the late summer/early fall when I was a medical student, and generally the residency program administrators were able to tell me at least a general range (e.g., "late October through late January"), but most of them were able to provide specific dates (e.g., "every Tuesday beginning November 5").

If you have a tight interview window and will be trying to string together a series of program visits, then I would definitely recommend doing this. For example, when I applied as a medical student, my constraint was that I had to complete all of my interviews by mid-December; interviewing in January or February simply wasn't on the table. Thus I had to be strategic about which interviews I could schedule on certain days and which days I had to keep open in the off chance that another program granted me an interview. My worst interview week was UW Mon-Tues, UCSF Wed, and Stanford Thurs, followed by a redeye flight to the east coast.

Cheers
-AT.

 

[Faebinder]

My experience is that the smaller the program is, the more likely they interview towards the end as opposed to the other programs. Reason is, they aren't in a rush to fill many interview spots and if you attend their interview late in the season that means you are serious about them.


Programs with difficulty filling up will also start earlier sometimes to prematch applicants.

 

[billypilgrim37]

Midwestern and Southern programs tended to invite and interview earlier than many of their coastal counterparts. Some of the Northeast powerhouses waited absurdly late.

There was a long thread last year where each of us entered in the first date we heard from a program, and I'd say there's a lot of data there if you can find it.

 

[RaistlinMajere]

I have some related questions: are most clerkships understanding about students who need a day or two (or five) off to interview? I'd imagine that this gets easier to swing later in the year in January or February? When does interview season end?

 

[atsai3]

I have some related questions: are most clerkships understanding about students who need a day or two (or five) off to interview? I'd imagine that this gets easier to swing later in the year in January or February? When does interview season end?

Again: interview season is different for different programs. Most straightforward advice is to think about which programs you want to apply to and then call them directly and ask them: "what are your interview dates?" (and if they say that the exact dates have not been scheduled,) "which months does your interview season generally span?"

As for clerkships allowing interview days, this varies by school and varies by clerkship. If you are doing a medicine sub-I, you will probably have some difficulty persuading the clerkship director to give you a few days off. But if you are doing a radiology clerkship where you come in for an hour or two in the mornings and leave before lunch, then maybe the clerkship director won't really care if you are gone for a few days here and there.

Best
-AT.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I have some related questions: are most clerkships understanding about students who need a day or two (or five) off to interview? I'd imagine that this gets easier to swing later in the year in January or February? When does interview season end?

It is likely to be clerkship- and rotation-dependent. I'm a clerkship director, and due to the vagaries of our main affiliated med school we get a LOT (too damn many, IMHO) of 4th years who are going into something other than psych, have left psych for late in their program, and figure they can "get away with" liberal absences during our rotation. Frankly, I'm pretty powerless to stop them... Officially I can make them take extra call if they miss more than 3 days, but usually I just smile politely through gritted teeth and nod "Good luck with that interview", as they head out the door. They won't honor, though!

 

[RaistlinMajere]

Thank you for the responses.

OPD, it sounds like it's poor form to schedule too many interviews during a rotation. Though there does seem to be a difference between slacking off because you've mentally checked out of med school and leaving for an interview. I should have enough time to avoid doing missing too many days, but if not I could always push back one of my rotations.

It is likely to be clerkship- and rotation-dependent. I'm a clerkship director, and due to the vagaries of our main affiliated med school we get a LOT (too damn many, IMHO) of 4th years who are going into something other than psych, have left psych for late in their program, and figure they can "get away with" liberal absences during our rotation. Frankly, I'm pretty powerless to stop them... Officially I can make them take extra call if they miss more than 3 days, but usually I just smile politely through gritted teeth and nod "Good luck with that interview", as they head out the door. They won't honor, though!