Too Many Interviews

[sga430]

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I got 27 interviews so far. I need some advice on how many do I need to go to guarantee a match? I am an IMG and know about prematch (already got an offer.) However unless an awesome program offers one I want to go for the match. Is this a good idea?? Also I have heard of someone going to 40 or 50 ivs. My aim is to go to minimum of 40. Is this possible? (I have free place to stay in NY so that takes care of a lot of my hotel bills and I got a crapload of mileage.) Also is the burn-out factor high? I have 3 ivs in a row one week in 2 cities.

Btw i am glad i didnt listen to others who told me to apply to family for back up. I would have 70 ivs total by now i think.

btw please dont mistake me in thinking i am a self-grandiose beatch. I am glad i got these ivs and last season i got only 5 and didnt match since my score was late. i wish u all luck and i feel the less competetive candidates will get 2/3 of all their interviews after mid-nov. i got 1/5 of my ivs in jan so hang in there.

 

[OBfan]

I got 27 interviews so far. I need some advice on how many do I need to go to guarantee a match? I am an IMG and know about prematch (already got an offer.) However unless an awesome program offers one I want to go for the match. Is this a good idea?? Also I have heard of someone going to 40 or 50 ivs. My aim is to go to minimum of 40. Is this possible? (I have free place to stay in NY so that takes care of a lot of my hotel bills and I got a crapload of mileage.) Also is the burn-out factor high? I have 3 ivs in a row one week in 2 cities.

Btw i am glad i didnt listen to others who told me to apply to family for back up. I would have 70 ivs total by now i think.

btw please dont mistake me in thinking i am a self-grandiose beatch. I am glad i got these ivs and last season i got only 5 and didnt match since my score was late. i wish u all luck and i feel the less competetive candidates will get 2/3 of all their interviews after mid-nov. i got 1/5 of my ivs in jan so hang in there.

27 interviews is great. Hope it all goes well. When you write ivs do you mean Ivy leauge school?

Hey, just wanted to know where you went to medical school and if you passed step 1 and 2 on your first try. It seems that you applied to a lot of programs. Do you think this is the reason for getting so many interviews.

Sorry about the questions. I'm going to be going through it soon so I just wanted to get the best advice as possible.
Thanks

 

[OBfan]

I got 27 interviews so far. I need some advice on how many do I need to go to guarantee a match? I am an IMG and know about prematch (already got an offer.) However unless an awesome program offers one I want to go for the match. Is this a good idea?? Also I have heard of someone going to 40 or 50 ivs. My aim is to go to minimum of 40. Is this possible? (I have free place to stay in NY so that takes care of a lot of my hotel bills and I got a crapload of mileage.) Also is the burn-out factor high? I have 3 ivs in a row one week in 2 cities.

Btw i am glad i didnt listen to others who told me to apply to family for back up. I would have 70 ivs total by now i think.

btw please dont mistake me in thinking i am a self-grandiose beatch. I am glad i got these ivs and last season i got only 5 and didnt match since my score was late. i wish u all luck and i feel the less competetive candidates will get 2/3 of all their interviews after mid-nov. i got 1/5 of my ivs in jan so hang in there.

Do you think you would have matched if you would have had your step 2 scores in on time.
Why was it delayed?

Thanks

 

[MBK2003]

I imagine by the 20th interview you might be considered a professional residency applicant.😉

I got burned out after 9 interviews, and I scheduled it so I had 4 interviews in 5 days (may have contributed to the burn out). At this point with 27, I would be less specific about number of places, but perhaps be more selective in thinking about places you would be happy living in for the next 4 years and focus on those areas (unless of course you'd only be happy living in California, then maybe reconsider above advice). I would also do the "safety school" approach as well. I can't say enough, if you have a place you really, really liked after the interview process (and you think it's not a total "reach school") then let them know you are VERY interested and the reasons you really think you would be a good fit and learn a lot at their residency program. Every program director likes to be wanted.

Congrats on the 27! And good luck with the interviews!
MBK2003

 

[lloyd braun]

I got 27 interviews so far. I need some advice on how many do I need to go to guarantee a match? I am an IMG and know about prematch (already got an offer.) However unless an awesome program offers one I want to go for the match. Is this a good idea?? Also I have heard of someone going to 40 or 50 ivs. My aim is to go to minimum of 40. Is this possible? (I have free place to stay in NY so that takes care of a lot of my hotel bills and I got a crapload of mileage.) Also is the burn-out factor high? I have 3 ivs in a row one week in 2 cities.

Btw i am glad i didnt listen to others who told me to apply to family for back up. I would have 70 ivs total by now i think.

btw please dont mistake me in thinking i am a self-grandiose beatch. I am glad i got these ivs and last season i got only 5 and didnt match since my score was late. i wish u all luck and i feel the less competetive candidates will get 2/3 of all their interviews after mid-nov. i got 1/5 of my ivs in jan so hang in there.

WTF? Why in God's name would you do 40 interviews? You realize this is a psych forum, right? If you have gotten 27 interviews so far, you must have decent credentials, and I bet you will be fine doing 10 interviews at your top choices and you will match somewhere that you like. Sorry--this just blows my mind. How can you even afford the time and money to go to all those interviews? Let alone keep all the programs straight? Wow. You'd probably make the record books. Good luck if that is your goal!

 

[goldengate]

i feel the less competetive candidates will get 2/3 of all their interviews after mid-nov. i got 1/5 of my ivs in jan so hang in there.

Hmmm...could it really be true that less competitive applicants like myself will get the majority of my invites AFTER MID-NOV??? If that's the case, I have something to look forward to! Then again, I only applied early last wk so I should give it more time anyways.

 

[Adam_K]

I got 27 interviews so far. I need some advice on how many do I need to go to guarantee a match? I am an IMG and know about prematch (already got an offer.) However unless an awesome program offers one I want to go for the match. Is this a good idea?? Also I have heard of someone going to 40 or 50 ivs. My aim is to go to minimum of 40. Is this possible? (I have free place to stay in NY so that takes care of a lot of my hotel bills and I got a crapload of mileage.) Also is the burn-out factor high? I have 3 ivs in a row one week in 2 cities.

Btw i am glad i didnt listen to others who told me to apply to family for back up. I would have 70 ivs total by now i think.

btw please dont mistake me in thinking i am a self-grandiose beatch. I am glad i got these ivs and last season i got only 5 and didnt match since my score was late. i wish u all luck and i feel the less competetive candidates will get 2/3 of all their interviews after mid-nov. i got 1/5 of my ivs in jan so hang in there.

Congrats. Enjoy the attention.

However, if there are places that simply don't fit your busy schedule, do you think you, uhmmm, might be able to share some of the love with the rest of us?

 

[whopper]

40 is overkill.

If I had that many, I'd start dropping places if you heard the residents weren't happy there.

There is no magical number of interviews you should go to, but as long as you have above 7, I'd say you're in good shape. I could of course be somewhat biased because I interviewed at 13, and 3-4 outright said they'd take me. When I realized I was getting in, the issue became getting into the best program I liked.

You'll just be wasting a lot of your time & money doing all 40. You're wasting their time as well. In fact if you tell them you interviewed at 40 programs, they might actually be turned off to you as a candidate. They might think--"if we give him a high match number, we probably won't get him anyway because he's interviewed at 40 other places". Remember the match works both ways--you match and they match, and the order you and they give does matter.

I was asked by several programs how many interviews I got, and where.

I always tell residents that during interview, you really don't get to know a program. The best way to figure out how a program is, is to ask the residents if they like it there or do a rotation. With 40, its too many to do that level of research. Law of diminishing returns.

There's a lot of negative feedback loops going on in the logarithm. For example, if you are in a position where you feel you are a bad candidate and need to take anything you can get, you wouldn't have gotten 40 interviews so far.
If you are a good candidate--you don't have to go to every single interview.

 

[atsai3]

Also I have heard of someone going to 40 or 50 ivs. My aim is to go to minimum of 40. Is this possible? (I have free place to stay in NY so that takes care of a lot of my hotel bills and I got a crapload of mileage.) Also is the burn-out factor high? I have 3 ivs in a row one week in 2 cities.

During my interviewing season, my first week was pretty rough: I finished my sub-I on Saturday post-call, flew out to Seattle on a Sunday night, interviewed at UW on Monday and Tuesday, flew down to San Francisco on Tuesday night, interviewed on Wednesday and Thursday, and then took the redeye back on Thursday night. So, after my first three interviews, I was already burnt out. When I got back home, I cancelled 10 interviews and went to my remaining 7 or so.

With the substantial caveat that I don't know anything about your situation: I would guess that going to 40 interviews is going to be very taxing for you, and if you are definitely intent on going to all 40, then I would suggest spacing them out. First go to the interviews at places where you are strongly considering; save January for the places where you are not as hot on, and by then you may be inclined to cancel them.

-AT.

 

[whopper]

I'd also suggest that you spend your first few interviews at programs that you feel aren't so great. Believe me the first few are practice. You do get better at interviews as you do more and more.

With 13 interviews I felt very comfortable. I didn't put 2 on the match list. I knew I was going to get in, and I did get into my 2nd place spot-which is really the place I wanted to go to the most (for non-monetary reasons). The only reason why I put my #1 down was because it was the highest paying residency in the country.

(turns out current program actually payed more with extra things the program had available).

 

[raspberry swirl]

i'd go to 10-12. 15 max. you're bound to match somewhere. anymore interviews than that and you'll be broke and crazy. how come you didnt scramble last year?

 

[sga430]

I forgot to mention I was an IMG. If I were an AMG I would not go to more than 15. by iv i mean interview. i guess it is ome IMG slang i picked up elsewhere. also i finished med school so i have the time. once i heard of an IMG getting 15 interviews and 3 prematches. the img rejected them and went for the match and got nothing. (the scramble is almost impossible for an IMG.)

last year i didn't match since i took my exam late and had 5 interviews. this year i dont want to take any chances nor do i want to take a prematch to a place i dont like.

as for cost and all, i got a lot of mileage and i got a free place to stay in NY. most of the img friendly programs r not too far from nyc.

yes i am thinking i may not go to some places i don't like but for now my goal is to go to every interview possible. also i am looking forward to dec and jan where i feel i may get interviews at relatively competive progs. right now most of the ivs i have are not super appealing.

thanks for all your comments. i am still wondering what is a safe number of ivs for an IMG to go to. btw i dont have the best scores but i have no failed attempts. i also got a packed cv with usce.

 

[sga430]

During my interviewing season, my first week was pretty rough: I finished my sub-I on Saturday post-call, flew out to Seattle on a Sunday night, interviewed at UW on Monday and Tuesday, flew down to San Francisco on Tuesday night, interviewed on Wednesday and Thursday, and then took the redeye back on Thursday night. So, after my first three interviews, I was already burnt out. When I got back home, I cancelled 10 interviews and went to my remaining 7 or so.

With the substantial caveat that I don't know anything about your situation: I would guess that going to 40 interviews is going to be very taxing for you, and if you are definitely intent on going to all 40, then I would suggest spacing them out. First go to the interviews at places where you are strongly considering; save January for the places where you are not as hot on, and by then you may be inclined to cancel them.

-AT.

i am trying to group them geographically. i know ideally grouping them by appeal is better but is only feasible if you r going to less than 15 ivs.

 

[Thaitanium]

I forgot to mention I was an IMG. If I were an AMG I would not go to more than 15. by iv i mean interview. i guess it is ome IMG slang i picked up elsewhere. also i finished med school so i have the time. once i heard of an IMG getting 15 interviews and 3 prematches. the img rejected them and went for the match and got nothing. (the scramble is almost impossible for an IMG.)

last year i didn't match since i took my exam late and had 5 interviews. this year i dont want to take any chances nor do i want to take a prematch to a place i dont like.

as for cost and all, i got a lot of mileage and i got a free place to stay in NY. most of the img friendly programs r not too far from nyc.

yes i am thinking i may not go to some places i don't like but for now my goal is to go to every interview possible. also i am looking forward to dec and jan where i feel i may get interviews at relatively competive progs. right now most of the ivs i have are not super appealing.

thanks for all your comments. i am still wondering what is a safe number of ivs for an IMG to go to. btw i dont have the best scores but i have no failed attempts. i also got a packed cv with usce.

I am a IMG too and I dont think you have to go to 40 interviews to match! At most 20 should be enough.

 

[sga430]

I am a IMG too and I dont think you have to go to 40 interviews to match! At most 20 should be enough.

u r right but i am trying to get the best possible program and be 200% safe. i need to go to mix of safety progs and some good ones with a slim chance.