Virtual Interview Practice Schedule Generator

[Current-big-pharma-shill]

Over the last several weeks, I started running a virtual group for current MD/PhD applicants to practice interviews, chalk talks, etc. and thought it would be good to have a system to randomize the scheduling for our practice interview events. While our group is currently capped out at 16, I thought it would be beneficial to share this schedule generator with the premed community at large in case anyone else wants to form groups for virtual interview practice.

There are two functions within the attached schedule generator.

The "fixed schedule" generates two interview sessions where everyone is an interviewer once and an interviewee once plus a larger group interview that splits the number of participants in half. This can be used for socials, group interview scenarios, whatever. I built it for up to 16 participants, could easily be made with more though.

The second is a "variable schedule" that will support up to 16 participants and 8 interview sessions where everyone gets an equal number of interviewer and interviewee slots. You can change the number of participants and the number of interview sessions (works best with even numbers).

Both options also allow you to change the start time (24Hour clock) and the length of the interviews plus the length of the breaks and it will automatically calculate the start and end times for each interview session. I have included some fake names to demonstrate it's use.

I hope some folks find this helpful. If you haven't already formed a practice interview group and would like one, hopefully, this can be a jumping-off point for forming new groups! I know virtual can be difficult for everyone - having a place to destress and practice with other applicants can make a world of difference.

Good luck to everyone in their cycles, and enjoy practicing/meeting new people along the way!

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[aliceinscienceland]

Thank you for making this!

 

[Current-big-pharma-shill]

Thank you for making this!

Gladly! Our group’s first meeting had six people which was easy enough to make a schedule by hand. Second meeting is 12 people, so I spent 6 hours to solve a 30 minute problem and just went ahead and automated the process LOL would have been easier if I knew python

Hopefully other people find this useful!

 

[Current-big-pharma-shill]

Just an update, I noted an error in the first spreadsheet in which it was randomizing interview room assignment but the pairing was the same. I have updated the spreadsheet here and it should be completely randomized pairings each round now!