what month to take off 4th year for residency interviews?

[Rbrav]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hello. I'm a 3rd-year med student pretty darn sure I want to do pathology. I have to set up my 4th-year schedule soon, and I want to take a month off to interview at residency programs. When do most residencies hold interviews? If it matters, I'll mostly be applying to programs in the southeast US. Thanks!

 

[Circumflex]

November and December are the busiest for interviews, but they can start in October and extend into January. It depends on when your application is complete (all of the components submitted/uploaded to ERAS) and the dates that the different programs hold interviews. Get your letters of rec. in early - the sooner your application is complete, the sooner you get invites, and can schedule your interviews.

 

[moodydoc]

I thought it was good to shoot for the middle of the interview season. As my advisor put it: too early and you are fogotten, too late the program has already decided.

I also found that if you arrange it between Thanksgiving and Christmas you can end up with a huge amount of time off.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

I scheduled cake rotations (ie ones where they don't expect you to show or don't care if you need to take time off to interview) in November and December (and also January, but I was done interviewing by then). It worked out because I didn't have to use vacation time, and now I'm finishing up in mid-March. Talk with some current 4th years at your school about some of these hidden gems.

 

[Gene_]

I scheduled cake rotations (ie ones where they don't expect you to show or don't care if you need to take time off to interview) in November and December (and also January, but I was done interviewing by then). It worked out because I didn't have to use vacation time, and now I'm finishing up in mid-March. Talk with some current 4th years at your school about some of these hidden gems.

Exactly. Why would you want to waste your vacation on interviews? You're applying to pathology and won't be interviewing at more than 10 programs, unless you're completely neurotic or applying only to the so-called "top programs." Take days off from your rotations to interview.

 

[ermonty]

I scheduled cake rotations (ie ones where they don't expect you to show or don't care if you need to take time off to interview) in November and December (and also January, but I was done interviewing by then). It worked out because I didn't have to use vacation time, and now I'm finishing up in mid-March. Talk with some current 4th years at your school about some of these hidden gems.

I did the same. Now I'll have at least 3 months b/t medschool rotations and starting residency. A good way to go - to say the least.

E-Mo

 

[yaah]

As an alternative viewpoint, I took my vacation months in July (so I could travel, visit family, and then do an away rotation far away) and in december and january. I did most of my interviews in november and december, and spent the rest of the time relaxing. It was much less stressful to be able to schedule my flights when it was most convenient or cheapest, to perhaps spend another day in a city I wanted to visit, or to spend a few extra days driving. Then i went back to rotations from february to may. I may have ended late but I was happy.