Can anyone comment on when interviewing season exactly was in the last cycle? If you're shooting for 10 interviews, should you be able to do them all before Christmas or should you expect a few in January? Thanks for any input!
Most programs will interview from early November until late January. Some programs might start early and start interviewing in October and on the other end some programs will end a bit later but no program will interview (to my knowledge) past the 1st week of february. As far as scheduling, that's not totally up to you. Most places will only set out one day per week to interview and most places will not interview during thanksgiving or between christmas and new years. This said, it is reasonable and doable to do schedule 10 interviews prior to january. I've had friends who did this. They interviewed in november and december just to "get it over with", while I've had other friends who wanted to interview a bit later in the season just to be "a bit more in the back of the PD's mind" come rank time. I tried to interview somewhere in the middle of a program's cycle and so most of my interviews were in late december and january. Good luck.
Ditto, but keep in mind that it's going to depend how your app looks. If you are a stellar applicant you are likely going to be in the "first cut" and have your choice of interviews. More typical applicants tend to see more of a steady stream of invites rather than getting them all really early I think.
Amory, I think this has more to do with your app being completed but i am sure being a great candidate doesnt hurt.
To rehash on what ectopic said, the earlier you get your app in, the earlier you get the process going. I don't know if you're DO or MD, or what programs you're applying to, but that makes a difference too. DO applications could be submitted in July, while MD programs Sept. 1. I only applied DO, and went to 9 programs between late September and late November. One big problem that I had, which Dmitry brought up was that they almost always interviewed on a Wed., which was the day that they all had their grand rounds/lectures/quizzes etc. (Is this tradition or something?) with the exception of one program, which did mine on a Thurs., when they did their educational stuff. And they will give you specific dates, sometimes you get to pick from 20 days, sometimes you get 3. I think 2 or 3 programs offered me dates as late as January, but I picked earlier dates because, as you will find out, interviews are draining, especially if you have to fly.
absolutely! this includes having at least one SLOR as many programs may not offer interviews until they see one from a PD they know. this isn't much of a problem for those who have a program at their home institution, but for those of us who didn't, it means DO AWAYS EARLY!!! i.e. before August
I am reapplying next year for EM. Do I need to get an SLOR again from the same person or can a regular LOR from a EM PD suffice? With this in mind what if you are applying for EM after finishing another residency (FM, IM, ect.), do you also have to get an SLOR back from medical school 4 years prior? I doubt that this would be necessary or even asked for and so I doubt that they really need an SLOR to give interview offers to applicants in all situations. What do you all think?
I'm pretty sure our school keeps our LORs on file, so say I wanted to apply again, or apply for fellowship, they are there. I'm sure a LOR from internship won't hurt, since it will be more recent, and will reflect your body of work as a doctor, not just a student. And, I am also sure you will be doing an ER month, so if it's early enough, I would definately get that letter.
It doesn't matter here at SLR. We don't offer interviews before Nov when the dean's letters come out. A few places in nyc do. But earlier, the better.
The problem is at the place where I'm doing my prelim year, they do not offer an ER month. This is weird as I have not seen a program where medicine prelim do not get an EM month as an elective. Right now, I'm trying to convince them to let me do an EM month for my elective or trying to figure out if I can do my elective at some other hospital's ED.
