Residency match interview scheduling: quantifying the applicant experience

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Residency Admissions
• Surgical Specialties

Background:

• Residency interview scheduling processes vary significantly across programs.
• Medical students report distress and advocate for reforms in the interview process.
• Quantitative data on applicant concerns regarding interview scheduling is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the interview scheduling experience for US allopathic medical students during the 2020 main residency match.
• To identify challenges and concerns faced by applicants in the residency interview process.

Main Methods:

• An anonymous 13-question survey was distributed to fourth-year medical student representatives at Association of American Medical Colleges member institutions.
• The survey targeted all fourth-year medical students to gather data on their interview scheduling experiences.

Main Results:

• 18.2% of surveyed applicants missed interview opportunities due to insufficient response time.
• Applicants in surgical specialties were more likely to miss interviews compared to non-surgical applicants (26.4% vs 18.4%).
• 57.4% scheduled interviews anticipating future cancellations, primarily due to fear of not receiving other invitations (85.6%).

Conclusions:

• Approximately 20% of applicants missed interview opportunities due to time constraints in responding to invitations.
• The majority of applicants engaged in "interview hoarding" by scheduling interviews they intended to cancel.
• Standardizing the interview invitation timeline is recommended to address applicant concerns and improve process equity.