Interview Type and Signal Preferences of Interview Applicants to a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Residency...

This study examined preferences in interview type and signals among applicants interviewed by a nonsurgical residency program during the 2023-2024 application cycle. A Qualtrics survey was sent to 88 interview applicants of a university-based physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program. Main outcomes included interview type preference the applicants had with our physical medicine and rehabilitation program only and their interview type preference with multiple physical medicine and rehabilitation programs, and preferred number of signals. A resulting 38% of applicants completed the survey. The responders ( n = 33) had a similar sex and race distribution compared to all interview applicants. Regarding preferred interview type for our single program, 42% favored in-person, while 40% favored virtual. Those geographically closer to our program had similar interview-type preferences compared to participants from other regions. For multiple program interviews, 52% preferred hybrid, 24% virtual, and 15% in-person format. For signal preferences, 70% of the applicants preferred more than five program signals. The program signaling preference was similar between those with more versus less interviews, for which the cutoff of 10 interviews during the 2023-2024 application cycle was used. Overall, respondents did not have a preferred interview format with a single program, strongly preferred the hybrid format when considering multiple programs, and preferred more program signals.