Scheduling interviews for medical residency

This time of the year people start to get invitations for interviews, and it is often difficult to schedule the interviews in a manner that is cost-effective. Several questiions in the forums arise about when to interview, early versus late. I can not say for sure which strategy works better, but I know that it is not good to interview very early or very late.

If you interview very early you will likely not be familiar with the application process, and the staff might be just getting used to it for that year. So the first or second interviews I would schedule for places that are less desirable to you. The very late interview offers are generally granted for people that have lower chances, but that they would like to have available if their program is not able to recruit people higher on their list. So whenever I got an interview I scheduled it right away, right in the middle of the interview season. Late November to mid January seem to be the best dates.

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