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How Many Extra People Are Invited For Interviews?


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Does anyone know how many people are generally invited for an interview vs how far down the rank list a program will need to go in the match?

 

I recognize that it will be different for each program, but I'd assume that programs would not want to a) invite too few that they don't fully match or B) invite so many that they waste their time and resources. 

 

Does anyone know what the target might be? ie, halfway down the list? Most of the way down the list? 10% of the list?

 

 

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You are attempting to do crystal ball gazing. Who knows? Back in the day, not UBC, I was one of 40 interviewees for 2 different fields where there were only 3 residency spots for each. There were 80 applicants for each that were cut down to 40.

 

To my mind, interviewing 40 qualified applicants for just 3 spots seems like overkill. But then again, even perhaps with a short list in mind, they wanted to ensure they selected candidates with the best fit and felt it was well worth taking the time to interview all these candidates. 

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we have interviewed approximately 60 people for 3-4 spots routines routinely in the program - the issue is that while you may have only a few spots the same applicants are applying to basically all the other schools that also only have a few spots - and yet added up even in a traditionally moderately competitive program like radiology there isn't that much extra room really.

 

In the past some programs have had left over spots - that means those programs that probably ranked a lot of people still went through their entire wait list. 

 

as for your argument about wasting resources - you are right about no one wanting to waste time/energy but this is a job interview for a 2-5 year contract position where a bad hire can really harm a program. The resources needed to interview someone are actually compared to that almost trivial, and the problem of not filling that position is often serious (more work on the second round, maybe having an unfilled spot so now more work has to be spread around.....).  Just like for applicants for programs CARMS is a strange and often unpredictable event. 

 

There are generally major "safety factors" as a result. 

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Agree about "wasting resources".  Having seen how disruptive a poorly-chosen resident can be on an entire program, I understand why programs interview a lot of people.

 

You also have to consider the incremental cost, not the total cost.  Once you've committed to hosting a resident social, agreed to pull trainees and staff away from clinical work for a morning or a full day, booked an interview venue, arranged for bottled water and soggy fruit trays etc,  it doesn't really cost you any more to interview 40 applicants than it does to interview 10.

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  • 2 weeks later...

How far on average do you find programs go down on their list? I understand this can be extremely variable, but in your experience. 

 

-GP

 

very variable and it depends on the year, ha! I mean sometimes radiology has gone even unmatched at places so therefore they went through all of their list and out the other side. 

 

It also very much would depend on the school. For popular programs (actually Ottawa would be in that list) you don't go down that much. Other programs go down much farther. I think most places would l most places would like to get in there top 20% but that clearly is impossible for all (good candidates are good candidates pretty much for any school). 

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  • 4 weeks later...

 

It also very much would depend on the school. For popular programs (actually Ottawa would be in that list) you don't go down that much. Other programs go down much farther. I think most places would l most places would like to get in there top 20% but that clearly is impossible for all (good candidates are good candidates pretty much for any school). 

 

Except if the residency program in Ottawa is going on probation :)  

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Except if the residency program in Ottawa is going on probation :)

 

ha :) well that of course is true - from time to time programs do go on probation (even at a good schools there can be bad programs) and I would say even well before that happens those programs have a rep and thus lower interest. Side note -  I would say if you find yourself in a program on probation there was probably warning signs you could have picked up prior if you really, really did your homework - so do your homework.

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ha :) well that of course is true - from time to time programs do go on probation (even at a good schools there can be bad programs) and I would say even well before that happens those programs have a rep and thus lower interest. Side note -  I would say if you find yourself in a program on probation there was probably warning signs you could have picked up prior if you really, really did your homework - so do your homework.

What are some warning signs of a bad residency program? 

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What are some warning signs of a bad residency program? 

 

well if they are on probation.......(just kidding, ha).

 

Some I guess are obvious - how many people have left the program regardless of reason in the past 5 years. You can flat out ask people at various schools what they personally ranked the schools as and why. I learned so much information from that. It isn't a comfortable question but that in part is what makes it so useful. I mean we residents all know which schools are not popular and why. The world of most residency programs is pretty small. 

 

Most programs aren't sooo bad that they scream issues - it is a spectrum. You can ask about the exam pass rate, what they do to prepare for the exams, where they go for fellowships. Reputation is important in the end.

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