clkt Posted December 10, 2010 Report Share Posted December 10, 2010 Just curious, how many interviews do the average person applying to competitive specialties get? I am referring to those applying to emerg, plastics, radiology, anesthesia, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted December 10, 2010 Report Share Posted December 10, 2010 Average applicant.. or average successful applicant? Assuming an application is made to all 13 English speaking schools, someone sitting on 9 invites heading into interview season is going to worry less, while someone with 2 interviews is going to worry more. But in the end, all you need is one program to rank you highly enough to match. So even if someone is not strong enough on paper to garner multiple interviews across the country, they could still match where they are known and liked, most likely at their home institution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted December 10, 2010 Report Share Posted December 10, 2010 In a competitive specialty connections matter much more than raw interview volume. You can get lots of interviews if you are a decent candidate, but if you are not well liked and connected to the program then you are likely not going to be high on the programs ranking list. Competitive programs do not like to take chances on people they don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted December 10, 2010 Report Share Posted December 10, 2010 I agree with the last statement. I do think, however, that interview volume is a useful indicator of competitiveness. Programs have limited time and resources to interview multiple candidates - hence the pre-selection for those most promising. As it would be difficult to be personally well-connected to all 13 programs across the country, I also postulate that people who receive numerous (e.g. 10) interviews have qualities in their application that make programs interested in meeting and possibly taking a chance on them even if they have not spent significant time there previously. In particular, I'm thinking of a strong reference letter from someone well-reputed combined with a strong application, which might substitute for a personal connection to the program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverjelly Posted December 10, 2010 Report Share Posted December 10, 2010 I don't know who could answer this, but do programs typically extend interview offers to everyone at the same time? It's been quite discouraging to hear about my specialty of choice having sent out some letters but not hearing anything myself..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted December 11, 2010 Report Share Posted December 11, 2010 No. Some before Xmas, some after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverjelly Posted December 11, 2010 Report Share Posted December 11, 2010 No. Some before Xmas, some after. Thanks for the reply, but I'm asking if a particular program sends out all their invites at the same time. Thus, if you have not heard when others have, you have not been granted an interview. Is this the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted December 11, 2010 Report Share Posted December 11, 2010 Oops, misunderstood your question. I'm afraid I don't have a definite answer - while I have heard of American programs sending out more than one wave of interview invites, I'm not sure if any of the Canadian programs are large enough to do this. I would be discouraged to hear that others had received invites, but hope is not totally lost until the interview period rolls around. If you believe you have been passed over, there is little to lose at that point by politely confirming with the program - it would be more humane to let all applicants know one way or another when things have been decided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarakj Posted December 11, 2010 Report Share Posted December 11, 2010 Thanks for the reply, but I'm asking if a particular program sends out all their invites at the same time. Thus, if you have not heard when others have, you have not been granted an interview. Is this the case? Some people will decline a few interviews bc of time conflict. This is more true for the people who apply to different programs. So I guess there is some hope on the air. If the program you have applied is a very competence one, it makes it less likey for candidate to decline the interview offers. Good luck Sarakj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverjelly Posted December 11, 2010 Report Share Posted December 11, 2010 Thanks to both of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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