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Residency and Fellowship Interviews During COVID-19

As early-career physicians started residency and many physicians began fellowship training this month, it’s hard to think that recruitment for next year’s residency and fellowship classes is beginning soon. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted many of our usual routines and processes. Similarly, this year’s residency and fellowship interviews are going to be different than previous year’s interviews. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has now recommended that all interviews for medical school, residency, and fellowship be conducted virtually this year.

There are many potential benefits of virtual interviews, including but not limited to:

  • Lowering the financial burden of traveling and housing during interviews.
  • Not having to spend time traveling and potentially being able to interview at more programs without physical distance complicating scheduling. For example, one can interview at a West Coast program one day and interview at an East Coast program the same or following day.
  • Missing fewer days of work/school/rotations for interviews.
  • Not having to frequently pack and unpack and worry that you forgot to pack something important.
  • Not having to tour a campus during the winter months (especially in heels) or drive in the snow.
  • Sleeping in your own bed before an interview.

For those of you who will be interviewing virtually for residency and fellowship programs this year, I have gathered some advice from my Cardiology fellowship program director (@rhythmkeys) and program coordinators (@UmnCardsfellow). Of course, also ask your mentors and other colleagues for advice. Remember that this is a new experience for both you and the programs so there may be some road bumps and steep learning curves.

  • Be open-minded. Fight the urge to stay at the same training institution because of unfamiliarity with a new city and/or program.
  • Spend time researching the programs and cities that you are interested in. Many programs (including ours) will have virtual tours/videos of our facilities and city. Take advantage of the publicly available information about a program/city (i.e. Google Maps is a great way to explore a campus/city in the comfort of your own home).
  • Ask more questions about a program and environment than you usually would if you were interviewing in person in order to get a feel for the culture/environment of a program since this may be more difficult to determine when interviewing virtually.
  • Try to consider the interview as “normal” as possible. Be professional. Be prepared. Login into your computer and the virtual meeting early in case you encounter technical difficulties.
  • Do not worry too much about technical difficulties. Virtual interviews are also new for the programs. Most programs will have contingency plans in place if there are technical difficulties.
  • Here is some great advice on how to master the art of virtual interviews from fellow AHA early career blogger, Dr. Barinder “Ricky” Hansra (@RickyHansra).
  • Reach out to current or past trainees at a specific program. Most of us are happy to talk about our experience in the program. If any of you are interested in the Internal Medicine or Cardiology fellowship program at the University of Minnesota, please feel free to contact me! Interviewees at our program will be able to still meet with current fellows during their interview days and I assume that this will be a part of interviews at most programs.

Depending on the experience of the programs and applicants this year, perhaps virtual interviewing for medical school, residency, and fellowships will continue in the future. Interviewing virtually may be more convenient and cost-effective. Best of luck to all of you interviewing for medical school, residency, fellowships, or jobs this year and stay safe!

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