Interview Stacking

Hey fellow orthobros,

I wanted to let you guys know that I just met with a PD of a top program (my mentor) and was told that PDs around the country are now starting to corroborate on which applicants have conflicting interviews booked and using it in their profiles for ranking purposes as an indication of character since apparently it's unfair to hold onto them within a certain period of time before the interview (even though we earned them fair and square). I was flagged my mentor wanted to give me a heads up so I adjusted immediately and cancelled the ones I wasn't going on. He didn't specify the breadth of this initiative so I'm not sure if Midwest/South/West Coast is involved at all (I'm East Coast, NYC). Just a heads up since it's a really stupid thing to get docked points on. Good luck everyone!

Not sure what you mean by it being "apparently" unfair to hold on to multiple interviews on one day. It is definitely unprofessional and rude to both the programs and other applicants to be holding onto an interview spot you cannot possible attend. It doesn't allow the program to interview as many people as they planned for and it doesn't allow them to offer it to another applicant. This list should exist and is certainly a measure of character, professionalism and generally being a considerate candidate.

You certainly "earned them fair and square" but that really doesn't mean anything when you can't attend them all. Not dogging on you specifically man, but that is a pretty selfish attitude to have and one that most programs wouldn't want in a resident. You can't attend the interview at that program so why wouldn't you let someone else fill that spot? It doesn't affect you in the least. In fact the applicant that gets your interview spot may like that program better than one that both of you may have interviewed at and give you a better chance of matching there. Your fellow applicants are your future colleagues, if you aren't treating them and programs with respect now, why would you when you become a resident or attending?

This is more of a food for thought response, not attacking you, just telling you how your post came off.

While I whole-heartedly agree that holding onto interviews that you knowingly can't or won't be attending is unprofessional, selfish and just mean to your fellow med students and while I personally would love to have a few of those interviews myself (it's been a tough year eh?), I have a really hard time believing PDs are spending the time and effort to contact, coordinate and identify applicants that are holding interviews to different programs for the same day. I think these orthopaedic surgeons are extremely busy with their own professional and personal lives to do something like this.

It makes a little more sense for a program to seek out and blacklist an applicant if he or she confirmed an interview and then never showed up or if the cancellation was a day or two before the interview (as this is extremely unprofessional), but for PDs (or even program coordinators) to contact every other PD and send out lists of applicants with confirmed interview dates? That seems unlikely.

I think it is both beneficial to you (as pointed out in the previous post) AND better for orthopaedic surgery residencies as a whole to give a solid 2 week advance notice in cancelling interviews (and be aware of the holidays for that first week of january). However, this has already been stated and we have been reminded multiple times in many different threads to do this and I personally feel that any fear-mongering or rumor starting is beneath us.

But hey, who knows, maybe this really is true.

I agree with the past posts about not holding on to interviews for too long if you aren't going.

But aren't the programs themselves also being unfair in (likely) placing their interviews on the same day so that an applicant is forced to choose between two programs they probably like. Especially in the Northeast where it's very competitive and people want to stick around?

I'm also from the Northeast and it definitely seems like the New York State of mind thing to do.....

what if you have 2 interviews for the same date but you're looking to trade one of those dates so you can go on both. seems pretty unfair to have this "list" or punish people for holding onto multiple interviews on the same date when they may be working to trade dates so they can attend as many interviews as possible.

Dude this is made up. There is no way busy PD's and PC's would have enough time to do something this asinine. Kind of a pathetic scare attempt TBH.