Should residency programs return to in-person interviews after the COVID-19 pandemic?

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Mitchell Arnold, MPH, a 2024 MD candidate at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, did both in-person and virtual interviews for residency this year. This was his experience.

MD Candidate Mitchell Arnold, MPH. Credit: Courtesy Mitchell Arnold, MPH

“I enjoyed in-person interviews because, generally, conversation flows better. I felt more like myself and that the interviewers had a better sense of who I was than the virtual interviewers did. Some other advantages of in-person interviewing were being able to meet faculty and residents directly, touring the facilities and the neighborhoods and cities where we would potentially live, and meeting other applicants. I made a lot of new connections while I was on the interview trail.

“There were some disadvantages, however, like the cost of travel and hotels, having to use more vacation days on my rotations, and having conflicting interview and travel dates. Virtual interviews, despite having their own flaws, were a nice break for me. I didn’t have to think about the logistics of travel, and I was able to do the interview on the road or at home.

“About 75% of my interviews were in person. Almost all in-person interviews were full days, with a half day of interviewing and a half day of touring the facilities and the city. There were also one or two socials for each interview, which made it fun to get to know faculty, residents, and other applicants in a more casual setting.

“By contrast, virtual interviews were much shorter, just a half day each. To make up for that lost social aspect, they all had virtual socials with the residents. Although fun, it was often hard to make any connections over Zoom, but it did serve as a good opportunity to ask questions about the programs. The virtual interviews themselves were similar to the in-person interviews, but I felt they offered less opportunity to show your personality; the silences were more apparent, we’d sometimes talk over one another, and our discussions would often get cut off when the admin would switch our rooms.

“Overall, I preferred my in-person interviews because they were more memorable and offered more opportunities to get to know one another. But it was also nice to have virtual interviews to reduce costs, travel, and make subsequent interviews that I would have otherwise had to miss due to travel.

“Many of my classmates expressed the same view. In general, in person was better but the option of having a virtual interview, if needed, would be nice. The interviews that were most memorable to me were the ones where I was able to share my passion and personality, which is always easier when you’re engaged in a discussion rather than a strict Q&A with standardized questions and memorized answers.