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OK! Here goes nothing. My first ever #tweetorial on the Coordinated Interview Release process for #Match2021.

This will be broken up into five parts:
1) What
2) Why
3) Who
4) How
5) Alternatives

#MedEd #MedStudentTwitter
Formatting inspired by the great @DrStevenTChen.

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Starting with WHAT. What is a coordinated interview release?

A coordinated interview release is when numerous residency programs (ideally all programs*) agree to send out their interview invites on the same pre-determined day (or time frame) to applicants.

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*It's important to note that programs are constrained by factors out of their control – especially this year with #COVID19 & the coordinated release process being new for most specialties. Those who could not participate this year should in no way be viewed negatively.!!

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Now that we’ve talked about WHAT a coordinated release is, let’s get into the WHY.

But first, why do YOU think some specialties have decided to offer this?

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In truth, it’s probably a mix of all four responses with a few other nuanced reasons I’ve undoubtedly missed.

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Next let’s talk about WHO.

Numerous specialties have begun to adopt the coordinated interview release process in some format, including (adoption year):

#ObGynTwitter (2019)
#PlasticSurgery (2019)
#UroTwitter (2020)
#OrthoTwitter (2020)
#DermTwitter (2020)

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Each program, however, has decided to do it a little differently. Here comes the HOW. Grouped by the amount of time given between coordinated invite date & the start of scheduling.

48 hours or ~ 2 days (*=over a weekend):
ObGyn, Uro*, Plastic Surgery*, Ortho

5 days:
Derm

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We’ll go in order of release date. Starting with #UroTwitter, which released on 11/6/20.

Uro is used to forging its own path – even having an entirely different match date than most 2021 medical school grads (2/1/21, incase you are curious). Here are the @UroAcademic recs:

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Next was #ObGynTwitter on 11/10/20. This wasn’t their first rodeo.

They were 1 of 2 specialties that piloted the coordinated interview release process last year & this year, even with #CoVID19, they came out of the gate ready to go with a plan from @apgonews:

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Today, 11/23/20, is #OrthoTwitter’s release date. #Ortho is new to the game, but you wouldn’t know it.

Only a handful of programs have already released interviews with most of them seeming to be waiting until the coordinated release date today. Here are the @aoa1887 recs:

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This week is also the #DermTwitter coordinated release which spans 11/24-11/25.

Just over 60 programs agreed to participate this year, with many others expressing support, but unable to join due to time constraints. Here are the @ProfsofDerm recs:

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Finally, #PlasticSurgery will release on 12/4/20. They, like #ObGynTwitter, are entering their second year of the coordinated interview release process.

Besides pushing back the release date, nothing has changed from the 2019 @ACAPSedu recs:

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And last, are the alternatives to the coordinated interview release date, including: signaling, interview/application caps, and so many more. Best described by Hammoud, Standiford & @jbcarmody in their @JAMA_current article on #COVID19 and #Match2021: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2766944

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This year @AAOHNS rolled out a signaling platform for #ENT: https://opdo-hns.org/mpage/signaling .

Applicants could “signal” 5 programs, but NOT their home program.

Institutions were told NOT to use signals as a screening tool, but only to use them during the interview offer phase...

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Thus far, there is no consensus or concrete data on how specifically each program is using signals & how successful signals have been.

HOWEVER, the process is based on other successful programs used in economics ( @AEAjournals) & other spheres.

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Interview & application caps have been floated around by notable #MedEd folks including @ilanarosman, @jbcarmody & many others as a feasible way to ensure applicants & programs know who is MOST interested in who.

So far, no specialty has tried this…but 2020 showed us:

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Ok everyone! If you made it this far, I hope you learned something about the cood release process.

Props to The Greats: @DrStevenTChen, @HarkerDavid & others who have mastered the #Tweetorial.

Best of luck to the 2021 apps – we got this. #MedEd #MedStudentTwitter