1825 - Interview Types and Signal Preferences Across Two Application Cycles

To examine the interview type and signal preferences among applicants interviewed by a university-based Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) residency program during the last two application cycles (2023-24 and 2024-25).

Design:

The Qualtrics survey was sent to 88 interview applicants of a university-based PM&R residency program for two consecutive application cycles. Main outcomes included: the interview type preference to our PM&R program (in-person, virtual, no preference), the interview type preference to multiple PM&R programs (in-person, virtual, hybrid, no preference), and the number of signals preferred (Five, > 5, < 5, no preference for 2023-24 and > 8, < 8, no preference for 2024-25).

Results: The response rates were 38% (2023-24) and 55% (2024-25). Comparing the two interview application cycles we observed a similar sex distribution (Male 64% and 58%) but a significantly different race distribution (p=0.02); more White and Black applicants (+29% and +4%, respectfully) and less Asian and Hispanic applicants (-27% and -6%, respectively) in 2024-25 than 2023-24. Across both application cycles, the location of the respondents during the interviews and the number of interviews were similar, with almost half of the respondents being in the South Atlantic Region and two-thirds having 10 to 20 interviews. In 2024-25 vs. 2023-24 more respondents preferred a virtual format with our program (60% vs. 40%; p= 0.12) and more respondents preferred a virtual format with other PM&R programs (52% vs. 24%; p=0.05). More respondents felt that the eight signals in 2024-25 compared to the five signals in 2023-24 was an adequate number (57% vs 27%; p=0.009).

Conclusions:

In the 2024-25 application cycle and compared to the 2023-24 application cycle, respondents favored virtual interviews with a single program, strongly preferred the virtual format when considering multiple PM&R programs, and appreciated more signals.