You never forget your first? Impact of interview timing on institutional rank order

Abstract

Objective To analyze the impact of interview date on the applicant rank for Neurology residencies in the United States. Methods A multi‐institutional retrospective review of interview dates and applicant rank list data for the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) was conducted for five Neurology programs, totaling 1932 interviewed applicants over a combined total of 31 interview years. For each candidate, the interview date and applicant rank were abstracted along with the total number of interviews for that season. Statistical analyses were completed on the cumulative institution data set as well for each individual institution to assess for a possible relationship between interview date and applicant rank. Results The cumulative institutional analysis showed that the mean applicant rank decreased as the interview season progressed. Applicants who interviewed on the first day of the interview season were ranked 11.4% higher than those who interviewed on the last interview day. Additionally, applicants interviewed on the first interview day more likely to be ranked higher when compared to all other interview dates. Independent analysis of each program's data identified comparable, statistically significant, differences in mean applicant rank and interview position at three out of the five institutions. Conclusions This study evaluated the impact of interview order on the ranking of applicants by Neurology residency programs, noting a temporal relationship with applicant rank and interview date. The primacy bias appreciated in our data merits further evaluation in other medical specialties. Strategies to minimize the impact of this bias should be employed by residency programs who use medical matching services.

Developing of case-importing teaching module-integrated 2D pathology and 3D radiology to improve learning effect in undergraduates of stomatology

“…Additionally, Hanrahan et al [29] reported that the primacy bias merited further evaluation in medical specialties.…”

The Relationship Between Program and Applicant Characteristics With Applicant Program Signals in the 2022 Residency Recruitment Cycle: Findings From 3 Specialties

“…As part of the selection process, program signals are only appropriate for use in interview selection because applicants may change their program preferences after completing interviews. 12 Given that application volume varies by program, we expected a nonuniform distribution of signals across programs. 10 Therefore, the primary objectives of this study were to explore the distribution of program signals sent to programs by applicants and to investigate whether there were trends in how program and applicant characteristics related to signal distribution.…”

“…Programs consider a wide range of factors that impact an applicants’ ability to thrive in residency, including letters of recommendation, personal statements, and proximity to social support networks or previous experience living in a similar environment or level of development (e.g., urban vs rural). As part of the selection process, program signals are only appropriate for use in interview selection because applicants may change their program preferences after completing interviews 12 . Given that application volume varies by program, we expected a nonuniform distribution of signals across programs 10 .…”

Modeling and Correcting Bias in Sequential Evaluation

“…We pause at this juncture to emphasize again that the sequential and relative characteristics of the evaluation problems are not specific to sports competitions, but apply to several other applications where sequential bias has been empirically observed. These include music competitions [16,20,1], hiring [48], grading [47], residency matching at medical schools [13,23] and grant review [51]. Much like sports competitions, these applications are often single-shot and high-stakes [20], and reducing sequential bias in these tasks is an important problem.…”