News

August 1, 2022—The Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors (AFMRD) released the following recommendations for the 2022-2023 interview season. 

The AFMRD recognizes that there are differing perspectives on in-person vs virtual interviews. To minimize stress on applicants, the AFMRD encourages all programs to be as transparent as possible about how they will conduct their residency interviews and residency recruitment. The AFMRD recommends that family medicine residency programs clearly communicate their plans – using the below definitions – in the following areas:

1. Types of interviews that will be offered:
   • Virtual only: All interviews will be conducted virtually. There will not be any evaluation activities conducted in-person.
   • Hybrid: Some interviews will be conducted in-person and some virtually. Virtual interviews may allow for open house visits or second looks.
   • In-person only: All interviews will be conducted in-person. No virtual interviews will be offered.
2. Plans for offering open houses or second looks. Programs should describe plans for any in-person or virtual open houses or second looks, with explicit statements (in line with NRMP rules) around how these visits are not evaluative and will not impact ranking. Programs that offer virtual, hybrid, or in-person interview options may opt to offer virtual, hybrid, or in-person open houses.
3. Interview date range. Programs should inform applicants of the range of dates they plan to conduct interviews (for example Oct - Dec or Nov-Jan) Communication about dates should include:
   • Last date that completed applications will be reviewed
   • Last date that interviews will be offered
   • Last date for open house visits (also called second looks), if applicable

Best practice goal:
The AFMRD recommends that programs list on their website and in other recruitment materials their admission/interview selection criteria (number of years since graduation, number of step attempts, etc.)