The impact of virtual interviews on the Fellowship Council application and main match process.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic led the Fellowship Council (FC) to transition rapidly from in-person to virtual interviews. We investigated the impact of this transition on the FC application and main match process.

Methods: Five years (2018-2022) of deidentified FC applicant, program, and match rank data were used to assess differences between in-person (2018-2019) and virtual interview (2021-2022) cycles. Data are expressed as mean ± SD and one-way and two-way MANOVA tests were applied.

Results: Trainees applied to an average of 30.4 ± 24.3 programs and ranked an average of 10.7 ± 9.7 programs with a 57% match rate and average rank position of 3.6 ± 3.3. Fellowship programs received an average of 64.9 ± 28.6 applications and ranked an average of 15.4 ± 8.8 applicants with a 95% match rate and average applicant rank position of 3.0 ± 3.4. Applicants who interviewed virtually applied to a greater number of programs (32.7 vs. 27.0; p < 0.001) and ranked a greater number of programs (11.5 vs. 10.0; p = 0.004) with no difference in match rates (58% vs. 55%, p = 0.291). Among matched applicants, there was a significant difference in average rank position (3.20 vs. 4.30, p < 0.001), favoring the in-person cohort. Fellowship programs had more applicants per program (69.2 vs. 57.8; p < 0.001) and ranked more applicants (17.4 vs. 13.3; p < 0.001) during the virtual interview cycles. No difference in either match rates (93% vs. 96%, p = 0.178) or applicant rank position (3.09 vs. 2.93, p = 0.561) was seen between in-person and virtual application cycles.

Conclusion: Virtual interviews were associated with an increased number of applications for fellowship and applicants ranked by programs but did not impact match rates of either group. Rank match position declined somewhat for applicants but not for fellowship programs. Virtual interviews offer more opportunities for applicants and a greater number of candidates for fellowship programs with only a slight decrement in fellow match rank position.