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Scientific Oral Presentation

Professional and Personal Development

Too Many Programs, Too Few Days: Analysis of Interview Date Clustering in Otolaryngology

Saturday, October 17, 2026
4:48 PM - 4:54 PM PT
Location: 404B

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Carson K. Gates, BS

    Medical Student
    University of Missouri School of Medicine
    Columbia, Missouri, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • GW

    Gunseli Wallace, n/a

    Medical Scientist Training Program Fellow / MD/PHD Student
    University of Michigan, United States

    • Senior Author(s)

  • C. W. David Chang, MD

    Professor
    University of Missouri
    Columbia, MO, United States

Disclosure(s):
C. W. David Chang, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Many otolaryngology residency applicants report conflicts with interview scheduling, yet such patterns have not been characterized longitudinally. Applicants specifically report facing difficult scheduling choices and even having to cancel interview offers due to conflicts, which can directly affect their chances of matching successfully. The present study characterizes interview date clustering patterns across nine consecutive match cycles to quantify the extent of scheduling overlap and identify temporal trends.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of interview dates for all ACGME-accredited otolaryngology programs from 2018 through 2026. Dates were compiled from the Otomatch Spreadsheet, a publicly accessible crowdsourced resource, with 2026 supplemented by official OPDO calendar reports. 2,514 interview dates across 102-129 programs were analyzed. Outcomes included peak single-day program counts, proportion on busiest days, unique days per season, and monthly distribution.

Results: On the busiest interview day each year, 15-27 programs (mean 19.8, up to 22% of all programs) conducted interviews simultaneously. Over 40% of interviews occur within just 10 dates; this proportion has increased significantly (p < 0.001) from ~44% (2018-2024) to ~52% (2025-2026). Unique dates offered decreased significantly (p=0.013) from 58-62 (2018-2022) to 49 in 2026. November interviews collapsed from ~13% to ~2-4% (p=0.002), while January rose from 35% to 50% (p=0.02), compressing 94-98% of interviews into December and January.

Conclusions: Interview date clustering in otolaryngology is worsening, with significant compression despite specialty growth. These findings support coordinated scheduling efforts to reduce applicant conflicts and improve the interview experience.