Virtual Interviews Aren’t Perfect but the Benefits Unquestionably Outweigh the Downsides

The AAMC recently published a piece about the post-pandemic persistence of residency virtual interviews. While some programs still encourage in-person interviews, most now standardly conduct online ones. The AAMC article points out important benefits including financial and environmental.

Something the AAMC article doesn’t specifically touch on is that virtual interviews have likely softened the sting of systemic sexism in the application process. The potential (albeit remote) for a candidate to record an interview or even have another person listening in diminishes the risk of sexist questions. 

What happens in the room between an applicant and faculty member may no longer necessarily stay there. 

Check out the Doximity piece I wrote, “How Virtual Interviews Might Mitigate Systemic Sexism in Medicine.” (Unfortunately, the story I tell at the beginning of the article is only one of several inappropriate questions I got from faculty interviewers when I was a student.)