Virtual Interviews During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey of Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship Applicants and Programs

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Advanced endoscopy (AE) fellowship interviews during the 2020 applica-tion cycle were held virtually due to COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to characterize the applica-tion experience with virtual interviews. METHODS: Applicants and programs participating in the 2020 AE fellowship match were prospectively sent separate 17-question surveys. Responses were collected using Research Electronic Data Capture. RESULTS: In total, 63/104 applicants (60.6%) matched and 64/71 (90.1%) positions filled within the match. The survey was completed by 37/87 (42.5%) applicants and 71 interviewers from 43/65 (66.2%) participating programs. Most applicants (64.7%) preferred a 1:1 applicant:faculty ratio and a 20-minute interview (73.5%), which was used by programs 50.7% and 47.8%, respectively. The majority of appli-cants (82.4%) and interviewers (76.8%) reported overall satisfaction with virtual interviews. The biggest limitations for applicants were getting a "feel" for the program and endoscopy unit. In the future, 41.2% of applicants preferred only virtual interviews compared to 7.2% of interviewers (P< 0.01). Conversely, 14.7% of applicants preferred only in-person interviews compared to 39.1% of interviewers (P= 0.01). Half of the interviewers (50.7%) would negatively view applicants who chose a virtual option over an in-person interview if both were offered. CONCLUSION: The majority of AE fellowship applicants and programs reported overall satisfaction with virtual interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the potential benefits, virtual interviews may have an increasing role in future residency and fellowship applications. Programs that conduct vir-tual interviews need to be aware of its limitations and have measures to improve the applicant experi-ence and mitigate potential biases of interviewers.