Table 3.

Program Director Perceptions of Residency Application During the COVID-19 Pandemic

If you were to host interviews in a traditional year, what would you most prefer?
Traditional in-person interviews	82.8%
Virtual interviews	10.3%
Centralized location for all interviews	3.4%
Regional interviews	0.0%
No preference	3.4%
How much did the following experiences during virtual interviews affect your rank list?a
Preinterview/postinterview social/“dinner”	2.14 ± 1.25
Faculty interviews	4.38 ± 0.86
Resident interviews	4.10 ± 1.11
Directly contacting student's letter writers/home programs	2.25 ± 1.29
Do you agree that the following experiences can be effectively replicated in a virtual interview?a
Preinterview/postinterview social/“dinner”	2.41 ± 1.27
Faculty interviews	3.24 ± 0.99
Resident interviews	3.34 ± 0.94
Facility tours	3.00 ± 1.25
Informational talks	2.79 ± 1.35
Understanding applicant “fit” to program	2.90 ± 1.14
Did receiving a letter of intent (a letter from an applicant stating they have placed you first on their rank list) affect your ranking of the applicant?
Yes, affected ranking positively	6.9%
No, did not affect ranking	93.1%
Yes, affected ranking negatively	0.0%

^aRespondents reported the data for this section categorically (from no effect = 1 to very large effect = 5). These responses were converted to numerical scores and presented as weighted averages.