Table 2.

Thematic analysis of applicant responses and key quotes

Interview Preference	In-person	Virtual
No. (%)	39 (78)	11 (22)
Summary of comments	• Residents (22) • Site (16) • Culture (12) • Faculty (9) • Know me as an applicant (7) • Location (6) • Meet other applicants (3)	• Lower cost (11) • Time saving (9) • No travel (5) • Simple (5)
Key comments	“Getting to know the program better. Allowing the program get to know me better. Seeing facilities first-hand rather than via video (i.e. resident workroom, average OR setup, outpatient clinic area, etc). Could this potentially be mitigated by a combination of virtual interview and second-look?” “While well done, the virtual medium made it difficult to get a good feel for the residents and faculty of the program. I worry that it might have been difficult to assess me as a candidate as well.” “Cost of travel. The virtual tour and resident question and answer sessions were helpful.” “There are definitely pros to interviewing virtually that I can't deny, i.e. convenience, cost, reducing implicit biases associated with arbitrary things like height. However, nothing replaces in-person interactions, and while more costly, interviewing costs are small compared to ending up at a program where you could potentially be unhappy for 5-6 years. Being able to interview with more programs starts to yield diminishing returns at a certain point, particularly if the quality of the interactions are lower than with in-person interviews. Obviously these responses are going to vary based on applicants' values.”	“Decreased cost and time of travel. Medical students are already in so much debt. We are one of the only groups who has to pay thousands of dollars just to apply for jobs. the more we can reduce this burden, the better.” “Urology being a competitive specialty I think most candidates just want to match anyway. To be honest, I think the whole thing about "getting a feel for the program by being in person" is overrated.” “I thought I got a good sense of the program remotely. It was also much easier to attend due to traveling and cost!” “An in-person interview would have given me the opportunity to see the physical site and program. This would also have allowed the faculty/residents to get to know me better as an applicant. With that being said, the Zoom interview did a fine job of introducing us to the department.”