Holistic Review Webinar Series Overview

Interested in implementing holistic review as part of your residency recruitment process and not sure where to start? Curious to learn how other residency programs have successfully transitioned to holistic review at their institutions? We invite you to join us for a new Holistic Review Webinar Series, brought to you by ASTRO, ADROP and AROPA, aimed at demystifying this process and helping you operationalize a plan to transition or refine your residency program’s current application screening and selection process towards holistic review.

During this webinar series, you’ll learn how to evaluate applicants through a different lens that takes into consideration the “whole” applicant including their experiences, attributes, and academic performance as well as the value they would bring to your institution’s learning environment and the medical profession as a future radiation oncologist. When employed at all phases of the residency selection process, holistic review can help ensure that qualified applicants are not overlooked and that our specialty is attracting and training future physicians with the experiences and attributes necessary to meet the patient needs of an increasingly diverse population.

Webinar 1: Building a Team and Defining your Programmatic Mission
In the first webinar of this series, titled “Building a Team and Defining Your Programmatic Mission,” we’ll walk you through the steps and process to define a central programmatic, departmental, institutional mission from which you can develop a set of criteria to help guide your assessment of an applicant’s qualifications and alignment with your institution’s mission. You’ll hear first-hand from residency programs who have taken this step and learn what worked for them as they transitioned to holistic review at their institutions. We’ll also share tips and strategies on how to communicate your institution’s mission, values and goals clearly and transparently to applicants through your recruitment materials (e.g., website, printed materials/presentations, social media, etc.).

This activity was broadcast live at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, June 9, 2023, and the webinar recording will be available onDemand through 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on June 8, 2024.

Webinar 2: Establishing Best Practices for Screening, Interviews and Selection
You’ve assembled a group of diverse stakeholders, developed a clear programmatic/institutional mission and determined the desired characteristics of applicants for your training program. What comes next as you move towards holistic review for your program’s residency recruitment and selection process?

During the next webinar in this series, we’ll build on the framework established in our first session and walk you through next steps and best practices for pre-screening, conducting interviews and making your final candidate selection through the use of the AAMC Experiences-Attributes-Metrics Model (EAM). First, we’ll discuss how to best communicate the mission and vision of your program to prospective applicants. Then, we’ll explore screening strategies and how to effectively train reviewers to assess applicants while limiting the risk of unconscious bias. From there, we will segue to the interview process where we’ll discuss strategies for conducting interviews virtually and how to develop an interview process that is inclusive and honors the values of your individual program while limiting unintended bias. Finally, we’ll review tools  to aid your committee in making  candidate selections that prioritize the mission and values of your program. Throughout the course of this webinar, you’ll hear from residency programs actively engaging in holistic review at their institutions and learn what strategies have worked best for them and the pitfalls to avoid.

This activity was broadcast live at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, August 18, 2023, and the webinar recording will be available onDemand through 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on June 8, 2024.