Has anyone ever been invited two interviews on the same date?

[FionaGirl]

If so, what should you do? Each interview has a specific plan associated with it and the schools are bringing all of the applicants on the same date. (Meet the graduate students, meet a faculty panel.) If I were to request a special date, would that reflect poorly upon me? I can't very well miss out on one of the schools! How can a student deal with this?

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[JockNerd]

Go to the school you like more and get a phone interview with the other one. There's no need to say you're interviewing elsewhere; just say you can't make the second school's live interview. Happens all the time.

 

[Sawyer09]

Yes, and I had already booked my flights for the first one because I wasn't expecting to get the second interview. I just emailed the school who emailed me second and told them that they're really high on my list, but I already have a commitment that weekend. I asked if I can fly out another time for an interview. So we'll see how that goes...

 

[hermionephd]

I told them that while I was thrilled, I had already made a commitment to go to another interview. It's not a secret that you'll have other interviews, and if anything it's a good sign.

 

[RileyG]

last year i had 4 interview offers for the same weekend. I managed to interview with all of them, though I let all the schools know about my weird circumstance. It went like this:

phone interview with School A Thursday afternoon,
flew to School B right after the phone interview Thursday evening and interviewed all day Friday,
flew to School C Saturday morning (6 AM flight), interviewed all day Saturday,
rented a car and drove to school D Sunday and interviewed Monday morning, then flew back home Monday afternoon.

While waiting in the airport to fly home, I received my acceptance from School C.

The point of the story is that it can happen, and schools are definitely willing to work with you. Be honest and they'll appreciate it.

sidenote: I ended up at School E so the weekend from hell was pointless. ha! go figure...

 

[smeevil]

I'm getting this all over the place (I did apply to 22 schools). I've just emaild the one that tried to contact me last to try to reschedule. So far it's been working.