Hi Everyone,
At the moment, most of you are patiently (anxiously?) awaiting word from sites regarding your interview status. You may have even heard that a few sites have already begun notifying applicants about interviews.
Before everyone on this list has a heart attack because a few people have reported hearing back from a site, let me state categorically that it is VERY EARLY FOR ANYONE TO BE HEARING BACK ON THEIR APPLICATIONS OR GETTING OFFERS FOR INTERVIEWS! Some application deadlines haven't even passed yet, much less have many sites had the opportunity to review materials and contact applicants to set up interviews.
So, if you haven't received any notification yet, all that means is that you are one of 4,000 other applicants who also have not yet received any communication from sites and who feel like they are the only one in North America who hasn't heard anything.
Remember that each APPIC-member site is required to list in their Directory information the date by which they have committed to notifying every applicant as to whether or not they are being interviewed. The purpose of that requirement is so you can know what to expect and when to expect it. Those are the dates that you should attend to, and you should not count on hearing anything prior to that date. APPIC recommends, but does NOT require, a December 15 notification date, which some sites use and others don't. Check the Directory to be sure.
If you want to make yourself really anxious for no good reason, you can: (a) wonder how each site notifies applicants (alphabetically? by date the application was received? by astrological sign?, etc.) and how you will fit in that process, (b) start worrying two weeks before the "interview notification date" in the Directory about why you haven't heard anything and then assume it must be bad news, and (c) assume that if a classmate hears from a site before you do, it means you're toast. All of these are tried and true methods of generating gobs of anxiety while waiting to hear from sites.
Seriously, go by the dates in the Directory, and assume you'll hear at 11:59pm on those dates and not a moment earlier. Will some notify you days earlier? Yes, but some won't. One year, I sent out my notifications the evening of my interview notification date, and I was surprised how many applicants told me that they had assumed they weren't getting an interview because they hadn't heard anything from me.
In the relatively infrequent event that you don't hear from a site by the end of that "interview notification date," you should call or e-mail the site the next morning to inquire about your status.
Greg
