advice RE: canceling/scheduling interviews

[PsyYaYaYaYai]

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I'm nearing a point of interview saturation (~10) and am in need of some advice regarding scheduling/canceling. I am legitimately interested in every interview I have so far, but it's just not logistically possible to do them all plus any possible future interviews due to my academic schedule.

1. "TOP" PROGRAMS: I haven't heard from many. Should I be holding out for them at all? Should I assume that I've been glossed over for now, and not keep any open time for them? Should I contact them with interest?

2. RESCHEDULING: bad to reschedule an interview more than once, given that an institution has many open dates?

3. PRE-INTERVIEW DINNERS: Is it frowned upon to miss them? Is attending a second-look a good way to make up for this? I do enjoy them, but the schedule is getting tight...

4. JANUARY DATES: January is a very open month for me, but I'm not getting many offers for that month. Should I ask about potential dates then? Will "top" programs have dates then?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

 

[wolfvgang22]

I'm nearing a point of interview saturation (~10) and am in need of some advice regarding scheduling/canceling. I am legitimately interested in every interview I have so far, but it's just not logistically possible to do them all plus any possible future interviews due to my academic schedule.

1. "TOP" PROGRAMS: I haven't heard from many. Should I be holding out for them at all? Should I assume that I've been glossed over for now, and not keep any open time for them? Should I contact them with interest?

2. RESCHEDULING: bad to reschedule an interview more than once, given that an institution has many open dates?

3. PRE-INTERVIEW DINNERS: Is it frowned upon to miss them? Is attending a second-look a good way to make up for this? I do enjoy them, but the schedule is getting tight...

4. JANUARY DATES: January is a very open month for me, but I'm not getting many offers for that month. Should I ask about potential dates then? Will "top" programs have dates then?

Thanks in advance for all your help!

1. No
2. Yes
3. Yes. No.
4. Yes.

 

[Psychotic]

You shouldn't be holding out hope for hearing from any programs, not just top programs, at this date.

On rescheduling: as long as you are at least 2+ weeks out from the original interview date, I don't see any problem with doing this. PCs may disagree because it is more work for them, but whatever. DON'T reschedule unless you firmly plan to attend the rescheduled interview, though. Don't play games with this stuff. Canceling a rescheduled interview is bad form, and I should know: I did this to a program, and I should have avoided it by simply canceling the original interview.

Pre interview dinners can be a pain to attend, especially if you have to fly a couple of time zones to get to the program and arrive late. I wouldn't worry about it: make the ones you can, don't sweat the ones you miss, but if you RSVP, you need to show up and not just skip it because you didn't feel like it. I simply sent the PC an email in advance explaining my travel dilemma and I never sensed it was frowned upon or that it cast me in a poor light. I attended only about half of the dinners, most of the ones early on (October) and far fewer in December and January, mainly because I found them to be of limited benefit to ME in understanding the program better, etc. YMMV...

 

[PsyYaYaYaYai]

Thanks for you guys' input. I guess I didn't realize that this is the point in the season where hope begins to taper off. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

[wolfvgang22]

I interviewed at some "top programs" in January, got my invites in late November or so. Turned down a few because I'm not much of an east coast guy, or they waited until late December to invite me. I didn't sit around worrying about keeping travel dates open for one or two I didnt hear from after I had other interviews scheduled. You can do quite well in psychiatry from the many good programs, what matters at this level is how much you want to work. Quit obsessing over "top programs", that's what the newbs do here. How you do in this profession depends on your studying, your interests, your energy level and talents. This is what I love about Psychiatry. The sky is the limit.
I don't think it matters when you interview as long as you interview very well, at least I don't think it mattered for me.

 

[Wyvernrider]

I interviewed at some "top programs" in January, got my invites in late November or so. Turned down a few because I'm not much of an east coast guy, or they waited until late December to invite me. I didn't sit around worrying about keeping travel dates open for one or two I didnt hear from after I had other interviews scheduled. You can do quite well in psychiatry from the many good programs, what matters at this level is how much you want to work. Quit obsessing over "top programs", that's what the newbs do here. How you do in this profession depends on your studying, your interests, your energy level and talents. This is what I love about Psychiatry. The sky is the limit.
I don't think it matters when you interview as long as you interview very well, at least I don't think it mattered for me.

He could just mean his "top choice" programs instead of programs that are typically regarded as top in the nation.

 

[PsyYaYaYaYai]

Yeah, as @Wyvernrider said, I was referring to my top choice programs, some of which are the classic top programs and others are just the ones I'd love to go to, regardless of prestige and whathaveyounot.

I suppose I'm just starting to sweat that some programs I'd love to have a chance at haven't had even an ounce of correspondence with me yet. I know that no news can be good or bad news, though at this point, I'm a bit wary. Perhaps this season is delayed and such, I don't know...but I'm a generally "strong" applicant (or so I've been told) and I just don't feel like I'm shaking out as I thought I would.

Just trying to figure out what some good, appropriate next steps would be is all.