Best case earliest possible interview date

[pageantry]

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I apologize because I know this has been asked but the most recent posts I can find are from like 2004.

If you have EVERYTHING complete, first day, first minute! of the application cycle, and assuming you have standard matriculant averages (in other words not a total longshot), and your secondaries are pre-written so you can turn them around right away, when is the earliest you might need to be in the country for interviews? August, right? But when in August? If I'm back in the country August 15th am I shooting myself in the foot?

Conversely, when is the latest you should expect to be interviewed?

I'm asking because I'd like very much to go to Guatemala to do a solid couple months of Spanish immersion and volunteering this summer, if possible. And I'd love to return in the spring after interview season (fingers crossed for an acceptance or two by that time). Just don't want to do anything foolish.

 

[CharmanderMD]

Most schools let you pick your interview date. For those that don't, I'm assuming "I'm in Guatemala" would be a substantial enough reason to allow you to reschedule for a time that works for you.

 

[pageantry]

Yeah but everything I've read suggests it's better to take the earliest possible date available, so I wouldn't want to miss that.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

I apologize because I know this has been asked but the most recent posts I can find are from like 2004.

If you have EVERYTHING complete, first day, first minute! of the application cycle, and assuming you have standard matriculant averages (in other words not a total longshot), and your secondaries are pre-written so you can turn them around right away, when is the earliest you might need to be in the country for interviews? August, right? But when in August? If I'm back in the country August 15th am I shooting myself in the foot?

Conversely, when is the latest you should expect to be interviewed?

I'm asking because I'd like very much to go to Guatemala to do a solid couple months of Spanish immersion and volunteering this summer, if possible. And I'd love to return in the spring after interview season (fingers crossed for an acceptance or two by that time). Just don't want to do anything foolish.

You are fine, the earliest interviews are late August, and most schools start interviewing in September.

 

[Glandzburg]

Yeah but everything I've read suggests it's better to take the earliest possible date available, so I wouldn't want to miss that.

Some schools start interviewing mid August if I remember right, but you will NOT be hurt by interviewing a couple weeks later . Anybody that is invited to interview in August is likely a rockstar anyways, so no need to be neurotic.

This thread will tell you when each school sent out their first interview invites last year, and some people mention when their interview is. You might be able to find what you are looking for:

http://www.forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/official-interview-invite-thread-2015-cycle.1083080/

Once again, if you are invited to interview that early, the school really likes your application and you should not be hurt by moving it back a couple weeks. You should definitely make sure you have access to email wherever you are though.

 

[pageantry]

For once pleased to say I'm not a rockstar. 🙂

[edit: def neurotic tho.]

 

[cactus8910]

You can look through the school-specific threads or at this google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11tMaUuBmlTKo9HZYIw1EZJuyWQ5ugIl-ZaPzHlyv-G4/edit for when the earliest interview invites/interview dates were at the schools you're interested in applying to were this past cycle.
I think Aug 15th would be fine to return. My earliest interview was 8/26, and that was the 2nd day of interviews at that school. Many schools won't start at all until September.
As far as the spring goes, how far in advance would you need to nail down your trip? March/April should be pretty safe, but again, look at specific schools and see when they stop interviewing. You'll also need to make sure you've submitted all your financial aid applications before you leave. And I assume you'll have internet access?

 

[pageantry]

Those are good questions to consider, thanks. Sounds like I'll have to decide between high self-esteem August 15th or beaten-down-by-life self-esteem September.

 

[emraldragon]

I interviewed in late march at one school and I overheard the admissions office saying that Friday's interview batch was going to be their last (I think that would have been 3/27). I also talked with an admissions officer in another school that I wasn't invited at and that person said they were going until the end of March. I believe that is typically the latest the interviews go . . .

 

[CharmanderMD]

Regardless schools can't give decisions until October so I'd venture to say that any interviews in August or early September could be considered similarly early

 

[pageantry]

Whoaaaa btw, @cactus8910 you just dropped that googledoc in there all casual-like, but I'd not seen it before. VERY nice, thank you!

 

[lurking892]

This is somewhat tangential, but I feel like interviewing on the earliest possible date might not always be helpful. I interviewed at several top 10 schools in September-October, got waitlisted or rejected at all of them. Interviewed at a school higher-ranked than any of these in January and it was my only acceptance of the top 10s. (Not that rankings are everything! It was just surprising to me, and provides a useful baseline at least.)

I have heard they will compare you with others in your interview group for that day at some schools. Caveat that I'm obviously not involved in admissions, but the point is that I wouldn't obsess about interviewing on the earliest possible date. It may matter at some schools, but if your app is strong it shouldn't matter.

 

[cactus8910]

Whoaaaa btw, @cactus8910 you just dropped that googledoc in there all casual-like, but I'd not seen it before. VERY nice, thank you!

No problemo. Credit to @hellanutella for starting it, and @breakintheroof for having it in his signature where I could snipe it.

 

[differentiating]

As noted earlier, it depends entirely on the schools you apply to - I didn't start interviews until October, and one of those was on the earliest interview day offered by one of my schools. I had friends who finished all their interviews by the end of September, and friends who interviewed from Jan-Feb. Unfortunately, predicting when you'll get an interview is difficult, but being back by mid-August should give you the ability to do most interviews.

On the end side of things, I'd imagine that April or later should be relatively safe, given that most schools are done with interviews by then - but be sure you have internet & phone access if you're out of the country, because you'll want to be able to accept any acceptance or post-waitlist acceptance offers within the given time frames. It sounds like you can authorize others to accept on your behalf, though, if phone access is too difficult.

 

[hellanutella]

I front-loaded all my interviews (by choice, since I knew from November onward my job was going to require a lot more of my time); my first interview was late August and I interviewed until mid October. However, I was 1) extremely fortunate to get all my interview invites pretty early in the cycle and 2) made sure I had my AMCAS sent/verified ASAP and got out all secondaries <1 week after invite.

There's a lot of random chance to this process, but hopefully things will turn out! Just be sure you'll be able to send secondaries off while you're abroad, since that'll happen during the late June-July time frame. Good luck!

Shamless plug for our hella-long application document and @differentiating 's much snappier spreadsheets [see her sig] (her's will probably be the best doc for identifying app trends).