Coordinating Interviews

[deleted292890]

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I'm trying to coordinate interviews in the New England area. One school has offered me an interview in January but I'm still waiting to hear back from the others. I tried calling a school in the area to see they would tell me if I was under consideration for an interview--they would not. What is your experience with calling schools and asking if they are planning to invite you for an interview?

How long should I wait to hear back from other schools before confirming a date with the one that actually offered an interview and whose slots getting filled up?

Thanks for your help.

 

[yeastfan21]

I think you should confirm your interview date in January as soon as possible, and plan on making multiple trips to the NE should you get more interviews. Coordinating interviews is more-often-than-not unfeasible since at least half (probably more) of the schools only initially offer you one date and since you're only supposed to ask to reschedule if (a) you have a conflict with another interview, or (b) you're out of the country.

I understand that taking multiple flights can be costly, but my impression was that most MD/PhD programs offer to pay for the plane tickets of students coming from far away. I know that Michigan and WashU do this. Do programs in the NE not offer this to applicants from, say, the West coast?

Anyway, I think it looks bad to go for a while (more than a week or two) before confirming your interview invite... though I couldn't say it would actually impact your admissions chances. And, unfortunately, you shouldn't expect to find out you got an interview somewhere by calling them. Generally, once they've made a (favorable) decision, they'll contact you pronto. Some MSTPs will tell you when your app will next be under consideration, but they won't specifically reveal the standing of your application.

 

[Neuronix]

I understand that taking multiple flights can be costly, but my impression was that most MD/PhD programs offer to pay for the plane tickets of students coming from far away. I know that Michigan and WashU do this. Do programs in the NE not offer this to applicants from, say, the West coast?

The schools that pay for flights tend to be the midwest schools, and not all midwest schools at that. Most on the west coast and in the northeast do not.

But there's still no easy way to coordinate multiple interviews in an area. Most schools won't discuss your application until you have an invite in hand. This means no information about when your application will have a decision or when you could possibly interview. It's a "don't call us we'll call you system". The only exception is that you should check if your application is complete if you don't hear anything.

You can try simply by asking for an alternate date when you get an invite from the second school in an area. Otherwise, it's impossible to make schools cooperate, and the first school won't like it if you try to reschedule. It's a lose-lose proposition.

Don't worry, it's just as bad, if not worse, when you apply to residency.