Damn... Interviews...

[kwanny]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Aight. I haven't heard a word about interviews from anywhere yet, but I've been thinking about it, and there's something I wanna ask y'all about.
Suppose I get interview invitations from some schools, I dunno how the heck I'm gonna manage flying out for interviews and maintaining pretty decent grades in school.

I mean, I applied to like 20 schools, and they're spread out all over the country! Since each interview is a two full-day investment, I just wanted to ask, how are y'all planning on doing it?

 

[SMW]

Well, you probably won't get 20 invitations, and the ones you do get are unlikely to come all at once. That said, I tried to coordinate interviews in the same city and/or state, by calling the school that had not invited me (that's assuming of course that I knew my file was complete there) and asking oh-so-politely and humbly whether, if they were considering offering me an invite, could they possibly let me know soon so that I could coordinate it with another interview at such-and-such a time. It worked a couple of times, which saved me a ton of money (note where I'm from). As far as keeping up your grades, you'll have plenty of advance notice (usually) of interviews, and will just have to make your study plans accordingly, talk to professors in advance about what's happening, and really buckle down and get ahead. Some schools give you a choice of interview times, and others will let you re-schedule if there's something like an exam or something you just can't miss (you don't have to give schools a reason for why you want to re-schedule). All a pain, but do-able. Good luck, and may you get tons of interviews, well-spaced but not too late, at all the schools you really want to go to! 🙂

 

[spumoni620]

wow, i was wondering the exact same thing. since i'm a tx resident and applied to all the schools, i've been pretty busy. i just missed the 1st day of school and it looks like i'll be missing a day next week as well--which means i'm missing the 1st two days of organic chemistry. i'm worried about missing labs etc. since these are difficult to reschedule...
anyway, what i did so far was e-mail the professor ahead of time (since i don't know him) and explain the situation. haven't heard back from him yet, but hopefully it will work out...

 

[JulianCrane]

Interviewing is a 2 day event?? I am flying in to Chicago early in the morning and leaving late in the evening.

 

[kwanny]

Originally posted by JulianCrane
Interviewing is a 2 day event?? I am flying in to Chicago early in the morning and leaving late in the evening.

Hmmm... I guess it depends on the school, but I thought it was recommended that you stay over for a night before the interview, no?

 

[Catalyst]

Heh, I was just about to start a thread on this very subject...

I have my first interview Tuesday at Columbia and my classes start on Wednesday at UVa. So, I come back to the U.S. Saturday evening, go to New York Monday evening, and come back Tuesday night in time for class on Wednesday. That's not a big deal (albeit tiring), but when am I to do when I have interviews scheduled already which require me to miss two-three classes which all only have 8-10 students ? I had heard horror stories about interviewing, but I never truly realized it would be such a pain in the a$$.

Praying for an early acceptance...

Sachin

 

[SMW]

Originally posted by kwanny
Hmmm... I guess it depends on the school, but I thought it was recommended that you stay over for a night before the interview, no?

I think it's good to arrive the night before if at all possible. That way you can get a little bit oriented, talk with your student host (definitely the way to go IMHO), and get a good night's sleep. If you try to time things too closely you can end up screwed because of lost luggage (definitely carry your interview clothes on with you), flight cancellations or delays, or just being too tired to think. I wouldn't want to risk it.