Early vs. later invitations...

[sungkwon]

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I was just curious if anyone out there(such as residents who have helped in the interview processes) know if there is any difference in early versus later invitations. Does interview offer earlier before others mean you are "favored" by the programs than those who receive offers later, and vice versa? Thanks in advance

 

[Winged Scapula]

Not in my experience - we simply went through the applications as we received them and offered available interview dates as they were open.

Someone who got a later offer may not have a complete file as compared to others.

However, later offers may come as people cancel interview dates and times open up.

Honestly, I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to figure this process out.

 

[njbmd]

I was just curious if anyone out there(such as residents who have helped in the interview processes) know if there is any difference in early versus later invitations. Does interview offer earlier before others mean you are "favored" by the programs than those who receive offers later, and vice versa? Thanks in advance

At my program, there is a ranking meeting after each set of interviews. At the end of the entire interview season, a final ranking meeting is held to rank the highly ranked candidates. Therefore, it makes no difference if you interview early or late. It makes no difference if you got the invitation early or late. If you are a strong candidate for a program, you are going to rise to the top early or late as long as you make the interview.

 

[Winged Scapula]

In contrast to njbmd, I thought you were asking whether early or late invitations to interview rather than the interview itself made a difference.

At any rate, as njbmd notes, it doesn't make a difference, This isn't rolling admissions like medical school. Like at UVA we met after each interview session, ranked the candidates and then had a final ranking before the ROL was due. When you interviewed isn't even considered a factor in the decision making.

 

[sungkwon]

Thanks for the answers guys. Kimberli, your first instinct at my question was right, I was speaking about the early versus later invitations of interviews more so than the timing of interviews itself. The thing is I have submitted with everything in by September 1st(including 3 LORs) but I have not heard back from some of my pre-interview "favored" programs that others have heard back from, so I was just wondering if these programs do happen to offer me interviews latter on, I was just added on only after others have cancelled their interviews, or something like that. I am not going to make a big deal of it but I was just curious...