Emailing for interview invites?

[mcl]

Can you give some more input on this?

I feel my hometown program might have given me one, but I really liked their program and do plan on ranking them either #1/2/3.

I'm not a fan of the courtesy interview for exactly this reason--it leads to unnecessary second guessing. As gutonc said, don't focus on the program side. If you were invited, do your best to make a good impression and follow up according to the program's post-interview contact preferences (if the program doesn't state a preference, ask the PC). Rank the programs as you like them without any regard to what you think the program will do. That is the only strategy that gives you the best chance for a happy Match outcome. If you like a program but don't rank it highly you'll never know if you could have matched there.

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[Aphtalyfe]

On the flip side, we received a reminder email from a not-so-competitive applicant. That person had some personal ties to the program so we decided to give them an interview. However, that was purely a courtesy invitation and post-interview we have no plans to rank that person. So... it really was a waste of time. Moral of the story- if you're a not-so-competitive applicant who has to travel a distance to an interview, you might want to think twice if you had to nudge to get the interview.

Why did you bother inviting them for an interview to begin with? That seems almost cruel? Wasting his time, energy, and money...

 

[MsKrispyKreme]

Why did you bother inviting them for an interview to begin with? That seems almost cruel? Wasting his time, energy, and money...

Not to mention this is extremely unprofessional.

I've only heard of the primary care fields (e.g. IM, FM, and Peds) behaving this way though. It seems that interview slots are too slim in other fields to "waste" them on someone you wouldn't rank.

 

[Blackcomb]

Can you give some more input on this?

I feel my hometown program might have given me one, but I really liked their program and do plan on ranking them either #1/2/3.

If you like the program, you should definitely rank them highly. Pre-interview your home program will likely have a fixed opinion about you. Usually its one of two extremes- "we love him/her and love to keep our own" or "he/she had some major red flags during their clerkship and we will not rank him/her"

Hopefully you fall in the former category!

 

[Blackcomb]

Why did you bother inviting them for an interview to begin with? That seems almost cruel? Wasting his time, energy, and money...

I don't agree with it either but my point is that it happens so applicants should be aware.