How late's too late?

[Primate]

Hi all,

For a variety of reasons (all good ones 🙄 ), my application is not yet complete. Does anyone have a sense as to when is too late, or when most places have filled their dance card (for interviews)?

Any help is appreciated - the sphincter tone just went up a notch. 😱

P

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Hey Primate,

Hopefully the veterans can offer more insight...however, my gut feeling is that right now is not too late.

That being said, October has dawned upon us...it's getting a bit chillier...and more people are likely to turn in their applications about this time. I mean I'm sure you'll get interviews and all that jazz but if you keep waiting, you risk not being able to get your choice dates for a particular interview.

Earlier this week, I was calling to schedule interviews. Fortunately, my impression was that the calendar was still pretty much open. Only at one place did I not get my first choice date (but I vow to find that person who took that date and....just kidding). But perhaps it would be a good idea to submit your application sooner than later. That way programs will get to see your application and you can get those interview invites sooner than later.

That's my $Three.Fitty

What do the other peeps think?

 

[SLUsagar]

not a vetran, but can offer my 2 cents...

i agree w/andy, no big deal if you haven't sent out apps by now. Only real advantage of an early Sept SENDOUT appears to be date selection preferences...but if you're done by mid Oct even poss by end Oct, I think you'll be fine. You might not get your FIRST choice, but second shouldn't be a problem.
Me, i was one of the ancy people that sent out sept 1...but i ended up adding a few places just recently, and overall interview offered pace seems to be about the same...which is to say slow as all h*ll. From reading "interviews 2005" thread, seems like month of Sept was decent in terms of interviews offered, but i wonder if Oct will be the same. My feeling is that if places wanted to offer interviews early, they'd have done it in Sept, and so Oct should be a bit slower with post-Nov 1 being the real next swing of interviews. I think after MPSE/deans is out, there will be mad rush then...interviews will be given out like candy on halloween.

I do wonder though when the is the latest date a place would offer an interview... late Nov?? Early Dec? even Jan??? anyone have any ideas?

but altogether, no, i think you're fine and not too late whatsover.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Most of the programs that have offered interviews to me have stated pretty much the same...they offer interviews from mid-october thru end of January.

And that was a good point regarding deans letters/mspe's. I'll be on the road during most of November so I don't know how I'll do in terms of responding to invites if programs wait that long to dish them out. And I ain't buyin no laptop just so I can check email in my hotel room.

 

[garfield]

Still very much an open season right now. Applications are still pouring in. Hard to really define when late is too late. People are right... the nice thing about having apps in early is more flexibility in setting interview dates. Many programs seem to invite as they slowly crawl through the loads of applications, so if you're very very late, they may not be as lax in inviting you versus if you're earlier in the stacks.

 

[yaah]

Well, I added one program to my application list in the middle of october last year and I got an interview there. The deadline for most is November 1, I believe, so you can technically still apply until then. I wouldn't worry too much. While it is not "still early" it is not late either.

I did, however, visit one place last year in mid october for an interview and the secretary said their interview schedule was basically already filled at that point so they weren't offering many additional interviews even to qualified new applicants. I don't know how common this is, because that place (BIDMC) interviews a lot of people.