How to go about pulling the "I'll be in the area interviewing"

[oneofthesedays]

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I know this has probably been covered before but I could not find it so I thought I would ask, possibly again.
If you want to let schools know you'll be in the area interviewing, how should you go about it? Email? Phone call? What should I say exactly? I was really happy to recently get another east coast invitation because I figured I could use this as my excuse to do the whole "I'll be in the area" thing and hope that some of the schools I haven't heard from take the bait, haha. Anyways any advice is appreciated!

 

[anon y mous]

I know this has probably been covered before but I could not find it so I thought I would ask, possibly again.
If you want to let schools know you'll be in the area interviewing, how should you go about it? Email? Phone call? What should I say exactly? I was really happy to recently get another east coast invitation because I figured I could use this as my excuse to do the whole "I'll be in the area" thing and hope that some of the schools I haven't heard from take the bait, haha. Anyways any advice is appreciated!

That's an interesting thought.

 

[mmmcdowe]

1) Respectfully,
2) Humbly
3) Friendly...ly

To Whom it may concern.

I apologize for the convenience, but I would just like to inform "NAME" that I will be visiting near your school next "DATE". I do not mean to rush the admissions process, but would it be at all possible for me to determine if I am scheduled for an interview in the recent future. If at all possible, I would be very appreciative if, this being the case, I could visit your school on "DATE". If not, I, of course, understand, and will look forward to your admissions decision later in the year.

Thank You!

 

[oneofthesedays]

Really? Tell them an exact date you are looking for? I thought that might be a little too presumptuous but I guess a range of dates could backfire on me if a few schools said I could have the same date or something. Hmm.... Okay thanks for the suggestion. Anybody else? Is email the way to go?

 

[Depakote]

show up on campus in a black suit.

hi, I was in the area. 😀

 

[efitzpat]

Some helpful wording passed down to me from other SDNers (I hope they don't mind).
Subject of email (yes - email): Admissions Question
"I was wondering if it was possible to ascertain if an interview was forthcoming from X because I'll be in the area during ___." Then add in some stuff about cutting down travel expenses because you are coming from ___.

I think the key is the ending

"If I am not able to interview at this time, I would be happy to make the trip to your school in the future if necessary."

I gave a range of days. I have an interview on a Thursday so I said I"d be there that week (the next week was Thanksgiving otherwise I would've probably given those dates as well).

It worked for me (well, for one school at least, other I was still under review) so I hope it works for you!

 

[lildoc]

Wow that's awesome that it worked! Any experiences of this backfiring for anyone?

 

[LizzyM]

The samples given here are very good. Schools may have fewer invited applicants coming for interview this cycle (because the economy has tanked and the cost of travel has risen) so hearing from you and knowing that you are still interested and planning to be in the area may get your application a quick look-see and perhaps an interview.

 

[hrfan]

The samples given here are very good. Schools may have fewer invited applicants coming for interview this cycle (because the economy has tanked and the cost of travel has risen) so hearing from you and knowing that you are still interested and planning to be in the area may get your application a quick look-see and perhaps an interview.

If you look at the other threads people got initial burst of interviews and then nothing since Sept. Can you shed some light at this whole cycle because I can't make any sense of all this.
Thanks.

 

[LizzyM]

If you look at the other threads people got initial burst of interviews and then nothing since Sept. Can you shed some light at this whole cycle because I can't make any sense of all this.
Thanks.

Maybe people who don't post on SDN are getting interviews now (later) in comparision with the early birds who got invitations in August/Sept/Oct.

Many schools interview only a small fraction (<20%) of applicants. If you applied early and haven't heard, perhaps you have been pushed off to the side and will be unlikely to get an interview. This isn't because you are not worthy but because there are more excellent applicants than there are interview slots (just as there are more excellent candidates than there are seats in the M1 class). Sometimes it just come down to luck which is one reason to apply broadly -- you can't put all your eggs in one basket.

 

[Demas567]

Any experiences of this backfiring for anyone?

yes. i got a rejection letter in the mail a week later lol. not sure if they were already planning on rejecting me...

 

[oneandonlylo]

Some helpful wording passed down to me from other SDNers (I hope they don't mind).
Subject of email (yes - email): Admissions Question
"I was wondering if it was possible to ascertain if an interview was forthcoming from X because I'll be in the area during ___." Then add in some stuff about cutting down travel expenses because you are coming from ___.

I think the key is the ending

"If I am not able to interview at this time, I would be happy to make the trip to your school in the future if necessary."

I gave a range of days. I have an interview on a Thursday so I said I"d be there that week (the next week was Thanksgiving otherwise I would've probably given those dates as well).

It worked for me (well, for one school at least, other I was still under review) so I hope it works for you!

This was really helpful, thanks!

 

[JuliaGulia2789]

Just curious, has anyone tried this at top-notch schools? HMS? UPenn? Yale? Did it work?

 

[chad5871]

Just curious, has anyone tried this at top-notch schools? HMS? UPenn? Yale? Did it work?

Don't know what you consider "top notch," but it worked for me at Columbia.

If you're on the fence of whether to send one, you might as well. It's not really going to hurt anything.