Interview scheduling game

[SLUser11]

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Is anyone else having problems trying to schedule interviews this early on in the process? I want to get the best dates while they're still available, but my schedule is filling up fast and I haven't heard from alot of good programs yet.

I know that the options include: 1. Wait to schedule until I have all the invitations I want, or 2. schedule as I go along, and then cancel some as needed to make room for others. My big problem is committing to a date at a place that I WANT to go (catering it to fit around my tentative schedule that includes safety programs that have already responded to me), then having a situation where limited interview dates leads me to need to cancel THAT interview when another somewhat-better one comes in (especially at places that won't really let you juggle interview dates, eg Mayo).


Does anybody have a good game plan for all of this? 😕

 

[lovemydrhubby]

I'd love to hear what some others did last year or are planning too.

For now, as my husband gets invitations, he's picking the earliest dates he can. He has an easy rotation in November that will allow for him to leave for interviews. He blocked out most of December and early January for vacation time (and Step II). He has another easy, 2 week rotation the end of January.

He knows alot of the really "big name" programs offer Saturday interviews in Dec/January so he's leaving those open for now. So if a program offers a Two saturdays and two thursdays- he'll pick a thursday. Some program websites indicate what dates their interviews will be held or sometimes just the day of week so you can try to think ahead there.



a side question- do all programs give you specific dates or do some programs allow you to schedule whenever you can (within reason of course)?

Thanks

 

[Blue Haze]

Yeah, I'm finding it to be a nightmare too. I was hoping to schedule programs in similar geographic areas around the same time, to cut down on airfare. I'm finding that many of the programs in the same city offer the exact same dates, which makes that impossible. So far I'm going to be cris-crossing the country very wastefully.

I'm almost wishing I didn't respond as the invites came in. That way it might have been easier to make a schedule that suits me.

 

[surg]

Here are a few tips.
1) respond ASAP after getting the invite. For those that offer multiple dates, some will fill up faster than others. Invariably the ones that fill up first are the ones you would have wanted. (Reason being that everyone is trying to get to the same set of interviews you are, and there aren't that many ways to hit all of them!) Occasionally, if you wait TOO long, they will decide you aren't interested and fill out the schedule without you.

2) If there are programs that you anticipate being competitive for, but haven't heard anything from, it is probably an ok time to call and ask NICELY if they have set their interview dates yet as you want to hold that date open in case you are offered one. Don't ask if you got an interview, they probably don't know yet and it'll seem pushy. Remember the interview coordinator can just as easily blackball you as anyone else (except the PD and chair I guess).

3) Get a 3 month calendar (or make one in Word or something) and fill in all the possible dates for everywhere that you know about so when you get the e-mail, you are ready to leap on the date that you need.

4) If you do need to cancel a program (which is not uncommon), try to do it as earlier as possible. If you do this early enough, this allows the program to invite someone else to interview in your place. This helps everyone. The person getting the invite is happy, and who knows, that person might be the one who would have gotten your spot at your preferred program but will turn it down now that they have other interview options.