When I applied, I noted a few trends for both my application and my friends:
Interview invites come out in a bimodal curve: many programs will invite early (usually mid to late September -> early to mid October) and the rest will wait until after Nov. 1 when the Dean's Letter comes out. This means that invites are scarce in late October--expect it, know that the same thing is happening to everyone, and that it means nothing. Try not to freak out too much.
On a whole, invites for Surgery come out later than other specialties, so try to avoid talking to your friends applying to psych and peds who already have 18 invites and places that are paying for their hotel--it'll only stress you out. (And to head off the next question: with only one exception that I know of, most places and probably all academic programs will not pay for your hotel. Give discounted rates and take you out for beers and dinner the night before? Yes. Hotel and plane fare? No)
Since it will inevitably pop up soon: Although I found it sadistically useful to follow the "Interview Invites By Program" thread, it was also maddening to see people get invites from programs I applied to but not yet heard from. Then, if I did get an invite down the road, I wondered if that meant they thought I was a "lesser" candidate and that they did not really want me. I talked with several faculty members I know well who are involved in this process at different institutions, and they all told me the same thing: these places receive hundreds of applications, and it takes a huge amount of time to review, even if they only spend 2 minutes an application. Since these faculty members are so pressed with time, they generally only review a small, set number a week. Generally, once the application is complete (+/- Deans Letter, depending on the program) they will just start grabbing from the stack on the Program Coordinator's desk. If you didn't get an invite early, it certainly could be that you were marginal candidate in their eyes, but it could also mean you were just lower down in the stack. Don't read too much into it.
Just a helpful tip: you will likely get more interviews than you will go on, and it seems that the bigger-name places that may (or may not) be higher on your list send out invites later in the game. Most places will only interview on a few days, and many seem to interview on Saturdays only. When you get an invite, respond ASAP with ANY day that currently works with you on their list of available days; this will secure your spot. I know more than one person who waited a couple of days and when they responded, all slots were full and they ended up not interviewing there (so, yes, it seems at least some places send out more invites than spots available...FYI) If you have already secured an interview spot, they will allow you to change down the road, but if you wait to respond, they may be less flexible. What I did was create a calender on Word for the months of Nov, Dec, and Jan. When I got an interview offer, I secured a spot for whatever day, and I put that on my calender in Bold print, but I also put all other days that program was interviewing in smaller print on my calender as well. As the interviews come it, it is easier to maneuver your schedule to maximize your interview times, plus it helps you see geographic trends, so that you may be able to reschedule your interviews so to only make one trip to a certain area of the country that you may be doing multiple interviews. And, yes, it is totally acceptable to reschedule or even cancel an interview. The programs expect this.
Good luck everyone, and enjoy this crazy, stressful time. Feel free to PM me with questions/concerns/for support.
