limitted interview dates

[PHHM]

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hello guys, 2 quick questions-
i got an invite and they offered me 3 dates in January only. i couldn't do any of them, so i asked for another date, and they gave me December options. Does it mean anything when programs have other dates available but they only give you 3 choices in January?
Also, i see that programs i applied for have already invited people (not me). I wonder how late can you get an invite from a program (that has invited other people before you) and still think they want you and will rank you high enough that you may actually match there (and you are not their "plan B")?
Thanks!

 

[mcl]

hello guys, 2 quick questions-
i got an invite and they offered me 3 dates in January only. i couldn't do any of them, so i asked for another date, and they gave me December options. Does it mean anything when programs have other dates available but they only give you 3 choices in January?
Also, i see that programs i applied for have already invited people (not me). I wonder how late can you get an invite from a program (that has invited other people before you) and still think they want you and will rank you high enough that you may actually match there (and you are not their "plan B")?
Thanks!

Programs don't invite people who they don't intend to consider seriously. On paper an applicant may not tick every box perfectly, and thus not receive an immediate invitation. But receiving an invitation at any point, means that an applicant is probably in the top 10-30% of applications (depending on how many applications-per-spot a program receives)--and that's still pretty impressive. So don't worry about the timing of the invitation. If you're interested in a program, go to the interview and use that opportunity to give the program a great sense of who you are and how your skills and talents will benefit the program. Be confident without being pretentious, friendly without being aggressive, and make the program glad they selected you. But you can't get ranked if you don't go to the interview.

As an aside, there is no "high enough" on the rank order list unless you're placed in a guaranteed-to-match position. My program has run the gammut from filling within that select group (which meant there were LOTS of applicants we loved and would have been happy with who ended up elsewhere) to not filling at all. Programs can say that they typically fill within a certain ROL spot, but anything can happen in a given year--which makes anyone on that ROL contender. Same for applicants but in reverse--any program you list could be the program where you match.

 

[PHHM]

Thank you for the response- this is my second time in the match- last year i had 15 interviews and went to 12, and still didnt match (this year im going to all of them!). the interesting fact is that after not matching, i contacted the PDs to know if i could have done something better. 2 programs told me the interviews went really good but my scores didnt match their level of competitiveness. i was very surprised by this because they had ALL my scores before they invited me. i asked them why they invited me (in a nice polite way) and they sorta mumbled an answer that didnt quite make sense to me. thats why i dont believe programs take every applicant they invite seriously.

 

[Winged Scapula]

It may mean that when they sent the invitation they only had the January dates but in the interim between the invite and your response, a December date opened up as someone cancelled.

 

[rkaz]

Thank you for the response- this is my second time in the match- last year i had 15 interviews and went to 12, and still didnt match (this year im going to all of them!). the interesting fact is that after not matching, i contacted the PDs to know if i could have done something better. 2 programs told me the interviews went really good but my scores didnt match their level of competitiveness. i was very surprised by this because they had ALL my scores before they invited me. i asked them why they invited me (in a nice polite way) and they said they werent sure what kinds of applicants they sorta mumbled an answer that didnt quite make sense to me. thats why i dont believe programs take every applicant they invite seriously.

Yikes! This is one of my biggest fears. My level 1 COMLEX was a low score (barely passed) and I haven't taken the level 2 yet (thought I am taking it in a couple weeks). I'm sure my LORs, personal statement, etc are strong. I thought I'd be fine if I had about 12 interviews total, and I was really happy to already have 5 scheduled as we are only 1.5 week into the process. Never thought I'd have to worry about not getting selected after (hopefully) going on 12 interviews this season... but now you have me worried.

 

[PHHM]

yeah... its very stressful and confusing. I canceled ints because i felt pretty safe- all my int went pretty good and i even got letters from the programs saying they really liked me! haha

 

[ohyeahbaby]

yeah... its very stressful and confusing. I canceled ints because i felt pretty safe- all my int went pretty good and i even got letters from the programs saying they really liked me! haha

geez dude, now you got me worried too. If you don't mind me asking, what specialty did you apply to last cycle?

 

[Superman DO]

geez dude, now you got me worried too. If you don't mind me asking, what specialty did you apply to last cycle?

+1

 

[PHHM]

Im