No 1st-Wave Invite, What Does It Mean?

[CyborgNinjaMD]

Does anyone have a read on what not being offered a first wave invite, but at the same time not being notified of a rejection or a waitlist, means? Every time I see someone post on the interview invite list, I kind of mentally cross off that school as not being interested in my application. Am I just driving myself nuts?

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[Orbit99]

I wouldn't worry too much. A lot of programs still havent sent out any interviews and most of the ones that have have only sent out a portion of their total interviews.

 

[Prizzi]

I've heard that top places usually send invites in one batch though...

 

[seanb9]

I disagree with Prizzi... I called a handful of programs that have sent out interviews and they all said they they will continue to send out invites for interviews. An actual quote from one of them "at this point no news is good news"

 

[echinoderm]

long way to go my friend... invites go throughout the interview process.. most being sent out this month.. stay tuned. don't give up hope yet.

 

[ophthoapp2010]

When they say "continue to send out invites", do they mean "as people cancel"? Because that is completely different than sending out invites in waves.

I can understand holding out for programs that have only sent out invites for particular days (for example, UC Irvine sent out invites for 10/29 but not for its other 2 dates). However, what is the rationale behind sending out multiple batches of invites for all available interview dates? It seems like scheduling interviews wouldn't work out very well for the people in the later batches.


*EDIT*
I just saw this morning that Boston U sent out second wave invites. I bet it just depends on the program. Who knows.

 

[Shake_yabooties]

i guess every school sends out invites in a different way.
When is this academy thing that every one talks about?

 

[snowbank]

Its this coming weekend - and my impression also (from SDN and mentors) is that many progs try to send out invites BEFORE the AAO meeting - and the rest take it easy and send 'em after the AAO meeting.
And - in an effort to make myself feel better - I'm in the same situation as others on this thread are - out of 114 programs, only approx. 50 have sent out calls. So in truth, the majority have NOT sent calls yet! I know it may not feel or look that way from the daily updates to the interview thread, but that's the reality my friends....
Good luck to all this year - both those who currently have (and those who don't) have invites!

 

[Slide]

i guess every school sends out invites in a different way.
When is this academy thing that every one talks about?

It's the annual AAO meeting (American Academy of Ophthalmology); every medical specialty has that one BIG conference that is formal and has tons of big wigs and this one seems to be the ophthalmology version.

Still, right now I think that no news is still good news, at least for the rest of this month.

 

[DrTrish]

Not getting an invitation in the "first wave" does not necessarily mean you won't get one eventually. I am a coordinator, but I have no back-up/assistant as some programs might and there are many other things to do besides set up interviews. 🙂 In order to keep things manageable and ensure we fill our earliest dates first, I send invites in smaller groups with limited date choices. If someone absolutely can't make it on those date choices I will inform them of other later dates. But remember, just as you want to visit as many programs as possible to find the best fit for you, programs want to interview as many people as possible and not have gaps in the schedule. When we have cancellations we will then offer those spots to more people, even if it is very short notice, just trying try to "fill as we go" so to speak. And sometimes those last-minute fill-ins turn out to be the gems of the program! So try not to get too discouraged... it's still fairly early for some programs.