Phone vs. In Person Interviews

[twiggers]

Hey all,

Any advice on this issue? I'm in CA and applying to schools that are all around 2000 miles away. Usually interview time is March when I'll be preparing for finals (I'm on quarter system). Also I'm broke and can't afford to fly out to these places. My boss (who graduated from a clinical program) said the interviews are crucial and that some profs won't even accept someone they don't meet personally. He said he went to his top choices and did phone interviews for the rest. This of course was probably around 8 years ago...have things changed and now phone interviews are much more acceptable?
I don't want to waste time applying to a school that won't even consider phone interviewees.


Thanks!

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[lazure]

In my experience, I found that in-person interviews were better and more likely to result in acceptances for me. But be aware that these were often preceeded by the potential supervisor calling you out of the blue for an impromptu interview - many overworked faculty do this so be prepared - i had an earlier post on this I think. Although I was accepted at two schools without an interview or even personal contact of any kind - I arranged visits at one, only to find out that there would be no way I'd want to work with that particular individual.

If you're strapped for cash, go to your top 5 choices but be aware that schools don't call you all at once....and you might be top of the pile in one school but bottom at another....

 

[twiggers]

Ya that's the problem...I thought maybe if I flew to MN I could drive to WN, ND, SD, and maybe even IL...but I don't think it's doable. 1 - money 2- I have finals in mid March, and I need to keep that darn GPA up 3 - Being away from hubby for a week would suck! and we couldn't afford for both of us to go. Not only that but there's my jobs I have in labs, etc.
Guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.