Pre-interview dinner/social

Started by Slide
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Slide

Finally, no more "training"
20+ Year Member
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How "mandatory" is the pre-interview dinner/social at most places? I know that ideally you want to be able to go to them, but the dilemma I have is that what interviews I have are clustered together, so if I want to go to all of them, there will be a program in which I will have to miss one of these events.

I've read that for some places, if you don't go to this event, there's no point going at all. Can anyone share their experiences and wisdom?