Got that one too...UCLA Harbor also sent me one saying they'll let me know if anyone cancels...I don't get that...I mean, you're not gonna rank me very high, if at all, even with the .00001 chance that I get invited.
Got the same one from ucla harbor. I also got the general feeling from the email "don't count on the invite", so i'm counting it as rejected!
Well, you never know.
At least one program director told me that they view all interviewees with a blank slate. Once you are offered an interview, you then essentially start with a clean slate. They'll completely re-evaluate each and every candidate based upon a second look at your file but now will including your interview performance (general vibe, basically). Some places will have a group meeting every week following an interview day (including the program director, chairman and various other faculty) to discuss how they are going to rank the newest candidates that had just visited and interviewed. Kind of like an NFL draft war room, if you will. (Apologies to those that don't watch football. 😛)
Hello everyone, long-time lurker, first time poster....
Every program is different, but IF a program tells you they may still contact you for an interview if there is a cancellation, that's actually a potentially good thing.
Here's the thing - the Program Directors get innundated with applications (I think I had something like 390 last year, and we're on target to get as many this year). That's a LOT of data to go through. Also, we're under time pressure to get the first batch of interview offers out, because applicant's dance cards tend to fill quickly nowadays. Add to all of that that I only have about an order of magnitude less interview slots to actually offer, that means the first round of interview offers will go out to my best guess as to the best candidates at the time I decide I need to start getting those offers out to have a good response rate.
So...the people who typically get a lot of interview offers early have insanely good numbers and got their applications uploaded very early. Sometimes the difference between invited and on hold is a whisker's length - and that's all based on very rushed gut check opinion of the application by the PD, typically. We KNOW that we're missing very good applicants. Also, we sometimes have EVEN BETTER applicants (at least on paper - remember, at this point, that's all we know) show up in our queue, but later, by which time we have often already filled the available interview slots. And by later, it could be as early as mid to late September!
Now then, all of us PDs know that applicant interview plans will change over the course of the season. Emergencies will come up requiring applicants to cancel, some will run out of time off or money to go to all the interviews they accepted, and some will just fall in love with other programs already visited and say, "I don't really need another interview." Those cancellations free up interview slots (and please, try to give as much notice as possible if that is going to happen, so we can give that spot to another worthy applicant!). And sometimes, the next person on my invite list is actually better stat-wise than the people already scheduled previously! So, if you get a later interview offer due to a cancellation, we might actually be more excited about you coming than the person who canceled, or the other people still interviewing!
Now then, as to whether it's a 'blank slate' when you get to the interview will vary from institution to instititution. At mine, we really go by the interview scores, so yes, it's virtually a blank slate - I say virtually because interviewers are provided the applications as well as interviewing, and will sometimes incorporate that into their interview score - but their read of the application can be different from my initial one (heck, sometimes MY read of the application is different from my initial one), not to mention they are looking at the most updated version as opposed to what I had to go on when offering the interviews.
So, to reiterate - just because we offer you a cancellation interview doesn't mean we think you're a questionable candidate, and in fact we may be glad someone cancelled to get you in. Most places, the interview is really the thing, and the interviewers don't care when you were invited to interview. So if it's a program you're interested in, by all means, accept and do your best at the interview, and you may end up high on the rank list!
Sorry if this is a bit rambling....it's been a long day....
okay, maybe thats overboard. hehe.
