The final verdict on this question...
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Programs issue interviews up until the point where they feel they do not need to interview any more candidates to fill. Generally the exact number is based on past history (e.g., "History shows that if we interview 75 candidates, we will probably end up ranking 65 of them, and of these we would be pretty happy with 45 of them") but may change slightly from year to year.
In addition:
1. Program issue interview invitations in the order of desirability. First batch of interview offers go to the most desired candidates. Second batch of interview offers go to the second most desired candidates. And so forth. I am using the term "batch" loosely. There is no set number of batches, and at many program there is probably no such thing as a "batch" as interview invitations are issued on a rolling basis.
2. You cannot infer your likely rank based on the available information. i.e., there is no known answer to the question, "So if a program gives me an interview invitation but does not do so until ## days into interview season, can I assume that they're not too terribly interested in me?"
3. There is no truth to the statement "everyone is on equal footing after the interview stage". A candidate from Penn with a 270 Step 1, 7 honors, and glowing letters is going to be a more competitive candidate than someone from TTUHSC with a 211, 2 honors, and mediocre letters. Even if they both interview well. Even if the woman from Penn has a passable interview and the woman from TTUHSC hits the ball out of the park.
4. A program has no incentive to prematurely issue rejection letters. There is just no incentive to do it, period. There is no cost to the program to keep you waiting and waiting and waiting until the program knows for sure that it has interviewed enough candidates to match a class of the caliber that it desires to match -- and at that point, they can proceed with the rejection letters.
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Match day. Def no interviews after that.
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It's still VERY early. I was getting interviews well into November, I think, at least. Actually, go on last years' interview invite thread and see what the last posted interviews were...
And, the real end of interview season is around the 2nd week of Feb or so, because programs rank lists are due in early-mid Feb, so they don't interview after that.
And, the real end of interview season is around the 2nd week of Feb or so, because programs rank lists are due in early-mid Feb, so they don't interview after that.
