Interviews: A Couple of Questions

<p>Hi folks,</p>

<p>I've been reading this board for a few days and there's been some very helpful info on here. So thanks in advance. I've seen both of the questions asked in the biosciences thread, but I only saw one answer to each and they seem important enough that I hope to get a few perspectives on them. I think they are pretty common concerns. I am applying to immunology/immunobiology programs for the record.</p>

<h1>1. I have been invited for an interview at UPenn for the last weekend in January. I am EXTREMELY excited about this and definitely plan to RSVP pretty much immediately. That said, I notice the Harvard recruitment weekend is the same weekend, so if I were to get invited to that and had already committed to going to UPenn I would have to ask them if it would be ok to interview on another day. Is this ok? I know interview conflicts are common but are top schools understanding about the need to reschedule? I live and work in Boston so I could pretty much come to Harvard on whatever day they might want.</h1>

<h1>2. What does getting an interview really mean for your chances of admission? I know of course that it varies by year, program, and individual case, but in general how likely are you to get admitted to a school if you are asked to interview there?</h1>

<p>Thanks in advance. This place is a really nice source of info. I hope the answers to these questions help others as well.</p>

<p>If you’re invited to two weekends that conflict, you can ask both schools if there’s an alternate weekend you could interview – many will have two dates, or will have an alternate time already set up. It doesn’t really matter which you reschedule, so you shouldn’t think that committing to one school’s weekend locks you into being there at exactly that time. It’s not a big deal for the school to switch you to an alternate weekend if they have one, so long as you haven’t made travel arrangements yet.</p>

<p>Most schools admit most of the people they invite for interviews – interviews wouldn’t be financially sensible if that weren’t so. But how many people they cut after the interview varies by program. A typical program might admit 60-75% of those they interview, although some programs admit virtually all students they interview, and presumably some admit significantly fewer than 60%.</p>

<p>When I was interviewing, I went to places that ran the gamut from accepting virtually all the people they interviewed (one notified us the day the interview ended) to my current program which interviewed some 20 people and accepted fewer than half. I think you have to ask current grad students at the program to really find out.</p>

<p>I don’t know much about how the science grad programs work because I went to grad school in business and DD is applying to Ph.D. programs in social sciences. In some programs, particularly if funding is an issue or if it’s a program where you’re hoping to do research with a particular faculty member, there may be even fewer spots. One professor told her he has one funded spot he can fill. I’ve read that it really does vary so much that it’s hard to get a good feel for your chances.</p>

<p>Good luck to you though! I hope you end up in a program you’re happy with.</p>

<p>programs do take it as an indicator of interest if you attend their primary interview dates. I would not recommend informing one school that you needed to defer the interview because of a prior interview with a different school. </p>

<p>It is sufficient to state that you have an academic conflict with the date they’ve scheduled. Interviewing on a secondary date can have the advantage of being their with fewer competing students and seeing the program more as it really is-not just in recruitment mode.</p>

<p>These are great responses thank you. Anyone else who cares to chime in is welcome as well. ParAlum, I think I will take your advice if I do have the fortune of getting enough interviews that I run into conflicts.</p>

<p>Is there any likelihood of a school saying “No we only do one interview weekend, if you can’t make it that’s too bad”?</p>

<p>Stanford Biosciences puts bold and underlined emphasis on the phrase, “our only interview session.” I assume this means Stanford, for instance, might give such a response.</p>

<p>Do programs that offer telephone interviews for internationals permit these for domestic students who cannot make their interview weekends?</p>