Interview Stats 2011, How many apps? How many invites? etc

this discussion has been awesome. I think there's also something to be said about doing an "audition" interview. Especially if it's a place that you expect to have lower on your rank list. I'm debating one of the same things right now...driving 4-5 hours each night to make 3 interviews in 3 days missing some of the social stuff or just doing 2 interviews, making both socials...

And the contiguous ranks, is that ranking 13 programs? I know I've had multiples with interviews offered with the same days and I can't be in 2 places at once (as far as I know)...

I also agree that the number of interviews reflects the strength of the applicant.

plane tickets get exponentially more expensive when buying it closer than 2 weeks out, so I would use that as my limit to when I would cancel. but in the end, it is hard for me to shake the "more is better" attitude so I probably wouldn't cancel anything unless I really had to due to a schedule conflict.

but man, that data on how far someone falls down their list would be awesome. Even on orthogate (which is a pretty small population of psuedu-gunners), it doesn't seem like folks drop farther than # 5. Out of all the folks that have matched at my program, none of them said that they dropped lower than 5-6 either.

I agree with the 2 week mark and feeling somewhat embarassed.

I'm on a military scholarship and find out if I can defer in the middle of december, but I don't know when, so assuming I'm going to do a civilian residency I'm scheduling interviews. If I find out I can't do a civilian residency, i'm gonna dump all my interviews because it would be a total waste and prevent others from having the interviews. That said, if I find out on Dec 15 (which I supposidly will), do I cancel the interviews for the 18th? I don't want to be disrespectful to the program, but I don't want to take up a spot for a program I am definitely not goin to go to...

what do you guys think?

I agree with the 2 week mark and feeling somewhat embarassed.

I'm on a military scholarship and find out if I can defer in the middle of december, but I don't know when, so assuming I'm going to do a civilian residency I'm scheduling interviews. If I find out I can't do a civilian residency, i'm gonna dump all my interviews because it would be a total waste and prevent others from having the interviews. That said, if I find out on Dec 15 (which I supposidly will), do I cancel the interviews for the 18th? I don't want to be disrespectful to the program, but I don't want to take up a spot for a program I am definitely not goin to go to...

what do you guys think?

I think they would understand about cacelling because of the military. It would be a waste of their time too. These interviews suck for all parties involved.

Yeah, cancelling for the military is a reason out of your hands so they really ought to understand. There has to be someone out there who's willing to buy a plane ticket two to three days in advance, I know there are programs out there I'd leave at the drop of a hat for.

Anybody else out there with any other thoughts/observations regarding this wonderfully fun process that they'd like to share?

There has to be someone out there who's willing to buy a plane ticket two to three days in advance, I know there are programs out there I'd leave at the drop of a hat for.

Especially some of the programs interviewing that weekend - Iowa, Uva, CMC, etc... yeah, I'd gladly drop the cash necessary to have a shot at one of those places.

Seriously, Therecanbeonlyone, I don't think any program would hold it against you. If you cancel as soon as you find out, then you are doing the best you can under the given circumstances. Hopefully, you'll be able to defer, and the point will be moot... but I wish you the best of luck, man... because if I had to worry about all of that on top of everything else, it'd probably push me over the edge... of course, remembering that I was debt free would probably bring me back.

Anybody else out there with any other thoughts/observations regarding this wonderfully fun process that they'd like to share?

Yeah, one other thing that I would like to see is all of the programs come to an agreement that all interview invites be sent out during one hour each day, so I'm not compulsively checking my phone like a freaking idiot all day... OK, so that's probably more of a "me problem", but I'd still like to see them make the change...