Interviews with professors

[strawberrykat]

Just curious, does anyone know if professors often reach out to multiple students that they are interested in? I assume that they wouldn't want to put all their eggs in one basket. 

[fuzzylogician]

Yes, that's fairly common. 

[Elephas]

Also you may consider a professor may be looking to grow their lab/group and take more than one grad student at a time so naturally they would speak to multiple students.

[strawberrykat]

How does it work then if two students that they spoke with both decide to attend? 

[FishNerd]

I would imagine if both students want to attend and are extended official offers then that professor may be taking on more than one student that application season. If there is only one position I think the professor would only send out an official offer to their top pick. So ultimately it depends on how many students that professor is planning on accepting into their lab that season.