Changing your mind about an interview

[arkel]

I was recently invited to attend an interview weekend at one of my least-preferred schools (it's a great school, but I don't really like the location, and since applying I've realized that the faculty's research interests are not a great fit with mine compared to some of the other schools I applied to).

This was my first official interview invitation, and it was done over the phone with one of my potential faculty advisors. I was caught off-guard, and since I hadn't had any offers yet, I told him that I would be very excited to visit. I also found out that he had called one of my references (who is his friend) beforehand to talk about me.

Since then, I have received several other invitations from schools I am more interested in attending. At this point, I don't really want to attend the weekend, and I would feel pretty guilty about wasting their time and money when I have no intention of attending this school.

Is it appropriate to cancel now? I made sure that they haven't made any travel arrangements for me, so hopefully my declining won't cost them anything. But, my (hopeful) field of study is pretty small, and I don't want to offend anyone.

It seems like this must happen a lot...has anyone run into this before? I'm trying to think of the situation like a business transaction, but it feels so personal.

Thank you!

[fuzzylogician]

I declined an open house/interview invitation during my application cycle for the same reasons as yours, and I more or less 'rejected' two other schools following phone interviews with potential advisors before they got back to me but once I realized I was not interested and had better offers. It's uncomfortable to have to say 'no', but if you keep it professional no one will get hurt. You've graduated to the next stage in the application process - the one that eventually ends with you saying 'no' to all but one school. Schools are used to applicants rejecting offers and don't take it personally. Once you've decided you're not interested in a certain offer, let that school know as soon as possible, so that they can have time to offer admissions to someone else down the list or reuse the funding allocated to you for other people. Trust me, they will be grateful.

Edited January 16, 2011 by fuzzylogician

[arkel]

Thanks for your reply!

I guess I knew it would come down to rejecting a bunch of schools in the end, but it really does help to hear it from someone else has been there!