How common is an interview for grad school application

[alkaline262]

I am applying to about a dozen schools on the west coast this next year for biology/biochemistry/molecular biology, and I am worried about interviews. I live in the midwest and have will apply to about a dozen or so schools, most of which are on the west coast. If each school considers me will I have to fly out for a dozen interviews, or are interviews not as common for graduate school? I have heard that graduate schools sometimes pay for a potential student to fly out and visit, how common is this too?

[newms]

I think it depends on a lot the field. In my field interviews, if they are done, are usually done over the phone or over skype, and if you're admitted then they'll fly you out to convince you to accept admission. Maybe you can ask in the sub-forum for your field to see what people, applying to or already in the programs you're applying to, say.

[emmm]

In the biomedical sciences, interviews generally ARE required, and programs generally pay for travel/hotel for out-of-state students.