Interview at a school I didn't apply to

[NeurosciNerd]

I was invited to interview at my ex-boyfriend's school (neuroscience Ph.D. program). I met with many faculty members last spring when I was dating him, and was on their mailing list. Since last August, I have been very cordially asking them to please remove me from their list. About a week ago, I was invited to their interview weekend. I did not apply to their program. Do I need to contact them to say I will not be attending?

This also makes me nervous because I have heard from them, but no other school that I did actually apply to.

[emmm]

Is it a decent program? Is ex-boyfriend still there -- I guess that could trump all other considerations?

[contretemps]

why not give it a shot? Has the application deadline passed already?

[NeurosciNerd]

I had originally expressed interest in this program only to make my ex happy. This program isn't even ranked and has very little funding. I'm currently looking at schools like UCSD, Stanford, Penn and Johns Hopkins (with some safe schools mixed in...I'm pretty much guaranteed admission to the school at which I am a lab tech). I just don't want to be blacklisted for being "rude" by not responding.

[fuzzylogician]

If you're not interested at all, you should decline. If there is a chance you could be interested but only if there is funding, ask for funding for the visit and decline if they don't have any. Schools receive polite rejections from admitted applicants all the time so they should not be offended.