Invited to an interview, but not a recruiting weekend

[canIhazPhDplz]

Hi all,

I applied to UW-Madison for fall admission. I know that they have had two recruiting weekends, and I was not invited to either. However, I was very relieved when I received an e-mail inviting me for an interview. Of course, I had a scheduling conflict and I politely asked to reschedule, trying my best to convey my sincere interest in the program. The chair of the program responded saying that he would see if another date will work for the faculty.

Did I shoot myself in the foot? If so, is there any way to recover? I am under a lot of pressure, so I think a lot of my worry is compounded by stress. I asked to reschedule a few days ago, but I haven't heard back about whether or not it will be okay.

Also, are interviews scheduled aside from recruiting weekends on an individual basis?

I would appreciate any advice!

[Sparky]

Interviews, especially on-campus ones, often serve a double function of interviewing the candidate, and letting the candidate interview the school. In other words, it may very well be that your particular department does interviews instead of participating in the recruitment weekend.

My dept does an on-campus interview weekend and does not fly students back to campus for recruitment weekend. What would be the point?

[canIhazPhDplz]

That was part of my confusion. This program already had two recruiting weekends. Who knows?

Thanks for the response