Advice on handling interview conflicts

[cumulina]

First off, I'm happy to be getting a few interview invites. I've received 3 invites so far but all three programs invited me on the same weekend go figure...

I've already declined my second invite from one of my top choices(school B ) because I had already accepted an invite to my absolute top choice(school A). Neither program was willing to budge on their scheduled date which I find strange? maybe it's just me. Now school C, has invited me on that same date with the option to reschedule, but they want a reason? would there be a problem with just outright saying I have another interview? 

This whole predicament has left me a little hesitant to readily accept any more invites out of fear for scheduling issues. So I also wanted to know how long do interview invites usually stay on the table? 

[TakeruK]

It sounds really weird to be that Schools A and B are unwilling to budge. I think it's okay for schools to ask for a reason, and I think telling them that you are already committed to an interview with School A is exactly what you should tell School C. 

Did School B still refuse to change the date for you even after you told them about the School A interview? I think this is super strange (and dumb, in my honest opinion) because if Schools A and B are top schools, then it's likely that they will have a lot of candidates that apply to and get into both. 

I think you've done everything right so far. I would ask School B one more time for a different interview date, making it clear that you cannot attend their date due to the conflict with School A. If they still refuse to reschedule, then ask for a Skype or phone interview? 

For interview/visit invite, every one that I have received came with a deadline for the RSVP. If one isn't given, I think you can say something like you need to move some prearranged plans first and ask for a deadline for you to get back to them. However, moving forward, I think you should accept each invite and give priority in the order you receive invites. If you'd prefer, you can wait a few days after each invite to ensure another school doesn't happen to also invite you a day later. That is, I'm saying to give preference due to the order, but while I would prioritize an invite given Jan 10 vs. Jan 27, I wouldn't really distinguish between an invite on Jan 11 vs. Jan 13, for example.

** But this (maybe?) is still early in the season, so another caveat is that if it seems like you are going to get like 10 invites (congrats!), you might not want to accept them all because you can probably start narrowing down schools at this point.

[HopefulPHD14]

I think it is acceptable to tell them that you have another interview already scheduled.  They know that most people are going to have more than one interview and should be understanding.  If you really do not feel comfortable saying that, you can probably be more vague and tell them something like, "I have prior commitments that weekend", however just being honest and saying it is an interview might sound better so they know you are not just blowing them off to go to Vegas with friends or something.

As for how long the invite stays on the table, I cant help you there.  I would expect it depends on the school.  Some schools will give you a deadline for when they want to hear back by others may not.  You easily have at least 1 business week to think it over and schedule (I would guess).  I think it also depends on when the interview weekend is scheduled.  You need to get back to them quicker if it is an interview the first week of February than you do if the interview is in March.

Worst case scenerio, if you think there will be a conflict, perhaps you could call the schools you are still waiting on.  I personally have not done this, however I have heard that some individuals have had success calling and asking the status of their application since they are waiting to RSVP to other interviews.

Good luck!

[cumulina]

17 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

It sounds really weird to be that Schools A and B are unwilling to budge. I think it's okay for schools to ask for a reason, and I think telling them that you are already committed to an interview with School A is exactly what you should tell School C. 

Did School B still refuse to change the date for you even after you told them about the School A interview? I think this is super strange (and dumb, in my honest opinion) because if Schools A and B are top schools, then it's likely that they will have a lot of candidates that apply to and get into both. 

I think you've done everything right so far. I would ask School B one more time for a different interview date, making it clear that you cannot attend their date due to the conflict with School A. If they still refuse to reschedule, then ask for a Skype or phone interview? 

For interview/visit invite, every one that I have received came with a deadline for the RSVP. If one isn't given, I think you can say something like you need to move some prearranged plans first and ask for a deadline for you to get back to them. However, moving forward, I think you should accept each invite and give priority in the order you receive invites. If you'd prefer, you can wait a few days after each invite to ensure another school doesn't happen to also invite you a day later. That is, I'm saying to give preference due to the order, but while I would prioritize an invite given Jan 10 vs. Jan 27, I wouldn't really distinguish between an invite on Jan 11 vs. Jan 13, for example.

** But this (maybe?) is still early in the season, so another caveat is that if it seems like you are going to get like 10 invites (congrats!), you might not want to accept them all because you can probably start narrowing down schools at this point.

Right?! I was corresponding with both schools A and B (before any travel arrangements were made) and they both were very adamant about having only 1 interview date. Both programs don't strike me as being particularly large and neither are part of an interdisciplinary program so perhaps they don't really expect as much traffic in this regard? 

I didn't explicitly decline the invite, but after I had told school B It was impossible for me to make their interview weekend I asked if there was anyway for me to still be considered and even offered to fly out on my own at a different date. I haven't heard from them since(2 weeks). At this point I'm assuming they aren't as enthusiastic about me to say the least. 

After my first invite, I thought I would wait a few days before accepting but they kept emailing me! I guess I should take this as a good sign? Anyway I think I'll take your advice and start accepting interviews as they come. I'm only waiting on a few more programs and from what I've read on here they've all had multiple weekends in past years. There shouldn't be any major scheduling issues right? Ha....ha....ha? 

Thanks for the insight! 

[cumulina]

43 minutes ago, HopefulPHD14 said:

I think it is acceptable to tell them that you have another interview already scheduled.  They know that most people are going to have more than one interview and should be understanding.  If you really do not feel comfortable saying that, you can probably be more vague and tell them something like, "I have prior commitments that weekend", however just being honest and saying it is an interview might sound better so they know you are not just blowing them off to go to Vegas with friends or something.

As for how long the invite stays on the table, I cant help you there.  I would expect it depends on the school.  Some schools will give you a deadline for when they want to hear back by others may not.  You easily have at least 1 business week to think it over and schedule (I would guess).  I think it also depends on when the interview weekend is scheduled.  You need to get back to them quicker if it is an interview the first week of February than you do if the interview is in March.

Worst case scenerio, if you think there will be a conflict, perhaps you could call the schools you are still waiting on.  I personally have not done this, however I have heard that some individuals have had success calling and asking the status of their application since they are waiting to RSVP to other interviews.

Good luck!

Funny story actually, I emailed one of the schools literally saying that "I have prior commitments", but they straight up replied, "is it possible to get the other school to reschedule?". So I'm thinking being honest would just be easiest for everyone. 

I may just be over thinking the whole punctuality of the process. There can't possibly be any harm in asking how long I have to confirm the date. This whole process might just be stressing the common sense out of me. I also wanted to make sure I wouldn't get any blow back for not hastily accepting any offer from the programs I've applied to. 

Thanks!

[TakeruK]

17 hours ago, cumulina said:

Funny story actually, I emailed one of the schools literally saying that "I have prior commitments", but they straight up replied, "is it possible to get the other school to reschedule?". So I'm thinking being honest would just be easiest for everyone. 

I may just be over thinking the whole punctuality of the process. There can't possibly be any harm in asking how long I have to confirm the date. This whole process might just be stressing the common sense out of me. I also wanted to make sure I wouldn't get any blow back for not hastily accepting any offer from the programs I've applied to. 

Thanks!

Ugh---When I hear that, I would just think the school is super arrogant and elitist. It's like really?! I hope that it's not indicative of how the faculty there will treat demands on your time in the future, if you choose to go to that school. 

I do think honesty is the best policy. I had two schools in California & Arizona schedule visits: One on Thurs-Fri of one week and another on Thurs-Fri of the following week. I was living in Eastern Canada at the time ($700+ flight, 16 hours of travel due to not living near a hub airport etc.) so I didn't want to fly out for a few days, go home, then go back out again. So, I asked the first school to reschedule my visit to Mon-Tues of the following week, so that I can fly to school A on Sunday, visit for 2 days, fly to School B on Wed, then visit School B on Thurs-Fri. I was honest about what I was doing and upfront at the very start---I also pointed out that I would split the expensive airfare fairly between the two schools, so ultimately it was win-win-win for all 3 parties. There was a little bit of extra admin work to properly divide the expenses, but being honest about everything made it all much easier.

Also, I guess it's easier for me to say this on the other side, but I wouldn't really care about blow back for not hastily accepting an offer. If I don't get in because I didn't drop everything for the program, that's probably a good thing since I wouldn't want to be there anyways. But I realise this is easier to say for someone who is already in grad school