Advice Needed: Deadline for responding to interview invite

[ClinCoffee]

Thanks in advance for your advice!  I’ve received a clinical psych interview invite for School X that requires me to respond and confirm attendance by a specific deadline (the first interview invite I've seen that's asked for this).  Multiple other schools I applied to have the same interview date, but those schools have not sent out invites yet, and, judging by past years, will not have by the deadline.  I don’t want to be presumptuous at all about interview possibilities, but I’d rather keep that date open until those other schools extend invites. 

Key question: Do I have any other options other than confirming attendance at School X and then changing my mind (feels markedly unprofessional) if another school extends an invite on the same interview date?

[TakeruK]

Yes, you do have other options. One is to ask School X to give you more time to confirm the interview invite. However, this isn't really the best thing to do if you don't actually have other invites on the same day yet. 

I would say it is more professional to give preference (in dates) to schools that invited you first so if the other schools don't invite you by the time of School X's deadline, perhaps you should find alternate dates for the other schools instead of cancelling on School X. The exception is the case where School X is really low in your priority list, but I personally would still try to reschedule another school before changing my mind on School X.

[menalta17]

1. Always remember requesting an alternate date is possible and many programs already have a date set aside for students who are unable to attend the first initial interview date because they're attending another, already. So take comfort in the fact that you'll have that option of requesting an 'Alternate date' if you do receive an overlap of interviews.

2. If you don't care as much for School X, as you do School A, B, C, D & E (I hope this is your situation! lol), you're not obligated to interview. If you received a good amount of interviews from schools you LOVE, it's okay to turn one down. You can send a nice 'Thank you, I know what I said earlier about attending but never mind' email and go about your business w/ A, B, C, D & E. This would actually be perfect for other students whom may be alternates, waiting for an interview slot to open and you may be opening a window of opportunity for someone else!

Best of luck!!

 

[jk616]

I had a similar situation come up for me, I got an interview at a school that was low on my list on a prime interview weekend. I was advised to go ahead and say yes to the interview but wait to buy a plane ticket or anything like that; it was going to cost me a ton of money to make it to the interview.  

I ended up getting interviews at other schools that were a better fit and canceled the first one. The PI was very understanding, from what I hear this is super common. I felt horrible about canceling (felt like I was being presumptuous and ungrateful) but was assured by many people that it's an ok thing to do as long as you're nice about it. You have to do what's best for you! 

[TakeruK]

1 hour ago, jk616 said:

I had a similar situation come up for me, I got an interview at a school that was low on my list on a prime interview weekend. I was advised to go ahead and say yes to the interview but wait to buy a plane ticket or anything like that; it was going to cost me a ton of money to make it to the interview.  

Oh right, I might have misunderstood all of the details when writing the first response. In my field, the school pays for all expenses related to the interview. 

To @ClinCoffee: I think if you are paying your own expenses to interview, I'd do what @jk616 suggests here once the deadline for responding to School X approaches. You will cost them almost nothing if you cancel, so no need to feel bad about it. You can still ask them for an extension on the deadline though but if they say no, it's not going to be that big of a deal if you cancel on them.

If the school is paying your expenses (often schools will also book the flight which is why they sometimes ask for you to RSVP early so that they can make the booking well in advance, or that they can invite someone else), then I'd stick with what I said above.

Sorry for any confusion!