how many interviews should we have at this point?

Unfortunately, there is no way to answer that question without knowing the number of programs you applied to, whether or not those have begun to send out invitations, and the overall competitiveness of your application.

I think that it is still early, and having any interviews at this point is probably average if not above average in my opinion. Regardless of how competitive one is, I've never met anyone who received an invitation from more than 50% of the programs that they applied to so we are all bound to receiving a large number of rejections anyway.

Best of luck!

There were people on orthogate who received close to and some more than 50% in the past.
It is also a matter if you believe them or not.
It looks like we got slightly more than a quarter of programs sending out invites. So there is still roughly 60-70% more programs to go.
Keep your hopes up.

I'm a current Ortho Intern and I didn't start receive most of my interviews until about now. It is really location specific. If you're trying to apply mostly out west they all come out later. Mid-West come out sooner. I don't think its time to worry just yet unless all of the places you applied are on the infamous "interview offer" thread and you don't have many.

Question for any current residents regarding this topic:

How many of you received interviews from programs that have already sent out offers later in the month.

I've talked to the residents at my home program and they all assure me the interviews will start pouring in later as that is how it worked for them.

But I can't help question why I'm not getting interviews on the first round - granted, it is both a competitive and random process, but I think I'm a reasonably competitive applicant and at some point the random nature of the process should work in my favor.

I received 3 interviews in October, 1 on 11/3, and except for the occasional rejection, I've gotten a whole lot of silence. I'm ok with the rejections (I figured that is why we all apply to a large number of programs), but the silence from programs that I'm vaguely close to and should be competitve for is frustrating.

I am starting to worry that there is some red flag on my MSPE that I didn't catch, but from what I saw it was all positive and well balanced.

I completely understand you and feel exactly the same.
I also thought I was competitive. But I guess not as much as I imagined.
I received a ton of rejection. And silence from most programs on that invite list is killing me.
I don't know what the deal is.
The only thing I do not regret is applying to a ridiculous number of programs.
Well worth it.
I got a few interviews I am happy with. But most programs I thought I for sure would get an invite either rejected me or keep silence.
People are trying to calm us. But I believe this is going to be yet the most competitive year ever.
So get ready.

Every year is the most competitive year, each more so than the last. That is nothing new and the rules that applied last year should apply this year as well.

None the less, we can still gauge vague parameters by looking at the most recent 'Charting the Outcomes' and at least find a range of what makes one competitive.

That being said, and knowing my scores and various achievements, I should still be competitive (as I'm sure you are).

So, that leaves me scratching my head wondering what the hell is going on.

This is a post I made when I was applying last year. Hopefully it helps:

It looks like you made it on 2009-2010 season info.

That's cool man. Looks like we are about halfway through the peak time of interview invites. Good luck everyone!

Yep, its based on older info but generally programs offer invites around the same time each year. The encouraging thing should be the list of programs that off invites during the 2nd half of Nov or even in the first month of december. you shouldn't start getting worried until the 2nd half of december has arrived and you still have no interviews.