interview period

For me, I had 3 in December, and 7 in January. I had 7 overlaps where I had to choose between 2 places. There were a lot on Jan. 10 and 16. Ortho likes to interview on Saturdays in January. Most offer 2 interview days, but some offer 1 or 3. It is a good position to be in to get more interviews than you can attend, but you may have to make some big decisions before you know much about a program. Hope this helps.

You will probably see this over and over again on this board... but, CHECK YOUR EMAIL OFTEN when interviews start rolling in. Commonly, programs have one day that overlaps with every other program (Jan 10th was the big date for the last application period) and another date that?s much less conflict prone. The people that get their response back to the program quickly will get the better date. Sometimes the ?better? date can fill up in less than an hour. I?m sure I could?ve been diagnosed with OCD simply based on how often I checked my email during November and December. But, as a result, I only had to cancel two interviews out of 20 due to scheduling conflicts. Also, believe it or not, it can take some time for the ERAS post office to forward the program?s message to your email account. There were several times an interview offer appeared in my ERAS ?messages? folder long (up to an hour) before they showed up in my inbox. Another suggestion is to schedule early interview offers early. Also, remember that the Administrative Assistants of the programs hold the key to the interview dates. Be nice and very respectful of their time. I had 2 interviews that I was able to schedule simply because the AA pulled some strings for me. Finally, no matter what you do there are going to be conflicts (which is a good sign, ?cause it means you?re getting a bunch of interviews)? know that up front and be prepared to make some tough decisions when the time comes.

this is very helpful, thankyou
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funny anecdote...

i was aware of the conflicts of jan 10, so while i was on my medicine sub-i at the VA, i was on the computer checking my email every 5 minutes.

whenever an email came in i replied within seconds, and i kept choosing dates other than jan 10 so as to keep it open.

well, jan 10 rolled around, and i had so successfully moved all of my other interviews to other dates, that i had the tenth off
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There are usually two main weekends in January (both friday and saturday interviews) where many many programs like to schedule applicants. This year it was Jan 9,10 and Jan 16,17. I personally at one point have 4 interviews set up for the 10th alone and 3 for the 17th....so tough decisions have to be made. I lucked out though and had 1 in november, 6 in dec and about 10 in jan that I was able to fit in. My advice is to IMMEDIATELY contact the program/interview coordinator the minute you get the email and shedule the interview...if they have dates other than january...take them and run. Nearly 100% of west coast programs wait until late to notify about interviews and they typically are mid to late jan. Some places in the mid west south east and north east with have early dates and well as january slots...fill up as many early ones as you can....in the long run it will free up january for later offers and will increase your overall number of interviews you can actually take. Plenty of people got 15+ offers but only could fit in 7-10 interviews...which can get scary

I agree with all of the above and would like to add my 50 cents. While waiting for interviews to come in, one great way to pass the time is to more intensively research the programs you applied to. I shot my application out everywhere (applied to 57 programs) and basically did not know a whole lot about most of them aside from the places I rotated at and those in my geographic region. When the invites started to roll in and conflicts arose, I found myself scrambling somewhat to learn more about the programs and found myself making decisions on where to interview based on very few data points (ie. word of mouth, orthogate postings, program websites, etc.) By doing your homework early, you can make more informed decisions concerning where to interview when conflicts arise.
Best of luck,
Skull