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[abdinny]

This is probably a very silly thing to ask, but:  Do SCs invite candidates to campus in any particular order?  That is, might they rank candidates and then invite them to interview in that order?  Or is it just completely random, and I should stop obsessing and find something else to worry about? 

Cheers.
ABDinNY

[oldchair]

I'd find something else to worry about! 

I suspect that most SCs try to get the "top" candidate, if such a candidate has been identified, to campus first, but they have to coordinate schedules, flights, etc.  Remember, top candidates often have multiple requests for interviews. Committee members may not be available one week.  All kinds of things can slow the process down or determine the order of candidates.

If you've  been invited for a campus interview, don't worry about who else may have been invited.  You should be proud of the fact that you've made it this far.  You've impressed someone enough that an institution is willing to spend significant money (often well over a thousand dollars) and countless hours to learn more about you.  If you weren't competitive and if you didn't stand a good chance of being hired, you'd never have gotten this far.  So congratulations!  Work hard to learn as much about the institution and program as you can.  Sharpen your presentation.  Buy a new tie, suit, skirt, pair of shoes or whatever to make yourself feel better prepared. 

Most importantly, enjoy your day in the sun as much as you can.  Be confident.  Be friendly.  Let them know you're an interested/interesting person.


Good luck! 

[pink_]

Try not to think about it.
I was second on my campus visit, and I got the offer.
My best friend was third of three, and he got the offer.

It doesn't matter what order you go in, it matters what happens when you get there (except in cases where the school goes candidate by candidate).

[abdinny]

I'd find something else to worry about! 

I suspect that most SCs try to get the "top" candidate, if such a candidate has been identified, to campus first, but they have to coordinate schedules, flights, etc.  Remember, top candidates often have multiple requests for interviews. Committee members may not be available one week.  All kinds of things can slow the process down or determine the order of candidates.

If you've  been invited for a campus interview, don't worry about who else may have been invited.  You should be proud of the fact that you've made it this far.  You've impressed someone enough that an institution is willing to spend significant money (often well over a thousand dollars) and countless hours to learn more about you.  If you weren't competitive and if you didn't stand a good chance of being hired, you'd never have gotten this far.  So congratulations!  Work hard to learn as much about the institution and program as you can.  Sharpen your presentation.  Buy a new tie, suit, skirt, pair of shoes or whatever to make yourself feel better prepared. 

Most importantly, enjoy your day in the sun as much as you can.  Be confident.  Be friendly.  Let them know you're an interested/interesting person.


Good luck! 

Thank you so much, oldchair, for this wonderfully encouraging reply.  I think I'm going to print out this sage advice and take it with me on my interview.  Thanks again.

Pink_Lady, thanks too for the info.  You're right that what matters most is what happens when I get there.

[pink_]

PS--Good Luck!
:)

[oldchair]

Thank you so much, oldchair, for this wonderfully encouraging reply.  I think I'm going to print out this sage advice and take it with me on my interview.  Thanks again.

You're very kind.  I'm sure you'll knock 'em dead, and I'll feel good knowing my words are traveling somewhere new!

[trabb]

If you have been invited to campus, then please do not worry about the order.  There are so many factors coming into play that to read anything into it would be idle speculation.

There are schools that invite candidates one at a time.  They bring in their top candidate, and if that person is acceptable to the committee and accepts an offer, they don't bring anyone else in.  At such schools, obviously, the order in which candidates are invited is significant.  Again, though, if you've been invited, then you needn't worry about this.

[anxiousdee1]

Speaking from very limited experience: My husband was the last and he got the offer--we know there was nobody after him and that another candidate visited earlier in the same week he did.

The year before, my own department was conducting a search.  They asked me to show one candidate around.  I know for a fact that there were others after hu.  Hu got the job.

In short, I'm not sure it matters.

[jammer]

In my vast SC experience, this is how it works every single time at every university.  The SC calls the first choice first, but invariably gets the answering machine and thus we actually speak to the second choice first, the third choice second, and the first choice third.  And then the third choice can't come to campus for three weeks and so is actually interviewing second, behind the second choice, but before the first choice.  Because of this, obviously, we always hire the second choice. 

I'm not sure why candidates don't understand this....

[turnip123]

In the offers I received this year, I was the 2nd (out of 3) and 3rd (out of 5).    One of my advisers believes very much that the last person is always the favorite, and I think that may be true at hus school.  In another search where I did not get the job, the person who got the offer did indeed go last.  But I think that's because the SCC just has a very short attention span...of course, it's not because the person who got the offer was way more qualified than me!  =)

[essere_due]

For the peace of the world, and the health of the ozone layer, please do not mind the order of the interviews. Also, do not ask who your competitors are. These efforts will make our world more polluted.

[red_queen]

For the peace of the world, and the health of the ozone layer, please do not mind the order of the interviews.

Aye, aye. Heed these wise words.

Good luck, OP.

[larryc]

We try to get everyone in and out as quickly as possible. Our top candidate might get first choice of interview dates. Unless she doesn't answer her phone when the chair calls, in which case he will schedule an interview with the second person and call the top candidate later. We have no preference for the candidate order because we have learned that our paper impressions of who is #1, #2, #3 are instantly destroyed when we meet the actual human beings.

Don't worry about it.

[sibyl]

I've been rejected from the first, second, third, and fourth interview slots.  It means nothing.  Knock them dead.

[politicsprof]

In my vast SC experience, this is how it works every single time at every university.  The SC calls the first choice first, but invariably gets the answering machine and thus we actually speak to the second choice first, the third choice second, and the first choice third.  And then the third choice can't come to campus for three weeks and so is actually interviewing second, behind the second choice, but before the first choice.  Because of this, obviously, we always hire the second choice. 

I'm not sure why candidates don't understand this....

Jammer and I must be at the same university.  This is exactly how our searches always go.

As others have said, don't worry about the order.  It is most often the result of happenstance rather than any conscious decision of the SC.  Besides, even if there were some reason behind the order of interviews, you can't do anything about it anyway.  Better to focus on things under your control, like making your job talk as strong as possible.

And good luck with the interview!