Interview invite

An interview invite is the school’s request that you sit a live MBA interview. It means the paper file survived a first screen. It does not mean you are admitted.

Some programs interview every complete applicant. Most competitive full-time programs do not. In those shops the invite is the first real signal.

How it works

Invites go out in waves inside an application round, or rolling inside the round. Stanford’s published rule is a hard precondition: no invite without a valid official test on file. Other schools will invite on unofficial scores and then stall if the official report never arrives.

You book the slot you are offered. Rescheduling once is normal. Rescheduling three times is a data point. After the interview, the next letter is admit, waitlist, or deny. Silence for six weeks is also a data point; it is usually a waitlist that has not been typed yet.

Example: R1 deadline 9 September. Invites start 25 September. You hear nothing through 20 October. That is not an invite. A classmate who interviewed on 2 October and already has an admit is not proof your letter is coming. The admissions committee may still pull late invites if a slice of the pool under-yields, but you do not plan a life on that tail.

How it differs

A video-essay request is not an interview invite. A “visit campus” marketing mail is not an invite. An alum coffee you arranged yourself is not an invite.

Common errors

Celebrating the invite as an admit. Ghosting the scheduler. Preparing only the essay and not the résumé walk-through.