AtaQuye wrote:
Sorry, but I must disagree with you on your point #1. If you are invited to participate on a diversity day interview, it gives you a chance to meet with the the ad coms focused on diversity recruiting, who ultimately decide who to give fellowships to. By not going, you are missing out on an opportunity to make a positive impression and the ad coms quite frankly won't know why you are more qualified to receive a fellowship than someone else who actually attended and demonstrated interest. I know someone who received a fellowship a few years ago to a consortium school, and is now active in that school's interview process. He outright told me that it is advantageous to go to events if you are able to do so.
As for the in-person interviews overall -- I agree that they are inconvenient, but they say 90% of communication is non-verbal, so it makes some sense that these schools want to see you live, rather than talking with you over the phone or Skype.
No need to apologize, I agree with all your very valid points. Until now, in my lifetime, I've almost always shelled out the money to interview for that dream internship or job and never gotten the position. And, after failing so many times in the past, it's time to learn from those experiences and do things better in the future. For example, whenever schools are in my local area, I have and will continue to take advantage of those opportunities.
Additionally, by not understanding why applicants like me cannot visit far away campuses, schools are missing out on opportunities to make a positive impression and demonstrate interest as well. Namely, to access all those advantages you mentioned that flow from an on-campus interview, one must first possess the financial means and personal budget to incur related travel expenses. Simply put, I just don't have that kind of money at present.