I originally was going to bite my tongue since I did not want to risk doxxing myself, but I feel obligated to say something in light of all the posts about the topic on here. As someone who has received >25 II's, I cannot speak for anyone else, but I have cancelled and will continue cancelling interviews. I have a certain number in mind that I would like to take. Beyond that, I have been cancelling a number of them as "more desirable" interviews come in to replace ones I am less interested in. Having been on a decent number of interviews already though, there definitely are 10-15 candidates that I have seen at 3+ interview days. If they are anything like me, they probably are approaching this with a similar mindset.
To provide a little more transparency, I may not be as interested in X University, but earlier on in the cycle (in March when you're invited) when you have <10 interviews, it makes sense to schedule/attend the interview in April. It makes sense from a numbers perspective as well as just a way of shaking rust off our interviewing skills. Thus, I imagine other candidates like me chose to also attend that interview even though later on in the cycle (as we get more invites through April and May), we probably would have foregone that interview. But now that it's further into the interview season, I'm much more selective with which new interviews I am willing to take. This being said, I did strategically try to schedule interviews for less desirable programs (to me personally) for later dates when this was a possibility (meanwhile hoping to get II's to places I was more interested in). This allowed/allows me to avoid attending interviews to programs where I believe there is strong possibility I would potentially cancel somewhere down the road.
I think to some extent, programs do have an idea which candidates are more likely to attend. For example, some places that I have strong geographical ties to chose not to grant me an interview (and that is completely within their prerogative). But for better or worse, I think some programs do not have that same insight and will offer any qualified candidate they want at their program an interview invite, very dependent on PD.
I hope this provided more clarity to the situation. Everyone has valid points, particularly with interviews just being easier to take in general. There is less of a financial and time commitment, so I do not envy the programs' job this year of trying to sort through all the applicants. Anyway, I've always been a data-driven person, so I unironically point to the data from Thalamus and the residency match in 2020:
2020 Residency Recruitment Crisis? Data says, Not so much. – Thalamus
Obviously, fellowship may be different, I could not say exactly. Regardless, best of luck to everyone, and I hope some of the interviews I cancel fall to one of you.
