Three weeks is too long for interviewing. Back and forth, from one firm to another, twenty-minute slots that with the dressing up and the walk to-and-from become more like an hour, and with the sitting by the phone praying for it to ring become more like twenty-four or forty-eight hours. Or seventy-two if there's a weekend. There are people -- some I know, some I don't -- who've become my "interview comrades," apparently with the same class schedule as me (so that our interviews are at the same times) and similar firm choices. I see them in the hospitality suites ("you again?"), in the hallways knocking, coming as I'm going, going as I'm coming, coming as I'm coming, and going as I'm going. There's glasses dude, scoop neck shirt girl, and green resume folder man, just to name a few*. And there are some friends I haven't seen in two weeks because they're interviewing for other firms, at other times, and the only mutual free time we'd have would be Sunday morning at six. There's the "you're in a suit / I'm not" pass-you-on-campus etiquette, which is to smile and wish good luck. There's the "both in a suit" etiquette of asking where each other is interviewing, even though we don't really care. There's the "neither in a suit" most-common question: "No interviews today?" And the inevitable answer, "No, they're later tonight. I have nine today." But back to my thesis statement. Three weeks is too long. The first couple of days were new and interesting, but quickly it got pretty routine and tiresome. By the beginning of week two it was old hat, and now at the end of week two, I'm really ready for it to be done. It's nothing against the firms; it's the process. These interviews are all the same, not that interesting, and are making life kind of irritating. Everyone's always busy, no one has time to do social stuff, meals are afterthoughts, I have to worry that I'm going to spill something on my expensive suit, and my feet don't like my dress shoes. I'm not complaining, because of course I recognize how lucky I am to be at a school where all these people potentially want me to work for them, or at least are open to taking twenty minutes to consider the idea -- but I'd rather be run ragged in a 3-day 25-interview marathon than have it spread out over all this time. If I was reforming the system? We'd do a Wacky Wacky Weekend: no classes Friday; all firms fly in and we do interview slots morning until night on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We get everyone scheduled in, three days and we're done. Results in 48 hours, callbacks the following week, let's get this process over with. And we could get back to our normal happy lives that don't involve washing our clothes.

*Just to name a few more: parts-hair-on-the-left guy, pretty earrings girl, four-fingered fellow, needs-some-Botox lady, always-looks-like-he-has-to-pee man, is-she-pregnant? woman, needs-a-shave dude, needs-a-shave ?girl?, looks-like-my-aunt guy, smells-like-peanut-butter madam, one-shoe-untied man, flabby-elbows girl, spinach-teeth guy, walks-like-a-robot lady, and picks-up-crumbs-from-the-floor-and-eats-them dude.