I applied for a funded PhD project at Imperial on the 2rd of April. Deadline was 7th of April. I only got invited for the interview on the 26th of April. This seems late to me - usually, I get invited to interview 1-2 weeks after the deadline and decisions usually get made really quickly. I've applied for a studentship and they had picked a candidate within 3 weeks. So 3 weeks for an interview seems like they don't really want me.

Does being invited to interview mean I could still stand a chance for the project? The late invite gives me the impression that they've interviewed their top candidates already and they're just inviting me cos they're bored or kinda interested in me but don't have any intention of giving it to me.

Thoughts? Should I even bother going?