In my situation, timing ended up being clearly the most important part of the process. I had several companies whom I could not give equal treatment in the application process because of a couple days of buffering that happened during their process (either my fault or theirs). In one case, I notified a company where I had yet to interview that I had an offer on the table that expired in seven days. I did not hear back from them until after I accepted the other offer five days later. We arranged a quick meeting at a coffee shop the next morning at which point they indicated they were ready to make an offer without even having interviewed me. (I declined.)