2 interviews OOS in same state but can't afford 2 trips, help? When can I start declining interviews

[boltedbicorne]

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two questions:
1) I have two out of state in the same state and the two interview dates are several weeks far apart and I can't reschedule the earlier one because the chances are significantly better for my acceptance if I interview earlier, also it's one of my top choices. I want to interview at both schools because it's always good to have more options available, although the second school isn't one of my top picks I'd just be happy to get into one school. What could I try to do for the second school so I can have both interviews on one trip? Could I send an in the area email, explain my circumstances, and request that I be granted an earlier date (either they're full or not offered)? Is there anything else I could do?

2) When should I start turning down interviews for schools? I'm at 10 interviews right now, and I'm by no means a star applicant and I'm not being sdn neurotic. I have a mcat score lower than almost every med school I applied to's 10 percentile, avg gpa, and excellent life experiences. My application has been enough to get me a surprisingly high number of interviews, but I've really been able to my life experiences in context. When could I start turning down interviews? I've applied super broadly, but i'm pretty much at the point where it's going to get super hard to afford a lot more trips. I can definitely afford 7 of the interviews, but not much more and I want to save the little money I have for in state schools and top choices. Is that feasible? Are my odds of being accepted with 7 interviews even that high? I'm pretty stellar at being interviewed and showing genuine interest in medical schools, also. I dont want to shoot myself in the foot by turning down interviews and I don't want to be a reapplicant because going though this process once already broke the bank for me.

 

[moisne]

Call them

 

[harmony2]

'in the area' email.

 

[boltedbicorne]

Thanks for your responses. Does anyone have an answer to question #2? I really would appreciate some advice, especially since I just got another interview invite a minute ago >_<.

 

[Aerus]

Thanks for your responses. Does anyone have an answer to question #2? I really would appreciate some advice, especially since I just got another interview invite a minute ago >_<.

Is it possible to try and find a way to make the money work? Getting in is a priority right now and you would waste a lot of money if you had to reapply.

Technically the only safe time to decline interviews is once you have an acceptance in hand after Oct. 15. Try to schedule as many as you can afford before then and see what happens after.



Sent from The World Tree using SDN Mobile

 

[DokterMom]

What about postponing ("having a conflict") interviews on the earlier dates for your less-preferred schools until say, mid-to-late November. Schedule them later in the season, on the hopes that you'll have an acceptance by then and can cancel them altogether. That way, you'll give yourself a shot at an acceptance at one of your more preferred schools without completely shutting off your chances at your less-preferred schools.

 

[boltedbicorne]

Is it possible to try and find a way to make the money work? Getting in is a priority right now and you would waste a lot of money if you had to reapply.

Technically the only safe time to decline interviews is once you have an acceptance in hand after Oct. 15. Try to schedule as many as you can afford before then and see what happens after.



Sent from The World Tree using SDN Mobile

I wish. I'm low-income to begin with and most of the interviews i've gotten are entirely across the country. each one can easily add up to well over a thousand. it's extremely expensive and is like paying for mini-vacations. Good point about the october 15th though, I really don't want to be a reapplicant for doing something stupid, especially when I have this number of interviews. Is there any number of interviews invites that could put me at a virtual guarantee of being accepted somewhere?

What about postponing ("having a conflict") interviews on the earlier dates for your less-preferred schools until say, mid-to-late November. Schedule them later in the season, on the hopes that you'll have an acceptance by then and can cancel them altogether. That way, you'll give yourself a shot at an acceptance at one of your more preferred schools without completely shutting off your chances at your less-preferred schools.

Very interesting idea I like it 🙂. Would I have to be careful of schools that have rolling admissions, which would put me at a disadvantage? AFAIK even non-rolling having an earlier interview is better even if it's minimal, but your idea is great. Is there any number of interviews invites that could put me at a virtual guarantee of being accepted somewhere?

 

[Aerus]

I wish. I'm low-income to begin with and most of the interviews i've gotten are entirely across the country. each one can easily add up to well over a thousand. it's extremely expensive and is like paying for mini-vacations. Good point about the october 15th though, I really don't want to be a reapplicant for doing something stupid, especially when I have this number of interviews. Is there any number of interviews invites that could put me at a virtual guarantee of being accepted somewhere?

After 4 or so interviews, you should be at a reasonably good chance to get accepted. BUT that isn't something you want to bet. There are definitely people who don't get in after 4 interviews. You should try and find ways to get the money to work as much as you can. Schedule a good amount of interviews before Oct 15 that you can afford to spend money on. Schedule the rest of them much later on. But do NOT decline them.

Very interesting idea I like it 🙂. Would I have to be careful of schools that have rolling admissions, which would put me at a disadvantage? AFAIK even non-rolling having an earlier interview is better even if it's minimal, but your idea is great. Is there any number of interviews invites that could put me at a virtual guarantee of being accepted somewhere?

As the adcoms on SDN have said a few times, interviewing earlier by a month or so is not necessarily advantageous. When the committee convenes once every few weeks or once a month to discuss the interviewees, they generally accept the same %, more or less each time. I doubt there's much of a benefit interviewing in July vs interviewing in October. You're confusing applying early with interviewing early. The former is beneficial, the latter is probably a result of misconstrued neuroticism on SDN.

 

[0919mmk]

There is no magic number; people with 1 interview get in all the time, and people with 6 interviews get rejected all the time. Having said that, it would be very rare for someone with 10 interviews not to get in anywhere. The fact that you are getting all these interviews means that your application is strong. As long as you have a good-to-average performance on interviews, you should be all set. I can definitely relate to being poor during interview season. It's not fun. Hopefully what will happen is that you will have an acceptance or 2 by x-mss, and then you can be a little more selective about where you go to interview. Try to fit in 5-6 before x-mss break, but postponing interviews that are lower on your wish list is probably a fine idea since $ is an issue. Best of luck.

 

[0919mmk]

After 4 or so interviews, you should be at a reasonably good chance to get accepted. BUT that isn't something you want to bet. There are definitely people who don't get in after 4 interviews. You should try and find ways to get the money to work as much as you can. Schedule a good amount of interviews before Oct 15 that you can afford to spend money on. Schedule the rest of them much later on. But do NOT decline them.



As the adcoms on SDN have said a few times, interviewing earlier by a month or so is not necessarily advantageous. When the committee convenes once every few weeks or once a month to discuss the interviewees, they generally accept the same %, more or less each time. I doubt there's much of a benefit interviewing in July vs interviewing in October. You're confusing applying early with interviewing early. The former is beneficial, the latter is probably a result of misconstrued neuroticism on SDN.

interviewing early is a sign that your application is strong, therefore you have a better chance of getting in. People misconstrue association with causality on this subject all the time.

 

[Afford]

I would go to every interview. Your application probably has something really interesting that made the schools want to interview you, but you will also need a great interview to make up for your MCAT. Every interviewer is different and he/she just might not like you that day. I remember reading someone's MDApps on here and the guy was a superstar (super high MCAT, research, GPA, URM). He got into pretty much every single top 10 except 1 of them rejected him and it's just puzzling. http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=18951

 

[Aerus]

I would go to every interview. Your application probably has something really interesting that made the schools want to interview you, but you will also need a great interview to make up for your MCAT. Every interviewer is different and he/she just might not like you that day. I remember reading someone's MDApps on here and the guy was a superstar (super high MCAT, research, GPA, URM). He got into pretty much every single top 10 except 2 of them rejected him and it's just puzzling.

I'm sure you're aware that the problem OP has is being able to "afford" to go to all their interviews.





omg sorry lol i had to do it again you must hate me so much

 

[Afford]

I'm sure you're aware that the problem OP has is being able to "afford" to go to all their interviews.





omg sorry lol i had to do it again you must hate me so much

Lol. That's what I get for picking an English word as my username.

 

[Aerus]

Lol. That's what I get for picking an English word as my username.

Not just any English word. Your user is literally the epitome of all the fears and anxieties of the average medical school applicant.

 

[Afford]

Not just any English word. Your user is literally the epitome of all the fears and anxieties of the average medical school applicant.

Yeah primary and secondaries are so expensive and I found out that it costs 580 dollars to take the Step 1 test. 🙁 If only medical schools had as good financial aid as my undergrad college.

 

[DokterMom]

Clearly there's something compelling in your life story and application to have warranted 10 interview invitations with 'average' numbers. That's an outstanding number of IIs - Congratulations!

So at this point, it's reasonable (never say 'safe') to assume that at least some of these schools want to like you. If you interview well -- and it sounds like you do -- you very well may have an acceptance in hand come November. Great if it happens.

Then the question becomes one of balancing financial aid packages at the various schools. (First World Problems, yeah?)

But first things first. Go get that first acceptance! Then prune --

Edit: And for goodness sake, don't worry about Step 1 now! There are loans for that...

 

[Afford]

Clearly there's something compelling in your life story and application to have warranted 10 interview invitations with 'average' numbers. That's an outstanding number of IIs - Congratulations!

So at this point, it's reasonable (never say 'safe') to assume that at least some of these schools want to like you. If you interview well -- and it sounds like you do -- you very well may have an acceptance in hand come November. Great if it happens.

Then the question becomes one of balancing financial aid packages at the various schools. (First World Problems, yeah?)

But first things first. Go get that first acceptance! Then prune --

Edit: And for goodness sake, don't worry about Step 1 now! There are loans for that...

Haha. I'm not worried about it. I just wanted to point out how expensive it is even in medical school.

 

[QofQuimica]

Unfortunately, the expenses get worse the farther along you go in your training. The cost to take my specialty boards makes me look back fondly at how "cheap" it was to take step 1....but I digress.

OP, you should keep interviewing until you have an acceptance. It's fine to postpone some interviews to help you manage costs, but don't cancel any before you have one acceptance. As difficult as it is to afford your interviews, it would be more difficult to afford a second round of apps (and a second round of interviews). You don't want to do this all again.

In the whole scheme of how much your medical education is going to cost you, a few thousand dollars to interview is a drop in the bucket. I suggest that you figure out a way to come up with the money to go on your interviews. Get a part time job, sell some of your stuff, borrow some money, whatever you have to do to make it happen. Just make it happen.

There are things you can do to make your trips cheaper, too, like using frequent flyer miles (saved me tons of money when I was interviewing) and staying with med students or fellow SDNers instead of paying for hotels. And definitely try to combine trips when possible so you can knock out a few interviews at once.

Best of luck to you.

 

[MrChance2]

I don't know anyone ever who has been rejected with 10 interviews, I'm not even sure I've seen in on SDN. I actually feel like people with 10+ interviews get a higher % of post interview acceptances because they are good enough candidates from the get-go to get 10+ interviews.