2011 interview lodging/couchsurfing?

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camn

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So.. I looked around and didn't see it...
But I think we should all have a centralized list of couches to stay at.

We all need to save a few thousand on our interview costs, right? It is really just a logistical problem.

Has this been done?
Is there a system?

I know nothing. I try and stay off the internet, for my own sanity. Please advise.

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depending on what you are interviewing for, the program may pay for your lodging during interviews. I didn't pay for any hotels for residency interviews - but I interviewed for IM.
 
I'm interviwing for Pathology and all the programs I have gotten interview offers from (10 so far) are paying for one night stay at a hotel the night before my interview. Maybe the programs that you're applying for will do the same.

So.. I looked around and didn't see it...
But I think we should all have a centralized list of couches to stay at.

We all need to save a few thousand on our interview costs, right? It is really just a logistical problem.

Has this been done?
Is there a system?

I know nothing. I try and stay off the internet, for my own sanity. Please advise.
 
depending on what you are interviewing for, the program may pay for your lodging during interviews. I didn't pay for any hotels for residency interviews - but I interviewed for IM.

Dang that's nice. Haven't heard of a single rads program doing this. I'm just happy I know people all over the country and also hope to share some hotels with classmates
 
Dang that's nice. Haven't heard of a single rads program doing this. I'm just happy I know people all over the country and also hope to share some hotels with classmates

The one rads interview I have is setting applicants up in a hotel for the night before the interview.
 
I have been invited to two prelim year interviews and they are both paying for one night at a hotel.
 
As posted above, some programs will offer lodging the night before, and some won't. I've noticed that it usually depends on the specialty. A friend of mine applied to family med and had his hotel paid for on every interview. And then they gave him gift baskets or something and wrote HIM a thank you note. I'm not even kidding.

I applied to prelim surgery and radiology. Two of the prelim programs paid for a hotel, and one of the radiology programs paid for a hotel. I interviewed at about 25 rads programs and 5 prelim programs. My wife applied to ortho and didn't have any of her hotel nights paid for.

I usually stayed either with family/friends or in cheap hotels. The priceline "name your own price feature" worked VERY well and put me in 4 star hotels for the price of a 2 star hotel. We still use it today when we travel.

Couch surfing is not a bad idea, and we initially discussed creating this type of function within interviewSEASON. We moved it to the back-burner because we wanted to focus on other utilities that would benefit the general population first. Obviously couch surfing will save you money, but here are some things to consider this before opting to couch surf the night before the interview:

You will have to deal with somebody you don't know as you're trying to get out the door on the morning of your interview. You'll also have to deal with them and lack of privacy the night before the interview. Even though a hotel room will cost you some money, there are some advantages to having your own room the night before your interview. Couch surfing is probably not so bad if they are medical students who know the situation. I would not use one of the general population couch-surfing sites.

If you are going to try to couch surf with fellow applicants, you could try using the "Residency Match" facebook group to connect. I'm not sure that it would work for what you're looking for, but it might. The ability people will have to see a little more info about the person they're considering putting up (or staying with) may make it easier. You could even start your own "Residency Match Couch Surfer Group" just for people who are interested in couch surfing with each other.

Good call on staying off of the internet.

Best of luck.
 
YMMV but if you're fine with the potential nocternal interruptions of couch surfing, hostelling can also save some money. I didn't many paid nights so this plus airline miles ended up being a good way to offset the costs in more expensive places.
 
So far I am lucky I have a lot of cousins...
 
Out of the 10 or so TY/prelim interviews I have scheduled so far, 3 or 4 of them (I think all TYs) have arranged to put me up in a hotel the night before. Pretty nice of them.
 
This sounded interesting. I was going to volunteer to host people in Dallas if they weren't a creeper, then I went back and read your post:

I know nothing. I try and stay off the internet, for my own sanity. Please advise.
So... FWIW, I think anything claiming you're fighting to maintain sanity is a couchsurfing deal-breaker. Sorry buddy.
 
YMMV but if you're fine with the potential nocternal interruptions of couch surfing, hostelling can also save some money. I didn't many paid nights so this plus airline miles ended up being a good way to offset the costs in more expensive places.

Hostelling or motels could be okay. 1. family and friends' place. 2. decent-enough hotel/motel 3. seedy/shady place
 
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depending on what you are interviewing for, the program may pay for your lodging during interviews. I didn't pay for any hotels for residency interviews - but I interviewed for IM.

Unfortunately very few places made this offer when I interviewed. I think I had 1-2 offers to pay for a night in a local hotel, and a couple of department negotiated discounted applicant rates at a few other places. But for the most part you had to pay. Given the state of the economy, I'd be surprised if things haven't gotten even tighter.
 
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