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I am going to be abroad for the rest of the application cycle and will not have access to my US phone number. In cases where medical schools ask for phone numbers to either inform of interviews or admissions decisions, how should I proceed? Would particularly appreciate insight from anyone who did virtual interviews while abroad during the cycle. Thanks!

I was stationed in South Korea when I applied. I gave my parents' phone number and they relayed messages to me via Skype. I called back Admin offices using Skype. Not ideal, I would say but this was back in 2012. I think Skype or maybe WhatsApp has a feature that you can get a permanent US number through their App maybe (there might be a cost)?
 
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Anything important should be relayed to you in writing. In my experience, phone calls are somewhat congratulatory/celebratory and an opportunity to share some good news that will be followed up with email or snail mail.

When I got accepted, I had a not so fun couple days of playing telephone tag (12 hour time zone difference version) to reach the Admissions coordinator (forget the exact title) to finally get the news of my acceptance.
 
If you are still in the United States, you can port your US mobile phone number to a Google Voice number and set up a voicemail for it. Then, when people call, they can leave you a voice mail, and you can call back using Skype or What's App or your international cell phone.

Edit: There may be a cost for the porting, but it is nominal.
 
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