Canceling an interview before an acceptance

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catmario

catmario

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I don't have an acceptance yet. I have two more in state interview scheduled, one waitlist, and an impending decision in about a week. I am considering canceling the oos interview because of a recent episode of panic attack on a small plane for both the trip to and from an oos school. Non-airborne travel is out of the question for this school, and I don't have health insurance and cannot afford the visit to the doc and the meds. Furthermore, this school is quite unkind to rescheduling, and the administration staff is uncooperative in general, so I'm pretty sure I'd be told to take it or leave it.

I suppose the advice would be to rechedule to a date after the decision comes in, but in the event that I can't, should I just cancel?

I know this sounds absurd, but both panic episodes were quite terrifying. I hear it's easily resolved by meds, but again, I don't have the money.

I am neutral to this school, other than the admin staff.

I would appreciate any advice. Even as I write this, I know there really isn't a clear cut answer.
 
catmario said:
I don't have an acceptance yet. I have two more in state interview scheduled, one waitlist, and an impending decision in about a week. I am considering canceling the oos interview because of a recent episode of panic attack on a small plane for both the trip to and from an oos school. Non-airborne travel is out of the question for this school, and I don't have health insurance and cannot afford the visit to the doc and the meds. Furthermore, this school is quite unkind to rescheduling, and the administration staff is uncooperative in general, so I'm pretty sure I'd be told to take it or leave it.

I suppose the advice would be to rechedule to a date after the decision comes in, but in the event that I can't, should I just cancel?

I know this sounds absurd, but both panic episodes were quite terrifying. I hear it's easily resolved by meds, but again, I don't have the money.

I am neutral to this school, other than the admin staff.

I would appreciate any advice. Even as I write this, I know there really isn't a clear cut answer.
Click to expand...

Make sure you aren't on a small plane if possible.
 
Do you have anxiety in other areas of your life (besides when flying)? Have you tried techniques that don't involve medication, like breathing exercises or mindfulness meditation? If you really think medication is the answer, are there any clinics in your area that serve the uninsured? You can often get generic prescriptions filled at very low cost at places like Walmart or Target...

Obviously, no one here can make this decision for you--it's up to you to determine your priorities and how much you're willing to tolerate. But if it were me, I'd sure as hell be getting on that plane, anxiety and all, because there are no guarantees in this process and canceling an interview without an acceptance is a big risk to take. I know that anxiety is often outside of one's control and a huge pain in the ass. But air travel is pretty unavoidable so it would probably benefit you to come up with some sort of plan for managing it! Good luck.
 
I understand that it is going to cost money to go to a physician and get anxiety medication with no health insurance. But I'm pretty sure it would cost more in the long run if by any chance you don't get accepted at those 4 schools and have to chip out money to apply for another cycle.

I don't know very much about how hard it is to get anxiety medication, but it's not like you are trying to get oxycontin, perhaps a free clinic might be an option for trying to get it? I used to work at a pharmacy and there were certain coupons that they would give to people who don't have health insurance and it would drop the price sometimes almost in half. Though I don't remember the medications they had these for.

Is it completely impossible to take a bus to the interview?

I personally would exhaust every option before turning down an interview without an acceptance yet. The only scenario where one should do this is if you realized after applying that you would never want to attend the school even if you were accepted.
 
catmario said:
I don't have an acceptance yet. I have two more in state interview scheduled, one waitlist, and an impending decision in about a week. I am considering canceling the oos interview because of a recent episode of panic attack on a small plane for both the trip to and from an oos school. Non-airborne travel is out of the question for this school, and I don't have health insurance and cannot afford the visit to the doc and the meds. Furthermore, this school is quite unkind to rescheduling, and the administration staff is uncooperative in general, so I'm pretty sure I'd be told to take it or leave it.

I suppose the advice would be to rechedule to a date after the decision comes in, but in the event that I can't, should I just cancel?

I know this sounds absurd, but both panic episodes were quite terrifying. I hear it's easily resolved by meds, but again, I don't have the money.

I am neutral to this school, other than the admin staff.

I would appreciate any advice. Even as I write this, I know there really isn't a clear cut answer.
Click to expand...

When exactly would you be traveling out for the OOS interview ? Like what kind of timeframe are we talking about here?
 
As others have said, it would be unwise to cancel an interview if you don't have an acceptance already and your previous interviews have not resulted in a positive outcome.

In terms of the anxiety, you should make an effort to see a doctor (if you're still in school, your school likely has a student health center that can at least get you going on treatment until you can afford to see a psychiatrist). If your symptoms are really that bothersome for you, then you should do everything in your power to scrounge up some money to make it to the doctor.

Failing that, if you drink alcohol then get to their airport early, go to the bar, and have a couple of drinks. You don't want to be completely plastered, but enough so that you'll sleep on the plane or at least not feel as anxious.

There are plenty of fairly cheap books on Amazon that provide relaxation techniques to deal with anxiety in the moment. There are even CBT manuals for anxiety that you can work through that may help you address your symptoms. These may be adequate quick fixes but you should still make an effort to see a doctor and see if medication would be helpful.

I had a panic attack on a plane once when I was going out to a residency interview. It was awful, so I can empathize with you not wanting to get on planes again, especially after two attacks. While anxiety and panic attacks suck, this is also your future that you're dealing with. Is the possibility of a panic attack worth making your chances of reapplying a bit higher? I would argue no, but only you can make that judgment.
 
Is the issue small planes? Where are you and where is the school? It may be possible to find a route that avoids small planes.

Other anxiety related treatment include: self-medication, guided meditations, relaxation/breathing techniques, etc.
 
Without an acceptance, I wouldn't turn down an interview if you want to be a doctor - the idea is foreign to me, but I don't have your struggle. Take a sedative right after you get on if that would help.

Just curious, is it just planes that make you anxious, or do many things? Med school and medicine is a very stressful time of life...

catmario said:
I don't have an acceptance yet. I have two more in state interview scheduled, one waitlist, and an impending decision in about a week. I am considering canceling the oos interview because of a recent episode of panic attack on a small plane for both the trip to and from an oos school. Non-airborne travel is out of the question for this school, and I don't have health insurance and cannot afford the visit to the doc and the meds. Furthermore, this school is quite unkind to rescheduling, and the administration staff is uncooperative in general, so I'm pretty sure I'd be told to take it or leave it.

I suppose the advice would be to rechedule to a date after the decision comes in, but in the event that I can't, should I just cancel?

I know this sounds absurd, but both panic episodes were quite terrifying. I hear it's easily resolved by meds, but again, I don't have the money.

I am neutral to this school, other than the admin staff.

I would appreciate any advice. Even as I write this, I know there really isn't a clear cut answer.
Click to expand...
 
Don't turn down an II without acceptance.

A visit to urgent care or a walk in clinic + a one time Xanax/Ativan script is like $60, one of my friends had to do it.
 
Thank you for all the advice!
I decided not to cancel and go with the get slightly drunk routine, and practice relaxation/ breathing exercises beforehand.
Local urgent care/ walk in's in my town don't do prescriptions.
And no, I don't have anxiety in general. Usually, I have no problem with planes, so I'm not sure what was going on last time, except for the fact that I would prefer to never
experience it again.
 
OP I had flying anxiety as well and majority of my interviews were OOS that was multiple states away. One way I fought the fear was to download movies/TV shows onto my laptop and watch the movies on the trip. If it was a movie I was really interested in, time would fly by (pun intended). The other option is to do this + bite the bullet and pay 15-20 bucks for internet and just browse social media and or talk to somebody during the flight. Eventually, after 2ish flights, my anxiety was completely gone and now I can fly w/o fear 🙂 There are also a lot of other ways to tackle this fear, just google it!
 
I have flying anxiety too and I often take xanax for it - that being said, the anxiety doesn't so much dissapate as the meds put me to sleep (as most anti anxiety meds do ) so I can't be scared! So buy some nyquil or Z quil and take enough (but be safe) that you totally knock out until the flight lands 🙂
 
They're pretty expensive so they may not be a viable option for you now but I've found that noise-cancelling headphones make a huge difference on planes! Not hearing that loud engine noise allows me to close my eyes and pretend I'm not on a plane. 🙂
 
I'm usually all for getting slightly drunk 😉, but drinking before you get on the plane is a little risky because it could make it better but has the potential to make it way worse too.
 
I have a question:
Do other MD schools know when you have cancelled interviews at other institutions?

I am accepted at my state DO and have MD schools interviewing me that are across the country. I will not uproot my family because I don't have to.
I still have interviews at both my state MDs and will not be cancelling those. Will it negatively affect me to cancel the out of state MD interviews?

If not, when I cancel should I not say it's for a DO acceptance?
 
catsarecool12345 said:
I have a question:
Do other MD schools know when you have cancelled interviews at other institutions?

I am accepted at my state DO and have MD schools interviewing me that are across the country. I will not uproot my family because I don't have to.
I still have interviews at both my state MDs and will not be cancelling those. Will it negatively affect me to cancel the out of state MD interviews?

If not, when I cancel should I not say it's for a DO acceptance?
Click to expand...
And to answer your first question: No.
 
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