cost of 1 application/match season

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In another thread SAM1999 wrote the following:

It can cost easily $20K on USMLE, travel, ERAS, and 1 interview cycle.

Would you please advise me on your experiences and general trends in that matter? He was talking about FMGs but this comment seemed to be unrelated to the FMG-status. I would like to know what kind of budget I would have to plan on.

Thanks

 

[gutonc]

In another thread SAM1999 wrote the following:



Would you please advise me on your experiences and general trends in that matter? He was talking about FMGs but this comment seemed to be unrelated to the FMG-status. I would like to know what kind of budget I would have to plan on.

Thanks

You should definitely do a search b/c there have been lots of threads about this. It also varies dramatically.

If you go to school in the NE, want to do IM/FM/Peds in the NE and have a car, you can easily go on 10-20 interviews where you drive and sleep in your own bed every night and get away with spending just a few hundred bucks on gas and another few hundred in ERAS fees.

Alternatively, if you are foreign grad, living outside the US, applying for radiology you will likely spend 10s of thousands of dollars on ERAS (can get expensive after 20 or so programs, don't forget to double it for prelims), travel, lodging, etc.

I'm a US grad, was in NYC for med school, interviewed for IM at 16 places, half I could drive to, half I had to fly, couch surfed for 3 interviews and stayed in my own bed for 4 interviews. I spent about $8K.

YMMV of course.

 

[LucidSplash]

So far this year I've spent $705 on ERAS application fees. I've been saving my frequent flyer miles so I've used those for all but one of my flights. I've spent a total of $170 on airfare; probably would have cost upwards of $600-700 on flights otherwise. I'll drive anywhere within a 6-hour drive (my personal limit) and I estimate I'll spend around $250 on gas by the time the season is over. I've used credit card points for car rentals when I've flown anywhere but would have spent $150 or so if I paid cash. Some of my programs have provided hotels and sometimes I've been able to crash with friends. Otherwise I've used a combination of priceline.com and this website for hotels, and I estimate spending around $200 for hotels by the end of the season.

I don't include USMLE in my calculations for "interviewing expenses" but Step 1 is around $300, Step 2 CK is $495, Step 2 CS is $1095, and Step 3 is around $1200 I think. I'm not sure if the cost is different for FMG.

If you're traveling from overseas, your travel costs will go up exponentially of course.

In another thread SAM1999 wrote the following:



Would you please advise me on your experiences and general trends in that matter? He was talking about FMGs but this comment seemed to be unrelated to the FMG-status. I would like to know what kind of budget I would have to plan on.

Thanks

 

[smq123]

Would you please advise me on your experiences and general trends in that matter? He was talking about FMGs but this comment seemed to be unrelated to the FMG-status. I would like to know what kind of budget I would have to plan on.

Thanks

It's not totally unrelated to the FMG status.

The truth is that, as an FMG, who is not applying for the very un-competitive specialties (PM&R, family med, peds, community IM), you'll have to definitely apply to a lot of programs - probably more than you'd have to apply for if you weren't an FMG.

You will also have to spend more next year to get some clinical experience in the US, if you didn't go to one of the Caribbean med schools. Many places charge for the chance to do an elective/rotation there, and you'll have to pay for your own housing, generally.

And, of course, you'll have to shell out more for transportation if you're coming from overseas. If, as your SN suggests, you're in the US Air Force, or have a spouse who is, you may be able to catch flights for cheaper. 😀

 

[USAFblue]

If, as your SN suggests, you're in the US Air Force, or have a spouse who is, you may be able to catch flights for cheaper. 😀

My husband is USAF! The best flight ever was on board of a cargo plane with parts of a crashed jet piled up in the middle. Don't you feel safe sleeping on the floor right next to those?
But, no airline can beat their "prices" - that's a fact 😀