Cost of applying to podiatry school

[damhsoir]

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I have tried to find information about how much podiatry applicants spend on applications, flights, hotels, etc during the application process but couldn't find much. 😕 Would anyone mind sharing how much they think they spent applying to pod school? I am worried about how I will pay for all of this. Did you pay out of pocket for these expenses or take out a loan? If you were accepted into a program that you interviewed for, were your travel expenses reimbursed? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[indycolts]

The application processing fees are as follows from the AACPMAS application; Applying to 1 school is $75, applying to 2 schools is $125, and applying to 3 schools is another 25 added to that, which the same goes for the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th school...so just keep tacking on 25 dollars for each school after 2 (if you really want to apply to all 8)....Be prepared to spend a lot of money between hotels/travel/food unless you know someone at/near a particular school (Temple puts people up for free for 2 nights in a hotel, but otherwise you have to pay for the others). Even if you're accepted to a program, they won't reimburse you for the previous travel expenses. I was fortunate to have my parents help me out with these costs.

 

[MaseratiGT]

On AACPM and travel expenses for three interviews, I spent around $1500 out of pocket.

You just want to keep ~ $1200 extra, I would say, for the end of the process when your ready to turn in deposits.

TUSPM required: Initial $500
$500 a month later.
$250 housing deposit.

 

[longstech]

It can be pretty expensive, especially if you do not live near the schools. I had an interview for DMU and the flight alone cost me $950. Granted, I made the flight reservation a week from when I was going to interview, but you never know what kind of situation you may run into. Most of my flights ran about $500. Plus you have to pay for the hotel, ~$100 and food while you are there, and any transportation to get you to and from the school/airport. I just interviewed at Scholl, and it cost me $100 in transportation. I would start saving and planning ahead.

 

[TheBee]

To save money I made all my Midwest interviews (DMU, Ohio, Scholl) within a few days of one another, then I drove between them. That way I only had to pay for two one-way flights. Ohio offered to pay for one night's hotel costs if I stayed in a certain hotel. I also really evaluated which interviews I wanted to attend. I applied & got interviews at 8 schools, but in the end narrowed it down to 4 where I really wanted to interview.
I paid for all this myself, but put it on a credit card. I'm still paying it off.... Like suggested above, I would say try to have around $1000 set aside for the deposit, because they do want a check for that.

 

[SubRosa]

I flew from Texas to 4 different schools and in all I spent close to $2000 after app fees, flights, hotels, food, and general travel costs. This doesn't even include any seat deposit money. It would've been even higher had I gone to all my interviews so yeah, start saving now.

 

[damhsoir]

To save money I made all my Midwest interviews (DMU, Ohio, Scholl) within a few days of one another, then I drove between them. That way I only had to pay for two one-way flights. Ohio offered to pay for one night's hotel costs if I stayed in a certain hotel. I also really evaluated which interviews I wanted to attend. I applied & got interviews at 8 schools, but in the end narrowed it down to 4 where I really wanted to interview.
I paid for all this myself, but put it on a credit card. I'm still paying it off.... Like suggested above, I would say try to have around $1000 set aside for the deposit, because they do want a check for that.

I was thinking of doing the same thing...I live in Cleveland, so I was thinking of flying to Des Moines, then driving to Scholl, back to OCPM by flight or car. I could also drive to Temple or NYCPM. I would really like to go to AZPod, or at least interview there so I will have to pay for at least 2 flights! I probably should work on getting a second summer job soon!

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[Feli]

It can be expensive, but most of the schools will work with you on the interview date and at least give you a couple of options for an interview day. Most the pod schools won't invite you for an interview unless your paper app is pretty in line with the kind of student they are looking for, so it is pretty inexpensive when compared to med or dent interview process.

If you use discount sites like priceline for hotels and studentuniverse for flights, you can minimize costs somewhat. There is even Greyhound for interviews within a day's drive if you're really really tight on cash. That said, it's getting fairly late in the app cycle now, and you may need to get moving on the schools you have strong interest in rather than wait around for cheap travel deals. The costs may seem high, but when you consider that it's a decision for the next 4+ yrs and $100-200k in tuition/housing, you want to make it an informed choice.

...The same thinking goes for expensive clerkships as a pod student when you begin trying to select a residency... you probably don't want to let $500 or so keep you from discovering a program that is a real good fit and learning style for you. GL...