Cost of Secondaries and airfare?

[Mat the coolcat]

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So I am trying to plan my budget for interviews and everything, and I was wondering how much dough people had to rake out.

About how much money did people shell out for secondaries and also airfare and such? I applied to 7MD schools, and 15 DO. Let's say I get five 7 interviews (no idea if that's an accurate gage but whatever), how much money should I have saved up for this?

Let me know what you folks think/what you spent. I'm no high roller and budgeting is important.

 

[FutureDrB]

So I am trying to plan my budget for interviews and everything, and I was wondering how much dough people had to rake out.

About how much money did people shell out for secondaries and also airfare and such? I applied to 7MD schools, and 15 DO. Let's say I get five 7 interviews (no idea if that's an accurate gage but whatever), how much money should I have saved up for this?

Let me know what you folks think/what you spent. I'm no high roller and budgeting is important.

I'm going to say way too many variables here for us to give an accurate amount you should budget. Are you driving? Are you flying? What airline? What are the dates? What car rental place are you using? Are you staying at Bob's Moonlight Motel, or the Hyatt? How long are you staying? Have you already purchased proper attire? I'm sure others can provide numbers as to what they spent per interview, but I'd say this is something that is going to take some research on your part to get the best deals in order to stay within your budget. I do feel your pain though. I'm applying to a few more schools than you and I'm certainly budgeting thousands.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

So I am trying to plan my budget for interviews and everything, and I was wondering how much dough people had to rake out.

About how much money did people shell out for secondaries and also airfare and such? I applied to 7MD schools, and 15 DO. Let's say I get five 7 interviews (no idea if that's an accurate gage but whatever), how much money should I have saved up for this?

Let me know what you folks think/what you spent. I'm no high roller and budgeting is important.

It always costs more than you think. Rule of thumb... have enough saved for 1k per interview by the time all is said and done (and $100 per school for primary and secondary fees). Also realize that many DO schools have a hefty deposit. I spent about 7k all-in-all before my first day of classes. Can you probably do it cheaper? Of course.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

It always costs more than you think. Rule of thumb... have enough saved for 1k per interview by the time all is said and done (and $100 per school for primary and secondary fees). Also realize that many DO schools have a hefty deposit. I spent about 7k all-in-all before my first day of classes. Can you probably do it cheaper? Of course.

It's very true that things can turn out more expensive than planned. I would say having at least 5k for the interview season is necessary.

 

[Promethean]

Never underestimate ground transport. Amtrak is my preferred means of travel, as it gets me round trip to most of the schools I want to visit for under $150 each. Megabus is even more affordable, but a little less reliable in winter weather. Amtrak always delivers. Greyhound is only for the desperate, and is generally more expensive than Megabus with more hateful customer disservice personnel.

Interview only until you get an acceptance that you really want. Hopefully your list doesn't include any schools you don't want to go to, and has several that you would be very happy with. Once you get one of the preferred ones, turn down any other interviews for schools that you personally rank lower. I know that some people say that you should hold out hope that one of the other schools might turn out to be an even better environment for you, or whatever. And sure, if money isn't an object, see and do everything you can during this process. But if you do have to budget, there really is no reason to see a lot of your B list schools if an A lister lets you in.

EDIT: You asked about where to stay. Youth hostels are pretty sweet and there is usually one in any moderate sized city. AirBnB has nice rooms near most schools. Couchsurfing.com is a way to find free rooms and make some great new friends in the process. Usually when I have couchsurfed, I have offered to buy dinner for my host, but often they have refused and invited me to share their homecooking instead.

If you want a proper hotel, priceline name-your-own-price feature has treated me well. I've stayed in a 4 star in Center City Philly for $50 a night.

It is important to get rest before the interview, and to have a place to put on your nice clothes in the morning, but I have traveled overnight, sleeping on the train, and prettied up in the Amtrak station before going to a professional conference. (You can usually store small luggage in a locker at the station, so you don't have to lug it around. Call ahead to confirm availability!) But that is the extreme cheap method, and I don't recommend it prior to important interviews if you can afford alternatives.

 

[Major]

Studentuniverse also has some good deals

 

[Promethean]

Things not to cheap out on?

1. A good pair of shoes. A $150-$200 pair of oxblood dress shoes is a long-term investment.
2. A decent suit, tailored. Same as above. Budget at least $200+ for a suit and $50-100 to have it altered to fit you perfectly. The point of diminishing returns is reached quickly. A $1000 suit isn't going to guarantee you a seat, but an ill-fitting suit of any quality will make you look sloppy.

 

[Chillywilly]

You don't need to attend every ii that comes your way. Pick and choose wisely. And buy plane tickets early in advance (if you have a month or two between your ii and interview date).
Obviously if you get an ii and your date is two weeks away that's a different story.

A good tailored suit is a must, but I'll admit.. my blazer was a little ill fitting but I managed to get acceptances.

 

[nm825]

Do a lot of schools take Amex or Discover or am I going to need to take out a visa or mastercard?

 

[ortnakas]

Do a lot of schools take Amex or Discover or am I going to need to take out a visa or mastercard?

Credit card wasn't even an option for the deposit where I'm matriculating (unfortunately). I don't remember if I used Amex or MasterCard for secondary fees.

 

[Chillywilly]

Do a lot of schools take Amex or Discover or am I going to need to take out a visa or mastercard?

Amex should be fine. But if not open up a chase visa. You get 0% apr for 15 months plus $200 back when you spend $500 within 3 months. So if you have a $2000 deposit, charge it on your chase visa, and you get $200 back!

 

[Promethean]

I don't recommend the prepaid visa/mastercard cards for ongoing use, since they usually carry a lot of fees per transaction, etc. But, if you need one in a pinch for a single large transaction, you can buy them at retail stores and put enough cash on them to cover whatever fees... if you don't want to open another credit account. Also, most banks use Visa/Mastercard for debit cards. You could open a checking account just for application expenses that comes with such a card.

 

[abolt18]

Save 3-5K and is imagine you should be good. I planned my interviews around cheapest airfare, shared a rental and room with a friend, got a room from airbnb.com instead of hotels when I could, and I spent around $4000 INCLUDING the 2K deposit at the school.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Well, it really comes down to where you live and how far in advance you can get bookings.

At one of my interviews a fellow applicant was mad she was paying $40/night more for a crappier hotel. She called a few weeks later than I did to make reservations.

Lets say I'm in Utah or New Mexico. There are a few schools around but driving there is going to cost you time and gas.

If you live somewhere like Ohio then you have a handful of schools in the area! If you don't mind driving 8-10 hours each way then you should be good.

There are also other variables like how creative you can get with transport. For my LECOM-B interview I flew into Tampa with a connecting flight form Miami for like ~$400 and drove 3-4 hours. The rental+airfare+hotel ended up costing LESS than flying into whatever airport is near Bradenton. The drive wasn't bad at all since it was more scenic than what I'm used to. Flying in Kansas City was like $200 from frontier. I found a person with a rental so we split the cost of rental and gas. It came out to be less than a shuttle or cab.

This is embarrassing and I'm going to sound stingy but I totally took 2 plates of breakfast in FL. I stored them in the fridge for an after interview snack. I went out for a nice dinner though.

For my DMU interview I just paid the shuttle guy a $10 tip. It was 5 mins from my airport to the hotel. In the morning he took me to the campus.

In Des Moines I probably spent $75 per day on food to make up for the savings (opps!).

I would say $700-800 is a safe bet per school. +/- $200 depending on where the schools are around you. One school was down the street from me so it was just $5 worth of gas.

All in all I think I paid $4k for interviews but I had 3 schools within a 6 hour driving distance.

 

[Mat the coolcat]

Never underestimate ground transport. Amtrak is my preferred means of travel, as it gets me round trip to most of the schools I want to visit for under $150 each. Megabus is even more affordable, but a little less reliable in winter weather. Amtrak always delivers. Greyhound is only for the desperate, and is generally more expensive than Megabus with more hateful customer disservice personnel.

Interview only until you get an acceptance that you really want. Hopefully your list doesn't include any schools you don't want to go to, and has several that you would be very happy with. Once you get one of the preferred ones, turn down any other interviews for schools that you personally rank lower. I know that some people say that you should hold out hope that one of the other schools might turn out to be an even better environment for you, or whatever. And sure, if money isn't an object, see and do everything you can during this process. But if you do have to budget, there really is no reason to see a lot of your B list schools if an A lister lets you in.

EDIT: You asked about where to stay. Youth hostels are pretty sweet and there is usually one in any moderate sized city. AirBnB has nice rooms near most schools. Couchsurfing.com is a way to find free rooms and make some great new friends in the process. Usually when I have couchsurfed, I have offered to buy dinner for my host, but often they have refused and invited me to share their homecooking instead.

If you want a proper hotel, priceline name-your-own-price feature has treated me well. I've stayed in a 4 star in Center City Philly for $50 a night.

It is important to get rest before the interview, and to have a place to put on your nice clothes in the morning, but I have traveled overnight, sleeping on the train, and prettied up in the Amtrak station before going to a professional conference. (You can usually store small luggage in a locker at the station, so you don't have to lug it around. Call ahead to confirm availability!) But that is the extreme cheap method, and I don't recommend it prior to important interviews if you can afford alternatives.

This is great advice thank you very much!