Declining interview without acceptance yet

[Shake_yabooties]

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hey guys..

I'm in a dilemma. I have AECOM interview coming up next week, but have no money (literally) to go there. Also I've missed too many days of work and my PI is not very happy with that. AECOM won't reschedule interview unless it's an emergency.

What do you guys think? Should I just borrow money and go or decline? I've already had four interviews, but with no acceptances yet. This is really bugging me today. 😕

 

[bhop]

you should go!!!! you might really regret it if your other interviews don't turn out well - you never know.

 

[Depakote]

hey guys..

I'm in a dilemma. I have AECOM interview coming up next week, but have no money (literally) to go there. Also I've missed too many days of work and my PI is not very happy with that. AECOM won't reschedule interview unless it's an emergency.

What do you guys think? Should I just borrow money and go or decline? I've already had four interviews, but with no acceptances yet. This is really bugging me today. 😕

I would let AECOM know that you may have to cancel due to the fact that you simply cannot afford to attend the interview and see if they don't let you reschedule then...

If not, I would personally find a way to make it, but that's a really tough one. sorry.

 

[bacteriophage]

My god go to the interview... I can sympathize with the borrowing money missing work but it will be worth it...

 

[Darkshooter326]

I would definitely find a way to make it, unless you are not very interested in AECOM. If it is a place you would like to go, then you have to find a way to get there. It's only the rest of your life 🙄

 

[EndSong]

Your stats and scores are amazing, I'd say that you might be able to safely decline, but no med school acceptance is guaranteed. But it's very early in the season and you've already had some amazing interviews. You'll probably get interviews at some other schools and if budget is really a concern, you might want to try and reschedule first or save some cash for a higher priority school for you.

 

[silkworm]

Do you have a credit card? Can't relatives lend some money?

 

[colbgw02]

think long-term here. i think you need to work from the assumption that you won't get any acceptances, so do you really want to look back a year from now wondering if you turned down an acceptance? i certainly wouldn't want to wonder about that.

 

[HumbleMD]

hey guys..

I'm in a dilemma. I have AECOM interview coming up next week, but have no money (literally) to go there. Also I've missed too many days of work and my PI is not very happy with that. AECOM won't reschedule interview unless it's an emergency.

What do you guys think? Should I just borrow money and go or decline? I've already had four interviews, but with no acceptances yet. This is really bugging me today. 😕

I'd never pass up any interview until you're holding an official acceptance letter. The money should not be an issue in this process - you're about to go over 100L in debt; what's a $300 plane ticket?

 

[MadHopsMD]

hey guys..

I'm in a dilemma. I have AECOM interview coming up next week, but have no money (literally) to go there. Also I've missed too many days of work and my PI is not very happy with that. AECOM won't reschedule interview unless it's an emergency.

What do you guys think? Should I just borrow money and go or decline? I've already had four interviews, but with no acceptances yet. This is really bugging me today. 😕

from what i have heard AECOM is an awesome school. You might regret not going...

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

I am in a similar position with another interview I have. It would cause me to miss three days of work and cost a good deal on money. I have no acceptances yet and have been trying to push back the interview, but I don't think I can anymore.

 

[tch001]

I'm in a similar situation too. I've had 4 interviews and I have 6 more scheduled, and I just don't think there's anyway I can make it to all of them. But it's just so hard to cancel without an acceptance in hand!

OP, it's your call. With your stats you will most likely get into at least one (most likely more than one) school, so I wouldn't kill yourself trying to go if your not totally enthralled with the shcool.

now, why can't I just take my own advice and start canceling interviews so I don't drive myself crazy? 🙄

 

[DoctorPardi]

I agree with above posters. Find a way to make it, how much could it cost to go to the interview? Even if you flew from California to NY for it, would that be worth avoiding another application cycle?

If it is just a matter of you driving from Boston/Pittsburgh etc, then definitely go. If you're in the situation I mentioned above (ie cross country from NY) then decide if not applying again next year is worth a plane ticket.

It is likely with 4 interviews, that the AECOM interview will not make or break you, but if you don't get in this year, all you'll be able to think about is not going to that interview. Plus you'll have to pay for this process all over again.

 

[MeBeans]

Consider a few factors:
How many interviews do you have so far?
How badly do you want AE?
Could you take out a loan?
How much really is it going to cost? Do you mind skipping out on movies/eating out for, let's say a month, to make up for the cost of the plane ticket?
Since you're in med school next year anyways, how much do you really care what your PI's going to think? Granted, it's never good to burn a bridge, but your PI should be expecting you to take off the occasional weekend as I expect you've mentioned that you are applying to med schools. Also, if it's reached the point where your PI is annoyed, I'd guess you've already had a number of interviews. Maybe attending one more, for a school you're not that in to, wouldn't be necessary.

Honestly, the money thing and the angry PI sound like bad excuses. You're going to be spending $50k+ per year soon, and you're going to be done working with that PI in less than a year.
It boils down to how badly you want AE and if you'd go there, given the other schools you've interviewed at/will interview at.

 

[NoktorNoL]

Your other interviews are at schools that are hard to get in to. You have great stats but still...those schools see a lot of top applicants. I'd go for it if at all possible!

 

[DoctorPardi]

Consider a few factors:
How many interviews do you have so far?
How badly do you want AE?
Could you take out a loan?
How much really is it going to cost? Do you mind skipping out on movies/eating out for, let's say a month, to make up for the cost of the plane ticket?
Since you're in med school next year anyways, how much do you really care what your PI's going to think? Granted, it's never good to burn a bridge, but your PI should be expecting you to take off the occasional weekend as I expect you've mentioned that you are applying to med schools. Also, if it's reached the point where your PI is annoyed, I'd guess you've already had a number of interviews. Maybe attending one more, for a school you're not that in to, wouldn't be necessary.

Honestly, the money thing and the angry PI sound like bad excuses. You're going to be spending $50k+ per year soon, and you're going to be done working with that PI in less than a year.
It boils down to how badly you want AE and if you'd go there, given the other schools you've interviewed at/will interview at.

Yeah OP consider the most it could cost you to attend this interview. Let's say it is $1,000 (plane from cross country, hotel etc). All I can say is, in the next year you'll be getting a big fat student loan check (honestly it will not be that much, but enough to live off of). You hopefully will not need all of the money offered. So add an extra 1,000 to pay off your credit card, and pay off that 1,000 with the rest of your medical school expenses.

Although it isn't the best idea to spend money you don't have, it is somewhat of an investment in not spending way more money next year to reapply.

 

[dopaminesurge]

hey guys..

I'm in a dilemma. I have AECOM interview coming up next week, but have no money (literally) to go there. Also I've missed too many days of work and my PI is not very happy with that. AECOM won't reschedule interview unless it's an emergency.

What do you guys think? Should I just borrow money and go or decline? I've already had four interviews, but with no acceptances yet. This is really bugging me today. 😕

It's blowing my mind that you don't have more interviews.... NO UCs??

That's really weird. Is it just that you're Asian male, or do you think you wrote a PS that wasn't strong enough or something like that? Your stats are ridiculous. Plus (prsumebly) suitcase clinic and stem cell research? Crikey...


Also, go to the interview. Your PI knows you're applying to med school. Screw him if he gives you a hard time about securing your future, and like everyone else said: the cost of the interview is nothing in comparison to the cost of, you know, medical school.

 

[deleted77919]

the cost of the interview is nothing in comparison to the cost of, you know, medical school.

It is also low in comparison with the cost of reapplying.

 

[Robizzle]

well AECOM is obviously not one of ur top choices.. i'd say try to reschedule.. if it works, they'll give u some date wayyy later.. and that's a good thing. because by then hopefully u got an acceptance, withdraw, and then give your interview spot to me 😎 .

 

[dopaminesurge]

It is also low in comparison with the cost of reapplying.

Heh... I can attest to that. 😎

 

[QuantumMechanic]

hey guys..

I'm in a dilemma. I have AECOM interview coming up next week, but have no money (literally) to go there. Also I've missed too many days of work and my PI is not very happy with that. AECOM won't reschedule interview unless it's an emergency.

What do you guys think? Should I just borrow money and go or decline? I've already had four interviews, but with no acceptances yet. This is really bugging me today. 😕

ok I swear I'm gonna get crucified for saying this...

but I don't thnk you should go. The fact that you are considering not going indicates that your desire to goto aecom is questionable. You have already interviewed at several other places, and from the looks of your mdapplicants, you will probably get a chance to interview at at least another 4 at minimum. Your application isn't perfect, but it seems fairly strong, and with that many interviews I would think that probability would dictate that you're going to get in (remember you haven't heard from uci or ucd yet either).

I think you will get accepted somewhere, and somewhere probably "higher ranked" than aecom (its a great school too), but its up to you.

I dropped an interview before I got an acceptance and I never looked back

Good luck!

 

[dopaminesurge]

ok I swear I'm gonna get crucified for saying this...

but I don't thnk you should go. The fact that you are considering not going indicates that your desire to goto aecom is questionable. You have already interviewed at several other places, and from the looks of your mdapplicants, you will probably get a chance to interview at at least another 4 at minimum. Your application isn't perfect, but it seems fairly strong, and with that many interviews I would think that probability would dictate that you're going to get in (remember you haven't heard from uci or ucd yet either).

I think you will get accepted somewhere, and somewhere probably "higher ranked" than aecom (its a great school too), but its up to you.

I dropped an interview before I got an acceptance and I never looked back

Good luck!

I don't think you're going to get crucified, but I'm living evidence that 3-4 interviews doesn't equal an acceptance. Maybe he's not dying to go to AECOM, but I'm sure he'd prefer it over not getting in. He may get UCI and UCD, he may not. Who knows?

 

[DoctorPardi]

ok I swear I'm gonna get crucified for saying this...

but I don't thnk you should go. The fact that you are considering not going indicates that your desire to goto aecom is questionable. You have already interviewed at several other places, and from the looks of your mdapplicants, you will probably get a chance to interview at at least another 4 at minimum. Your application isn't perfect, but it seems fairly strong, and with that many interviews I would think that probability would dictate that you're going to get in (remember you haven't heard from uci or ucd yet either).

I think you will get accepted somewhere, and somewhere probably "higher ranked" than aecom (its a great school too), but its up to you.

I dropped an interview before I got an acceptance and I never looked back

Good luck!

The point to consider is, would he go to AECOM if it was his only acceptance? The answer is probably a yes.

Also, we should consider how much it is costing to attend the AECOM interview versus attending other possibly more interesting interviews for the OP. If he would much rather go to UCD, but is not going to be able to go to an interview because he spent all his money on AECOM, then he might be better served not going.

It's all risk/reward, I feel like I could find a way to come up with the money for the interview. I have two helpful parents, grand parents, uncles/aunts etc who would probably help. If he doesn't have any kind of financial support system, then maybe he better save his money and hope to have enough to afford his next interview at a different school he likes better. Of course there is no guarentee he'll get another interview, and a lot of the schools he has on his list are reachish, so he might be better served to stick with AECOM for now.

 

[Shake_yabooties]

hey guys thank you so much for your opinions
I've almost made up my mind to go to the interview by borrowing some money. I am financially distressed right now, since I've already maxed out my credit card with 3 interview trips this month (and I just started working so pay hasn't come it yet)
I know it's a drop in the bucket compared to the money I'll pay for the education, but there is also an urgent need for money for other things such as rent when you are supporting yourself. I'm pretty sure many of you will know about this. I'm not saying I want to Decline the interview. I want to reschedule, but apparently the school policy forbids it. As a plan B, I just called in NYU to see if they'll grant me an interview next week so I can attend both at the same time.

As for the UC schools, I'm still waiting for an interview. My secondaries were complete not too long ago. (about 1 month? ) and I'm put on hold at UCSD.


Anyways, good luck guys and thank you once again.

 

[dopaminesurge]

hey guys thank you so much for your opinions
I've almost made up my mind to go to the interview by borrowing some money. I am financially distressed right now, since I've already maxed out my credit card with 3 interview trips this month (and I just started working so pay hasn't come it yet)
I know it's a drop in the bucket compared to the money I'll pay for the education, but there is also an urgent need for money for other things such as rent when you are supporting yourself. I'm pretty sure many of you will know about this. I'm not saying I want to Decline the interview. I want to reschedule, but apparently the school policy forbids it. As a plan B, I just called in NYU to see if they'll grant me an interview next week so I can attend both at the same time.

As for the UC schools, I'm still waiting for an interview. My secondaries were complete not too long ago. (about 1 month? ) and I'm put on hold at UCSD.


Anyways, good luck guys and thank you once again.

Mazal tov on NYU (I'm interviewing the 2 or 3, I think. When are you?) and if you were complete so recently at UCs, you definitely have a shot. I think you're making a good choice. Good luck.

 

[GujuMD]

to the OP: you should go to the interview because you don't have an acceptance yet. just let the PI know about your interview...he/she will understand. about the money....borrow it from family/friends.

 

[HumbleMD]

hey guys thank you so much for your opinions
I've almost made up my mind to go to the interview by borrowing some money. I am financially distressed right now, since I've already maxed out my credit card with 3 interview trips this month (and I just started working so pay hasn't come it yet)
I know it's a drop in the bucket compared to the money I'll pay for the education, but there is also an urgent need for money for other things such as rent when you are supporting yourself. I'm pretty sure many of you will know about this. I'm not saying I want to Decline the interview. I want to reschedule, but apparently the school policy forbids it. As a plan B, I just called in NYU to see if they'll grant me an interview next week so I can attend both at the same time.

As for the UC schools, I'm still waiting for an interview. My secondaries were complete not too long ago. (about 1 month? ) and I'm put on hold at UCSD.


Anyways, good luck guys and thank you once again.

I can empathize with thold at UCSD. One thing you might try is putting off buying your plane ticket until the last minute (it's a gamble, yes, but may save you in the long run). That way, you still have the interview, but if you hear from another school, you can cancel and won't have to spend any money. I hope your dates might work out so that you can. You have great stats and will definitel get in somewhere, but yeah, it sure does seem like playing with fire when turning down an interview without an acceptance.

 

[number77]

You could take a greyhound to save money maybe?

 

[microgin]

hey guys..

I'm in a dilemma. I have AECOM interview coming up next week, but have no money (literally) to go there. Also I've missed too many days of work and my PI is not very happy with that. AECOM won't reschedule interview unless it's an emergency.

What do you guys think? Should I just borrow money and go or decline? I've already had four interviews, but with no acceptances yet. This is really bugging me today. 😕

To echo the sentiments of the majority of posters on here, I say keep going to interviews until you have an acceptance letter in hand. When I applied the first time, I had already gone on three interviews which I thought went well, and thought I had a great chance at my state school at least, so I cancelled a fourth interview. I ended up being waitlisted at 2/3 of the schools, and ended up not getting in anywhere... to this day, I wonder "what if". So now instead of being an MS2, I'm a reapplicant - not fun!!