Expensive interviews?

[gtl4f]

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Hi everyone! I was just wondering how much you guys spent on interviews. I know it depends on the city and whether you drove or took a plane but I just wanted to get an idea to see how much I should start saving up... I would appreciate it if you all don't mind sharing how much you spent in total and then approximately how much per school.

Thank you so much!

 

[charmstot]

Hi everyone! I was just wondering how much you guys spent on interviews. I know it depends on the city and whether you drove or took a plane but I just wanted to get an idea to see how much I should start saving up... I would appreciate it if you all don't mind sharing how much you spent in total and then approximately how much per school.

Thank you so much!

I had four interviews. In total I spent about 1000 dollars. This bulk of this money was for plane tickets and an interviewing suit. I would try to save about 2000 for the whole process, just to be on the safe side.

 

[DB#1]

I would say anywhere from $100-$400 per interview, depends if you are fly or drive and what kind of hotel you stay for the night.

Remember most dental schools are in large cities, meaning that hotel prices are crazy $80-$150 a night, but some schools offer you stay at there residence, so you can save $$$ there.

 

[Dentist 2 be]

Most of the schools that I applied to were in driving range, but I spent about $200 on airfare to Buffalo, $100 on the hotel and about $30 on food. All the transportation was free as a courtesy of the hotel. So my interview cost about $330 just for myself. (I had my father accompany me...thats another $330. lol)

 

[angeeeeee]

UW interview: $300 (suit/shirt/boots)...no cost for travel or stay b/c i'm already here for undergrad

Pacific interview: $138 (plane ticket), $28 (airport shuttle roundtrip), $79 (hotel), and I already bought the outfit for the UW interview

Only went to my top two choices, but hope that helps give you a rough idea!

 

[Jess_SB]

I spent $350 for the suit and shoes that I wore to all of my interviews. The cost for each interview varied a lot:

USC and UCLA: Drove from Santa Barbara and stayed with a friend so approx $50 for both (one was on Friday, the other was the following Monday)

UCSF and UOP: I took a plane for each of them, ticket was ~$100 out of SB airport and the airporter to my parents house was $32 roundtrip. No cost for a hotel - stayed with the folks.

UPenn: Total of $500 for plane ticket and hotel room. I took my boyfriend along for a long weekend so we stayed in a nice hotel and ate out at expensive places (which he paid for!)

So a grand total of $1200 for 5 interviews.

 

[fruity_trident]

for me...500 would be the average...
i had 4, but 1 was regional

 

[DB#1]

starting to sound too much like a Mastercard commercial...

suit for interview at your dream dental school: $200

airfair to the city of your dream dental school : $100

hotel close to your dream dental school: $100

food from the caf of your dream dental school: $30

getting into your dream dental school: PRICELESS

for everything else there is the Dental Mastercard, the official card of the ADEA! 😀

 

[wammmy]

I interviewed at six schools (I know a bit more than the average) and I spent about $2000 on everthing, ie. plane ticket, food transportaion, and hotels.

By the way, if you plan to interview at VCU and can't drive get ready to shell out some dough, it is way expensive to fly into that city $600 for ticket alone was the best I could find.

 

[gtl4f]

I interviewed at six schools (I know a bit more than the average) and I spent about $2000 on everthing, ie. plane ticket, food transportaion, and hotels.

By the way, if you plan to interview at VCU and can't drive get ready to shell out some dough, it is way expensive to fly into that city $600 for ticket alone was the best I could find.

Thank you for everyone's quick responses!

Funny you should mention VCU because that's my in-state school and my undergrad is about an hour away. My cousin also goes there so if I'm lucky enough to get an interview there I'll be a-okay!

 

[hockeydentist]

for me...500 would be the average...
i had 4, but 1 was regional

Man fruity and we didn't even get any return on our investment this cylce.

Would it be so hard for the schools to give a t-shirt or a really nice pen as a rejection gift. sorta thanks for flying to our city and spending your paycheck, sorry we couldn't give you a spot, so how bout a t-shirt.

HD

 

[wammmy]

Man fruity and we didn't even get any return on our investment this cylce.
Would it be so hard for the schools to give a t-shirt or a really nice pen as a rejection gift. sorta thanks for flying to our city and spending your paycheck, sorry we couldn't give you a spot, so how bout a t-shirt.
HD

Yea that is pretty harsh, I did happen to pick up quite a few toothbrushes and floss at my interviews, at least its something.

Funny thing was if I ended up not getting accepted to that school I scratched their name off the tooth brush. 😀

 

[Jaws]

I had 6 interviews and I spent between $400-500 on each. Most of the hotels that they recommend are on the pricy side and you don't really get the chance to get really great airfare (one thing that should be taken into account is that I am flying out of Albuquerque, and I've noticed that airfare is always a little more expensive out of here 🙄 ). Also, since most airports are located outside of the cities, taxi's and transportation are usually steep.

Oh, by the way, at UMKC, they gave us a great shirt (but that was not the reason why I choose to go there 😉 ).

 

[Sprgrover]

starting to sound too much like a Mastercard commercial...

suit for interview at your dream dental school: $200

airfair to the city of your dream dental school : $100

hotel close to your dream dental school: $100

food from the caf of your dream dental school: $30

getting into your dream dental school: PRICELESS

for everything else there is the Dental Mastercard, the official card of the ADEA!

True, true! 😀 I believe my average was around $400 per interview, and that's including airfare, hotel, and so on. All but one of my interviews were regional (NOVA) and that is why my average was a bit high. Oh well, I guess if you want to get some water out of the well you first have to put a little bit down.

 

[fishindr]

True, true! 😀 I believe my average was around $400 per interview, and that's including airfare, hotel, and so on. All but one of my interviews were regional (NOVA) and that is why my average was a bit high. Oh well, I guess if you want to get some water out of the well you first have to put a little bit down.

$400-500 per interview sounds about right.

I interviewed twice, probably spent $4,000-5,000 total for two years. What really jacked up the cost was admission deposits (don't forget about those). $2500 spent in all on deposits bringing my grand total just to get into school to somewhere around $7500. It's worth it though....right?

 

[gundam]

I can buy 10 PSPs with the money I interviewed.
Got ripped off obviously.

 

[TOdentist]

starting to sound too much like a Mastercard commercial...

suit for interview at your dream dental school: $200

airfair to the city of your dream dental school : $100

hotel close to your dream dental school: $100

food from the caf of your dream dental school: $30

getting into your dream dental school: PRICELESS

for everything else there is the Dental Mastercard, the official card of the ADEA! 😀

 

[luder98]

UCSF: Hotel: 80 Parking: 20 Gas: 15. Food: 30. Total: 145
USC: Hotel: 450 Parking: 50 Gas: 150 Food: 200 Disneyland: 200 Total: 1050

You can see how much USC is more expensive than UCSF. 😀

Edited: Sorry, I should've mentioned that I spent 3 days in LA.

 

[bouncy_ball]

UCSF: Hotel: 80 Parking: 20 Gas: 15. Food: 30. Total: 145
USC: Hotel: 450 Parking: 50 Gas: 150 Food: 200 Disneyland: 200 Total: 1050

You can see how much USC is more expensive than UCSF. 😀

hotel $450?!?! where'd you stay? i have yet to book my hotel stay in la... i'm doing it on priceline though...

 

[Sprgrover]

hotel $450?!?! where'd you stay? i have yet to book my hotel stay in la... i'm doing it on priceline though...

You can find some good deals in LA through priceline. When I interviewed at USC I stayed in the downtown LA Marriot for $60 a night. On a side note I have never seen so many Starbucks per square mile as I did within those few blocks around the hotel.

 

[rocknightmare]

hrm i guess my interviews were a lot lower than everybody else. then again i only interviewed at 3 schools. one local, and two driveable (3 hours, and the other 5 hours).

hotel around 70 each
meals around 30 each

average 100 bucks🙂

 

[fruity_trident]

Man fruity and we didn't even get any return on our investment this cylce.

Would it be so hard for the schools to give a t-shirt or a really nice pen as a rejection gift. sorta thanks for flying to our city and spending your paycheck, sorry we couldn't give you a spot, so how bout a t-shirt.

HD

being the frugal college student that i am...i tried to eat my money's worth

...obviously i wasn't very successful 😎

 

[Pikeyman]

I might just be the luckiest SOB.

I had 3 interviews and 1 open house for the admitted without interview in just one week.

UMary: Stayed at my parents' and drove to the school
($17 for gas and parking)

UBuffalo: Stayed at my bro's and drove to the school
($40 for gas from Baltimore to Buffalo)

Tufts: Stayed at Milner Hotel for $56 and $12 for overnight parking
($30 for gas from Buffalo to Boston & $56+$12)

NYU: Stayed at a friend's
($20 for gas from Boston to NY + $30 for gas from NY to Baltimore)

17+40+30+56+12+20+30= 205

So $205 was the only expense during my one-week interview frenzy. (Well, I hit some of my relatives along the way and received about $200.)

So $5 for 4 interviews. Try to top that.