$ for interviews?

[mosche]

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I tried to start a similar thread last week; however, the thread did not post!?

Anyway, for those of you who have been through the interview process, would you mind posting the amount of money that one can expect to fork out during this whole process? I will be, hopefully, interviewing at 10 programs -- mostly in the midwest and southeast. Also, I know that there is often a dinner with residents, are the tabs always covered or should I always have extra cash -- just in case? I'm not trying to be nosey, I'm just really trying to stick to my budget (i.e. no more credit card debt) and want to make sure that I have all of my ducks in a row.

Thank you for any insights/help.

 

[Solideliquid]

Mosche-

I think 10 interviews will cost you approx. $5000.00 if you are planning on flying to these locations, as well as hotel, food, car rental, taxi, etc.

-Solideliquid

I tried to start a similar thread last week; however, the thread did not post!?

Anyway, for those of you who have been through the interview process, would you mind posting the amount of money that one can expect to fork out during this whole process? I will be, hopefully, interviewing at 10 programs -- mostly in the midwest and southeast. Also, I know that there is often a dinner with residents, are the tabs always covered or should I always have extra cash -- just in case? I'm not trying to be nosey, I'm just really trying to stick to my budget (i.e. no more credit card debt) and want to make sure that I have all of my ducks in a row.

Thank you for any insights/help.

 

[mosche]

Thank you so much for the help! I had assumed that I was looking at BIG bucks -- for me $5000 is, indeed, big bucks . Oh well, I'm already in this for c.$165,000 (plus costs for USMLEs, travel to CS, med. school relocation, etc...), what's five thousand more!?

 

[Anasazi23]

Like all things, it depends. If the interview is in your same city, it costs you the amount of gas in the car or the metrocard (or subway equivilant). I went on interviews that cost me virtually nothing.

Obviously, flying to an interview costs you the plane costs, and possibly the hotel costs. I went to at least one interview that paid for my hotel and dinner with the residents at the local restaurant. I only forked out for the plane ticket. (try Orbitz.com, travelocity.com, cheaptickets.com, yahoo travel, priceline.com, and the other usuals).

Invest in a nice fitted suit (if you're a guy). A bad suit looks bad.

I've never had a resident interview lunch/dinner NOT paid for - just for your info.

Hope this helps.

 

[Solideliquid]

"c.$165,000" Is that canadian? If it's a US amount...thats it? lol.

Thank you so much for the help! I had assumed that I was looking at BIG bucks -- for me $5000 is, indeed, big bucks . Oh well, I'm already in this for c.$165,000 (plus costs for USMLEs, travel to CS, med. school relocation, etc...), what's five thousand more!?

 

[Milo]

"c.$165,000" Is that canadian? If it's a US amount...thats it? lol.

If it was $165,000.00 Canadian that would only come to 37 US cents according to my calculations. You should be able to pay that off after you're in practice 5 or 6 years. 😉

 

[PsychMD]

In my anecdotal experience, massive debt seems to definitely delay the practical possibilities to develop an "ideal" practice (in the current conditions), especially if one has a family to also take care of at the moment of finishing residency training. The "advice" recently offered by one of my attendings was: don't start having kids until you've paid off a major portion of your med school debt! (she told us she "only" had about 85K in debt-with some earlier parental "help"- but she already had 2 kids, who were nearing school-age, so she had to buy a house in a better school district, and then it took her more than 10 years to pay the relatively "small" med school debt off!); another one of my attendings was an "older" IMG, without any school debt, but with a large family to support, and a relatively large mortgage, plus one kid in college, and another couple of kids about to enter college, and a relatively small academic faculty salary...he was still "moonlighting" with various ER/clinics gigs on the side just to make ends meet! OTOH, I had two other attendings married to one another who were DINK's (double incomes, no kids) and who paid off their HUMONGOUS loans (probably almost half a million combined) within 7 years or so! My conclusion was that having KIDS is probably more expensive than even the largest med school loans!

 

[mosche]

"c.$165,000" Is that canadian? If it's a US amount...thats it? lol.

It's U.S.!

I know several people who are in way deeper than me; but from where I stand, $165,000. is a h*ll of a lot of cash. What's worse: I'm at a state school. Oh well, maybe I will move to Canada. I mean, if you can get out of a draft by leaving the U.S., it seems that you could get out of debt by relocating! Be advised that I may start a new thread that asks: "Toronto or Quebec, which city has the strictest standards for extradition?"

 

[john182]

If it was $165,000.00 Canadian that would only come to 37 US cents according to my calculations. You should be able to pay that off after you're in practice 5 or 6 years. 😉

CAD$165,000 is US$137,000?

I don't get it - they're almost the same worth?

 

[Milo]

CAD$165,000 is US$137,000?

I don't get it - they're almost the same worth?

Just a bit o' hyperbole for (apparently failed) comedic effect. Way to keep abreast of the exchange rate though. Kudos to you. 😀

 

[mosche]

In my anecdotal experience, massive debt seems to definitely delay the practical possibilities to develop an "ideal" practice (in the current conditions), especially if one has a family to also take care of at the moment of finishing residency training. The "advice" recently offered by one of my attendings was: don't start having kids until you've paid off a major portion of your med school debt! (she told us she "only" had about 85K in debt-with some earlier parental "help"- but she already had 2 kids, who were nearing school-age, so she had to buy a house in a better school district, and then it took her more than 10 years to pay the relatively "small" med school debt off!); another one of my attendings was an "older" IMG, without any school debt, but with a large family to support, and a relatively large mortgage, plus one kid in college, and another couple of kids about to enter college, and a relatively small academic faculty salary...he was still "moonlighting" with various ER/clinics gigs on the side just to make ends meet! OTOH, I had two other attendings married to one another who were DINK's (double incomes, no kids) and who paid off their HUMONGOUS loans (probably almost half a million combined) within 7 years or so! My conclusion was that having KIDS is probably more expensive than even the largest med school loans!

Thanks for the insight! My partner and I have been talking adoption; however, we may have to put it off for awhile -- or perhaps we should only adopt one or two kids, as opposed to SIX! 🙂 The sad thing is that, prior to med. school, I had assumed that physicians were the most financially able to support kids! Oh well, perspective is a b**ch.