Interviewing and Travelling

[fruits&passion]

Hi everyone,

I am Canadian and I plan to apply to med schools in the future. (SDN is a goldmine!)

I am in 4th year of my program but need to return for an extra year because my study was interrupted in 2nd year and need to make up for the lost time. I want to travel before going to med school and was wondering two things. Perhaps those with similar experience can let me know the answers.

1) If I am travelling/working overseas (e.g. Japan, Russia...developed countries) and I am offered an interview, do I need to fly out for it or will someone travel out to interview me?

2) If I am in Canada, do I need to fly out to US school interviews or will someone travel out to interview me? Does it depends on how many applicants are to be interviewed in my region...?

Also, if you took some time off to travel before applying to med schools, I'd absolutely love to hear about it. It's the timing of the application/interviewing process overlapping with travel arrangements (programs that offer teaching english in another country) that I am worried about.

Thanks a lot,

fruits&passion

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Cmercury1]

Unfortunately, no one will fly out to meet you. You will be responsible for showing up at the med school campus for your interviews. If you anticipate a lot of interviews, it would probably be in your best interest to put off working abroad until the application process is over so that you're not forced to a) spend a lot of money on travel expenses and b) possibly settle for later interview dates because of traveling constraints.

 

[AZhopeful]

i really doubt that anyone is going to travel out to interview you. you have to look at the situation of med school admissions:

this is a buyer's market, and the med schools are the buyers. why on earth would they trouble themselves to travel far and wide (and spend tons of time and money) to interview people who MIGHT come to their school if they have a large pool of applicants just as qualified as you, who are willing to spend their own time and money to come to them?

 

[musiclink213]

I can't imagine any interviewer flying out to meet you. Have you considered putting off the application process for a year so you can do your abroad work or travel then apply once you return? I personally love traveling, and since I have a gap year, I considered cashing in my savings account and going around the world, but then I realized with interviews, it would be really hard. But what I've done the past few years is travel during my summer breaks. And thats what I plan on doing this summer before I matriculate as well. Leave in May, come back in July or August. Have you thought about that maybe?

That said, one of my student tour guides at one school said she traveled all throughout her gap year. She has famiyl in Europe so it cut down on some of the costs. But she said she managed to schedule all her interviews in a 3 week time frame so she flew back for 3 weeks, went on her interviews, then went back to Europe. But she had a fairly strong idea of where she wanted to go before she applied, and I think she said she even mentioned it was her first choice on their secondary, as well as at hte interview. But for me, it wouldn't work because i can never be that positive about a school until I see it.