Interviews: How far is too far to drive?

[PeepshowJohnny]

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(I was going to post this is in Clinical/Rotations or ERAS/NRMP boards, but I thought some M1's and M2's could share their experiences interviewing for med school here.)

Anywho, was talking with the parents this weekend about scheduling residency interviews. Anyway, they were horrified to find out I was going to be driving to quite a few of my interviews.

Now obviously I'm not going to Jack Kerouac this thing by any means, but my parents considered interviewing anywhere more than three hours away by car trip a trip I should fly for.

There issues seem to be A) Safety (which is legit, I admit) and B) Fatigue, affecting my performance the next day (which I disagree with).

I guess my bias is that I enjoy driving (driving alone, total control of the radio, it's very peaceful), it's going to cost less (especially with gas costing less, hurray tanking economy), and I have more control over my time (no flight delays, cancellations, dealing with rental cars etc.).

But, I figure I'd open it up to the floor and get everyone elses take on this. Where do you make the cut off for how you're going to travel for an interview?

 

[braluk]

When cost of driving (including your own time, gas, food/beverage) exceeds flying. Guess it really comes down to your own subjective gauge of how valuable your time is.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

More than an 8 hour drive = flying for me.

 

[Ginzo]

Unless you're rich or have access to very inexpensive air travel, the 3 hour rule seems a bit extreme. The more you drive the easier and more routine it gets.

Air travel gets geometrically more annoying each year. You're totally at the airline's mercy and they don't think twice about screwing a passenger over. At least with driving you have a measure of control: How fast you drive, when you leave, the route you take, etc. And flying doesn't save as much time as people think because of having to show up early, checking in, checking bags, security, delays, baggage claim, waiting in line at the car rental agency, etc.

For me personally though, I'd prefer to keep interviews down to a single night's stay in a hotel. So, I'd limit driving to whatever I could reasonably do after the interview was over. So, say, 6-7 hours max.

 

[-Goose-]

More than an 8 hour drive = flying for me.

I concur.

 

[Bartelby]

More than an 8 hour drive = flying for me.

About the same for me, although I did one eleven hour drive broken into two legs by an overnight stay with family in that state. Honestly, it is a lot cheaper and pretty easy to drive, and like you mentioned I enjoy driving. Plus if you have to drive an hour to the airport and then deal with all the check ins, etc., how much time are you really saving compared to something like a six or seven hour drive?

 

[gutonc]

I made a bunch of loop trips. Drove from NYC to Boston to Dartmouth to UMass to UMDNJ-RWJ to home. Then another one where I flew to Chicago then drove to Wisconsin, Milwaukie, Chicago, St. Louis then back to Chicago and flew home. I think 6h was the longest I'd personally want to drive.

 

[Boxer1]

More than an 8 hour drive = flying for me.

I agree. I drove for most of my interviews 2 years ago. I drove anywhere from an hour to 10 hours each way. When I drove more than 7-8 hours I was pretty tired when I arrived. For the interview when I drove 10 hours, I think it affected my performance on the pre-interview dinner with the residents.

On the flip side, the gas milage on my civic saved me lots of money, and because I wasn't living near a large hub airport at the time, I don't think I lost much time driving when compared to flying.

NDO

 

[Doowai]

Last year I drove from an interview on one side of Ohio to the other, and it dumped 7 inches of snow - making a 3 hour drive take almost 12 hours. They shut the highway down three times.

I also made a drive from Wisconsin to Iowa in an unbelievable fog. I could not see the gaurd rail to the side of the highway on much of the trip.

What can you take?

 

[Winged Scapula]

3 hours?

Wow...I've driven that far (and more) to meet someone for lunch or dinner.

I agree with the others...more than 8 hours, or something that takes the better part of the day, is probably the most I would have driven for an interview.

Then again, I love driving and thought nothing of driving myself across the country.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I'm glad to see so many people agreeing with me.

I'm thinking my parents are just excessively worried about fatigue affecting my interview performance. Interestingly enough, it was around an 8 hour trip (the magic number being tossed around) they initially balked at before starting in on there "Maybe you should fly to any interview out of state" trip.

The interesting thing is, we're not wealthy people who can fill up the private jet and jet around the country. Heck, I didn't fly until I graduated high school! That's what makes there stance so interesting.

 

[Doowai]

3 hours?

Wow...I've driven that far (and more) to meet someone for lunch or dinner.

I agree with the others...more than 8 hours, or something that takes the better part of the day, is probably the most I would have driven for an interview.

Then again, I love driving and thought nothing of driving myself across the country.

I love driving too. One of the reasons I did not like being on a Caribbean island - i like being able to drive and drive and drive (without starting to go in a circle). Many people think it was extreme when I drove 24 hours non-stop from residency to my home and back. But its awesome to be driving through barren areas of Texas with the moonroof back at 3 or 4 AM - the stars are amazing. I love driving through western New Mexico.

 

[dragonfly99]

I think >5 hours is too much, but part of it depends on how time crunched you are (i.e. leaving at 6pm and getting there at 11pm, vs. leaving at 2 pm and getting there at 8pm).

 

[BlondeDocteur]

Well, let's assume you're on a light rotation and you can leave the hospital at 5. An 8-hr drive means you won't be pulling into town till 1 AM. I guess that's not awful, as we've all functioned on far less sleep than that, but the idea of interviewing till 5 PM and then getting in the car to go back home and arriving at *home* at 1 AM to be back in the hospital the next day by 7.... yuck.

An there-and-back 8hr-drive probably equals 4 tanks of gas in most people's cars, so unless you're finding flights for $250 or less, it's economically wiser to drive.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

Well, let's assume you're on a light rotation and you can leave the hospital at 5. An 8-hr drive means you won't be pulling into town till 1 AM. I guess that's not awful, as we've all functioned on far less sleep than that, but the idea of interviewing till 5 PM and then getting in the car to go back home and arriving at *home* at 1 AM to be back in the hospital the next day by 7.... yuck.

An there-and-back 8hr-drive probably equals 4 tanks of gas in most people's cars, so unless you're finding flights for $250 or less, it's economically wiser to drive.

I think we were assuming this was the typical "off month" for interviewing; it would change things if trying to fit an interview between two full ward days. In that case 3-4 hours is about tops for driving.

Really though, 7 to 5 is about the most I'll be working all year save for my sub-I month and IM core call nights. A light rotation is more like 9 to 1, or "You're a 4th year not interested in my specialty? Every minute you spend here this month is a point off your grade."

 

[dragonfly99]

it varies by school
We were still expected to work full days on most all the rotations I did during 4th year (i.e. no leaving at 1pm every day...). But it does depend on your school, and what rotations you choose. I actually did multiple surgery and medicine rotations (some sub-I's) and worked my tail off the first 1/2 of 4th year.