Need Advice on which Interviews to Attend

[djcool]

Hello,

I applied to over 20 schools thinking I would maybe get a couple interviews if I was lucky, this has not been the case. I have received way more interview invitations (12 currently) than I ever expected and I am at the point where I will almost certainly not be able to afford to attend them all. I am beyond grateful and I feel extremely blessed to have this many interviews; I realize that my dilemma is a very good "problem" to have.

With that said, I would like some advice on which schools I should consider cutting out if I am unable to afford attending all my interviews. Money is a big priority to me in choosing a school, so I am really hoping I will be fortunate enough to get a nice financial aid package/scholarship in the event that I am accepted.

Which schools should I cut out if it comes down to it, and do you have any other advice/experience that may be helpful in my situation.

Thank you!

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[NotASerialKiller]

I applied to Oakland and Drexel so please drop those

 

[Chir0nex]

Honestly I would say to schedule interviews until you have an acceptance. I know it is expensive, but until you have a spot for sure, it is risky to skip an interview if offered.

Beyond that your options for interviews to skip are those that are programs you aren't particularly excited about (in terms of location or other factor) or those that are more expensive to get to (i.e if you have to fly vs being able to drive).

 

[piii]

Agree with other user, go to everyone until an acceptance. But if you must cut off one, WVU has a 15% post interview acceptance rate for OOS applicants FYI and it's expensive to get there. Other than that, do your research into what programs suit you and which ones give you the best chance of admittance.

 

[Munty]

I've had a similar blessing as you, and the way I have cut out a couple interviews is by comparing the cost and distance. For example, I'm flying to one school tomorrow and airfare will be a little over 100 dollars for the round trip which isn't bad, so I will definitely be going to it. On the other hand I just got invited to a school even farther away in a small town with a similar program. The travel expenses to fly there were going to be about $400 dollars, and thus I will not be taking that interview.

So I would say balance costs with how important the program is to you. I can't make that call myself from your list.

EDIT: And like other's have said, I'm taking most of mine until I've got an acceptance, I'm just scheduling some out later with the hopes I can withdraw them if I get accepted elsewhere. I've scheduled 10/13 so far with 7 before the crucial October 15th date.

 

[phuynh94]

1. Congratulations! This is a fantastic problem to have.
2. See which schools are rolling and schedule interviews at those schools first. You're more likely to hear back from them earlier, and an early acceptance means you and drop the other schools.
3. I highly advise not withdrawing unless you have an acceptance in hand. If you're worried about finances, space out your interviews and maybe schedule the schools you aren't too excited about for later. If/once you have an acceptance, you can drop the rest.

Best of luck!

 

[y123]

Congratulations!!
Attend all of them before you have an acceptance. After you get your first acce
Take public transportation to save money. Take a bus instead of a flight if you can.
Also, UIC is extremely expensive for OOS.

 

[Affiche]

Drop WVU unless you're in state. They will waitlist pretty much every OOS applicant until April 30th, and then will start accepting OOS students who have not been accepted to their state schools.

I also have to start prioritizing interviews because of money and I have done this based on two rules:
1. Look at MSAR and previous school threads to see how likely it is to be accepted after an interview. Drop the schools (or schedule them a few months out so you can withdraw if accepted elsewhere) who only accept a small percentage of those they interview. Schedule the schools who accept a high percentage of interviewees first.
2. Drop (or schedule way later) the schools you would only attend if not accepted anywhere else.

 

[NonTrad16]

Hello,

I applied to over 20 schools thinking I would maybe get a couple interviews if I was lucky, this has not been the case. I have received way more interview invitations (12 currently) than I ever expected and I am at the point where I will almost certainly not be able to afford to attend them all. I am beyond grateful and I feel extremely blessed to have this many interviews; I realize that my dilemma is a very good "problem" to have.

With that said, I would like some advice on which schools I should consider cutting out if I am unable to afford attending all my interviews. Money is a big priority to me in choosing a school, so I am really hoping I will be fortunate enough to get a nice financial aid package/scholarship in the event that I am accepted.

Which schools should I cut out if it comes down to it, and do you have any other advice/experience that may be helpful in my situation?

GPA is 4.0 MCAT is 27 WA State Resident URM
Interview Invites from:
NYMC
West Virginia School of Medicine
Iowa Carver College
Indiana School of Medicine
U of A Tucson
Central Michigan
Drexel
UW
Oakland Beaumont
UIC
Morehouse
University at Buffalo

Thank you!

Congrats on your success! That said, if you're a WA resident and your list is sprawling all over, you could consider cutting things down considering COA (you mention the importance of aid), location, etc or by asking schools to move dates to allow multiple schools per cross-country flight.

That said, if you're looking for the best overall deal then you may be better served by going to as many interviews as possible. A few hundred per interview is a lot now, but there's NO guarantee you'll get much or any need/merit aid from a given school. First you need the acceptances, then you need the pleasant surprise of (real, non-loan) aid... and truthfully, I feel like that often comes much later in the process. If a few hundred now turns into opportunities at a cheaper school, or a 10k scholarship, etc... that would certainly make it (financially) worth it. And personally, you don't know where you'll 'click' best, so... seeing more can help!

 

[djcool]

Thank you so much to everyone who chimed in on my post. I really appreciate the advice and shared experience. I will take the advice to cut down on costs and begin prioritizing my schools. I will certainly do everything in my power attend every interview until I am accepted. Congratulations on everyone else's interviews and best of luck to those of you who are already in medical school!

 

[Goro]

Consider cost of tuition, distance from family and supports groups, the location, and curriculum. Inquire into the school-specific threads to get feedback on what the students there says.

My own two cents, in order of rank

UW
Iowa Carver College
Morehouse
Indiana School of Medicine
UIC
U Buffalo
West Virginia School of Medicine
U of A Tucson
Drexel
Oakland Beaumont
Central MI
NYMC

 

[LizzyM]

Acceptances start to go out mid-October. Go to the interviews that most interest you before Oct 15 at schools that, based on past records, appear to make offers early in the cycle. Push off other schools until after November 1 with the idea that you can cancel those interviews if you get an early offer and decide to run with it. At that point, you can accept offers to schools that are more interesting to you than the offer you already hold.

 

[cbrons]

Go to most of them but you don't have to go to all, you will likely get accepted at many places you interview (unless your interview skills are really bad).

 

[tick_tock400]

I was in the same boat as you last year! This is a fortunate problem to have!
I would for sure recommend dropping West Virginia unless you're in state or have a significant other who is from there or if you're from the very surrounding area or have other ties. You can look on US News for their acceptance rates.
For West Virginia, you can easily change your interview date on their online portal. I'd recommend doing that (I did that too).

I would think twice about Central Michigan because they're focused on primary care medicine.

I'm not terribly well acquainted with the other schools besides SDN reviews. Good luck!

 

[Spector1]

wow such a wonderful problem to have

 

[DokterMom]

I'm the analytical type, and would make myself a table, analyzing the following:

• When the school begins making offers, with earlier being better and 'waves' being more predictable
  
• Travel costs - Go to all the cheap ones; really scrutinize the expensive ones.
  
• Desirability - however you rank it.
• Financial aid practices - If they give it out, stay in the game long enough to find out if you get it.
  
• % of interviewees accepted for residents of your state (IS for your state school, OOS otherwise)
• Total cost of attendance

Some schools will move up the list (go soon); others down (delay). But you gotta keep go until you're accepted somewhere.

 

[Affiche]

Another thing to consider is the type of environment you'd like to live in for the next four years, and train clinically in. Some of these schools are incredibly different from one another, so if you don't think you'll fit in with their environment that's an important thing to consider.

West Virginia School of Medicine- very rural, rotate in rural areas. If you're interested in surgery at all, this may not be the place for you because West Virginia does not do transplants (1 of 3 WVU campuses will see liver transplants, but that's it).
Central Michigan- new school, rural. EC's may be lacking from a school that's so new.
Drexel- urban, can choose between PBL curriculum and traditional lecture. Of the schools in Philly (4, I believe), this one seems to have the worst reputation/seen as the "safety" school.
Oakland Beaumont- Suburbanish. Beaumont health system is #1 in Michigan, so you'll get great clinical experience, but this is a new school and they don't have much to offer in terms of EC's.
UIC- urban. Great location if you're interested in the underserved, but outside of the campus area this part of Chicago can be pretty sketchy.
Morehouse- HBC.

 

[deleted642188]

Thank you so much to everyone who chimed in on my post. I really appreciate the advice and shared experience. I will take the advice to cut down on costs and begin prioritizing my schools. I will certainly do everything in my power attend every interview until I am accepted. Congratulations on everyone else's interviews and best of luck to those of you who are already in medical school!

UB is mad expensive for OOS - 65k in tuition ONLY I am in state and I am expected to pay 40k for state tuition.... Fml

Any hoo if uw is un8versity of Washington that should be no.1 on your list and then morehouse and order the rest by degree of interest

 

[djcool]

Thank you for the continued input everyone!

 

[djcool]

Another thing to consider is the type of environment you'd like to live in for the next four years, and train clinically in. Some of these schools are incredibly different from one another, so if you don't think you'll fit in with their environment that's an important thing to consider.

West Virginia School of Medicine- very rural, rotate in rural areas. If you're interested in surgery at all, this may not be the place for you because West Virginia does not do transplants (1 of 3 WVU campuses will see liver transplants, but that's it).
Central Michigan- new school, rural. EC's may be lacking from a school that's so new.
Drexel- urban, can choose between PBL curriculum and traditional lecture. Of the schools in Philly (4, I believe), this one seems to have the worst reputation/seen as the "safety" school.
Oakland Beaumont- Suburbanish. Beaumont health system is #1 in Michigan, so you'll get great clinical experience, but this is a new school and they don't have much to offer in terms of EC's.
UIC- urban. Great location if you're interested in the underserved, but outside of the campus area this part of Chicago can be pretty sketchy.
Morehouse- HBC.

Great things to consider, thanks for bringing some of them to my attention. If I am in the position to make a selection among schools I will make sure to consider this!

 

[carolina910]

I have a question about how to go about staving off II offers. I really don't want to turn down any interviews unless I have an acceptance in hand.

That being said, I recently received an interview offer from a school that is relatively expensive to get to and relatively low on my list, while there are 2 schools higher on my list that said we should get a response by the end of October. The interview date was scheduled for November, but the school asked that I either confirm, request a new date, or withdraw my application. If I confirm now, can I later cancel? Or should I just not answer for a few weeks while I wait on those 2 schools?

 

[Flashfan]

Goro's list is great. I particularly agree with his top choices, though I really don't want to compete against anyone for Iowa as an OOS applicant.

 

[Glazedonutlove]

Hello,

I applied to over 20 schools thinking I would maybe get a couple interviews if I was lucky, this has not been the case. I have received way more interview invitations (12 currently) than I ever expected and I am at the point where I will almost certainly not be able to afford to attend them all. I am beyond grateful and I feel extremely blessed to have this many interviews; I realize that my dilemma is a very good "problem" to have.

With that said, I would like some advice on which schools I should consider cutting out if I am unable to afford attending all my interviews. Money is a big priority to me in choosing a school, so I am really hoping I will be fortunate enough to get a nice financial aid package/scholarship in the event that I am accepted.

Which schools should I cut out if it comes down to it, and do you have any other advice/experience that may be helpful in my situation?

GPA is 4.0 MCAT is 27 WA State Resident URM
Interview Invites from:
NYMC
West Virginia School of Medicine
Iowa Carver College
Indiana School of Medicine
U of A Tucson
Central Michigan
Drexel
UW
Oakland Beaumont
UIC
Morehouse
University at Buffalo

Thank you!

Yeah it gets extremely expensive but don't just cut out schools unless you have an acceptance. I tried to schedule my top choices earlier