interview travel etc

[Cumberland]

I was wondering how this whole interview process works in terms of travel. DH so far has interviews basically all over the country-CA, NY, NV, LA, GA, and IN. He is trying to make travel arrangements and start scheduling them but new offers keep coming in too. He has heard most places have limited interview spots so if he doesnt schedule them quick he might lose out.
I was wondering, well alot of things-
how many should he go on? (maybe Sally could answer this-he is applying for OB),
how in the heck do you afford them all? ( no one has offered to pay for hotels),
when do the offers stop coming in?
how did your DH's/DW's do their scheduling, flight arrangements,etc?
What are the odds of him being gone every weekend in January? (when I am 35 to 39 weeks!!?!)


I think I am going to go on the one to U of Nevada- I havent been to Vegas so I am excited!

What an exciting time! It can get crazy scheduling those interviews. My comments are based on IM and Derm interviews....ob/gyn could be different.
I agree that there are limited interview spots and most programs abide by the slots/day. But, we found that you can try to switch dates with someone or work with the program coordinator (your due date would be an awfully good reason!). For that reason, respond quickly to an interview. You can always politely decline later.
How many to go on? With derm, DH went on all that he could (missed 2 b/c of scheduling problems). With, IM, most. He may need to cancel an interview at one program to take an interview at a more desired program. And because of scheduling issues, he may not be able to go on all.
Afford them? It gets expensive! No one paid for hotels for any of DH's interviews. I've heard that Mayo pays for the hotel for some specialities but this seems to be the exception....I think that most people go with either taking out more loans or using credit cards.

When do the offers stop? DH had offers through mid-January for derm. This late offers usually resulted from cancellations and the programs trying to fill those spots.

Odds of being gone all of January? From our experience last year, probably pretty high! DH was gone more than he was home in January. But, maybe he could schedule most of the interviews in the first half of January?

Very exciting! Keep us updated on how it goes!

[migirl]

I don't know if it's too late for you to try to do this, but my DH contacted each one of the programs that he had applied to (before interview offers came in) and asked what specific dates they were interviewing their candidates. This was helpful because most of them only had a couple of interview dates, and a lot of them overlapped. Then, going on the assumption that he would receive interview offers from all of them, he figured out which dates he could do which interviews and also tried to organize them so that he could do interviews together that were in close proximity to each other. (It also helped that he had mostly applied to programs in the Midwest.) Then, when the interview offers came in he knew exactly which date he wanted (because as Nellie mentioned, they tend to fill up quickly) and was able to schedule them as he wanted.

I don't know what the application/interview process is like for ob/gyn, but for urology we applied to 60 programs, had interview offers from all but a couple, and ended up interviewing at 20.

As for paying for it all... This was right after 9/11 and DH refused to fly anywhere so he drove to all of his interviews. (Mind you, we lived in Washington, DC at the time and he even drove to his interview at the Mayo! This was a 2-day drive. 8O ) His mom agreed to pay for gas for the trips to the interviews, and my parents were nice enough to pay for hotels. (I was in school at the time as well, so we didn't have any money to pay for it ourselves.)

Good luck, this is such an exciting and stressful time in general, I'm sure that it is compounded by the impending arrival of your baby!

[mommax3]

My husband didn't end up going on any interviews (although he had about 15 scheduled in December and January) because he found out Dec. 18 that the Air Force was not going to be giving him a deferral for residency, and we would be heading to San Antonio after med school. So I can't really help you here, sorry!

What Indiana program is your DH interested in?

Sally

[JaneDoe]

My husband matched into ophthalmology. If I recall, he received about 20 interviews, but went to only 14. I remember it being difficult for him to choose which interview he would rather attend when they would conflict. Ultimately, he went to every interview that he could. When interviews conflicted, his decision on which one to accept was based on geography and qualities of the program. He went to medical school on the east coast, and we're from the west coast. So, we were both really hoping that he would match at a program on the west coast, specifically in our home state. West coast programs definitely received top priority.

He traveled ALL over the country. In fact, he had two interviews scheduled, one on a saturday in Portland, OR at OHSU, and the other scheduled the next day in Atlanta, GA. Once he finished with the OHSU interview, he had to take a red-eye flight to Atlanta, GA. Once he landed in Atlanta the next morning, he went to the bathroom, washed his face, changed into his suit, and then he went to the interview. Needless to say, his opinion of Emory U. was not the best, probably because he was too tired to care.

So after traveling all over the US (CA, OR, AZ, MI, WI, GA, PA, OH, CO - there may be some others, I don't recall), you may ask - where did he match? He matched at his medical school's program, right here in PA! It was probably for the best, since the expense of all that traveling probably would've left us unable to afford a move!

BTW, I didn't attend any of the interviews. I just didn't feel that we could afford it, and after the way it ended I'm very happy with my decision. We had to pay for the expense of his interviews out-of-pocket. Although I think a couple of programs may have reimbursed him part of the cost of the hotel.

A little off topic- I didn't realize you are also a February mom-to-be! I'm due around February 19. Congrats! I hope everything is going well with your pregnancy!

Just for another view....

Our position was a little different. DW did an intern year with her med school program as a "fast-track" intern. It made her much more attractive to the peds programs when it came interview time. It also allowed her to be very choosy, we actually contacted the residency programs that SHE WANTED to visit and they gave us dates when she could get there...except for one that just flat out refused to interview her (possible thing with being a DO, but we weren't being too judgmental). So, we went to three programs. We drove to all since they were all within a days drive and we enjoy the scenery...Ok, I enjoy the scenery, DW enjoys sleeping in the car!
The programs all picked up the hotel rooms and an allowance to travel....something like $75/max. We went to Texas Children's(TX), Scott & White Hosp(TX), and Children's Mercy (KC).
THe odds of being gone in Jan, as stated, are usually high. I am thinking though if he/you contact the programs they will help make arrangements. It is obvious with that many offers they must think that they can use him and would most likely be willing to accomodate scheduling.
Best of luck!!

For IM residency no places paid for any of my husband's interviews. But save those receipts -- it's all tax deductible! I believe he went on 11 interviews and ended in late January. Every place pretty much will let you know availabe dates so start scheduling! Try to strong as many together as possible. It will be a tough time but it's fun. Most places interview during the week but I've hear surgery interviews on weekends. Good luck and keep us posted!

I don't know if it's too late for you to try to do this, but my DH contacted each one of the programs that he had applied to (before interview offers came in) and asked what specific dates they were interviewing their candidates. This was helpful because most of them only had a couple of interview dates, and a lot of them overlapped. .
hotels. (I was in school at the time as well, so we didn't have any money to pay for it ourselves.)

I absolutely agree with that suggestion! The program coordinators are accustomed to being asked and answering this question. It helps immensely. And by phone, sometimes you can get out of them when they will send the interview letters. Since DH was on the road so much, I made most of these calls and they went very well. In some cases, they even asked his name and offered to check to see if they would be sending him an offer.

And, yes, ABSOLUTELY save those receipts! You may be able to write off the expense. Remember, your write off the expense in the year it was incurred. This sort of sucked for us as we bought a lot of the plane tickets in '02 but he travelled in '03 -- spreading the expenses over two tax years. That was a problem because you can only deduct over a certain percent of your income (your expenses have to exceed 10% of income and you deduct the portion over 10%, I think). Don't take my word for it, though, and run it by a tax advisor.