<data:blog.pageTitle/>

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Increased MSIV Costs

Hi All,

My DH MSIII is starting the process of applying to residency soon. Real quick, does anyone care to share about how much they ended up dropping on applying/interviewing costs during 4th year?

Thanks,

JLEE

6 Comments:

Jessica said...: My DH is going into MSIII but I have been asking around at our school and they said to budget $10,000. Most said they came close to that amount but did not go over. And most of those people had a spouse that traveled to a few locations with them (which I am hoping to do).

I would imagine this would also be affected by how big your airport is and how many programs you are applying to within driving distance. There are only a few programs within a five hour drive so most of the students at his school have to take a flight.

Thanks for asking this question - I am curious to see others answers as well since we are starting the process of saving now :); April 8, 2010 at 4:32 PM
Camilla Millar said...: I think we did about 7,000. My hubby worked out series of interviews on the road so he didn't have to pay for plane costs to and from. The AMAA also has a guest-host program where established physicians host interviewing medical students in their home, so we saved on costs there as well.; April 8, 2010 at 4:47 PM
Christy said...: We drove to all of our interviews the first year. Because the schools were paying for the hotel rooms, we spent less than $2000 total for 5 interviews.

(He decided to take a year off after that, so we had to re-interview the following year.)

We ended up spending more the next year, but it was only about $3000-$4000 total. He interviewed at 4 programs that year, all completely different than the year before. We flew to the destinations, rented cars, stayed extra days...but it was worth it. We ended up somewhere we never would have considered otherwise.

I would really recommend only interviewing at the schools that you are serious about. Don't waste time and money interviewing at unrealistic programs (I'm sure you guys already have an idea of what you're looking for).; April 8, 2010 at 10:08 PM
Timani said...: We spent $6000. He was able to get several interviews back-to-back...so got the majority done in 2 weeks, but it still required him to fly all over with hotels and car rentals everywhere.

I suggest checking for smaller airports near programs, often they are cheaper and go to the airport's website that he will be flying into and see if they have airlines you aren't familiar with and can get some great bargains. We're in Utah, so my husband flew everywhere, but I was unfamiliar with airlines on the east. We were able to get some great deals using those. (Example, Utah to Florida for interview, then used an unknown one to go from FL to Penn, used another to hit Ohio...that sort of thing.

It also depends on what residency they pursue. I heard most pediatric programs covers or reimburses a portion of travel and almost always provides hotel, as does Family Practice.; April 9, 2010 at 4:29 AM
TheFamousStacie said...: Honestly, we spent about $15,000. We budgeted the best we could. He went on 12 interviews.

He was not able to schedule any in tandem.

I did not go on any interviews with him.

I think he was only able to drive to two of the interviews. We had to fly him to Boston twice, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, etc..., etc...

I am being real, with boards, books, new interview suits, new clothes to wear out to the pre-interview dinner, plane flights, hotel rooms, food on the road, gas, photos, applications.

It's an expensive year, plan high as to not fret about running out!

Oh and if you are trying to get into a competitive field you can forget anyone paying for anything!; April 9, 2010 at 3:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Another thing to think about is that in your 4th year of residency you will probably have $5000-$10000 in expenses related only to certifications and tests and interviewing. That might even be underestimating, and most likely you will not have extra income because you will be on a resident's salary. My husband and I have had to put a lot of that on credit cards at 8-9% interest when we could have taken out extra private loans during our 4th year of med school and only paid about 2% interest on them. (he was one of the few lucky ones that got to consolidate at that outstanding rate). It might do you good to take out quite a bit of extra money in loans to take care of expenses such as these. If your husband specializes like mine has, there will be even more tests and certifications, so the money goes up.
Just a thought, especially if your fixed income as a 4th year resident is only enough to cover your living expenses with a larger family or even just a smaller family.; April 11, 2010 at 10:58 AM

This Page

Lives of Doctor Wives

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Increased MSIV Costs

6 Comments:

Contributors

Previous Posts