PhD/PsyD How much did you spend during internship application/interview season?

[ThisIsTheWay]

With internship applications, ordering transcripts, traveling for interviews, plus food and housing costs while on these interviews, moving to a new location, how much did you spend? Trying to sock away small amounts each month for when that time inevitably comes. But I can't find recent data - thought I'd ask you all here.

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[AcronymAllergy]

It's tough to remember, but back when I applied and pretty much all interviews were in-person, it may have been between $1000 and $2000. I limited my expenses somewhat by only flying once, I think, and driving to all other interviews. I believe I had...7 or 8 total interviews?

 

[deleted106747]

Probably about $3000 between flights, gas, hotels, moving. But post-covid is a different world, who knows if mainly in person interviews will return.

 

[ccool]

Did virtual interviews.. moved with no partner or children

Application stuff was abt 300$
Interview travel, housing etc 0$ but in my 2nd yr, I got a credit card that earned me miles in prep for travel. Was prepared to spend abt $1500 + miles
Moving Pt 1- since I didn’t visit during interviews, took a 4 day trip to the city to explore and apt search abt $800
Moving P2 - drove my little sedan w whatever fit, car repairs + security deposit + furnishing apt + state of residence changes (eg license, registration, parking stuff) abt $3000

 

[bluecolourskies]

I wanna say around $2k

 

[Mojito_15]

I did internship interviews pre-covid and postdoc interviews post covid. Spent around $1500 with fees and traveling to interviews and then about $2000 moving within the midwest. Post covid all interviews were virtual so spent only on application fees- maybe $100? Then I moved from the midwest to a large west coast city and spent probably $6000 traveling out across all expenses- though we took our time and did a 9 day long mini vacation for the drive across the country. Probably would've been closer to $4500 if you cut the vacation and we were trying to move rapidly. We also hired movers at both ends of the trip for postdoc- we're older now and can no longer lift our furniture.

 

[JustNoticing]

Close to $3,000 when all was said and done. Probably could have gotten away with fewer interviews though, and this was pre-covid so tons of in person stuff and didn't apply to places near my grad program. edit: not including moving expenses.

 

[BrainNerd_66]

I applied and did all interviews in person a few months before covid hit. Spent close to $900 for application and close to $2,500 for flights and accommodations, excluding car rental or Uber/Lyft for commuting and meals.

 

[psych.meout]

As far as interviews goes, our DCT mentioned that APPIC is very strongly encouraging internship sites to continue doing virtual interviews this year, though it technically can't force any site to do so.

 

[WisNeuro]

Probably about $1500. A handful of my interviews were within my state and neighboring states (drivable within 4-5 hours). One was 30 minutes away from my brother, and it lined up that my interview date was right after I was visiting family there for the holiday. Another handful were in the same geographic region (accessible by train and 1 car rental). And two were open houses near the bottom of my list that I elected not to go to. Luckily, I got my interviews within the same regions lined up together, so I only needed one set of flights for one, and the other region was easily drivable and also within the same 2-week period.

As far as virtual only, as I've said before, it'll save money, but you'll get a lot less info to base your rankings on. My rankings changed a TON after physically visiting a site. Enough so that 2 sites within my top 5 moved into my bottom 5. And, based on anecdotes from friends and colleagues who did attend those sites, I made the right choice.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I agree that if I were given the choice, I'd prefer to visit in-person rather than do a virtual interview/visit. But I also understand that can be expensive. If possible, a compromise could be to visit your top-choice sites in-person and go virtual for the others.

To answer the question about moving expenses (which I neglected before) = it was pretty cheap for internship, since I sold or gave away all my furniture; I just rented a van and brought over all the rest of my stuff. I then rented furniture for the year, which I paid for monthly. Altogether, including security deposit, maybe $1000 to $1500.

For fellowship, I bought furniture after getting into town, but the move itself was still pretty cheap. So altogether, maybe $2000 to $2500.

 

[WisNeuro]

I matched in the same city as my grad program. Applied and interviewed pretty widely throughout the US (both coasts, south, and midwest sites) this was just my top rank. So, no moving costs for internship. And when moving cross country for fellowship, I did similar to AA. If it didn't fit in my car, it didn't go with me. So, just gas and a cheap hotel stay for 1 night.

 

[ccool]

Re virtual v in person, I think it’s hard to say one is unequivocally better or more /meaningfully/ informative than the other given that attending the interview in itself is a confound.

 

[SunshinePsych]

I spent a little over $1000 of the application fees. I applied to 24 sites. I don't remember what I spent for transcripts but it was probably around $150 for all of my transcripts, maybe a little less.
I was prepared to spend up to $2000 for interviews but due to COVID, all of my interviews were online. There were 2 open houses that I did not travel to attend and several virtual open houses that I did attend.
After I found out my internship site, I spent about $900 traveling 2 months before spending 4 days in the area trying to find a place to live.
Moving costs for me were around $1800. Broken down $700 for the Uhaul and Car Carrier. $650 for people to load and unload the Uhaul. The rest on Gas and Hotel expenses. Because I rented a home and not an apartment, they hit me up for first and last months rent and a security deposit which cleaned out most of my savings. I spent another $200 on Car Registration, license plates, and drivers license.

For my post doc, moving costs went up to about $2600 as Uhaul rates went up, gas costs went up, etc. Car Registration and Drivers License in Florida is expensive and was closer to $400 or so for me not including my Husbands vehicle and his license.

Every move I have had has also had some hidden expenses. Mostly around things I need for the place I am living that the landlord doesn't have or things I want to make it more livable.

 

[AbnormalPsych]

Probably around 3-4k during interviews, due mostly to applying and traveling all over the country. Name a region I was there. This was partly planned as a part vacation to see the country (while still applying only to places I would actually go) and luck of getting way more interviews than I was expecting. Another ~1.5k to move once the match happened probably - uhaul, gas, food, hotel, boxes and packing supplies, thrift store furtniture and a few other necessities when I got there, beer and pizza for friends to help a bit. This was one of the times I felt like I could take out more loans than needed -- and if I had extra after the dust settled I could pay that back / return it ASAP.

 

[sopsyched11]

Interviewed last cycle: Probably spent 300ish on materials/transcripts at the most since it was virtual at all my sites
Moving expenses: A LOT. Easily 1000- 2500 to move and have all the furniture as well as deposits for all utilities and apartment costs. Would definitely plan to look ahead to save up and be realistic about what apartments etc. will be available moving during a time where rentals can be slim depending on location. My cohort and I are paying what feels like a fortune in a place that normally wouldn't be so expensive in a pre-inflation world.
-- also most people don't experience a real paycheck for 2 weeks - one month depending on billing cycle so my cohort and I felt like it took forever to get a real paycheck so I had to dip into savings to cover rent etc.

 

[ClinicalABA]

This is going to date me, but I spent about $300 (all figures converted to 2022 dollars), for things like printing and making copies at Kinkos, fancy-ish paper, envelopes, and postage. I only did one long distance trip out to Palo-Alto (from MA), but stayed with a current intern and my wife came with me so me made it a vacation (probably about $1500 in travel expenses). All other interviews were within driving distance, and I was able to stay with classmates if i needed to. I had a few other trips booked, but luck and perfect timing meant that I was able to accept my first choice intership, prior to match day, and it would be an APA approved internship (not sure that would work today). I was able to cancel some flights and hotels (I would have likely had at least another cross-country trip). Moved about 150 miles away for internship, so about $350 in van rental fees. Expense was one of the reasons for choosing the relatively local internship. I had been "groomed: to go to Palo Alto VA, but it was just too damn expensive out their. Also, my wife worked in a licensed profession (PT) and staying local allowed her to continue to work without needed to get another license.