How to deal with job an interview season

[Alfred E Newman]

For those of you who have to work for a living rather than be dependent on your parents, I was curious how to handle a job and making a living while dealing with interview season. People say apply broadly, but that's a problem for those who have to work and have limited resources. First, will your employer be understanding to let you take off to 5+ interviews (each requiring 2-3 days off)? Also, how receptive will employers be if they know you are planning to leave the job if you get into med school? Second, traveling to interviews will get very expensive really fast with airfare for out-of-state interviews, gas costs, hotel, etc. How do you guys plan on dealing with this? As if MCAT and application stress wasn't enough.

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[fireflygirl]

For those of you who have to work for a living rather than be dependent on your parents, I was curious how to handle a job and making a living while dealing with interview season. People say apply broadly, but that's a problem for those who have to work and have limited resources. First, will your employer be understanding to let you take off to 5+ interviews (each requiring 2-3 days off)? Also, how receptive will employers be if they know you are planning to leave the job if you get into med school? Second, traveling to interviews will get very expensive really fast with airfare for out-of-state interviews, gas costs, hotel, etc. How do you guys plan on dealing with this? As if MCAT and application stress wasn't enough.

Something that I and my friends did included the following:

1) We were fortunate to have jobs that were either in healthcare or at least our employer knew that we were applying to medical school and that it would require taking several days off here there to go to interviews. So if your employer is aware of this, he/she may be more understanding in letting you take time off.

2) Some of my friends who had financial restraints only attended interviews at schools that they absolutely wanted to go to. If they had applied to a school that they weren't thrilled about and had options, they took those options that were most important to them. This saved them time and money.

3) Whenever possible, one of my work colleagues drove to his interviews. While that was more than a year ago, when gas prices were cheaper, he saved a lot of money. He would also plan interviews that were geographically close during a few days so that he would save time and money by getting a few interviews done in one shot. Finally, he used priceline and discount websites a lot to find good deals on hotels.

4) All of us ended up with a crap load of credit card debt or asked parents to only give us money for bday and holiday gifts so that we could pay off that debt.

Good luck!

 

[Lacheln]

For those of you who have to work for a living rather than be dependent on your parents, I was curious how to handle a job and making a living while dealing with interview season. People say apply broadly, but that's a problem for those who have to work and have limited resources. First, will your employer be understanding to let you take off to 5+ interviews (each requiring 2-3 days off)? Also, how receptive will employers be if they know you are planning to leave the job if you get into med school? Second, traveling to interviews will get very expensive really fast with airfare for out-of-state interviews, gas costs, hotel, etc. How do you guys plan on dealing with this? As if MCAT and application stress wasn't enough.

I have been stockpiling vacation, and kept interviewing costs somewhat in mind when I was deciding where to apply. Many of the schools I will be able to drive to. I am hoping to get extremely lucky and get an acceptance early so that I can limit where I interview. Of course I might not get any interviews, which I guess solves that problem.

ps. My job does not know I'm applying, so I don't have much flexibility there, but like I said, I'm stockpiling vacation. Also, I don't expect to have to take more than 1 day for most interviews. The financial aspect is extremely stressful since I don't have any parental support, but like ffg said...credit cards.

 

[scottyT]

I have been stockpiling vacation,

I haven't taken more than 2 days off at a time for the last year+. I have quite a horde built up right now for the upcoming app season. I also work in healthcare research and I'm not the first RA to apply to med school from this field. My employer, therefore, is well aware that I'm going to have to take a lot of time off and is understanding.

and kept interviewing costs somewhat in mind when I was deciding where to apply.

When deciding where to apply, what to eat, whether it's cheaper to drive or to take the train, what kind of beer to buy, whether I should go to Starbucks with my coworkers, whatever. Save as much as possible, for as long as possible to minimize future CC debt. It's like studying for the MCAT: marathon, not sprint. Be disciplined in your spending and it will help prepare you for the miserly existence of a med student/resident.

 

[Lacheln]

Be disciplined in your spending and it will help prepare you for the miserly existence of a med student/resident.

Lucky for me my whole life has prepared me for the miserly existence of a med student/resident. Sadly there's only so much you can cut out when supporting family and yourself.