<p>I am hoping to go to college out of state and I'm extremely excited, except one minor problem crossed my mind: When I apply to med school, I will be applying to schools back home (1000+ miles from my prospective college). Is interviewing a rigorous and long process where I will be traveling a lot back home for interviews, to a point where it would interfere with my senior classes and be paying a lot for air fare? </p>
<p>I know this is kind of silly for me to worry about this so early, especially as I may not get any interviews (YIKES!) but I always think way too far ahead about stuff. :)</p>
<p>Interviewing does require a lot of traveling. Depending on where “home” is and how many interviews you’d be doing at “home”, the answer is yes, it can interfere with your senior classes and it can be quite expensive. (It’s also made more expensive because often your interview is scheduled on fairly short notice so you can’t get discounted airfare.)</p>
<p>If your state is blessed with several medical schools and you have interviews at several of them, you can request that your interviews all be scheduled near the same time (like during a single week) or during various breaks—not saying the schools will cooperate, but you can ask.</p>
<p>Stock up on as many classes early on and take the minimum credits during interview season. I had class Monday through Wednesday and an optional recitation class on Thursday. This made interviewing a lot less stressful because I was able to do a lot of them TH/F or on breaks.</p>
<p>“Is interviewing a rigorous and long process where I will be traveling a lot back home for interviews, to a point where it would interfere with my senior classes and be paying a lot for air fare?”</p>
<p>-Yes to all of the above, which were the reasons for my D’s decision to go to IS UG and apply to Med. School within 4.5 hrs drving from home. Also, she has been taking more credit hours during first 2 years in UG to afford having lighter schedule in Junior year ( MCAT prep.) and senior year (interviews). Worked well so far. She has applied to IS, OOS and private Med. Schools. All her Med. School acceptances are so far IS (including one private). She has driven to all of her interviews/informational sessions - 6 of them out of 8 schools.
However, most pre-meds do not consider closeness to home a high priority. They apply to very wide range of schools and great number of them.</p>
<p>McD’s #3 is right. I had MWF classes (T/Th off) and it was a godsend. His schedule (MTW) would have been even better.</p>
<p>Are interviews typically scheduled on certain days of the week?</p>
<p>Typically monday thorough friday at most schools.</p>
<p>^Some schedule only on Fridays. Typically there are at least couple of choices.</p>
<p>I’ve had interviews on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Interestingly enough none of the schools I interviewed with have interviews on Thursday.</p>
<p>I purposely made my fall schedule as light as possible and decided early on that interviews will take priority over anything school-related. Since this was my plan from the get-go, I talked about it to my professors and all of them were understanding. I had to reschedule 2 of my finals to accommodate interviews and it was a piece of cake. Totally worth it, and I would do it the same way if I had to do it again. Didn’t seem worth it to postpone interviews (and perhaps jeopardize an acceptance) in order to be present for some random lectures. Before you decide what to do, talk to your profs if you may need to miss class. Mine were easy to work with and seemed genuinely excited for me that I was pursuing my med school dreams and going to interviews. </p>
<p>Med school’s directly affecting the rest of your life. The class you’re missing probably doesn’t matter toward anything except perhaps your Latin honors distinction at graduation.</p>
<p>^D. had one interview on Thursday. However, it was at Med. School that somewhat related to another, at least location wise. D’s interview at second Med. School was on Friday. Two in one trip.<br>
Some D’s profs were more understanding than others about her missing classes for interviews. Nothing bad happened, grades were not affected. But D’s schedule is lighter with one filler class.</p>
<p>Also, what determines your residency? If I’m from Texas, but go to UG in Pennsylvania, will I still be considered a Texas resident when I apply to medical school?</p>
<p>OOS undergrad schooling shouldn’t affect your residency status so long as your parents have continued to live in Texas, your parents’ address is listed as your permanent address and you’ve done nothing that might be construed as attempting to establish a residency elsewhere. (Registering to vote, registering a car, getting a driver’s license, for example.)</p>