<p>So D has her first interviews next week and she's staying with student hosts. At first this seemed like a great idea, but now I'm looking at the practical side of things. For those who've already interviewed or those who are med students:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What should she bring? Do the student hosts provide towels, for example? (It's a little hard to pack a damp towel in your luggage for the trip home). Do they provide pillows, blankets, etc?</p></li>
<li><p>I think she should bring some sort of small gift to the host. Any ideas? It has to fit in a carry-on bag.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>1) It depends. Sometimes the host provides a bed; more often it’s a futon or a couch. Usually a pillow/blanket are provided. No towels, but neither D2 nor I were expecting that. </p>
<p>And it’s easy to pack a damp towel–that’s what all those extra plastic grocery bags are good for. Roll up towel, stuff in a plastic bag, pack into suitcase–problem taken care of! (I also use extra grocery bags to wrap shoes in before putting them in a suitcase to prevent the leather from getting scratched or any dirt on the soles from staining clothing.)</p>
<p>2) gift not strictly necessary. Maybe a gift card to Starbucks or something similiar?</p>
<p>Son stayed with hosts for all interviews. He borrowed sis’ “shammy” that she used for swim and dive. They are small and fit into a very small container or ziplock bag in lieu of a towel, smaller, dries very quickly and itself. Also he had a very compact sleeping bag, rolls up super small and fits in his backpack along with travel clothes and his “travel suit”. Suit was the kind made for airline travel, shows no wrinkles and allows the wearer to stretch and move in it comfortably. Since son was a football player (big guy) it really helped with all the airline/train travel and walking.</p>
<p>That way no matter what the circumstances of where he stayed, 15+ interviews he was ready, looked good, and helped to eliminate some of the stress of the interviews. He took bars of soap since liquid was limited. He too used plastic bags for shoes. No suitcase just a backpack, so no checking luggage, just carry-on and it fit his laptop so he could stay in touch with work and school.</p>
<p>And he didn’t take any gifts but would treat them to a meal, but since all were alum from his undergrad it was more of a re-union rather than hosting for interviews.</p>
<p>Agree with WOWM on #1. She should be able to contact the hosts and ask what she needs to bring.</p>
<p>For a thank you, D1 brought a local product, little bags of chocolate covered hazelnuts, spiced hazelnuts, hazelnut brittle, etc. Agree that a coffee card would work.</p>
<p>While the accommodations are not as nice as a hotel (sleeping on a futon, crowded bathrooms, etc.), cost and the ability to get to know some current med students made it worthwhile for D1.</p>
<p>I stayed with four hosts so far.One host informed me that she will provide everything and I don’t have to bring anything ,
I still took a towel with me . ( one of the quick drying kind- put it a plastic bag and washed it as soon as I reached back & no mildew problem so far ).
I also took a bar soap ., small shampoo and conditioner.
All of my hosts were very friendly and helpful. Two hosts who have cars picked me up from airport .One even gave a lift to airport at 5 in the morning next day.
I gave all of them thank you card with gift card enclosed.
Staying with a host will give you good perception of school- what kind of students are there, how they feel about the school etc. I also feel that by interacting with the student host you will get the stress level at school.
i highly recommend staying with a host if possible.
good luck with the interviews.</p>
<p>20 Mule Team Borax works wonders. (It’s also good on stinky athletic clothes. Use it all the time on camping/backpacking and cycling clothing–because nothing stinks worse than synthetic fibers after a week’s worth of sweat.)</p>
<p>D2 has backpacking gear, including air pillow and a very compact down sleeping bag, she can bring. She’s been known to carry her backpack when traveling instead of suit case. Suit goes in a separate garmet bag.</p>
<p>I’ve never had mildew odors from wet clothing in a suitcase so long as they wet items were tightly wrapped. For that matter, never had mildew–period. Even with wet stuff (swimsuit, beach towel) being stored for 12 hours in the suitcase.</p>
<p>Son’s running clothes can REALLY smell so he throws them in a tightly sealed plastic bag with a dryer sheet. Keeps the smell out until he gets home and can wash it. Uses 2 bags and 2 dryer sheets if really bad.</p>
<p>in terms of keeping the suit nice and fresh, I always traveled with a garment bag and a backpack. The suit in the garment bag, everything else in the backpack.</p>
<p>If you’re flying, always ask if there is a closet to hang the bag, many planes still have it.</p>
<p>If you have any fear of towels going “sour” while traveling, just microwave it until steaming after use. (this also “cures” one that has already begun to smell)</p>
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<p>This was good enough for the two-days? I don’t know if I can travel without my full (3 pc.) set. How many suits did you carry?</p>
<p>I carried one 2 pc suit, 3 shirts, one pair of slacks, 2 ties, 1 or 2 pairs of dress socks, and 1 pair of shoes in my garment bag. In my backpack was clothes to wear in the hotel room/on the trip home (and thus didn’t need to be nice), my laptop, my deodorant, my razor, my toothbrush, and toothpaste. That’s all you need really (I guess as a girl you need makeup and a small purse/clutch too).</p>
<p>If there was a dinner I would wear a shirt and slacks, and then if there were interviews on more than one day, the same suit with different shirt/tie each day. Some programs had events that were specifically casual - i usually wore a button down and jeans to those.</p>
<p>Most of the interviews will put you up in hotels so towels and most toiletries are covered as well as bedding stuff.</p>
<p>There’s no reason to be checking bags but I guess you could go bigger than a backpack. The main reason I went for the backpack was so that I could put my garment bag in the overhead and the backpack under the seat since technically you can’t put two bags in an overhead and I wouldn’t want to squish the garment bag under the seat.</p>