<p>Going through a divorce here and I have to submit a budget to the attorney for the upcoming year. My son will be applying to med school this time next year. I have to account for med school application fees, secondary application fees, a review course, and flights/hotels etc for med school interviews. I know this will vary from person to person, but if I can come up with a ballpark figure, that would really be helpful.<br>
Just how much does it cost to send the first AMCAS application? From this forum, it looks like typical premeds send out about 20 applications and then hope for several secondary. How much do secondary apps cost? And what is the avg number of med school interviews that an applicant usually goes to? I will have to just guesstimate the airline and hotel fees, but if I had an idea of how many trips he would take, that would be really helpful.
Thanks so much!</p>
<p>AMCAS is $160 for the first school, $30 for each additional school. Applying to 15-20 schools is about the norm.</p>
<p>Secondary fees varied by school, and ranged from $50 to $110.</p>
<p>Applying to a school with rolling admissions, and managing to get in, can cut down on the number of interviews. But maybe plan for 10-12 trips.</p>
<p>The prep course itself will be about $2000, I think, and the MCAT administrative fee is like $90, maybe? Interviews usually do not require hotels, but do require airfare.</p>
<p>I can comment on this because I am in the middle of paying for it right now for my D (for the second round, I might add). It is expensive, so it's good that you're getting the costs in there. Here is a rough estimate from the trenches:
prep course: $1,800-2,000
additional materials: $200 (extra study books and the guide to med schools)
MCAT test: $200
AMCAS application: $160
19 additional schools: $570
secondary fees: $1,500
interviews: It all depends on the quality of the application, perhaps 2-5.
This is airline plus hotel if you don't stay with a student host.</p>
<p>You are supposed to apply to at least 20 schools now, and you get secondaries from most of them. Only a few schools screen before sending out secondaries. You have to apply to a lot of schools, hoping to get a couple of interviews and at least one acceptance (unless you are a stellar student). </p>
<p>Lots of applicants take the MCAT more than once, and lots of people have to apply to med school more than once.</p>
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You are supposed to apply to at least 20 schools now
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<p>from what i gather...most people on this board would disagree with this statement....unless you're from cali apparently</p>
<p>Everything depends on how strong of a candidate your son is. 15-20 schools is probably sufficient for a normal candidate while 25+ will probably be required of CA applicants or borderline applicants.</p>
<p>Most med schools will send secondaries to everyone who applies so the total primary + secondary secondary fees will probably come out to an average of $110/school. The number of interviews will depend on the applicant. 10+ interviews is not normal, although some applicants go on that many. If your son is a weak applicant, it is possible that he could apply to 30+ schools and only get 2 interviews. Most schools interview the top 10-25% of their applicant pool. So, if you apply to 20 schools, that's an average of 4 or so interviews.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the input. It helps me plan this budget. I had an idea it would be expensive but when I started totalling up all these costs - it really is expensive. I'm glad I thought to budget for this. This is good info for all the premeds- they need to start thinking ahead of how all these fees will be paid. I still don't know if DS will take a prep course, but just in case he does I will have money set aside for it. Thanks again to everyone.</p>
<p>If you are interested in Vanderbilt: they don't send you a secondary unless they're going to interview you... if they don't like you it saves you 100$ and the time spent on any essays... if only all medical schools did that life would be much easier and cheaper for the applicant :)</p>
<p>Our Office of Career Services tells you to budget about $8,000 for the entire process. You could probably contact them if you wanted an actual quote for legal reasons (just google Harvard OCS).</p>