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Indianapolis, IN 46202-5114
317-274-5000
Web: http://medicine.iu.edu
Rachel Miller, M.D.’06, interviewed with 16 family medicine residency programs in early 2006. Like most medical students, her travel expenses added up quickly. Thanks to the IUSM Alumni Association’s HOST (Helping Our Students Travel) program and a hospitable alumna, some of those expenses were defrayed. Her experience is now benefiting other students seeking their first jobs as physicians.
With interviews at six programs in Colorado, Miller managed to cluster those interviews together over a two-week period. While convenient, it was still an expensive trip, so Miller appreciated the opportunity to spend two nights with Susan Kozak, M.S.’87, M.D.’89, now an OB/Gyn in Ft. Collins, Col.
“I bounced around from a hostel to hotels to the Kozaks to the homes of people related to the residencies where I was interviewing,” recalled Miller, now halfway though a family practice residency in Denver. “But with transportation and everything, it really added up.”
She remembers the Kozak family being very welcoming. They took her out to dinner the first night she was there and offered her the chance to stay a second night after her interview. Kozak even offered up their home as a base for Miller during her two-week stay in Col., but the logistics didn’t work out for that.
“We have IUSM alumni everywhere, and I just thought it would be neat to host some students and try to help them out,” said Kozak. “I remember when I interviewed for residencies in Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. I was a financially struggling med student at the time. When I was in Tennessee, I stayed in this dumpy hotel and thought I was going to get mugged. It was horrible.”
Miller said she initially felt awkward about staying two nights with a HOST family, but the end result was positive and provided some added benefits she wasn’t expecting.
“Dr. Kozak is an OB/Gyn at the hospital I was applying to, but not within the residency (I sought); so she gave me an unbiased opinion because she wasn’t trying to sell that particular program,” said Miller.
A unique experience with the Kovaks helped Miller decide where she wanted to practice. “Dr. Kovak’s husband took me for a ride in his private plane over the Rocky Mountains, and the clear, blue skies and mountains really sold me on this state,” said Miller.
The HOST program now has come full circle for Miller, who was recently a host herself. Fourth-year IUSM student Margaret Kramer stayed with Miller in December while interviewing for an emergency medicine residency at a Denver hospital. Kramer, who went on 10 interviews, says the HOST program is a great deal for students.
“The HOST program is huge for us,” said Kramer. “It is easy to spend $500 on airfare and a hotel for a single interview. The HOST program easily can shave a couple of hundred dollars off that. Plus it relieves another possible stressor. Some programs recruit residents as hosts, but with that scenario you feel like you have to be ‘on’ 24 hours a day and impress the residents even after the interviews are over.”
Kramer also valued the opportunity to talk to Miller about the city, the cost of living there and other things that she wasn’t comfortable asking in her interview.
She says the HOST program just gives her one more reason to be proud of her education at IUSM. “I think the fact that alumni will open their homes to complete strangers speaks volumes about the IU School of Medicine.”
Contact the IUSM Alumni Association if you are interested in providing free housing for IUSM medical students in residency interview cities. Visit alumni.iupui.edu/medicine/host.htm or contact Jayme Little at jtlittle@iupui.edu or (317) 274-8828.
