<p>I’m going to South Africa for the World Cup for a few weeks. The rest of the time I hope to spend at the beach.</p>
<p>S is a second year Med student. He and a number of his classmates remained in their undergrad college town (Chapel Hill) until about three weeks before Med school started. The time off before med school turned out to be a very good thing since there is no such thing as easing into Med school;it’s like walking into a fire hose that’s flowing at full blast.</p>
<p>He attended UNC as a Morehead Scholar so he spent his summers taking advantage of the experiential learning aspect of the scholarship. He spent his service summer working in in small fishing village in Senegal about 90km south of Dakar. Mornings were spent in a local clinic and afternoons working on an NGO project to turn fish waste into fertilizer. The next summer he spent living in Paris and traveled throughout Europe studying the influence of American jazz on European music. His last summer was spent doing research at a major research hospital in the States.</p>
<p>He did research in one of the surgical departments this past summer and he and about 7 med school classmates are heading to Europe for about 10 days over spring break since this will really be their last real vacation for a while. They finish classes at the end of April, study for and take the Step One in late May, have a few weeks off then head into the hospitals to begin their clinical rotations.</p>
<p>OTOH, it’s hard to believe that he is almost halfway finished with Med school.</p>
<p>Mine will be in Dallas for second look next weekend. She’s excited. There seem to be a lot of activities planned.</p>
<p>Curm, is your daughter still considering UVa or has that been cut?</p>
<p>Nope. They are hanging on. She really likes the atmosphere in charlottesville.</p>
<p>'mudge</p>
<p>This coming weekend or the weekend after?</p>
<p>Is she going to UVa’s second look?</p>
<p>eadad, two Thursday’s from now. Whatever that is. 
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<p>steeler, we’ll know more in a couple of weeks. I think she said UVa emailed her today/yesterday/sometime about a late March (20th?) second-look.</p>
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<p>Love that quote and plan to share it with our daughter. Shell laugh. It sounds like your son has had some great life experiences.</p>
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<p>We actually bought the First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 one for our daughter and one for her boyfriend - the day after Christmas. Theyre already being put to good use. 
I think they’re taking the test in June. They met with some third and fourth year students tonight to get tips on clinical rotations.</p>
<p>Well, I’m in Dallas at my D’s second-look at Southwestern. In reality I’m at the hotel …but it’s the thought that counts. I made the breakfast and the FA talk. Just stopping in to say…for the 10th time…there is no better state residency than Texas residency for a med student. Top Twenty school. Total freight with a very generous living allowance ($2035 a month) is @ $160-170K. Very optimistic FA presentation. Scholarships $ are going UP 50% this year in aggregate. There are some grants and lots of “better than Stafford” interest rate money. </p>
<p>I am very, very pleased.</p>
<p>FAFSA only, no NeedAccess, no institutional forms. </p>
<p>If it comes down to finances this school will be very hard to beat. Average debt should be @$100K for the Class of 2014. If mine does that well and then you subtract her merit scholarship and what Dad has agreed to pay, well…looks like she may get that 1 BR w/ garden tub afterall. </p>
<p>Half-way through the presentation I showed her a number I had written down for her expected end of med-school debt and she kissed me on the cheek. ;)</p>
<p>And for you OOS kids, anyone accepted from OOS gets a $1K merit scholarship which automatically gets you in-state tuition. Outstanding for the few that can wiggle in.</p>
<p>cur,</p>
<p>Did your D ever make it to Yale to interview?</p>
<p>you are spot on on Texas school costs; Hubbell is finishing up 3rd year-it has cost me right on about $40K a year in tuition and monthly living support(apartment, food, gas, car maintenance etc…); monthly support averages around $2,000/month. He has warned me that 4th year-with out of town rotations at centers where he plans to apply for residency, interviews etc will cost me more-but I can now see the light at the end of the long financial tunnel. He wants a new car as a graduation gift-what’s wrong with the 10 year-old Honda civic he has now? Only has 100,000 miles on it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info about OOS students at TX schools! I’m sure the spots are few and far between, but living in a state with the 2nd highest in-state costs, we’re open to any and all alternatives.</p>
<p>Curm, hope you guys are having a great time at second look! Even though I’m sure the chances of your daughter going to UVa get smaller with every second, sounds like she’d love the school a lot… and the bank account will be thankful too, haha.</p>
<p>On my end: interviewed at Wake Wednesday, Duke Thursday, and for a scholarship at one of my state schools yesterday. These are officially my last interviews of the medical school application process, and to be done with all those expenses, traveling, etc = felt very good.</p>
<p>Getting called just now to find out I was awarded a full-tuition scholarship = felt GREAT.</p>
<p>Can med school students apply and get food stamps?</p>
<p>Steeler:</p>
<p>Congrats on that full scholarship! That’s great! Are you going to take them up on the offer?</p>
<p>So, residencies at UTSM provide about $160 grand/year? That certainly sounds good for residency. I didn’t realize that residents can get paid that well.</p>
<p>Is it common for med schools to provide living allowance to residents?</p>
<p>The other thing to bear in mind is that the living costs are way lower in TX compared to the North east. So, the $$ go a long way down in Texas.</p>
<p>I believe you’re probably referring to Curm’s post #830. He means that the total cost of medical school for somebody who lives in Texas (e.g. resides there) is $160,000.</p>
<p>I see. I think when he said “residency”, he probably means scholarships for residents of TX.
Got it.</p>
<p>Congrats, Steeler! Anyone knows when UMDNJ sends out letters of scholarships? I have heard that these are sent out in Spring but have no idea which month in Spring.</p>