<p>Thanks for sharing the awesome news. Congratulations to your D and your family! I am so happy for you. :)</p>
<p>YIPPEEEEE!!! So happy for her and YOU!!!</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Today is my son’s first day of medical school…well, actually orientation, which is 3 weeks long. That seems odd. Then White Coat is at the end.</p>
<p>Wow. That’s great! </p>
<p>Still waiting to be verified here. It’s going to be a long year.</p>
<p>Whoops. Wrong thread. Still congrats to all you accepted students and parents.</p>
<p>M2CK - what do they do during a 3 week orientation?</p>
<p>During the 2 week orientation at our state school, students complete a public health module, complete a group project in public health, complete their security background checks & fingerprinting & drug tests for the VA and state hospital, get ID cards for all medical sites, go out to various clinic sites where they learn how to do a patient intake interview, take vitals, etc.</p>
<p>Son moves into school owned apt this weekend. Rent is only $429/month! Finally something is cheap.</p>
<p>D1 had her white coat ceremony yesterday ( on the 3rd day of orientation ). My wife, D2 and I were there. The ceremony was so dignified. When the students read the Student Physician’s oath I thought to myself “What a noble profession!”</p>
<p>Off waitlist and into a white coat, all in two weeks! Congrats again.</p>
<p>Holy crap, its orientation time again already?!</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>yes, son finished first week of orientation last week, now on to the second week (3 weeks of orientation!). White Coat is at the END of all of this! Big family/friends dinner on a Saturday night, then White Coat on Sunday afternoon.</p>
<p>The SOM is very social…they’ve had a social event nearly everyday…luncheons, dinners, cocktail party, and a big party last Friday night. They even had a “dress western costume” day! lol… I guess that’s the south for you…Southern hospitality and all that…they must want to promote a lot of bonding.</p>
<p>Before the school was in session, many classmates at DS’s would go to some drinking places near downtown for the bonding purpose. DS is not much a drinker. But a bigger problem is he thinks it costs too much to go there. So he joined this kind of evening events a few times and the stopped going. It appears some of his classmates do not have this money problem as some of them went there almost every evening and ordered some expensive stuff - this was before they got busy in school work.</p>
<p>We did not go to DS’s white coat ceremony due to the distance and the cost to fly there.</p>
<p>DS once said because he did not drink during UG years, it might have cost him some dating opportunities, i.e., he might have more courage to ask a girl out if he was under some influence of alcohol. LOL.</p>
<p>He will start IM rotation soon. It may be a tougher rotation. But isn’t surgery (and OB/GYN ?) even more challenging? He said he would be on his feet for a long time for those challenging ones.</p>
<p>all med schools party.</p>
<p>also, with regard to money, at my school at least, they told people that one of the reasons the projected COA is so high is because it gives people the flexibility to take out more loans if they want to live a little more luxuriously. I doubt this is unique to my school but i dont know for sure. Some of those kids surely do have the bank of mom and dad helping out but others might just be taking on more debt to improve their current quality of life.</p>
<p>mcat2,
" But isn’t surgery (and OB/GYN ?) even more challenging? He said he would be on his feet for a long time for those challenging ones."
-D. is done with the general Surgery and is to Elective Surgery (just one week), then one week of Anestisia and 2 weeks of Emerg. Med.
She said that general Surgery is considered the hardest one (at her school) and also is OB/GYN because of some nihgts. Yes, it was extrememly challenging physically, but also mentally / emotionally. Med. Students are at the bottom of food chain, so to speak. They are NOT priority there, they are not given much instructions, their questions are not answered. However, she had few “nicer” people around her, so she figured out who to ask (eventually). She had no idea whatsoever how to do the case presentation, but she said that she did very well. She was soooo down at the beginning (but I was actually thinking that it is a good experience for her to fill so put down and deal with it). And guess what, at the end, she called to tell me (with the great excitement in her voice) that she was showing around and explaining the ropes to the new resident, and she was very proud of that fact. But she is very relieved that she is done. She figured out about pain in her feet also. It helped her to alternated shoes since different pairs had different pressure points.
Your S. will do just fine. All of them have been proven to be tough with every obstacle on their way. These are selected group of very very tough people. Dp not worry!!! And I believe that emotional side is harder for girls than boys just by their nature. I never believed in gender equality, not after raising S. and D. and having grandS. and grandD., the story repeats…</p>
<p>i have a classmate who jokingly says the real reason he wants to do hand surgery instead of any other surgical specialty is because nearly every hand surgery is performed while seated.</p>
<p>At my hospital, everyone (students, nurses, residents, attendings, etc) wears these stupid looking clogs which I have been told make a huge difference for standing many hours in a row. e.g.: [The</a> Dansko Professional (Men) from the Clogs collection.](<a href=“http://www.dansko.com/Mens/Footwear/Styles/Clogs/Professional%20(Men)/Brown%20Bullhide/]The”>http://www.dansko.com/Mens/Footwear/Styles/Clogs/Professional%20(Men)/Brown%20Bullhide/) or [The</a> Dansko Professional from the Clogs collection.](<a href=“http://www.dansko.com/Womens/Footwear/Styles/Clogs/Professional/Cordovan%20Cabrio/]The”>http://www.dansko.com/Womens/Footwear/Styles/Clogs/Professional/Cordovan%20Cabrio/)</p>
<p>IWBB - just because Brown does not want to pay you for representing them on CC does not mean you are allowed to collect ad money from shoe makers. :p</p>
<p>hahahahahahahahaha, omg. Genuinely had me laughing at my desk. Unfortunately I am not receiving any money from Dansko either - they just effectively advertised at my school such that they are a brand name I remember.</p>
<p>Brown,
“At my hospital, everyone (students, nurses, residents, attendings, etc) wears these stupid looking clogs which I have been told make a huge difference for standing many hours in a row.”
-yes, they are aware of them. And they are very expansive. However, for some reason, D. did not buy them, she has mentioned thme many times.
I do not think that you are advertising more than that…it is pretty much a comon knowledge out there, and as usual, my D. does not listen to anybody, but rather finds her own way…</p>
<p>Congratulations to all starting med school and to parents, too! We have wonderful memories of the White Coat ceremony. D was so happy and well-rested back then. I am currently the ‘custodian’ of the white coat, as D now wears a longer coat. :)</p>
<p>D and her friends knew/know how to party. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>texaspg - That was good! Those Dansko shoes really are great - H calls them my baked potato shoes. D and I both wear them and they really make a difference. They are expensive (around $120) but so worth it. D got hers when she started rotations. When she loved them, I got a pair, too. I am only on my feet 6-8 hours a day, but they have made a big difference.</p>
<p>Here’s my gripe with the Dansko professional clogs.</p>
<p>They are so freaking ugly.</p>
<p>But my god, they are so freaking comfortable. I hate that I love them so much. Like literally, I feel like the markings of a young adult med student–ugly shoes, full pockets, sleepy by 11pm, can’t sleep past 8:30am, eats whenever/whatever possible.</p>
<p>But by far, the thing I am most bitter about is the shoes. At least my feet don’t hurt!</p>
<p>(I just finished surgery. I wore the terrible looking but quite comfortable Danskos when I had long (5+hr) operations, and then alternated between asics and Nike (neon!) running shoes for shorter (<2h) operations, and typically wore comfy dress shoes–I love Sperry–in clinic. Worked great in my opinion.)</p>