<p>I’m at Sinai. This year I need to borrow about $34k. It really is all like Monopoly money at this point, but I’m still struggling to wrap my head around $70k a year. Where do you go to that you need to borrow that much?!</p>
<p>I start third year with… 4 weeks of elective time. It’s a long story how that happened, but I’m going to spend two weeks in surgical pathology and two weeks with one of the body imagers in the radiology department. I’m very interested in both specialties and we don’t get a lot of exposure to either of them in third year, so I figure starting out with elective time is actually a blessing in disguise.</p>
<p>Son of Opie:</p>
<p>Good luck tomorrow!</p>
<p>GoldShadow, mcat2, oregon, hubbellgardner:</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Colleges00701:</p>
<p>The USMLE must be taken by anyone wishing to practice medicine in the US. It does not matter where you earned your medical degree. You can get [a</a> good overview of the USMLE by reading its Wikipedia entry](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USMLE]a”>United States Medical Licensing Examination - Wikipedia). The only exception is for DOs, who must take either the USMLE or COMLEX. </p>
<p>To clarify what curmudgeon said, the MCAT is solely for the purpose of medical school admissions. It has nothing to do with licensing.</p>
<p>To confirm what curmudgeon, Son of Opie, and norcalguy are saying, I am a student at a US medical school. (A quick look at a CC user’s posting history answers many a question, methinks.) The long and short of it is that I did not receive any offers of admissions before May 15. I was admitted to two medical schools off of waitlists on June 20, 2007.</p>
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<p>With that sort of attitude - self-fulfilling prophecies, ahoy.</p>
<p>If I remember it correctly, SC started his application cycle very late. Otherwise, I personally believe that, given his stats and other qualification, he would most likely be accepted into several medical schools long before June. It almost seems to me that he originally planned to apply after a gap year and decided to apply without a gap year at the last minute. (I could be wrong here, as he posted about this quite a long time ago.) I also remember that he suggested new comers to start the application cycle not as late as he did. (BTW, I know it is “he” because at one time he posted that his mother’s friend tried to introduce a girlfrend to him when she learned he is a medical school student :-))</p>
<p>Yeah, I know what you mean about Monopoly money. I just try not to think about it haha. I go to a public school on the east coast, and the out of state tuition is pretty crazy. Just the name of the game, I guess.</p>
<p>And that is a pretty awesome way to start third year. Good luck with those rotations.</p>
<p>shades_children,
On opportunity cost. I have told my D - she will have a job after Medical School. That is what important. How much she will earn is very secondary. I do not know starving MD. I have been out of job 8 times, I am in my 9th place of employment. Most people who are not in Medicine will have experince of loosing a job. I told my D. that it is not a good life experience to have. Other than that everybody else have their own challenges in their professional carrier, not only MDs. Am I wrong?</p>
<p>lolol. the usmle, the united states medical licensing exam, is taken to become a licensed physician in the united states, including by united states residents. there re 3 steps: step 1 after your 2nd year of med school, step 2 around your 3rd/4th year, and step 3 around your 4th year/1st yr residency. you cannot become a licensed md without passing it.</p>
<p>Shades
Press your coat. You will love it. Be sure to spend time at a VA and “talk” to the patient about their life. They will love it and you will learn tremendously.</p>
<p>Spend time in the ER when you are “off”. After they know you, they will let you sew (there are some things drunks are good for), draw blood and you will know that you have picked the right field.</p>
<p>Hubbel: pimp your chief resident and ask her/him what the porcelain level should be. When she/he says there is no such thing, go to the Bible of Peds ie Harriet Lang and look it up in the back. Then look at the ref. When I was in Peds surg there, there was a “smart.ass” med student who knew everything so the Ped Chief Res made up a porcelain level to pimp him and it has been in the book ever since.</p>
<p>USMLE replaced the “boards” by the National Board of Medical Examiners in the early 1990s when the NBME joined with the Federation of State Medical Boards. Prior to that the USMLE was given to foreign grads and the “boards” to American grads – if my memory is intact.</p>
<p>As a parent of student who’s entering senior year, I find a lot of these posts depressing. My D is in the process of applying to med school and is taking the MCAT’s in July. After her first year in school, I tried to convince her to look into being an eco major so she could hopefully get a job on Wall St. (before the financial meltdown took place). I don’t find the prospects in medicine to be particularly appealing especially going forward. Unfortunately she took a macroeconomics course and hated it with a passion. She’s a neurobiology major but isn’t really into research. She has had a lot of contact with patients and hospitals (from the age of 14, she was volunteering in hospitals). Apparently she can’t see herself being anything but a doctor. At first she was refusing to apply to certain schools (coming from an “elite university”) but after talking to her advisor and seeing the potential cost difference between our state school and other schools, she has a better understanding of the financial issues. I hope for her sake its all worth it in the end.</p>
<p>First, an awful lot of doctors don’t “save lives”, at least not routinely. Second, a lot of other jobs do–not the least including soldiers, police officers, firefighters. Third, if you include indirectly saving lives, politics and certain business healthcare technologies and DEFINITELY research (esp. at a pharmaceutical company) probably have higher reverse-body-counts than the vast majority of physicians.</p>
<p>Helping others* but said saving lives to embellish the point that DocT’s D probably identifies with. I think you might have gone off on a tangent with 2&3.</p>
<p>though med students do decide to be physicians to help people, it should never be the only reason. as goldshadow and bdm just said, there are other occupations. one should go into medicine because they have found a field that truly fascinates them and love the science of the human body and would look forward to going to work every day. my grandfather always tried to make sure that medicine was what REALLY made me happy and was the profession i really wanted to enter because it would take such a huge dedication and sacrifice, but it’s all worth it in the end for people who go into medicine for the right reasons.</p>
<p>“Helping others* but said saving lives to embellish the point that DocT’s D probably identifies with. I think you might have gone off on a tangent with 2&3.”</p>
<p>My daughter isn’t super altruistic but does love the science of the human body. Interestingly enough, before she took Orgo, she was terrified of the subject because of all the hype surrounding it. It turned out that it was her favorite and best subject. She’s was a TA in it last year and will be this coming year.</p>
It’s a long story how that happened, but I’m going to spend two weeks in surgical pathology and two weeks with one of the body imagers in the radiology department. I’m very interested in both specialties and we don’t get a lot of exposure to either of them in third year, so I figure starting out with elective time is actually a blessing in disguise.</p>