<p>D1 got her official acceptance and enrollment packet this weekend. Orientation starts July 18 with "Introduction to Public Health and Safety" and ends July 29th with her White Coat Ceremony.</p>
<p>She already has homework, due no later than July 1. (A huge reading list with a 10 page position paper to write.)</p>
<p>She thought she'd have time off in June to unpack at her new digs and play with the puppy. Ha! She was given list of appointments & physicals she needs to schedule, plus a list of certifications she has to earn and ton of paperwork to complete. (Including, oddly enough, a security clearance to work at the VA Hospital for the OPM.) All in the next 3 weeks.</p>
<p>Do most parents attend the white coat ceremony? We are thinking of skipping that, but are worried DS will be the only one whose parents are not there. (We have never gone to the parents weekend in the past, so he is quite used to this.)</p>
<p>Looking back, the white coat ceremony is overblown and nothing more than “cute”, but at the time I was kind of excited about it. I think the biggest thing is that there will be a lot of families there, and if you don’t have anyone to take pictures with, celebrate with, it can be a touch isolating. Med school doesn’t come with that built in network of a roommate or suitemates like college does, so I think to some extent there’s a difference compared to Parent’s Weekend…</p>
<p>Also depends on the school and timing…some schools do it at beginning of school year before classes even begin, others at end of MS1…at UTSW they did it the Saturday after the first full week of exams of Med school which was referred to as “Blacktober”… I thought it was somewhat interesting timing…lol</p>
<p>I have…a physical, a bunch of forms, titers/immunizations, and CPR/BLS to complete. I’m taking the first class for my MPH online. Then there’s a new roommate, rearranging my apartment, meetings with the deans of grad school and med school, some parties, orientation (7/25), White Coat (7/29), class (8/1), M1/M2 float trip (that weekend). </p>
<p>I’m sure it’ll be here sooner than I realize!</p>
<p>eadad…graduation was a big deal for my parents, while they struggled to appreciate Match Day, meanwhile this is all I wanted to do on graduation day:</p>
<p>Which of the following loans are “better” – in the sense that you do not have to pay back during residency?</p>
<p>1) Subsidized Federal Direct Loan (which was called subsidized Stafford loan in the past, idk)
2) Perkins Loan</p>
<p>The school awards me Perkins loan – Does it mean my family is poorer than the families of most other students? (But most MS1 students do not have any income and they are all “independent” from FAFSA’S point of view. How can I be poorer than most of them as none of us have income?)</p>
<p>July 6 - first orientation. Tiny book to read, no paper to wirte. White Coat is July 10, we are going, D. has ordered her coat. Computer is purchased - $1800, although D. had a good one. Many furniture / household items are also purchased. Movers are scheduled for June 28. D. has been extremely busy, did not even see her apartment yet, she had to settle with us renting it. Her own studio, no rommie, nice view on 6th floor. She is still planning some trips to visit her UG friends. No physical is required, immunization records are copied and will be snail mailed tomorrow. We have decided for no loans for M1, we will decide each year.</p>
Is it a pretty high-end computer? DS also needs to purchased one, as his old macbook will not meet the minimum requirement set by the IT department of the school.</p>
<p>I guess he may use Mac again. I heard the school will hand out iPad 2 to every student starting this year. So why not go Apple’s route all the way.</p>
<p>For some reason, his school will start later than most medical schools will. The orientaion/white coat ceremony will happen around the middle of AUgust, and the school will start around the end of August – not much different than the schedule of a typical UG schedule.</p>
<p>It appears he recently socialized a lot with his friends (who he has been with for the last 5 years.) He said it cost quite a lot for him to visit his friends in NYC (like $80 per trip) and he may need to cut down the number of trips.</p>
<p>D2’s 2 year old Macbook still meet minimum standards so all’s good there, but a iPad2 is “strongly recommended”. D2 is resisting the idea. She can get one thru the med school bookstore for significantly less than you can buy one even with a education discount from Apple. Same deal for a new macbook. (I’m trying hard to encourage her to buy both a new computer AND an iPad. Heck if she doesn’t want them, I DO!)</p>
<p>If the school will not give each student an iPad2 free of charge (well…is it still a part of tuition and fees?), I think I will a hard time in convincing DS to get one.</p>
<p>He is somewhat strange: He does not want a new gadget. He does not want a car (as long as he can avoid getting it.) Once we handed him a low-end smartphone, he very soon returned it to us and got our light-weight regular cell phone instead. Now the school may ask the student to get a Blackberry or iPhone; and I heard he is going to ask the school to allow him to have neither. (Geez…will he get an old-fashioned pager instead because it is cheaper?!) He really listens to some of the professors (one of them is actually in the computer science department!) and his dean who are kind of anti-technology (from my point of view.) He did play a lot with some electronic music gadget (on both PC and Mac) in the past several years though, and he was willing to carry these to the school. (It cost us a lot to ship him a heavy amp.)</p>
<p>We certainly can appreciate it…that said, I’m struggling just thinking about the whole Match process that’s about to begin…then another down the road for a fellowship…this “admissions game” just seems to never end…:(</p>
<p>^Whenever I feel this way (or my D. feels this way), I am thinking of 85% of UG graduates who did NOT find job this year. At least, my D. will know where she will be and what she will be doing next year. Very sad times, so we appreciate the chances that they have been working so hard for and received, while huge majority, who also have worked hard, did not get…some very close friends…too bad.</p>
<p>Well, not that I know a lot…but here goes some well-meaning advice.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Talk to your classmates about opportunities they have found. Join any online communities where those discussions are held. Usually there are some MS2’s that can guide you. Your school will not spoon-feed these opps to you. Self-starting is a requirement.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t buy any/all the books/equipment until you talk to the MS2’s.</p></li>
<li><p>Once classes start, start fast. You can always slow down if that’s warranted. (For those who were jocks in a previous life, the difference between UG speed and med school speed is like the difference between practice speed and game speed. )</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t disregard your physical fitness. This will give you a release and give you the health and stamina to make it through. </p></li>
<li><p>Eat healthy foods. </p></li>
<li><p>Plan out a learning/study strategy but don’t be rigid. Not everything that worked in UG will work when faced with the volume of material. There are usually resources available (taped lectures, etc) that can help manage the firehose pace. Find and try all of them. Keep trying till you find the plan that works for you. </p></li>
<li><p>Plan in some down time, some “me” time. It is essential. Without it you will blow up. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The same qualities that got you into med school will get you out in one piece, if you can recognize what works and what doesn’t and modify your attitude and behavior to maximize your productivity. Beating your head against a wall ain’t gonna do anything but make your head hurt. And the wall will still be there. </p>
<p>^^ I second all of this advice and want to emphasize an implicit caveat that you should not blindly follow the MS2s advice until you can figure out which kids think/behave more like you do.</p>