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Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
101

<p>

I actually visited that place before DS had applied (not as a patient.) Nice hospital. A quiet small town. I would never worry if DS need to drive in that quiet neighborhood. (hard to find many good restaurant though.)</p>

<p>I did not know that the students who are assigned to Temple would be there for all 4 years.</p>

<p>Talking about driving, it is much easier for kids to learn to drive on Texas roads (especially freeways) than those tiny r=crowed roads in NE. There are so many wide freeway with little traffic as long as you are not in a big city.</p>

<p>DS still did not want a car when we suggested we deliver a car to him. He said the parking would be too expensive and it was not worth it (and it is cheaper to rely on Zipcar there. He also refused to move out of the dorm just because it is “cheaper” – now he needs to suffer through the heat as there is no AC there.) I am worried about the road conditions in NE in general for a “new” driver (Well, even though he has had his driver’s licence since high school, he did not drive much.) How safe will it be when the next year comes around and all of a sudden he needs to drive a car to a neighboring city on a crowded freeway?!</p>

102

<p>^
I don’t blame you for worring about him driving on the NE roads. Their on ramps are SO short and then there is basically no shoulder. It’s either merge or crash. I am not thrilled about my daughter driving up there either, although she drove the big passenger vans for her crew team since sophmore year of UG. She hesitated quite a bit before she fessed up that she had actually ran off the road somewhere in NH or Maine on the way to a regatta, ugh!</p>

<p>She needs a car at her medschool from the start in a month. They are assigned to some clinical place from the beginning of MS1, and it can be up to an hour away. Not only was I not prepared for her to need a car, it is also $95 per month extra for a parking space at her apartment. Does the money drain never end???</p>

103

<p>GAmom, does the school provide a shuttle of any kind to get to the clinical place?</p>

<p>Yikes $95 a month for the spot? How much is the rent for the apt?</p>

<p>Gosh now I feel terrible gloating on another thread that son had gotten his rent down with the new roomate who is paying more than the old roomate. Comes with 3 “free” parking spaces, a nice clubhouse, pools, and 24 hour gym and great running paths. Sincere apologies!</p>

<p>I am frugal, son is cheap. It will take time to get him over the cheap hump into the “value” mindset that can lead to more “expensive” choices but better values. It is happening but slowly. Sometimes he has to make the mistakes on his own before he appreciates some of my advice. Like buying nasty, cheap toliet paper. Or better fruit. Or nicer, higher thread count sheets.</p>

<p>His GF moved into a different apt in NYC last month and he helped her move, picked up and built her IKEA furniture and came home with a new perspective. Realized her 4th floor walkup was not his 3rd/4th story townhome with central A/C and furnished with goodies from craig’s list all made here in NC. Craftsmanship that has stood the test of time, bedroom sets, sofas, dining tables/chairs, hutches, rocking chairs…looks like something from House Beautiful…his comments, not mine! He actually recognized the difference…baby steps…</p>

<p>Son borrows my car when he needs it, which isn’t too often…and he isn’t far…Sam’s Club runs, picking up and delivering friends to the airport, golf, errands for the med school…and will borrow his brother’s truck if he needs to pick up bigger stuff for himself or for me…</p>

<p>$95 for parking (ouch), but I guess it beats NYC parking!!!</p>

<p>kat
he takes the bus to NYC from here, $27 one way…now his other buddies think its cool and they all take the bus…and they really don’t need to money-wise</p>

104

<p>Since she has driven the big passenger vans for many years, I think she is ahead of DS in the driving experiences. DS has had the driving experience with family sedans during summer breaks only.</p>

<p>Regarding “ramp being so short”, I had the same impression when I was there also. Here in a big city in Texas, whenever the ramp is short, there tends to be more accidents.</p>

<p>Maybe we should consider a car that is not only heavy but also with an adequate power to accelerate. Also, many roads there are not as straight, so SUV may not be good as it tends to roll over due to its higher than normal center of gravity. (oops…sorry to the OP as we distract to some other “post-admission” topics.)</p>

<p>Regarding “son is cheap”: DS is also “cheap” as compared to most of his college friends. Everytime after he had visited his friends who are now in NYC, he complained that how expensive the food/restausrant is in NYC. He is also fully aware of the difference of the cost-of-living between NE cities and our home town.</p>

<p>Regarding being in a big city vs a smaller city, there is a joke about being in the Texas Medical Center in Houston (or its nearby med schools) : If you go there, you will have an equal chance to be there as a student or a patient (due to a car accident.) On the other hand, if the school is in a smaller city/town, everthing could be less convenient (e.g., if there is no nearby major airport, the service from the airport to the school could be less than ideal due to its low volume of bisiness. So, pick your poison.</p>

105

<p>curm - sounds like the sorority little sister did not lose the year. Good for her! </p>

<p>Is this a special program if it only has 30 seats? I thought A&M was only at college station.</p>

106

<p>Here ya go.</p>

<p>The Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine currently enrolls 200 students per year. Students are appropriately distributed among six program options and three campus sites: The four-year MD program in Bryan/College Station; the four-year MD program in Temple; the 2 + 2 MD program Bryan-College Station/Temple; the 2 +2 MD program Bryan-College Station/Round Rock; the 2 + 2 MD program Temple/Round Rock, and the 2 + 2 MD program Bryan-College Station/Dallas. (The 2 + 2 programs begin with the first two years of basic science training on one campus and conclude with clinical training at another.)</p>

107

<p>Kat, your son needs to count his blessings. D’s 4 bedroom/2 bath apartment is $861 per month plus the $95 parking per month. No, you have to provide your own transportation. As of now, she won’t have a car until white coat ceremony time in late Sept., and until then she will be relying on Zipcar.</p>

<p>If you want a good laugh, I looked up the hotel rates for the “main” hotel in town for the white coat weekend. There are no rooms avail on Fri or Sat, but if I wanted to stay there Thurs or Sunday, I could for the great rate of $380/per night! I think an air mattress on her bedroom floor is the plan.</p>

<p>Just for clarification, the $861 is per person!</p>

108

<p>It appears the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine grows its class size in recent years just like other Texas med schools did earlier, at the same time the facility is improved. In the past, it was one of the smaller ones.</p>

<p>I remember that, in one year, several SDNers (likely for this particular school that year, and also for the med school in Galveston the year after the Ike strike) complained that they overadmitted and asked some to matriculate after one year (likely with a incentive like free or reduced tuition the first year?) But I did not follow the story closely.</p>

<p>Texas is the state with the highest growth rate now (and likely has a very large population that do not have any med insurance right now.) If the trend persists and ACA is not repealed, it will require more doctors in the coming years. The “oops” governor did something right after all. (However, this governor has a track record of shouting back to Washington that “we do not want to take your money” especially before or during his election year. As regard to those who fall through the crack of the medical insurance, they will not lose any sleep on the “irresponsible” ones who are not able to pull themselves up. We will see what will happen to those who will not be able to get Medicaid in the coming year.)</p>

109

<p>I will tell him to start counting!! I think for any of the applicants this cycle and on they should take notice of the differences in the rents, need for a car!!, parking spaces and their rent, shuttles or lack thereof in addition to the tuition and fees of each school.</p>

<p>It is understood that if there is only 1 acceptance then it is what it is but when choosing between 2 or more, it could play a part of the decision. It did for son. Wow, again wait til I tell him GAmom. He loves his shuttle that takes him all around town and to the doors of the med school for free with his id, literally picks him up outside his door.</p>

<p>He has a townhouse rather than an apt/ but it is a group with apts and townhouses. So he is on the third and fourth floor. His 2 bedrooms are split with 1 bedroom and full bath up and the washer and dryer up and the 2nd bedroom and bath down with the kitchen, dining room and family room down, 1350 sq feet. Each floor has their own private balcony holds a table and 6 chairs/umbrella, nestled among the trees…looks like a treehouse! $700+ 5% increase per year for the lease, roomie is paying $400. So $300 for son + $65 for all utlities (electric, AC, water, garbage,cable and internet).</p>

<p>Food wise he is doing okay, shops sam’s club and the med school feeds them 3-4 times a week, breakfast and lunch. Usually some left overs he takes home. Very friendly family atmosphere. Tons of places to eat on-campus and the docs spend a lot of time with them inside and outside the classrooms and labs. They all go as a group to the football and basketball games since grad students/prof students get priority in the lottery for tickets.</p>

<p>This was also something he took into account when he was interviewing. The feel of the school, the day to day life. What one wore to class, the comraderie or lack thereof, the cost of living in each area, exams every 8-12 weeks or exams every 2 weeks. Not so much the P/F grading but the level of involvement the profs/staff/administration with the students on a day to day basis.</p>

<p>So much to think about. </p>

<p>Kat
has a wood burning fireplace on the third floor that the complex maintains</p>

110

<p>WowMom…</p>

<p>Considering adding URoch…just thought that it might heavily favor its own students.</p>

111

<p>

</p>

<p>Ouch! D1 is paying $850/month plus utilities for a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2 car garage standalone house in a small gated community. (She has roomie and they split costs.)</p>

<p>D1 has needed a car from Day 1 of med school to get to her clinical sites. Because the group who went to each site shifted week-by-week, it was tough to set up carpools.</p>

<p>Parking at the med school is $250/year and her house is close enough (<3 miles) to ride her bike if she wants. (Her neighborhood is on a city-designated bike route than runs to the university’s campus.)</p>

<p>There’s 4 different grocery stores within 5 miles (including a Whole Foods less than 1/2 mile away).</p>

112

<p>We really need us a place to post this stuff and not be so off/topic . Somebody start a general “whatever” thread where we can just post random med school related stuff. Maybe?</p>

113

<p>mom2–</p>

<p>URoch does favor its own grads somewhat, but ~20 UR undergrads (10 of these are BA/MDs) matriculate every year out of 110-115 students in the MS1 class. Plenty of seats left for students from other schools.</p>

114

<p>And I thought $450 for rent, cable/internet, and utilities within walking distance of my school was kinda pricey! Parking permit is $120/yr, and the garage is connected to the SOM with a tunnel. All of this has been the same since I started living there senior year of undergrad (but I had a different parking garage). </p>

<p>But yes, there’s so much to take into account. Kat, I paid special attention to those “softer” aspects you mentioned (eg camaraderie among students) when I was interviewing too–I think it’s important and I’m thrilled with my choice!</p>

115

<p>On the advice of our dear Curm, I have started this thread as not to hijack M2CK thread. </p>

<p>Well it seems like my daughter is the winner (loser) in the priciest cost of living in medschool. :frowning: WOWM, daughters town doesn’t have any “major” grocer. We were told of the local farmers market, meat market etc, but the closest grocery store is down the interstate an exit or two. I stopped there when I was there in May to see what she what her options were, and the prices were at least 25% more than they should be. I think I am going to be shipping her alot of things through Amazon Prime, and she can go maybe once a month to the closest “real” grocery store which is more than 30 miles away. </p>

<p>WOWM, I guess the necessary car is more for schools in remote locations with underserved communities nearby. How far has your daughter had to travel for her clinicals? My daughter tells me she may need to go to rural areas even in an ajoining state. Ugh, the costs just keep coming!</p>

116

<p>^Yikes, this was supposed to be a new thread! In my defense, I am blonde.</p>

117

<p>lol. Now that’s funny.</p>

118

<p>meow</p>

<p>Curm is trying to herd us.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

119

<p>I’m not a goat.</p>

120

<p>Dagnabit, Luke. Always a couple split off from the herd. </p>

<p>Now, git along, you little doggies. Hee-yah. Scoot. Skee-daddle. ;)</p>