She took her written exam in November 2019 and was scheduled to take her orals in April 2020, but, you know, Covid happened and orals were indefinitely postponed.
She took her orals in March 2021 using a zoom-like format. She and several of her classmates from residency were in the very first group on the very first day to be tested using the new format–and boy were there glitches! But despite it all, she passed and is now fully board certified in her specialty.
Being BC means she gets a salary bump and a higher reimbursement rate.
My D finished her intern year a week or so ago. For some reason her hospital has an early start date, closer to mid June than the first of July.
She took and passed her step 3’s last August, it was a light month for her at work and she wanted to take the test before too much time had passed and she forgot things learned in med school that have nothing to do with her specialty.
She and her H moved earlier this spring to a place that allows pets and have just adopted a dog. We hope to go see the new place and meet the dog in a few months.
There were five of us on this forum who had kids start residencies in 2020. Just popping in to say…my kid passed her level 3 test! (DO takes level 3 which is just like step 3). She is so happy to be DONE with these tests which are given to all student doctors and residents. Next up are board exams, but those are specially specific!
And she is loving her second year of residency. So much more responsibility than in first year. Just very happy. And she loves her residency choice (she luckily matched to her number one choice, but you still never know until you get there!).
Hoping my other doctor to be parents from 2020 chime in (we will be forever know as the class with only a virtual graduation).
My D seems to be happy and thriving. Due to the nature of her residency, her second year has a different focus than her first year did. So, she is on a different learning curve.
She is enjoying exploring the area around her city and has been doing a lot of long distance running and lap swimming.
Ours registered for October and although she is supposed to have lighter 2nd year load, her VA rotations seems to have actually gotten longer because she is covering for the newbies. She wasn’t sure if she was that clueless in a month into year 1 last year at the sametime.
@thumper - great news! D passed her Step 3 exams a few months ago too - so glad to be done. She’s busy with the second year of residency - busy enough that we don’t hear from her too often. I guess it depends on the service she is on - with one of them, she had a couple new interns to manage but with the one she’s been on now, she said she’s the only resident and swamped.
She’s coming home to attend a high school friend’s wedding in Sept - will be great to see her!
I just have to chuckle, this is Residency Comes next. My Daughter is in year 5 of 7 for Residency. Maybe should have a thread of When will it ever end?
Congrats to all the parents posting here with good news.
@CottonTales - D is in year 2 of a 7 yr program. It’s a looooong road !! She’s going to do a couple of research years after this year and apparently, the schedule will be easier. Will wait and see!
DD2 did a 4 year residency, then a fellowship, next came travels and a locum style commitment for a few months. This allowed her to start her real job not too long before Covid hit hard. Crazy times. She managed to pass oral & written boards in her specialty and then double board in her fellowship area.
It is great that the overpriced Step 2 CS is permanently cancelled!
Loans were refinanced to a rate under 1%, but it was literally the week that the Covid stuff hit and shortly thereafter forbearance was given. A little frustrating, though she has paid 1/4-1/3 of her refinanced amount and is now back to her original total loan amount.
Skip the forgiveness (that they keep talking about now, not PSLF) and just make the interest rate market sensitive, I say. When everyone is paying 2-3% on mortgages, it’s horrid to be paying 6-8% on grad school loans.
If your kids are not already there, I do recommend the White Coat Investor forum as being a very helpful place to learn some money skills. It seems to “hit different” when it comes from a 3rd party instead of parents.
Please forgive me for posting here, or guide me to the right place! My daughter just started her second year of medical (DO) school, and I am happy to say that she will finally have her white coat ceremony on November 15. At least that’s what they are saying now; who knows where we’ll all be Covid-wise by then. It seems kind of silly not doing it now when it could be done outdoors (which is what this year’s first-year students had) but whatever. For sure it will be too cold in Middletown, NY by the middle of November but I will be there if they let me! They did give them their white coats at the end of last August.
My best to all you parents of residents and fellows! Congratulations!!!
@oldmom4896 They created something called a ring ceremony with dinner etc for my D who started last year too. They must have felt it is too late and also have to do one for first years around sametime.
My daughter told me that they were told that only one person could attend the indoor ceremony in November. It’s not such a big trip for me, and I am my daughter’s only parent (she does have a beloved bf who lives with her), but it doesn’t make much sense for other students.
In year 1, my daughter had in-person labs two days a week unless of course one of her cohort of 9 was quarantined which happened several times during the year.
