The Whatever--Random Medical School Stuff

<p>^yes, and that 30k is about total of what you will have after taxes. so, the rest will have to be borrowed to add to your Med. School loan. Great!!!</p>

<p>Looks like D1 just secured a single room in an apt. with 2 other roommates in one of the notorious high COL cities. It’s ‘only’ 1k/mo and about a 15 min walk from the med school; on a busy street, but luckily she sleeps like a rock. I’ve seen pictures and it looks much nicer than her apartment in Brooklyn, which reminded me of my old college days (mattresses on the floor, futon couch, etc.)</p>

<p>DS decided to stay in the dorm provided by the school for the third year.
I heard he could walk to the hospital through a “tunnel”. On the other hand, there is no AC and there is no parking space.</p>

<p>It looks like he would stay there for all years (unless he is kicked out of the dorm) as he does not like moving.</p>

<p>I heard that the food tends to more expensive. But the rent is not particularly expensive (not very cheap either.)</p>

<p>Mine has moved from the Towers to a third floor walk up. Saving a couple hundred a month but no off street parking and …did ya hear the part about “walk-up”?</p>

<p>D1 is in a 3 bedroom/2.5 bath townhouse (with a roommate). 1.25 miles to campus on a bike route. Closer to campus than the grad dorms. And 1 block from Whole Foods. </p>

<p>She also has a very accommodating landlord.</p>

<p>curm, I have never heard about “walk-up.” But I did not pay attention to this. Earlier this year, DS was concerned about being kicked out of the dorm. He was happy when he found out that he could continue to stay there.</p>

<p>I think that during the interview trips, he saw many dorms provided by various med schools. He must think the dorm he has now is not bad as compared to most of those. (A general trend seems to be: the bigger the city the med school is at, the worse the dorm or living arrangement. Unfortunately, most hospitals are in a big city.)</p>

<p>DS is now thinking of renting a car from Herz or Enterprise on a weekly basis when he will have an off-site rotation. I do not know whether this is practical. But it is a nuisance to rent/return a car each week. But maintaining his own car needs some work too, esp., during the winter. (Is the snow tire needed?)</p>

<p>I think his first rotation is pediatrics. He said the reson he chose this one first is that the cases for children tend to be simpler than those for the adults. It is a good “intro” to the more difficult IM.</p>

<p>^^“Walk-up” means there’s no elevator and the tenants need to “walk up” to their floor.</p>

<p>~~~</p>

<p>No advice about the car rental. But check pick-up times for the local rental site. Sometimes long term rentals can’t be picked-up on Sundays or after 5 pm.</p>

<p>~~~~</p>

<p>D1 has just about finished her pediatric rotation. There are some difficult patches in peds–child abuse cases, kids w/cancer, kid’s longterm & serious chronic illnesses, kids w/ major orthopedic & facial deformities</p>

<p>D1 had a abuse case walk in when she working the urgent care clinic–and she had to call her supervisor (who concurred with D1’s suspicions). D1 helped document the case for reporting and prosecution. She won’t have to testify–the peds dept has a dedicated specialist just for abuse cases, but D1’s name will be one of two on the initial police report.</p>

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<p>Same for D.</p>

<p>She is in the midst of her research year and took Step-2 and 2-CS months ago. Seems to be the norm at her school for those who are taking the extra year.</p>

<p>Son just re-signed his lease for the third year. Initially he moved in a month early to secure the price and give us time to paint and prep before moving in. Was nice to have the extra time to fuss with paint, drapes, lighting (changed out dated fixtures for ceiling fans, and cost-efficient lighting) and furniture (almost all from Craig’s List). It was fun but tiring.</p>

<p>His rent increased by $28 per month and he splits that with the roommate. The med school estimates $1250 per month for rent in its COA. Son’s is just around $300. His total expenses outside the tuition and fees is running around $6000 per year. With food, travel, gas and other misc. stuff. He thinks he could bring it in lower, each year the amount has gone down. </p>

<p>He knows he needs to set some aside $$ for residency interviews so he is being more careful this year. He does need to travel this year (MS3) for away rotations but the school covers the away housing and provides for the travel expenses, food and gas.</p>

<p>His apt. complex just re-did his kitchen and bathroom cabinets and laid new flooring, engineered hardwoods. Really nice. They also just finished surfacing the pool and deck so this weekend I will be hanging out over at his place. His roommate is gone for the summer so I have a new place to vakay! He has 2 decks/balconies off each floor of his place so we can bbq and eat out there.</p>

<p>He is on the third and fourth floors, his is a 2-story townhouse 2bd/2bath with a working wood fireplace, central AC and lots of trees, feels like you are in a treehouse! The bus picks up right in front of his place and takes him to the med school and also goes all around town. Lots of fun things to do and eat and is pretty inexpensive. Franklin street is always hopping.</p>

<p>Like I said, a vacation spot for me, get to hang with the boy and he will cook!</p>

<p>I really, really hope he gets a local residency!!!</p>

<p>Kat</p>

<p>Somebody DS knows was graduated from BCM and chose some residency program in NYC.</p>

<p>MiamiDAP, regarding the fact that thr majority of the students in a selective PUBLIC high school in NYC are Asian Americans, this may be true in other major cities like in Bay Area also. A few years ago, San Jose Mercury Newes had an article about the trend that a lot of top white students fled from the public school altogether and attend a high quality top PRIVATE high school instead. The admission rate from these top private high schools to the top colleges is also quite high - maybe 25-30 out of 100 students may end up at Ivies or a similar school. For example, there might be 4 students from a class of 100 students or less were admitted to the same top ivy each year, while only one or two students from the public high school may get into the same Ivy. So the caliber of the students in these top private high schools may be even higher than that of those in the selective public school.</p>

<p>There are multiple roads to the Rome.</p>

<p>My son’s high school has a significant Asian student population. Last year 12 kids from that school went to Princeton (the school literally next door to Princeton and quite a few kids take classes at Princeton). There is an ongoing love-fest between this school and Cornell. Every year no less than 20 kids end up at Cornell.</p>

<p>My high school routinely sent over 1/3 of the class to ivies with ~90% at top 20 unis+top 5 liberal arts.</p>

<p>I bet I know exactly which public school in NYC you are talking about. It is very good, but their college placement is nothing compared to the manhattan private schools. It’s really a whole different world from the rest of the country.</p>

<p>"So the caliber of the students in these top private high schools may be even higher than that of those in the selective public school.
There are multiple roads to the Rome. "
-Yes, however, GrandD’s future HS is ranked much higher nationally than many many private HSs. The only “bad” consequence that I see is that she will want to go to Ivy after that. I certainly hope NOT! But she has her parents and another set of Grandparents (Harvard alum), I will not say anything if this happened.
Sorry for excursion into unrelated topic, although it is somewhat realted in term of class composition at the most selective places HS/UG/Med. School.</p>

<p>^Sorry, I did not mean to insult any Ivy Grad. It just my D. went to state public (after very small private HS, that is very well known in our state) and had a ball, she had unforgettable experience and happened to graduate as the very top pre-med in her class (received award for that). Would she have the same level of absolutley every aspect of UG experience if she had gone to Ivy? I am not sure about that. Her opinion, not. However, what is not complete match for her, could be a total match for others. On the other hands, my GrandD’s personality has a lot in common with my D’s. I hope that this fact will play some role, but it is way too early to say. Anyway, I am proud and excited for both of them, it was a good year for them and I hope the next will be just as good.</p>

<p>How long would it take to receive the STEP-1 score after the test?</p>

<p>Is the score reported by email?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Reported by email. Took about 3 weeks.</p>

<p>You get an email that the score is posted and then you log into the NBME site and see it</p>

<p>Step 2 is apparently 4 weeks.</p>

<p>also it’s always on Weds morning</p>

<p>I think july 10 is when the next batch of scores come out. something about those who take it after some date in may wont come out in the standard 3 weeks time</p>