Diversity of Students

[Achilles23]

Hey everyone, I just joined..and I have several questions ane topics to discuss so be prepared This isn't a very important topic but I was just wondering the typical types of people at pod school, I am from North Carolina so I'm a southern boy, not a redneck, but I'm used to more hospitable people, more relaxed not so anxious and in a hurry. Is there a certain school that may fit my personality type better than others? Unfortunately there are no pod schools in what I would consider a "southern" state, I dont count Miami. Like I said not a big deal, just thought Id throw it out there to start my first post. Hopefully getting into school won't be too much of a problem, 3.95 gpa, 30 mcat. Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Feli]

This is a sensitive issue, but it's very important to find out where you fit in since it's a 4yr commitment.

Barry is the most culturally diverse pod school by a fair margin. I think the overall campus (undergrad, grad, prof programs, etc) is the most diverse in the US Southeast. There are a good number of international students on student visa, ESL students, etc. It's a Catholic school, so that's sorta the point: helping underprivileged and underrepresented minorities and giving many students who couldn't go to college a chance to come to a quality private school if they have the grades (lots of grants, scholarships, etc offered by Barry).

I think NYCPM comes in second among pod schools. I've met a lot of international students from their program also.

As you probably know if you travel much, big coast cities - east or west - tend to be fast paced with all kinds of people (and therefore, a fair number of rude or superficial people). Personally, I think it's just that the cities are so big/rich that if you treat people poorly or make enemies, you don't really have to deal with them ever again. This is especially true in the big ports of immigration (Miami, NY, soCal, south Texas, etc). The flip side is obviously that you have great weather, neat culture from all the different ethnic groups, and never a dull moment.

It's not generally like that in the midwest or midsouth, obviously... esp the smaller cities/towns. I have noticed again and again that there's more sense of community since you see the same people more often and have to treat them well. You may want to look into DMU or AZPod. Those schools typically have 90+ percent Caucasian students, including a pretty high % of Mormon students. AZ probably has weather you'd like better, but I don't know how busy the area where AZPod is. Being from Minn, I'll tell ya that Iowa is pretty "hospitable" and "not so anxious and in a hurry"... the downside to that is it gets downright boring sometimes, and there aren't really enough clinics/hospitals to see local patients at when you get to 3rd and 4th year.

Go to aacpm.org and look at the "statistics" tab.
http://www.aacpm.org/html/statistics/PDFs/GradStats/07Grads_all.pdf
(these stats are a bit skewed, though... 2007 was an unusually small overall grad year, but you get the idea)

 

[spooge]

Achilles-

My experience, as a guy who came from a "simplier" way of life. 1) The people here honk at you constantly. I do not put up with it very well, so I legally carry a gun with me at all times. I have seen people go nuts on other people for no apparent reason while driving. Florida has the "stand your ground" law and I will not think twice about putting two in heart and one in the head if someone threatens me. You do not want to be on 95 or Biscayne very long because you will become a victim of *****s who do not understand how to drive. 2) The people here have absolutely no concept of anyone but themselves. This is evident in the way they drive- on your a s s, around you, pushing you off the road, slinging their cars right in front of you. You will not find customer service here. I have a few stories about stores posted on the blog here, but my most recent was an incident at Kmart. I was looking for kitchen towels and I walked up to a girl who was working while talking on her phone. I asked her where the kitchen towels were and she cussed at me and told me that she was on the phone and I was rude for asking. 3) There is no concept of personal space or privacy. I was at Target getting a suit. I had picked out a suit and placed it neatly in my cart. I turned around to pick up a tie and a woman grabbed my suit, took it off the hanger and was putting it in her cart. I asked her what she was doing and she claimed that since I had only one hand on my cart that I was not claiming the suit. Because, she explained to me, in her country you carry what is yours with both hands. As you can probably imagine, I went ape **** and got escorted out of the store. I have had people try to take things out of my cart while shopping at other places. The way I grew up was to not touch something that is not yours and I hold everyone to that standard. I also enjoy my space. It drives me nuts when anyone gets within my bubble. My bubble is small and reasonable. It is half of an arms length, but there are many times and many places that people have invaded that space. It just isnt pretty when that happens. 4) For some reason the community feels like you should feel priviledged for living here. You pay too much for everything like housing and certain foods. With the recent market crash you can do more bidding but the attitude that you are "blessed" for being in south florida and you should enjoy paying $1000/month for a 700 sqft apartment is rampant. Find the desperate ones and laugh when they say anything more than a dollar per square foot. You will have to do your time anywhere, so I suggest staying for a day or two during your interviews and scoping out the local scene.

 

[Feli]

...*****s who do not understand how to drive...

...You will not find customer service here...

...You pay too much for everything like housing and certain foods...

...enjoy paying $1000/month for a 700 sqft apartment is rampant....

Yeah, Miami is not what it used to be (I wouldn't know, but that is what I repeatedly hear from 20+ year residents). I really don't think any big American city is what it used to be... more crime, traffic, general overcrowding, greed, etc within the city itself. The traffic issues are pretty scary since many of those bad drivers are driving a hoopdie and don't have insurance - many don't even have a license.

I've also been told "you need to learn Spanish" a couple times at Miami grocery, dept, etc stores. It irks me. I studied Spanish in high school and am actually pretty decent at it... I just don't really like to use it since I think that it rewards people who are making no effort to learn English. I'm in America, our national language is English, and I have enough trouble mastering that (though I got an R on mcat writing and generally understand the basics ).

Many big cities are fun to play/shop/sightsee in, and you generally make more coin if you work in the big city. Overall, you gotta take the good with the bad. The big cities have tons of patients when you get to clinic/residency, and that's the only way to learn IMO. However, I'd rather live in the suburbs (yes, well worth the cost).If you go to Barry, you will love the clinics, and the school is pretty nice IMO, but Miami has the problems of any big coastal city. For living, scout it out well, and I'd suggest that you try Sunny Isles, Aventura, Bay Harbor, Pembroke, Davie, etc. There are parts of North Miami or Miami Shores that are a bit secluded, but they are few and far between.

IMO, food cost balances out if you like fresh fruit/veg... sure, dairy is sorta expensive because it gets trucked from midwest, but oranges/mangos/etc that'd be $5 per pound there are $1/lb here in south Fla. You can also find lotsa fresh seafood and ethnic foods that you just won't find at all in stores/restaurants of middle America (and if you do, it'll be a few days old and very spendy).

 

[Achilles23]

Thanks, for responding to the thread....I'm actually living about 30 min from D.C. right now so I completely understand what you mean about traffic and inept drivers, thats why I started the thread actually b/c I'm not a big fan of where I live now. It's nice to be able to go out in the big cities from time to time, but I'm not sure it's worth the stress. My sister goes to law school in clearwater which is one of the reasons i'm looking at barry. she really likes it there though, seems like clearwater/tampa has the the social amenities of a big city but also has smaller, residential areas as well. Anyone know anything about the Chicago campus? I've never been to Chicago, but have heard the campus is actually about 45 min from the main city.

 

[JEWmongous]

Thanks, for responding to the thread....I'm actually living about 30 min from D.C. right now so I completely understand what you mean about traffic and inept drivers, thats why I started the thread actually b/c I'm not a big fan of where I live now. It's nice to be able to go out in the big cities from time to time, but I'm not sure it's worth the stress. My sister goes to law school in clearwater which is one of the reasons i'm looking at barry. she really likes it there though, seems like clearwater/tampa has the the social amenities of a big city but also has smaller, residential areas as well. Anyone know anything about the Chicago campus? I've never been to Chicago, but have heard the campus is actually about 45 min from the main city.

Scholl: pretty nice facilities and surrounded by the great lakes naval training center. School is 40 miles north of chicago. It seemed to be a lot of open space/trees/light suburbia but I didn't really go too far from the school itself. I don't know if 45 minute car ride is feasible, unless there is like no traffic. There is a shuttle to a local train station...the ride is 1 hour and 10 minutes to Chi-town.

 

[dpmPOD]

Scholl: pretty nice facilities and surrounded by the great lakes naval training center. School is 40 miles north of chicago. It seemed to be a lot of open space/trees/light suburbia but I didn't really go too far from the school itself. I don't know if 45 minute car ride is feasible, unless there is like no traffic. There is a shuttle to a local train station...the ride is 1 hour and 10 minutes to Chi-town.

There's actually a decent amount of things to do around Scholl. Gurnee is about 15 minutes away (Sixflags, malls, restaurants, etc.) Vernon Hills isn't bad either. Basically the town of North Chicago is somewhat boring, but there are numerous things to do within a 10-15 minute drive.