2010-2011 University of Arizona Application Thread

[Phosphorus Ylide]

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interview invite today. california resident. got email saying i was completed yesterday, so it seems like they move pretty fast.

Congrats! Can't wait to see you and the other interviewees on campus! 🙂

 

[kingsman55]

Congrats! Can't wait to see you and the other interviewees on campus! 🙂

Sorry I didn't specify but the interview invite was for Tucson, I hope to be invited for an interview at Phoenix too though 🙂 I enjoyed interviewing at the Phoenix campus last year. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to at Tucson last year so I am excited to get a chance to interview there now.

 

[sweetlife]

I got an interview invite yesterday! WOOT!😀 So pumped that tucson did not wait for my new mcat to let me schedule my interview.

 

[frescoengano]

hey guys, was there any difference b/w the tucson and phoenix secondaries? i'm thinking of adding phoenix...or do you guys thinks its too late? (i'm already verified)

 

[shepardsun]

hey guys, was there any difference b/w the tucson and phoenix secondaries? i'm thinking of adding phoenix...or do you guys thinks its too late? (i'm already verified)

I'm a little fuzzy on the details but I'm pretty sure you can make adjustments to your AMCAS app including adding schools after it's already been verified. I encourage you to add Phoenix!

 

[Phosphorus Ylide]

I'm a little fuzzy on the details but I'm pretty sure you can make adjustments to your AMCAS app including adding schools after it's already been verified. I encourage you to add Phoenix!

I second that! I've been here two weeks and I love it. You can add schools any time after verification. If I recall correctly, you just click on the school you want, the program you are applying to, and then AMCAS will prompt you to enter payment info.

 

[shepardsun]

I second that! I've been here two weeks and I love it. You can add schools any time after verification. If I recall correctly, you just click on the school you want, the program you are applying to, and then AMCAS will prompt you to enter payment info.

Primarily because I'm here. Fun fact: The University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix is the only US Allopathic medical school to claim me as a student. I hear that's going in the bullet point brochure this year between "small class size and innovative curriculum trains amazing physicians" and "Phoenix is not Tucson. Nuff said."

 

[AngelDuccy]

I got an invite today too! Amazing!

 

[BearDownAZ]

Interview invite for Tucson today.

Anyone got an invite to Phoenix yet?

 

[lrkoehle]

Primarily because I'm here. Fun fact: The University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix is the only US Allopathic medical school to claim me as a student. I hear that's going in the bullet point brochure this year between "small class size and innovative curriculum trains amazing physicians" and "Phoenix is not Tucson. Nuff said."

:cry: Why you gotta play a brotha like that? For all you applicants out there, keep in mind that Shep is actually a mental patient who escaped from the psych ward who THINKS he's a med student. The sad thing is they haven't had the heart to break it to him that he never actually got in and his interview was just done as a favor to his mom.

Obviously I'm just kidding with Shep, but his opinion of Tucson is just that, his opinion. I have been down in Tucson for a few weeks and I've been really enjoying it, which means a lot coming from a die hard Sun Devil. Honestly, at this time last year I thought that Tucson would be the last place I would ever go to medical school (unless I had no other choices), but after my interview I was sold on the place. I guess what I'm saying is keep an open mind about both campuses. Shep and I like to joke with each other about which campus is better, but we both agree that both are excellent institutions that any applicant should be thrilled to interview at.

I got an invite today too! Amazing!

Interview invite for Tucson today.

Anyone got an invite to Phoenix yet?

Congrats on the recent invites guys/gals.

 

[shepardsun]

Obviously I'm just kidding with Shep, but his opinion of Tucson is just that, his opinion. I have been down in Tucson for a few weeks and I've been really enjoying it, which means a lot coming from a die hard Sun Devil. Honestly, at this time last year I thought that Tucson would be the last place I would ever go to medical school (unless I had no other choices), but after my interview I was sold on the place. I guess what I'm saying is keep an open mind about both campuses. Shep and I like to joke with each other about which campus is better, but we both agree that both are excellent institutions that any applicant should be thrilled to interview at.

Grumble being serious takes the fun out of it grumble Tucson is actually not that bad grumble

 

[ichy4life]

Interview invite for Tucson today.

Anyone got an invite to Phoenix yet?

I spoke with Phoenix today and the nice lady said invitations to interview will begin being sent later this week. It sounds like they have a pretty thorough review process to select students, which makes me even more excited to get an invite 😛 - okay, I'm hopeful!

 

[lrkoehle]

Grumble being serious takes the fun out of it grumble Tucson is actually not that bad grumble

My bad, now back to the crap talking...Phoenix students have STDs and the class size is so small they all get passed around to everyone...

 

[BearDownAZ]

My bad, now back to the crap talking...Phoenix students have STDs and the class size is so small they all get passed around to everyone...

Sharing is caring

 

[Phosphorus Ylide]

I spoke with Phoenix today and the nice lady said invitations to interview will begin being sent later this week. It sounds like they have a pretty thorough review process to select students, which makes me even more excited to get an invite 😛 - okay, I'm hopeful!

Awesome! I'm so excited for interviews to start! Good luck to you.

 

[Wolfbot]

Hi everyone, thought this would be helpful - UA is holding mock interviews. Seems like a good opportunity to practice.

http://www.premednetwork.com/events/medical-mock-interviews

 

[ichy4life]

Hi everyone, thought this would be helpful - UA is holding mock interviews. Seems like a good opportunity to practice.

http://www.premednetwork.com/events/medical-mock-interviews

Thanks for sharing the link - is the OMA office involved in admissions?

Here is another workshop at the UA-Phoenix - I attended another one of these PreMed Program sessions earlier this summer and walked away with a lot of useful information. The admissions office does a very good job.

http://medicine.arizona.edu/phoenix/premed

 

[shepardsun]

Hi everyone, thought this would be helpful - UA is holding mock interviews. Seems like a good opportunity to practice.

http://www.premednetwork.com/events/medical-mock-interviews

Hey guys, just wanted to drop my two cents and say that I think this is a really great opportunity for anyone interested in medical school in generals. You will receive helpful practice and feedback that you can take with you to any of the schools you go to interview at, not just Phoenix . We were actually invited to help facilitate these mock interviews; I feel I'm too fresh out of this process to really be able to turn around and sit on the opposite end of the table in any constructive way, so I don't know that it's something I'm going to sign up to do unless they tell us everyone else doesn't want to do it and 1st years are the only people they have left! With that being said, I'm definitely going to be around on that day so if you guys want to chat in a more casual or laid-back setting, I'm more than happy to hang out with my SDN buddies and shoot the breeze or show you around or anything like that, so just let me know.

 

[cfx]

Are the PHX and Tucson adcoms entirely independent of one another, or do you think the same people might be involved in reading both secondaries?

Just wondering if it's a bad idea to use the same answer (or the same few sentences) for both secondaries, particularly the questions pertaining to your interest in UA.

 

[Brrooother]

Hey guys, just wanted to drop my two cents and say that I think this is a really great opportunity for anyone interested in medical school in generals. You will receive helpful practice and feedback that you can take with you to any of the schools you go to interview at, not just Phoenix . We were actually invited to help facilitate these mock interviews; I feel I'm too fresh out of this process to really be able to turn around and sit on the opposite end of the table in any constructive way, so I don't know that it's something I'm going to sign up to do unless they tell us everyone else doesn't want to do it and 1st years are the only people they have left! With that being said, I'm definitely going to be around on that day so if you guys want to chat in a more casual or laid-back setting, I'm more than happy to hang out with my SDN buddies and shoot the breeze or show you around or anything like that, so just let me know.

I just wanted to say ditto to that; I'll be there facilitating so perhaps I'll see some of you anyway. But yeah, I'd be down to meet up as well. 🙂

 

[shepardsun]

Are the PHX and Tucson adcoms entirely independent of one another, or do you think the same people might be involved in reading both secondaries?

Just wondering if it's a bad idea to use the same answer (or the same few sentences) for both secondaries, particularly the questions pertaining to your interest in UA.

I believe that beginning this year they are two entirely separate application processes and neither committee sees the applications of the others.

 

[BearDownAZ]

There is actually a Mock interview date for in Phoenix and for in Tucson. Apparently you need to APPLY.


Also, does anyone know if on the interview date with Tucson if you will be having 2 interviews?

 

[shepardsun]

There is actually a Mock interview date for Phoenix and for Tucson on the next weekend. Apparently you need to APPLY.


Also, does anyone know if on the interview date with Tucson if you will be having 2 interviews?

Just as a side note guys don't freak out or anything if you don't "get in" to one of those mock interviews or can't make the other dates- most advising offices at your school offer them to pre-health candidates. I did one at ASU and the point of doing one is just to get comfortable with the idea of talking about yourself with a stranger and trying to convince them that you are a GREAT candidate for their program. Doing so in a practice setting allows you to learn any quirks you didn't know you had and make any mistakes in a low-stakes environment. I highly recommend you try to do one before the cycle starts!

 

[cfx]

I believe that beginning this year they are two entirely separate application processes and neither committee sees the applications of the others.

Thanks. I hope this is true. Although I'm sure any adcom had their work cut out for them with one secondary, let alone two...

 

[Wolfbot]

Just as a side note guys don't freak out or anything if you don't "get in" to one of those mock interviews or can't make the other dates- most advising offices at your school offer them to pre-health candidates. I did one at ASU and the point of doing one is just to get comfortable with the idea of talking about yourself with a stranger and trying to convince them that you are a GREAT candidate for their program. Doing so in a practice setting allows you to learn any quirks you didn't know you had and make any mistakes in a low-stakes environment. I highly recommend you try to do one before the cycle starts!

Agreed. A friend of mine at UA Phx helped with the mock interviews last year and said they were very constructive. He also suggested video taping yourself as you answer questions and later reviewing your responses. I've been using this method and I've already been able to improve some of my poor speaking habits like self interrupting and making non-sense hand gestures. I'm a nervous speaker sometimes 🙁

 

[cfx]

To those who are attending UA (or to those who just know a lot about it):

Can someone explain to me what the major differences are in the programs in Tucson vs. Phoenix?

I've been reading through the website for quite awhile, and still do not feel like I totally "get it". I've been finding the site a little difficult to navigate and, with the descriptions, it's sometimes tough to tell if they're talking about PHX, Tucson, or something that can be found at both.

Thanks in advance.

 

[shepardsun]

To those who are attending UA (or to those who just know a lot about it):

Can someone explain to me what the major differences are in the programs in Tucson vs. Phoenix?

I've been reading through the website for quite awhile, and still do not feel like I totally "get it". I've been finding the site a little difficult to navigate and, with the descriptions, it's sometimes tough to tell if they're talking about PHX, Tucson, or something that can be found at both.

Thanks in advance.

I'll take a whack at this though it's a topic that could probably take up a few pages on its own. For me right now, the most apparent difference, and the one that influences most of the other differences between the two programs, is the class size. Phoenix at 48, Tucson at 110-115ish. I would honestly say that after 2 weeks of classes (3 if you count orientation) I feel like I've known 95% of my classmates for years. We go to class together, we study together, we chill together and I know that this is probably very subjective depending on what type of personality you have but I would personally not be able to have the same type of relationship with as many people if I were in Tucson and not Phoenix. With Phoenix, the rotations between small groups usually mean that you WILL end up in a collaborative environment with every single one of your classmates whereas I don't know if that's the case in Tucson. And your application cycle is the last year where this will be the case, as with the opening of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus the class size will increase to numbers similar to Tucson's. So I would strike while the iron is hot if this sounds like a feature that interests you.

Other than that, you'll find that the programs share many similar elements presented in slightly different ways. The core non-lecture instruction at Phoenix revolves around three main methods of learning- case based instruction (CBI), doctoring, and longitudinal clinic experience (LCE). You may have heard of CBI as it's pretty common now in medical schools but it essentially involves discussing a case as would commonly present in a clinic on Mondays, everything from the initial chief complaint all the way down through to a diagnosis, and you do everything with a group of your peers like a differential, talk about tests to order, etc. This discussion leads to the creation of what are called "learning objectives" and each person is responsible for researching one of them for a group presentation on Friday (which is what I'm half-preparing for right now) where you and your faculty facilitator wrap up the case and discuss any pertinent take-away points. I'm pretty sure that Tucson has this element as well though I think it may be tied in with their Societies, which is their small group doctoring/LCE equivalent. I'll let someone from Tucson speak more about that but I will say that based on what I've seen and read it seems like Societies are sort of a combination of the opportunities that here at Phoenix are discrete, separate units and I think they might be a little more robust for that.

I'm basing that both on what I got out of my interview at Tucson and the Arizona Med Societies website. For example, the Clinical labs in which clinical thinking skills, physical exam skills, and practice on standardized patients, among other things, are said to occur "once or twice" each basic science block. Phoenix has a doctoring course which has near identical factors occurring every other week. One part of the Societies program that is quite interesting are the bedside teaching sessions, which make use of the University hospitals. I'm not sure how often these happen, though the page says they are the majority of the Societies experience. For simplicity I will copy from the website:

"These are the core activities of the Societies Program. In these sessions, your Mentor and Society Group will go to the bedside for an interactive teaching session. We utilize our main teaching hospitals to recruit patients for these sessions: University Medical Center, University Physicians Healthcare-Kino Campus, and the Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System. During these sessions, one (Year 1) or two students (Year 2) perform a history and physical on a hospitalized patient, while their Society Mentor and a peer observe and give feedback. The student then gives an informal presentation of the case to the rest of the group. The students who did not perform the history and physical will have an opportunity to ask the patient questions and perform key aspects of the physical exam. Afterwards, the Mentor and students have a small group discussion regarding differential diagnosis, clinical thinking, evidence-based treatment, and other clinical topics related to the case. Finally, the student who performed the history and physical the preceding week will give a formal presentation of their patient. A typed history and physical is due one after your patient encounter, at the time the formal presentation is given." (note: that last part seems like it's a CBI equivalent)

All I would really say about this is that while it is really great to see hospital admissions in a clinical teaching setting like that, you're sure to get more than your fill of that during the clerkship years. The Longitudinal Clinic Experience at Phoenix is a very similar program except it occurs in a family medicine, outpatient setting which I think is more appropriate for first and second year students (warning: completely subjective personal opinion). In LCE, you are pared up with one preceptor in the community, and you become essentially an employee of their practice one afternoon every other week for two years. You see the exact same clinician mentor for two years. You see the exact same patient population for two years, and every single thing mentioned in that Societies section, from interviewing the patient, to discussing questions with the patient, to performing physical exams, you do. I'm not sure how much diagnosis or treatment goes on at the bedside in the Societies program, as these are patients already admitted to the hospital. In LCE, you are the first health care provider these patients will see, and so you are in on the ground floor of their treatment, often providing a differential diagnosis for you and your preceptor to work with. Now obviously as a three week old medical student I'm not there yet. We actually have four more weeks of the doctoring course before we begin LCE, but it's really cool to read the curriculum for LCE and see how week after week we will be taking on graduated responsibility after graduated responsibility as we learn all of the crucial physical exams, interview questions and history taking skills. One great thing about this is that no matter whether we have doctoring or LCE in a given week we have time to practice all of these things on actual patients. I can't honestly say if you have the same chance in Tucson. Someone else will have to answer that. One thing that I can say that makes all the difference in the world though is that LCE is one on one. You and your physician preceptor. No other students.

Well I should study for my CBI presentation, sorry for the length of the response! Feel free to PM me if you have any additional questions. I hope that someone from Tucson is able to give a balanced response because obviously I have a bit of bias. 🙂

 

[shepardsun]

As an endnote to that ridiculously long post, you'll come to find during the interview process that there are many, many other factors besides the program of a school that determines whether or not it is a good fit for you.

 

[dancingdoctor13]

which campus, now that the University of Arizona is accepting out of state students will tend to accept more OOS or give the chance to interview? Does anyone have stats on the two campuses for gpa, mcat, etc?

 

[shepardsun]

which campus, now that the University of Arizona is accepting out of state students will tend to accept more OOS or give the chance to interview? Does anyone have stats on the two campuses for gpa, mcat, etc?

According to the Arizona Board of Regents out of state students can make up no more than 25% of the combined class of Tucson and Phoenix. As it so happened this cycle, Tucson accepted a little less than 25% and so Phoenix took an extra out of state student or two to balance out the total. So for this cycle, I believe the answer could be Phoenix but you have to understand that the two classes are considered one as far as considering the total amount of OOS students.

 

[cfx]

Wow, shepardsun, thanks a lot for taking the time to write all of that. Never expected that thorough of a reply, so I definitely appreciate it.

 

[Phosphorus Ylide]

which campus, now that the University of Arizona is accepting out of state students will tend to accept more OOS or give the chance to interview? Does anyone have stats on the two campuses for gpa, mcat, etc?

Phoenix: http://medicine.arizona.edu/prospective-students/phoenix/student-profile/class-statistics

Tucson: http://medicine.arizona.edu/admissions/tucson/class-2013-facts

 

[mymembernames]

As an endnote to that ridiculously long post, you'll come to find during the interview process that there are many, many other factors besides the program of a school that determines whether or not it is a good fit for you.

👍

 

[Slack3r]

Still "on review" at PHX. 🙁

 

[fakeyellowlight]

1.) Has anyone received an invite to interview at the Phx campus yet?

2.) Did anyone notice that in the invite to interview at Tucson they said to wear comfy shoes? So... a nice pressed suit and nike 5.0's?

 

[lrkoehle]

1.) Has anyone received an invite to interview at the Phx campus yet?

2.) Did anyone notice that in the invite to interview at Tucson they said to wear comfy shoes? So... a nice pressed suit and nike 5.0's?

1)You don't want to interview at Phoenix anyways...🙄

2)I think they mean don't wear your 4 inch Stilettos

 

[Phosphorus Ylide]

1.) Has anyone received an invite to interview at the Phx campus yet?

2.) Did anyone notice that in the invite to interview at Tucson they said to wear comfy shoes? So... a nice pressed suit and nike 5.0's?

1. I can't wait until people start interviewing on campus!!! 🙂

2. "Wear comfy shoes" translates into "Ladies, please be aware that there is a tour, and as cute as your sky high pointy-toed pumps are, it would probably be to your advantage to wear something that won't leave you with quarter-sized blisters all over your feet". Oh, and girls, you should probably take those really comfy shoes you plan on wearing to the interview on a trial run (not literally) beforehand because shoes that appear comfortable in the department store sometimes don't feel so comfortable anymore after running errands or walking a few blocks. I thought my interview shoes were going to suffice for Phoenix because it is a smaller campus, but by the end of the day, I definitely had some blisters. 🙁

 

[unleash500]

what the, all the data for my arizona secondary for phoenix went poof-_-.
I had finished most of it, and left it for a week or so. Now when i log on I have to start from the begin again.

 

[shepardsun]

1. Why are we talking in prioritized lists?

2. My stilettos worked just fine on interview day, I don't know what your problem is, Phospho and Lrk. Tough it up.

 

[lrkoehle]

Even though Shep is my arch-nemesis, I will attempt to give a Tucson view on the things he's said. Keep in mind like Shep I am only a first year, and its very early in the year.

I'll take a whack at this though it's a topic that could probably take up a few pages on its own. For me right now, the most apparent difference, and the one that influences most of the other differences between the two programs, is the class size. Phoenix at 48, Tucson at 110-115ish. I would honestly say that after 2 weeks of classes (3 if you count orientation) I feel like I've known 95% of my classmates for years. We go to class together, we study together, we chill together and I know that this is probably very subjective depending on what type of personality you have but I would personally not be able to have the same type of relationship with as many people if I were in Tucson and not Phoenix. With Phoenix, the rotations between small groups usually mean that you WILL end up in a collaborative environment with every single one of your classmates whereas I don't know if that's the case in Tucson. And your application cycle is the last year where this will be the case, as with the opening of the Phoenix Biomedical Campus the class size will increase to numbers similar to Tucson's. So I would strike while the iron is hot if this sounds like a feature that interests you.

Not much for me to add. The class size is currently the most glaring difference between the campuses. Honestly though, the class size of 115 in Tucson is still quite small. In fact, its still smaller than most other medical schools, but it does have all the benefits of a bigger, longer established medical school, like a big medical library. In coming years, Phoenix will also have some of these things, but at that time it will also have a larger class size. Either way, you're going to find a good group of students at each campus that will become your family over the course of the next four years, and like any family some will be closer than others. You can have 48 or 115 people in your family.

Other than that, you'll find that the programs share many similar elements presented in slightly different ways. The core non-lecture instruction at Phoenix revolves around three main methods of learning- case based instruction (CBI), doctoring, and longitudinal clinic experience (LCE). You may have heard of CBI as it's pretty common now in medical schools but it essentially involves discussing a case as would commonly present in a clinic on Mondays, everything from the initial chief complaint all the way down through to a diagnosis, and you do everything with a group of your peers like a differential, talk about tests to order, etc. This discussion leads to the creation of what are called "learning objectives" and each person is responsible for researching one of them for a group presentation on Friday (which is what I'm half-preparing for right now) where you and your faculty facilitator wrap up the case and discuss any pertinent take-away points. I'm pretty sure that Tucson has this element as well though I think it may be tied in with their Societies, which is their small group doctoring/LCE equivalent. I'll let someone from Tucson speak more about that but I will say that based on what I've seen and read it seems like Societies are sort of a combination of the opportunities that here at Phoenix are discrete, separate units and I think they might be a little more robust for that.

Similar to Phoenix, we in Tucson also have CBI. I think its basically the same at every medical school that has it, so nothing to add.

As Shep mentioned, we have what's referred to as Societies. Basically we are assigned a physician mentor with 5 other students. We are in this group for all four years, so I'm sure we'll become really close really quick. We do this stuff one afternoon every week, except block finals weeks. This is where we'll learn patient histories and exams. My mentor is an ER doc, so I'm sure I'll get to see lots of different stuff. They start us out on day one with our mentors seeing patients, so they can say we start patient contact on the first day of school. I thought they'd just show us a patient and have us give 'em a high five or something, so they could say that we got patient contact on day 1. Instead, my mentor had us in the ER taking a basic history, which was fun. Needless to say my notes were subpar, but that's to be expected.

Another non-lecture instructional method we have in Tucson is called Team Learning, and it doesn't sound like Phoenix has this. Its kind of a mix of individual, small, and medium group. We start with an individual quiz over current lecture type material. Then we re-take the quiz with a small group where we can discuss our answers. Finally about 9 groups discuss the quiz with a faculty leader where we get more details on the material covered. They also kind of give us pointers on how to answer the questions and not fall for the wrong answer choices that may sound really good buy not be the "single best answer choice."

One nice thing is that for Team Learning and CBI, we switch groups after each block. This way we are very likely to work with everyone in our class at least once or twice.

I'm basing that both on what I got out of my interview at Tucson and the Arizona Med Societies website. For example, the Clinical labs in which clinical thinking skills, physical exam skills, and practice on standardized patients, among other things, are said to occur "once or twice" each basic science block. Phoenix has a doctoring course which has near identical factors occurring every other week. One part of the Societies program that is quite interesting are the bedside teaching sessions, which make use of the University hospitals. I'm not sure how often these happen, though the page says they are the majority of the Societies experience. For simplicity I will copy from the website:

"These are the core activities of the Societies Program. In these sessions, your Mentor and Society Group will go to the bedside for an interactive teaching session. We utilize our main teaching hospitals to recruit patients for these sessions: University Medical Center, University Physicians Healthcare-Kino Campus, and the Southern Arizona VA Healthcare System. During these sessions, one (Year 1) or two students (Year 2) perform a history and physical on a hospitalized patient, while their Society Mentor and a peer observe and give feedback. The student then gives an informal presentation of the case to the rest of the group. The students who did not perform the history and physical will have an opportunity to ask the patient questions and perform key aspects of the physical exam. Afterwards, the Mentor and students have a small group discussion regarding differential diagnosis, clinical thinking, evidence-based treatment, and other clinical topics related to the case. Finally, the student who performed the history and physical the preceding week will give a formal presentation of their patient. A typed history and physical is due one after your patient encounter, at the time the formal presentation is given." (note: that last part seems like it's a CBI equivalent)

This reminds me of another big difference between the two campuses, which is that the Tucson campus is literally attached to the university hospital. For me, I plan on trying to get a good amount of shadowing type experiences in during the first two years, so not having to drive to different hospitals for these experiences seemed like a big plus. I think during third and fourth year it will also be nice to be right by the medical school for rotations, so we can go to the medical library or the student lounge.

All I would really say about this is that while it is really great to see hospital admissions in a clinical teaching setting like that, you're sure to get more than your fill of that during the clerkship years. The Longitudinal Clinic Experience at Phoenix is a very similar program except it occurs in a family medicine, outpatient setting which I think is more appropriate for first and second year students (warning: completely subjective personal opinion). In LCE, you are pared up with one preceptor in the community, and you become essentially an employee of their practice one afternoon every other week for two years. You see the exact same clinician mentor for two years. You see the exact same patient population for two years, and every single thing mentioned in that Societies section, from interviewing the patient, to discussing questions with the patient, to performing physical exams, you do. I'm not sure how much diagnosis or treatment goes on at the bedside in the Societies program, as these are patients already admitted to the hospital. In LCE, you are the first health care provider these patients will see, and so you are in on the ground floor of their treatment, often providing a differential diagnosis for you and your preceptor to work with. Now obviously as a three week old medical student I'm not there yet. We actually have four more weeks of the doctoring course before we begin LCE, but it's really cool to read the curriculum for LCE and see how week after week we will be taking on graduated responsibility after graduated responsibility as we learn all of the crucial physical exams, interview questions and history taking skills. One great thing about this is that no matter whether we have doctoring or LCE in a given week we have time to practice all of these things on actual patients. I can't honestly say if you have the same chance in Tucson. Someone else will have to answer that. One thing that I can say that makes all the difference in the world though is that LCE is one on one. You and your physician preceptor. No other students.

While I don't know how all the society groups do it, I know in my group we will be in the ER making different diagnosing decisions. While I agree that we'll get plenty of exposure to the hospital setting in the clinical years, I think its great to start there in the first two years too. For me, being in a chaotic ER doing my history and physical on those patients for two years before starting clinical rotations, I can envision no possible way for me to not be thoroughly prepared to kick butt third and fourth year. It may be more difficult than being in a family medicine setting initially, but those struggles early should hopefully help us avoid struggles later (not that I think Shep or any other PHX students will struggle).

Also, as I said before, we're not one on one like PHX with these experiences. I don't know how that is going to affect things, but I'm sure the faculty members can handle having a couple of us . Oh, and another cool thing too is that in Tucson since we have the hospital attached we don't have to drive somewhere else, for these experiences (time saved in the car = extra time sleeping).

Well I should study for my CBI presentation, sorry for the length of the response! Feel free to PM me if you have any additional questions. I hope that someone from Tucson is able to give a balanced response because obviously I have a bit of bias. 🙂

Well, I hope that my response was fairly balanced, although I'll admit it is hard to stay balanced at times. I think both Shep and I are super excited about the programs at our respective campuses, and that excitement shines through as being biased towards our campus. Still, as I have said before both campuses have great programs in place. If you are lucky enough to be accepted to both campuses, you will probably end up having to choose based more on your gut feelings rather than based on some glaring differences between the campuses.

PS - Tucson has much better mountains and outdoor activities than Phoenix. Plus, we have slightly better weather (not quite as hot, a little more rain, lower night time temperatures, etc.).

 

[lrkoehle]

Oh, and girls, you should probably take those really comfy shoes you plan on wearing to the interview on a trial run (not literally) beforehand

This piece of advice could be really bad if a dyslexic applicant thought you said to take their interview shoes on a TRAIL run...

 

[Slack3r]

PS - Tucson has much better mountains and outdoor activities than Phoenix. Plus, we have slightly better weather (not quite as hot, a little more rain, lower night time temperatures, etc.).

But Phoenix has much better night-life/stuff to do in general.

 

[Phosphorus Ylide]

This piece of advice could be really bad if a dyslexic applicant thought you said to take their interview shoes on a TRAIL run...

Well, then those shoes would be keepers! Cute and supportive enough to go for a jog in? I'll take two please!

 

[shepardsun]

Well, then those shoes would be keepers! Cute and supportive enough to go for a jog in? I'll take two please!

Well duh. One shoe wouldn't exactly do you a whole lot of good.

 

[lrkoehle]

But Phoenix has much better night-life/stuff to do in general.

Phoenix may have more of the things to do, but there are plenty of things to do in Tucson. I guess it depends on what you want to do. I think the main thing we are missing in Tucson is a happening night club scene like Scottsdale has, but then again I think that stuff is lame so I am happy it isn't here. In Phoenix there are like 2-3 bars that I might go to on a rare occasion, and in Tucson there is more than that so I'm fine there. Ummm...there is a water park and a zoo here, just like Phoenix, so you can do that. There are lots of parks here like Phoenix, and better outdoor stuff. I guess I'm just trying to figure out what this more/better stuff to do in Phoenix is? I guess there are more freeways and traffic in Phoenix, so you can go drive in that...the only things I can really think of that Phoenix has that is better is sports (I'm biased as a die-hard ASU fan), but other than ASU sports I almost never go to any professional games. I just watch the pros on TV, and yes we have TV in Tucson, so I can do that here too. Sorry for the rambling, but I'm just trying to figure out what you are referring to that makes Phoenix so much better.

 

[Phosphorus Ylide]

Well duh. One shoe wouldn't exactly do you a whole lot of good.

Two pairs, obviously... but what if I had a pirate peg leg? Don't be discriminatory.

 

[dillydally]

phoenix may have more of the things to do, but there are plenty of things to do in tucson. I guess it depends on what you want to do. I think the main thing we are missing in tucson is a happening night club scene like scottsdale has, but then again i think that stuff is lame so i am happy it isn't here. In phoenix there are like 2-3 bars that i might go to on a rare occasion, and in tucson there is more than that so i'm fine there. Ummm...there is a water park and a zoo here, just like phoenix, so you can do that. There are lots of parks here like phoenix, and better outdoor stuff. I guess i'm just trying to figure out what this more/better stuff to do in phoenix is? I guess there are more freeways and traffic in phoenix, so you can go drive in that...the only things i can really think of that phoenix has that is better is sports (i'm biased as a die-hard asu fan), but other than asu sports i almost never go to any professional games. I just watch the pros on tv, and yes we have tv in tucson, so i can do that here too. Sorry for the rambling, but i'm just trying to figure out what you are referring to that makes phoenix so much better.

+1

 

[Slack3r]

Phoenix may have more of the things to do, but there are plenty of things to do in Tucson. I guess it depends on what you want to do. I think the main thing we are missing in Tucson is a happening night club scene like Scottsdale has, but then again I think that stuff is lame so I am happy it isn't here. In Phoenix there are like 2-3 bars that I might go to on a rare occasion, and in Tucson there is more than that so I'm fine there. Ummm...there is a water park and a zoo here, just like Phoenix, so you can do that. There are lots of parks here like Phoenix, and better outdoor stuff. I guess I'm just trying to figure out what this more/better stuff to do in Phoenix is? I guess there are more freeways and traffic in Phoenix, so you can go drive in that...the only things I can really think of that Phoenix has that is better is sports (I'm biased as a die-hard ASU fan), but other than ASU sports I almost never go to any professional games. I just watch the pros on TV, and yes we have TV in Tucson, so I can do that here too. Sorry for the rambling, but I'm just trying to figure out what you are referring to that makes Phoenix so much better.

You're not thinking too hard if you think a city of 900,000 has more to do than a city of 5,000,000.

As I said for nightlife: Tucson basically has 4th Ave. What, 5 bars? Pretty much all dive/college bars, mind you. Phoenix has Old Town, Mill Ave., Westgate, and all the bars downtown (which I can't comment as I usually don't go downtown). And these have a good mix of college bars, dance clubs, dive bars, etc. Different strokes for different folks, and all that.

Then if you enjoy going out to eat (like I do), Phoenix certainly has more options. I won't denigrate Tucson on the restaurants they do have as I've found more than a few that I really like, you can't disagree with the selection in Phoenix.

By more outdoors in Tucson, I'm assuming you mean the Mt Lemon/Ventana Canyon? Granted. But Phoenix has (for hiking) Camelback Mnt, Squaw Peak, and Dreamy Draw. We also have the Salt River and Tempe Town Lake. And while Tucson may have a few nice golf courses, there are many more and much nicer courses in Phoenix.

And sports obviously. Coyotes, Suns, Cardinals, and (sadly) the Scum Devils. Plus all the art museums and culture areas downtown and around Phoenix. Also, Phoenix is a larger city and obviously attracts larger/more popular music artists. Tucson certainly has the indie scene, but I think Phoenix has them beat as far as music goes.

That's just off the top of my head.

 

[lrkoehle]

You're not thinking too hard if you think a city of 900,000 has more to do than a city of 5,000,000.

As I said for nightlife: Tucson basically has 4th Ave. What, 5 bars? Pretty much all dive/college bars, mind you. Phoenix has Old Town, Mill Ave., Westgate, and all the bars downtown (which I can't comment as I usually don't go downtown). And these have a good mix of college bars, dance clubs, dive bars, etc. Different strokes for different folks, and all that.

Then if you enjoy going out to eat (like I do), Phoenix certainly has more options. I won't denigrate Tucson on the restaurants they do have as I've found more than a few that I really like, you can't disagree with the selection in Phoenix.

By more outdoors in Tucson, I'm assuming you mean the Mt Lemon/Ventana Canyon? Granted. But Phoenix has (for hiking) Camelback Mnt, Squaw Peak, and Dreamy Draw. We also have the Salt River and Tempe Town Lake. And while Tucson may have a few nice golf courses, there are many more and much nicer courses in Phoenix.

And sports obviously. Coyotes, Suns, Cardinals, and (sadly) the Scum Devils. Plus all the art museums and culture areas downtown and around Phoenix. Also, Phoenix is a larger city and obviously attracts larger/more popular music artists. Tucson certainly has the indie scene, but I think Phoenix has them beat as far as music goes.

That's just off the top of my head.

The first thing I said is that there is more of the stuff in Phoenix, but that isn't to say there isn't anything in Tucson. I'm just pointing out that Tucson isn't this tiny place with nothing going on, so don't act like I was just spouting off without thinking about what I said.

Like I said, it just depends exactly what you're looking for. I rarely ever go out to bars anyways, so like I said, a couple good bars is more than enough for me. As for restaurants, sure there are more in Phoenix, but as you noted Tucson has its fair share of good ones too. For me, since I am married, going out to a restaurant is better anyways. When it comes to outdoors stuff, I could also rattle off the various mountain ranges in the Tucson area where you can go hiking. Honestly, if I was trying to argue where Tucson beats Phoenix (which I'm not now nor was I before), I'd have to say this is it. Whatever, it doesn't really matter. I could care less what people think of Tucson, it won't change the fact that I'm perfectly happy here. My only point was that its not terrible like I thought at this time last year when I was applying to med school.

 

[Slack3r]

The first thing I said is that there is more of the stuff in Phoenix, but that isn't to say there isn't anything in Tucson.

I never said there wasn't; I went to undergrad in Tucson, I know there are things to do. I simply said there was more/better things to do in Phoenix, as explained above.