2010-2011 University of Tennessee Application Thread

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Of course!
So, at ETSU they explained that after interviews, 4 random committee members review everything (interview transcripts, primaries, secondaries, LOR's). Each scores the app 0-9, so the maximum score is 36. Based on the different scores applicants get, the entire committee at a meeting will make decisions like "everyone with over 31 gets in." But anyone can still bring up an applicant at any time, regardless of their score, and advocate for their admission.

Simplify that a bit and you get UTHSC's process. No scoring 0-9. At least one of our 2 interviewers have to attend the meeting. When our name gets brought up, the interviewers are our primary advocates. They all discuss us and make their decision!

Well, maybe they're actually not that similar...
 
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Hey Akr, thanks for posting about your interview!

I have my interview this week and was wondering if you could elaborate on how the second interviewer "grilled" you. Was this a medical student?
 
I got my secondary today! Super excited! What has the turnaround time been for interviews/wait list/etc?
 
OrangeRoost said:
I got my secondary today! Super excited! What has the turnaround time been for interviews/wait list/etc?
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Got a secondary today too, from reading the thread it seems that the time varies considerably.

I know this is probably an unanswerable question, but anyone know how selective they are with secondaries? Do they send them out to pretty much everyone or is there a significant amount of weeding between primary and secondary? I'm asking cause I'm OOS (Arkansas) and I know they only accept 10%, so I'm hoping that gap has closed at least slightly since I made it past the first screen.
 
It wasn't a med student that grilled me... it was an assistant professor in pediatrics. A lot of the med students that I talked to seemed to know of him and warned me that his interviews tended to be more intimidating. He brought up healthcare policy, I think based on the fact that I've lived in a different country (with very different healthcare system) before. He basically just kept circling back to that topic and playing devil's advocate to all of my answers. I was somewhat worn out mentally afterward, really hope that I kept my cool enough to make a good impression. Looking back, I can come up with some way better answers than what I gave, so I try not to think about it too much right now!

I have no idea what kind of screen they might have between secondaries and interviews... it took something like 3-4 weeks between their receipt of my secondary and my interview invitation. It felt like ages though.

On a sidenote... My heart stopped for a second when I saw that there was an envelope from UTHSC in my mailbox today - but it was a survey asking for feedback about my interview experience! I am way too excitable right now to be getting false alarms!!
 
ejay286 said:
Got a secondary today too, from reading the thread it seems that the time varies considerably.

I know this is probably an unanswerable question, but anyone know how selective they are with secondaries? Do they send them out to pretty much everyone or is there a significant amount of weeding between primary and secondary? I'm asking cause I'm OOS (Arkansas) and I know they only accept 10%, so I'm hoping that gap has closed at least slightly since I made it past the first screen.
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I have heard a rumor which may or may not be true, you may want to go back earlier in the thread to learn more about it. It may be that if you receive a secondary you will get an interview. However it is only a rumor but it does seem true...
 
I received my "Form Complete" email about a month ago. So, hopefully that means I'll get some love from UT soon. And I really hope that your "rumor" is true VitalArmor!

Or do they send a fully complete email saying they have your LORs too? (because the complete email I have only references the 2ndary form, photo, and signature release)

Great now I just talked myself back into worry. haha If this is what simply applying to school is like, I can't imagine what 4th years feel like waiting for matches.
 
Ok, so not sure if this is appropriate on my part or not... but I got my invitation to file a secondary back on Sept 1. I got full verification that they received all of my stuff by Sept. 8. It's Nov 2, and I still haven't heard a thing from them. Not sure if this ~2 month wait is normal or what this year... but I was thinking about calling them to see if there were any snags with my application or if they are just going slower this year. Considering I've already been accepted to one school (who may or may not have been much quicker at this process), this worries me.

Thoughts/comments?
 
gacibula said:
Ok, so not sure if this is appropriate on my part or not... but I got my invitation to file a secondary back on Sept 1. I got full verification that they received all of my stuff by Sept. 8. It's Nov 2, and I still haven't heard a thing from them. Not sure if this ~2 month wait is normal or what this year... but I was thinking about calling them to see if there were any snags with my application or if they are just going slower this year. Considering I've already been accepted to one school (who may or may not have been much quicker at this process), this worries me.

Thoughts/comments?
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I got the full verification e-mail in mid-August last year and did not hear anything from them until before Christmas when I received the interview invitation.
Also, going by what I have read through last years threads... those who completed their secondary did receive an interview invitation at some point. But keep in mind that SDN-ers represent only a small fraction of the entire pool of UT applicants. Do not know about others experiences with secondary applic. completion ~ interview invitation (shrug).
 
Last cycle had my things in by August, interview invite came in mid may. FWIW. There seems to be very little correlation between secondary and interview. You could get one within a week, or you might be invited to one in late april, just luck of the draw (and some secret behind the scenes algorithm).
 
Thanks for the reassurance/firsthand accounts with the application process... has taken the edge off just a bit... haha
 
It is likely they have already reviewed your file if you have had everything in by august or september. If you are a stand out candidate then you will be offered an interview early. Also, UT is known for "rounding out" their class. What this means exactly I do not know. What I do know is that sometimes they look at how the class is "shaping-up" and it alters how they pick what students they will interview and ultimately accept. The board has been doing this for awhile so for the most part they know right away what students they want and those students get offered interviews first. What this means is that even in you get your stuff in before another student you still can be interviewed after that student if that student stands out. Hopefully that makes sense🙂
 
Well, I was trying to feel better, but I no longer do. Now I'm wondering if something is wrong with my app that I didn't realize at the time of submission. I kind of wish they had more essays like some of the other schools did so that I had more chance to say something than the "additional info." I really need to get my interviews in by the end of the year because of my situation with work. Or at least dates so I have something to try to finagle in the new year.

Could it be that since the 2ndary was free they have more apps this year and thus are slower?

Thank you for the extra info on what goes on VitalArmor, equios and simodk!

*deep breath* *chill*
 
TropicalKitty said:
Well, I was trying to feel better, but I no longer do. Now I'm wondering if something is wrong with my app that I didn't realize at the time of submission. I kind of wish they had more essays like some of the other schools did so that I had more chance to say something than the "additional info." I really need to get my interviews in by the end of the year because of my situation with work. Or at least dates so I have something to try to finagle in the new year.

Could it be that since the 2ndary was free they have more apps this year and thus are slower?

Thank you for the extra info on what goes on VitalArmor, equios and simodk!

*deep breath* *chill*
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I think the "additional info" essay option is perfect. Most secondaries ask specific questions that have you repeating things that are already in your primary anyway, this gives you a chance to talk about anything you'd like.
 
I had my interview this past Tuesday. Feel free to send me a message if y'all have any questions on the interview day or interview questions.

AMCAS Complete: 9/17
Secondary Rec: 10/7
Secondary Completed Email: 10/12
Interview Invite: 10/18
Interview Completed: 11/2
 
ejay286 said:
I think the "additional info" essay option is perfect. Most secondaries ask specific questions that have you repeating things that are already in your primary anyway, this gives you a chance to talk about anything you'd like.
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It was too vague for me at the time. Most of the essays I've had to write I didn't write about in my primary essay.

I'm just starting to think I messed this up by not knowing really what I needed to do when I got it - that's what I get for going on vacation during this whole thing. If I got it now, I definitely would have put something more in there than what I did. That's life, mess up and move on. I can just hope they decide to send me an invite, but I'm starting to doubt it since other people have heard back from around when I was complete too.

jtnagle, congrats!
 
TropicalKitty said:
It was too vague for me at the time. Most of the essays I've had to write I didn't write about in my primary essay.

I'm just starting to think I messed this up by not knowing really what I needed to do when I got it - that's what I get for going on vacation during this whole thing. If I got it now, I definitely would have put something more in there than what I did. That's life, mess up and move on. I can just hope they decide to send me an invite, but I'm starting to doubt it since other people have heard back from around when I was complete too.

jtnagle, congrats!
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I don't think it will make or break you either way. The essay was optional for a reason. You're in-state so I'd assume they'd interview you if you're in the acceptable range statistically.
 
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Hey there guys, I know a few other uthsc students have put stuff up here and I figured I 'd join in. I want to make sure ya'll realize that the students you spend time with have no input with admissions, and we definitely won't be interviewing you. (well, maybe an M4, but I haven't heard of that ever actually happening). As for the secondary essay, I didn't do one. It isn't a big deal really, unless you have something else to say.

As for Memphis, it's alright. Not the greatest place to be, but you really needn't have any safety concerns or anything like that. The only bad areas are not places you would ever have any reason to go anyway... There's nothing there. However, the poverty and crime do make for some great clinical experiences. You can see some pretty obscure things, as well as some pretty unbelievable things (trauma, social situations, etc.) And of course you can high-tail back to beautiful East Tennessee (or maybe somewhere else) when you have had your fill.

Oh yeah, and the curriculum is in overhaul, so you get to be the first class to experience the new and improved M1 year. Sounds like it is going to be pretty nice.

Good luck.
 
ztaw15 said:
Hey there guys, I know a few other uthsc students have put stuff up here and I figured I 'd join in. I want to make sure ya'll realize that the students you spend time with have no input with admissions, and we definitely won't be interviewing you. (well, maybe an M4, but I haven't heard of that ever actually happening). As for the secondary essay, I didn't do one. It isn't a big deal really, unless you have something else to say.

As for Memphis, it's alright. Not the greatest place to be, but you really needn't have any safety concerns or anything like that. The only bad areas are not places you would ever have any reason to go anyway... There's nothing there. However, the poverty and crime do make for some great clinical experiences. You can see some pretty obscure things, as well as some pretty unbelievable things (trauma, social situations, etc.) And of course you can high-tail back to beautiful East Tennessee (or maybe somewhere else) when you have had your fill.

Oh yeah, and the curriculum is in overhaul, so you get to be the first class to experience the new and improved M1 year. Sounds like it is going to be pretty nice.

Good luck.
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Thanks for the input! Just wondering if you have any opinion on the secondary = interview rumor, and also how liberal are they with secondaries? Do they send them out to pretty much everyone or does it mean there may be some serious interest there from the school, I'm asking particularly from an OOS perspective.
 
I am going to reply to this with two caveats. 1.) It has been two years since I went through this, so I am hazy. 2.) I don't really know, because I am not privy to the secret world of admissions.

Anyway, my guess is that since the secondary is so uninvolved and cheap that they aren't really getting any new info from you. So why send you one willy-nilly? As for being OOS, all I can say is good luck. That definitely makes it tougher on you. But then again I think they always fill up the OOS spots too. As far as interviewing times, they definitely tend to interview more competitive people early, but they also accept a lot of people that have later interviews (like March).

Bottom line; It's a crap shoot for the most part, but if you are getting interviews then you are in good shape. Interviews are mostly to weed out the crazies... And you would be surprised at the way some people will act on interviews.
 
ztaw15 said:
Oh yeah, and the curriculum is in overhaul, so you get to be the first class to experience the new and improved M1 year. Sounds like it is going to be pretty nice.
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Can you expand on this a little bit? What exactly is being changed?
 
Well, it isn't entirely worked out yet, and you will hear all about it when you interview, but here is what I know:

They are really pushing for more "active learning" as is every other school. That means less lecturing in class and more material you are expected to cover on your own, with class time being geared more towards case-type discussions. This is what you do more of second year anyway. Some people hate it, some really like it. I like it. Another thing they are moving towards is trying to phase out what we currently have, which is discreet "clinical weeks" after every round of exams, in favor of a "one afternoon a week" type model. Basically trying to move toward more clinical stuff the first two years and more basic science stuff in the last two.

Actually here is a website

http://www.uthsc.edu/Medicine/PFF/
 
anyone gotten a letter in the mail yet with their acceptance?
 
medhope1 said:
anyone gotten a letter in the mail yet with their acceptance?
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They were supposed to have a meeting on October 29th. I don't remember if decisions were going to be sent out that day or on Nov. 4th. But I guess we should be finding out soon...
 
I may have misunderstood Diane but I thought she said that it's their policy to have letters out within one week of decisions being made in each committee meeting. That would mean that they should have been sent out by this past Friday, although I've yet to receive an email...
 
cjh4p said:
I may have misunderstood Diane but I thought she said that it's their policy to have letters out within one week of decisions being made in each committee meeting. That would mean that they should have been sent out by this past Friday, although I've yet to receive an email...
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No, worries! They do not always get to everybody in those meetings and if your interviewer was not at the meeting for whatever reason they usually postpone your review until your interviewer can be at the meeting. Also they discuss each potential student and sometimes they get stuck on one for awhile. This will put off every student that would come next. If they get really stuck they put that student on hold and go on to the next. However discussing students takes time and they have been known to offer acceptances all the way up to the first week of school in august! Granted by august you will know if you were accepted or placed on the waitlist. Usually the wait list is settled by some time in April. May 15th is a big day too in medschool traffic rules. All this means is that you really have til March to hear something. I am thinking it will not be that long for you.:xf:
 
We should not be receiving an email, only a letter in the mail which if they did discuss us on Oct 29, should arrive sometime this week. I am just checking the mail a lot, so I was wondering if I should continue to do so this week or try to wait until December again to start checking.
 
Acceptance email received today! It said the acceptance packet was sent in the mail today also. My interview was Oct. 13. Good luck everybody!
 
Congrats D8O8... Your applications everywhere must have been extremely good, so good job!

I just got an email saying that my application will be discussed at another meeting (Nov. 19, I think), and that I will find out their decision within 2 weeks after that. I am glad that they keep us up to date with what's going on 🙂
 
Got acceptance email today! I'm out-of-state and interviewed towards the end of October. The people at the college are really quite amazing - very supportive atmosphere! I hope the best for you all! 🙂
 
D8O8C8T8O8R said:
Acceptance email received today! It said the acceptance packet was sent in the mail today also. My interview was Oct. 13. Good luck everybody!
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Do you know where you are going to decide to go now that you have multiple acceptances?
 
Soo... still no secondary. I'm an in stater, only have a 3.5cgpa but a 33mcat...thought i would at LEAST get a secondary. Is it time to start worrying yet? especially since people are getting accepted at this point
 
I'm wondering if I should give them a call. I emailed them and haven't heard back, but Diane has been really good about getting back in the past so it's making me wonder. It's getting hard to judge how much time to give any school for things since I know they are super busy now.

jark, when did you submit your primary? Did you get an acknowledgement of them receiving the primary?
 
TropicalKitty said:
I'm wondering if I should give them a call. I emailed them and haven't heard back, but Diane has been really good about getting back in the past so it's making me wonder. It's getting hard to judge how much time to give any school for things since I know they are super busy now.

jark, when did you submit your primary? Did you get an acknowledgement of them receiving the primary?
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I submitted my primary in mid/late july...and got an acknowledgment shortly after. You?
 
Early August, but MCAT was released at the end of August. Got 2ndary a couple days after MCAT was released.

Have you been checking your spam folder? Sometimes things can get shoved in there.
 
Got my acceptance via email yesterday! Interviewed early October.
 
Suncrusher said:
I still haven't gotten an interview even though my secondary was complete a long time ago. A friend submitted the secondary a long time after me and has already interviewed. Let me know what happens if you call... I think it is typical for them to interview highstats people before lowstats people, so I've been telling myself just to keep waiting, and that is what I will probably do. But I am a bit worried that they might have lost my app or something. I don't want to wait forever and then find out that I didn't get an interview because they had lost my app. I know that is a rare occurrence, but I know people whose apps have been lost by med schools.
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Did you get the email about your secondary being complete or are you assuming it was complete?

I sure hope they haven't lost our apps!:xf:
 
TropicalKitty said:
Early August, but MCAT was released at the end of August. Got 2ndary a couple days after MCAT was released.

Have you been checking your spam folder? Sometimes things can get shoved in there.
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yup, nothing but penile enlargement ads in the spam folder. i tried calling a bunch today, didn't get through. at any rate, i don't think it's getting too late by any means, it's just late enough in the day that we're allowed to start worrying. plenty more ppl will get interviews
 
VitalArmor said:
Do you know where you are going to decide to go now that you have multiple acceptances?
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I haven't decided 100% yet, but I am leaning toward Memphis because of the clinical experience I would receive. I really did get a great vibe from both schools though and am honored to have a choice. If anyone has any other questions feel free to ask
 
ztaw15 said:
I am going to reply to this with two caveats. 1.) It has been two years since I went through this, so I am hazy. 2.) I don't really know, because I am not privy to the secret world of admissions.

Anyway, my guess is that since the secondary is so uninvolved and cheap that they aren't really getting any new info from you. So why send you one willy-nilly? As for being OOS, all I can say is good luck. That definitely makes it tougher on you. But then again I think they always fill up the OOS spots too. As far as interviewing times, they definitely tend to interview more competitive people early, but they also accept a lot of people that have later interviews (like March).

Bottom line; It's a crap shoot for the most part, but if you are getting interviews then you are in good shape. Interviews are mostly to weed out the crazies... And you would be surprised at the way some people will act on interviews.
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can you elaborate on this a little bit? what exactly do you mean by 'crazy?' (so that we can hopefully avoid appearing insane)
 
jarkmones said:
yup, nothing but penile enlargement ads in the spam folder. i tried calling a bunch today, didn't get through. at any rate, i don't think it's getting too late by any means, it's just late enough in the day that we're allowed to start worrying. plenty more ppl will get interviews
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I love the penile enhancement spam! Especially b/c I'm female. 👍

My worry is more related to timing. As I said before, I have work issues to contend with, so getting as many interviews in by the end of the year would be best. I know there are plenty of people who interview later and get in - that's not my concern.

I would be confused if I hadn't received the secondary and I submitted my primary back in the summer. Wish I had some good advice for you on that one!

When I called back in September, I got a voicemail box. Are you just getting perma-busy signal? Try emailing?
 
D8O8C8T8O8R said:
I haven't decided 100% yet, but I am leaning toward Memphis because of the clinical experience I would receive. I really did get a great vibe from both schools though and am honored to have a choice. If anyone has any other questions feel free to ask
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Please dont come to memphis, its the only school I can apply to. (long story) Okay, now that's out of the way...the school part is pretty good but the rotations can be dicy. My wife is in her 3rd year rotations right now and well these people dont know what they are doing. I am not talking about UT but the places where she has to do her rotations. Its very disorganized. Actually I can tell you from a practical point of view it all depends on what intern (JI) and attending you get. (They call them teams). In some places my wife gets to do a lot (these are very rare). In most places she gets to sit in a room for hours while her "team" write notes. She just sits there. Then when they cant think of anything to tell her to do they send her home. Her day usually begins with rounding on patients and presenting her own patient if she has one (sometimes she doesnt). After that, her team sends her to go get labs on all their patients and/or to write notes on all their patients. Afterwards, the "team" sits and rewrites notes etc for hours while she sits in the room and does nothing. and then they look around and discover she has been sitting there and then send her for coffee or something stupid and maybe if she is lucky they send her home after she has spent most of the day doing nothing. She cant ask to go home because that looks REALLY bad. If she speaks up at all they find some way to turn it into work. Here is a big hint: NEVER ask questions in your rotations you dont know the answer to. Otherwise they will make you research it, write a paper and present it to them the next day. So for those of you wanting to go to Memphis because of the rotations and because you get to see stuff...well all I can say is that it is a crap shoot. By the way inspite of the crappy environment she is pretty much getting A's in everything and getting very good reviews from her rotations...so she is doing everything and more of what she is supposed to do in her rotations but still sitting and doing nothing for hours unnecessarily.
 
VitalArmor said:
Please dont come to memphis, its the only school I can apply to. (long story) Okay, now that's out of the way...the school part is pretty good but the rotations can be dicy. My wife is in her 3rd year rotations right now and well these people dont know what they are doing.
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Well that is unfortunate, but from the students I have talked to they seem to think quite the opposite. Is it possible that your wife's experience is not a common one? Or that it is just a bad rotation and the others will be approached differently? I am not very knowledgeable about clinical rotations in general, but I can't imagine if this problem is present at Memphis that it wouldn't also be present at ETSU
 
Just thought I'd share some thoughts after interviewing yesterday. At first, it was really stressful because their interview days are not structured like the ones I've been to so far. Everyone has separate interview times, so you don't go through the entire day with everyone... and at first it sounds like you have to find your way around campus on your own to make it to your interviews. But it actually works out great and they do take you to the places you need to be.

So far, best interview experience I've had thus far. Admissions and financial aid people seem to be nice everywhere, but Nelson and Diane are really great. (Although Diane was really intimidating at first, she's so funny and sweet). My interviewers were such nice people, and I think that was the consensus among the 6 of us that were there.

If anyone is curious, they said their next meeting is Nov 19th and they usually send out letters a week later. Since this would be the Friday after Thanksgiving, they said they'd try to send it out the Wed before, but no guarantees. So if they didn't get to you at the last meeting or you're on the hold list, maybe we can all let our anxieties subsite till at least Dec 1st or a few days later 🙂
 
D8O8C8T8O8R said:
Well that is unfortunate, but from the students I have talked to they seem to think quite the opposite. Is it possible that your wife's experience is not a common one? Or that it is just a bad rotation and the others will be approached differently? I am not very knowledgeable about clinical rotations in general, but I can't imagine if this problem is present at Memphis that it wouldn't also be present at ETSU
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Well, by default I am friends with a lot of med students in her year and they have had pretty much the same experience as she has. It could be just her year, maybe your friends are from a different year. Also, like I said, it seems to depend on your Junior Intern (JI) and your attending and other team members. Since a person is a JI for only one year it will change from year to year. This is only her fourth rotation, and it is also her least favorite. She liked Peds and Internal Medicine and disliked OB/Gyn and Surgery. Actually I think she liked some aspects of OB/Gyn but mostly disliked it. She has definitely ruled out OB/Gyn as a career path. In some cases it seems that the doctors she is working with try to make the students as miserable as possible and if they still want to do that specialty then they pass their sick little test. They also have a bunch of rules like "no sleeping on call" so when the interns go and sleep the med students do nothing but have to walk around just to keep awake. Its stupid. I have shadowed many an intern in hopsital, on call, and in clinic. They try to justify that rule by saying its reality when it isnt. Most docs sleep on call at least a little every call. Also, good luck trying to do a rotation in the VA. It takes weeks to get your fingerprints, badges, get sworn in, passcodes, etc. Then when you get there they have screwed up and you have to do it all over again. So you spend 2 of the 4 weeks (if you are there that long) trying to get your stuff back in line so you can actually do your job since everything is on computer and you have to use your finger print to access the computer. Oh and here is the icing on top, if you have been to the VA before...it does not matter you have to jump through all those hoops again! I am not saying Memphis is bad, I am just saying that if you are considering it just for the rotations....rotations vary. I would say that a rotation where everyone knew what was going on and it was a little more structured would be worlds better than some of the ones my wife has gone through. 👍
 
The whole situation with crazy people is that they generally display a complete lack of awareness that what they are doing or how they are acting is not really acceptable. I don't want to stress ya'll out unnecessarily. No one is looking to see what color tie you have on or whether you sweat profusely (as an aside, please don't worry too much about dress; just wear something to reflect that you take things seriously) But there are some individuals (both applying to and in medical school/medicine) that demonstrate a completely strange social manner. They dominate conversations, they are excessively loud, they are always right, they make grandiose statements, etc. The main thing is that if you are worried about interacting appropriately then you are likely not one of these people. I think they generally don't realize that they do this or that it's a problem. But what do I know?

As for the comments on rotations, I have to say I haven't gotten that vibe at all. Granted I am a second year, but I am in contact with a number of third and fourth years frequently and while there are invariably bad days and bad rotations and bad attendings etc., for the most part Memphis is unbeatable clinically. It is a poor area in many many ways. Monetarily, health-wise, and socially. And while that doesn't make it the most wonderful place to live (in my opinion) it does present you with a number of relatively rare clinical conditions, as well as permit your involvement on a level not available in more upscale areas. As crass as it sounds, think about it. If you are doing work in a wealthy area you most likely will not be very hands on with patients. More often then not you may need to leave the room for sensitive exams etc. But the poor do not have the same sense of entitlement. They are, generally speaking, quite respectful of you and are fairly complacent in letting you stumble through your exams with them. Also you see some interesting things. I was able to see a case of "prune-belly syndrome" combined with pectus excavatum in a child recently that had not been dealt with surgically. Things like that get fixed in other areas. People don't get into serious Tb in other areas, or tertiary syphilis, or uncontrolled psoriasis, or rickets. So it is a situation that is bad for the patients, but good for learning.

And to re-emphasize, as long as I am plugging for the school, Memphis is totally safe. Anyone who says otherwise is really not living in the same world as me. Yes, it has high crime. But the "city" of Memphis technically covers a huge area, and most of that crime is in parts of that huge area you would never go anywhere near - unless you needed a bail bond company or some crack. The dowtown area, where the school is, is fine. Not pretty, mind you, but safe. There are panhandlers, but they won't bother you for anything more than cigarettes or booze or cash. Just say you don't have anything and move on. And I say all of this as a native east tennessean who really doesn't like this city much, and I fully intend to leave when I have finished with it. But as far as it being unsafe - patently untrue.
 
VitalArmor said:
Also, good luck trying to do a rotation in the VA. It takes weeks to get your fingerprints, badges, get sworn in, passcodes, etc. Then when you get there they have screwed up and you have to do it all over again. So you spend 2 of the 4 weeks (if you are there that long) trying to get your stuff back in line so you can actually do your job since everything is on computer and you have to use your finger print to access the computer. Oh and here is the icing on top, if you have been to the VA before...it does not matter you have to jump through all those hoops again!
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FYI, that's a VA thing. It's not something you should let reflect on UT. A lot of people here work with the VA and it's a lot to get through. I've spoken to many researchers (nurses and docs, and regular lab personell) that have expressed the difficulty there is in getting credentialed with the feds. It's par for the course in rotations and beyond if you want to work with those who've fought for our country (Happy Veteran's Day, btw).

That's just how the gov't rolls. 🙂
 
TropicalKitty said:
FYI, that's a VA thing. It's not something you should let reflect on UT. A lot of people here work with the VA and it's a lot to get through. I've spoken to many researchers (nurses and docs, and regular lab personell) that have expressed the difficulty there is in getting credentialed with the feds. It's par for the course in rotations and beyond if you want to work with those who've fought for our country (Happy Veteran's Day, btw).

That's just how the gov't rolls. 🙂
Click to expand...
I think I did mention earlier that the school was fine and that I was not blaming UT. I also mentioned...twice I think that it matters who are your team members. It is likely you will be exposed to many things you will not get in other areas of the country. As to the previous post, I really dont want to talk about the safety of memphis again. Its a big city, it is as dangerous as you would expect from a big city...safety mostly depends on you.
 
VitalArmor said:
I think I did mention earlier that the school was fine and that I was not blaming UT. I also mentioned...twice I think that it matters who are your team members. It is likely you will be exposed to many things you will not get in other areas of the country. As to the previous post, I really dont want to talk about the safety of memphis again. Its a big city, it is as dangerous as you would expect from a big city...safety mostly depends on you.
Click to expand...

I wasn't saying anything about the rest of your post, just the VA stuff. I was just saying that it's a VA thing...so no matter where you go, if you want to rotate (or do anything) with the VA it'll be a hassle. Basically, I was backing up what you said with what I know of what goes on here (which isn't UT) for people who don't know. 🙂

On another note, I called and have not heard anything back.
 
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