When in January? I'm going on the 25th. I'm planning on staying a few days to check out the area and drive to Vancouver. Priceline has cars for about $10/day + insurance (unless you book with a cc that gives you that perk like Amex). So if you are just going for the day - or even for a couple of days - sounds that would be cheaper and more convenient.
Rotate, you must spend I think 16 weeks outside of your foundational site. So you can do family Medicine in Alaska and peds in Boise if you want. You can trade the rotations with other students to stay in Seattle the entire 4 years essentially I've heard on here, but it's not how the system was intended to work 🙂
You can trade, but it's super tough to get all Seattle rotations because that means others are giving up the rotation. And coming from a student actually in the clinical years, I do not recommend it. You get to do much more and see what it is like to actually be each type of doctor by going into the wwami region. For example, I delivered 8 babies on my OB/GYN rotation. My Seattle colleagues got 1-2 at the most, with 0 occasionally happening.
You get to rank each site and say specifically what you would like to have and not have. On the very last sheet of the paper you give to clerkship assignment staff you can write a blurb about what you want most and what you are willing to give up. For me, I said I most wanted internal medicine in Seattle and wanted Family Medicine in Bremerton. I was given my top choices for those. But for surgery, I ranked Harborview number 18/20 and ended up with it. It's a trade off, getting something I didn't want but I got the two top ones I requested. It worked out in the end.
The school provides housing. It isn't always the nicest, but it is enough to give you what you need. In some places it is very much a nice place. For example, I crashed for the night in the Billings, MT housing and it was amazing. Huge house with 6-10 medical students staying there. There was a fridge full of beer that the students just kept contributing to and it was perpetually stocked, perfect for the day before the final studying break. I'm in Bremerton now and I have a single person apartment right next door to another medical student so we can visit each other when needed. It's super nice too with weekly cleaning. When I was in Sheridan, WY the housing wasn't that great, but I also couldn't complain. It was free and within 1 mile of the hospital, perfect for call since I could stay home and rush to the hospital within 5 minutes if needed.
Is all the school provided housing free, or just the less nice ones? This was fascinating to learn by the way, thanks for contributing!!!!
It depends on the site. Some of them are willing to let spouses come too. But you have to remember you will be a third/fourth year at the time and you free time is EXTREMELY limited. Even though I am on family medicine right now, I spend about 12 hours in clinic each day (day is only scheduled for 8-9) and then I have to study each night 2-3 hours to prep for the next day and the final. It works out better for me to have my own space, but my wife and I meet up every weekend either at my place or back in Seattle.
Luckily my wife has a job as a teacher and has made friends. But when we were picking out where we would live, I had to make sure she would be happy with the place if and when I was gone during third year. We currently rent a place with her sister which helps for when I am not there. Being away sucks, but it hasn't been too hard on our relationship. Plus, it's kind of prep for what to expect from residency. It lets them see what will happen and have a chance to say yes or no to that kind of lifestyle.
Almost all the housing outside of Seattle is free. The ones that are not free are for TRACK students who are living in a certain city for most of the year. Everyone else has their travel (either plane ticket or $0.50/mile by personal vehicle) and housing paid for by the school. So when I drove to Wyoming and back, I was reimbursed $500 to cover the hotels, gas and maintenance on my vehicle. It works out well. One of my friends has zero rotations in Seattle just so he can avoid paying rent the entire year. He also scouted out the clerkship site's student reviews to pick out whichever ones had the nicest reviews on the housing. I think he made a smart decision. haha
Congrats!
My husband is like that too. And so are our cats. Oh well 6 months outside of Seattle isn't THAT long anyway.
It's not, especially when outside Seattle can involve still living in Seattle and commuting. Heck, when I was doing surgery I practically wasn't emotionally involved in the marriage. It's hard to be when you work 18 hours, have an hour commute due to traffic and then sleep the other five hours of the day.
(waiting for confirmation email). Anyone else going to be interviewing with me that day? I would love to meet up with you guys!
Hi all of you lovely folks! 🙂
I'm OOR and I've submitted my preferred interview date for 1/22/15
Question for any seasoned folks: Is a late-January interview date considered 'late' in the cycle for Univ. of WA? Just hoping to gain some insight. Thanks bunches!!
Just received an II on Monday.
It does sound like a really unique opportunity to get to rotate in different facilities through the region! How are living situations then? Do they have apartments in each town where you can rent for jut a few weeks or you end up having to Airbnb/hostels/etc?
Also 4pm - I recommend going to lunch in UVille 🙂 actually at Elemental Pizza (great lunch special price) as I write this right now!!
Yep! They said we were the first interviewees to be told BC it got approved the night before
4 wksHow long did it take you guys to receive an email with a specific date after initial II? I was sent an II mid November and still haven't heard anything
There are reserved seats for TRUST. Don't worry about it. Plus, they haven't accepted that many students yet. About half the class comes from the March acceptance before the waitlist is created.
