3rd year Temple pod student ask me anything

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rushrhees

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Hey everyone as the title says feel free to ask anything, figured I used this forum a lot when I was applying so it is always time to return the favor. Anyway hit me up if any questions about Temple, podiatry or what ever.
 
Where did you live during your first year? Do you have any advice for incoming students next fall?

Any areas of philly to stay away from? I've heard the TUSPM gym isn't that great, does the school provide a membership or discounted membership at a nearby gym?

Do most people study at home or are there places on campus suitable for quiet study?

Anything you wished you knew about Temple/Philly/Pod school before you started?
 
Podseidon said:
Where did you live during your first year? Do you have any advice for incoming students next fall?
Any areas of philly to stay away from? I've heard the TUSPM gym isn't that great, does the school provide a membership or discounted membership at a nearby gym?
Do most people study at home or are there places on campus suitable for quiet study?
Anything you wished you knew about Temple/Philly/Pod school before you started?
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I lived in the dorms the first and 2nd year and now live in Chinatown about a block away from campus. The dorms served their purpose and are good for meeting other people, but I went in with Chinatown as you can get spots there for about $500-600 a month per person if you are sharing a two bedroom.
The gym at TUSPM is small, think of like a better hotel gym. In all actuality it has everything you need. The main campus gym is decent and only a few subway stops away. AFAIK there is no discount on local gyms.
As for studying it is a mix. Some study at home, some study in the library or study lounges, and some study in the center city campus (they have a whole bldg downtown that I heard is usually not that full, usually can find your own study room) and others study at random places in the city. All in all you will likely find something that fits your needs.

For areas of the city to stay away from, yes there are certainly bad areas but you can usually tell right away as it just gets sketchy immediatly. Really though any bad areas you really would not have a reason to go or do anything in them. Most of philly that you will actually be is totally fine.
Finally anything I wish I knew before coming to TUSPM, I really can not say much. I researched everything left and right and I guess stuff worked out. Just make sure you can be happy doing this job and stuff works out

As for beating UCF the other week, we need any victory we can get. The team has been aweful for ever, so if you come here get used to cheering for the owls
 
rushrhees said:
I lived in the dorms the first and 2nd year and now live in Chinatown about a block away from campus. The dorms served their purpose and are good for meeting other people, but I went in with Chinatown as you can get spots there for about $500-600 a month per person if you are sharing a two bedroom.
The gym at TUSPM is small, think of like a better hotel gym. In all actuality it has everything you need. The main campus gym is decent and only a few subway stops away. AFAIK there is no discount on local gyms.
As for studying it is a mix. Some study at home, some study in the library or study lounges, and some study in the center city campus (they have a whole bldg downtown that I heard is usually not that full, usually can find your own study room) and others study at random places in the city. All in all you will likely find something that fits your needs.

For areas of the city to stay away from, yes there are certainly bad areas but you can usually tell right away as it just gets sketchy immediatly. Really though any bad areas you really would not have a reason to go or do anything in them. Most of philly that you will actually be is totally fine.
Finally anything I wish I knew before coming to TUSPM, I really can not say much. I researched everything left and right and I guess stuff worked out. Just make sure you can be happy doing this job and stuff works out

As for beating UCF the other week, we need any victory we can get. The team has been aweful for ever, so if you come here get used to cheering for the owls
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Much appreciated thank you for taking the time to do this! I'll keep posting here as questions come up.
 
rushrhees said:
The team has been aweful for ever
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Well as a student with a team who is 0-8, I take that quite offensively from someone whose team is on an undefeated streak -_-

To take actual advantage of you willing to do this though, I'm planning to graduate in 2017 Spring/matriculate Fall 2017 and trying to weigh the options between all the schools. As far as admission chance is for me, as long as I can keep everything up I am doing now Im pretty confident I can get into (hopefully) which ever school I chose so I'm trying be best to find out more and more about each school.

So overall what made you chose Temple? Being from Florida my main choice right now is Barry for some personal reasons, but I really don't want to just throw away the possibility of other schools if I find it would truly be worth while to chose another (obviously this becomes largely personal though). Gonna' just throw a bunch of follow-up questions out there so sorry if it seems like a barrage of junk text here...

1) How was the transition to Temple? One of my worries moving so far out of state is that the adjustment will be big enough struggle that it will affect schooling, so does the area around Temple have enough of an inviting feel/things to do? Also I notice you mentioned price range for a 2 bed, how expensive would you say the area is overall, as it food/traveling/various expenses? Im really curious about the Philadelphia area and wan't to know if it's a crazy big-city feel or more relaxed. Also how's the weather?
B) Now that you've been in Temple for 3 years, have you had any chances to talk to students from other PodSchools and found out if any notions you had about the school prior to joining turned out to be true or false?
III) Any tips for someone who is interested in the possibility of applying to Temple? Anything you wish you could have checked out or asked the school or found out about the area before hand? As well if you remember, how was your Temple interview?
Cuatro) How do you feel about your relationship with the other students? Does the school foster more of a camaraderie between students or does it become a competitive feeling between everyone? (though I know this could always come down to how the students themselves are and less about the school per se)
The Fiff') Seriously, what the hell you guys are undefeated and we're 0-8 please trade teams with us please!?!?
 
I went to TUSPM for the hands on clinic experience. No matter how much of a hot shot doctor you think you might be everyone makes mistakes as they are learning to become a doctor. To me I would rather get the mistakes out of the system and learn on home turf versus going on endless externships, plus you do actually get to see some cool stuff in clinic. Because of this I immediately gravitated to TUSPM and NYCPM. For a number of reasons (one of which I would get nothing done if I lived in NYC I love that city too much)
As for philly it self rent can be pricy, but not terrible I pay $550 after utilities for rent, which you are in a major east coast city so it is just a fact of life. Getting around otherwise is not expensive at all if you live near campus. I rarely take public transit as everything is walkable, but when I do take an Uber it is usually $5-7. Food is going to be similar to other cities; you can get a dodgy $3 cheese steak from a food cart all the way up to a $200 15 course dinner with the significant other. As for weather, I am from Chicago so it is an upgrade for me. It has been colder and more snow here in the last few years than what is normal. It ranges from 30s to low 20s. First year we had several snow days which are actually fun, we usually just went out the whole day.
Philly is not as overwhelming of a city than Chicago New York or LA nor is it very pretentious. There are people from all over the area and most have taken a liking to our city.
As said I am from Chicago and there are about 4 in our class from Florida most of the florida people chose TUSPM over Barry for the same reason
2. Never really met any other pod students much yet, I suppose in externships will finally meet other. I did interview at all the other schools except Barry and the one in San Francisco. I would say all of them have bright and dim students, if you are willing to put in work any school will work out. Every school claims they are the Harvard of podiatry, in the end we really end up at the same spot. As for knowing stuff before hand I researched the crap out of everything, I went knowing what to expect. The interview it self is fairly chill, most of the interviewers just will ask the like of why podiatry Unless there are red flags in your application it will be super easy.
Among students comraderie is fairly good, yes there are cliques but those are bound to be anywhere. We do have socials where a good amount of the class will still come out, and even then we just get random big outings here and there. I have had a lot of fun here and met a lot of good people. We really do not have many gunners, most in the top of the class are very willing to help out.

The world has been upended with you all 0-8 didn't you win a championship in 2014. A good friend of mine in our class is a UCF alum and I remember watching at his apartment
 
rushrhees said:
I pay $550 after utilities for rent...
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That's fairly average rent compared to prices here in Tampa, FL! Do you live by yourself or a roommate(s)?
 
4 brdrm with 3 other people. There are 2 bedrooms in chinatown for about 500-700 a person if you share that
 
How do we apply for graduate housing? Will we need to be given a temple ID first or do we need to just fill out an online application?
 
Hey thank you so much for the detailed reply man! Gotta say it really makes me more open to putting more consideration to other schools besides Barry 🙂

rushrhees said:
The world has been upended with you all 0-8 didn't you win a championship in 2014. A good friend of mine in our class is a UCF alum and I remember watching at his apartment
Click to expand...

We went from 8-3 last year to 0-8 now, and our head coach literally just stepped down yesterday. There's a rumor going around that we're just playing the long hustle until we play our last game against USF (rival team). Also we re-defined "rumor" to mean "preposterous dream" so take that with a grain of salt i guess...
 
I do my banking with a local bank. Which one is closest and most convenient for tuspm students? BoA?
 
Podseidon said:
I do my banking with a local bank. Which one is closest and most convenient for tuspm students? BoA?
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When you initially set up financial aid, Temple has PNC as the default bank where your money is deposited. However, you can change that. I use BoA too and there is a main branch on Chestnut St. (about a 8 minute walk from campus)
 
Kate2 said:
When you initially set up financial aid, Temple has PNC as the default bank where your money is deposited. However, you can change that. I use BoA too and there is a main branch on Chestnut St. (about a 8 minute walk from campus)
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Thanks!
 
Did you feel like Temple gave you a good base of knowledge going into boards? The clinic is what has me considering TUSPM, I just want to make sure I can actually get there. I know the %s are high, but will I have a good start going into boards prep?

Obviously we are expected to do well on our own without constantly berating our professors, but if I need help, is it easily available? Arizona/Kent talked up their tutoring/open-door services, but at Temple it was kind of, "some professors offer open-door, and we could get you a tutor if absolutely necessary."

Was the out-of-date Anatomy lab an issue when taking Gross/Lower? Does an updated lab really make a difference?
 
DamnCroissants said:
Did you feel like Temple gave you a good base of knowledge going into boards? The clinic is what has me considering TUSPM, I just want to make sure I can actually get there. I know the %s are high, but will I have a good start going into boards prep?

Obviously we are expected to do well on our own without constantly berating our professors, but if I need help, is it easily available? Arizona/Kent talked up their tutoring/open-door services, but at Temple it was kind of, "some professors offer open-door, and we could get you a tutor if absolutely necessary."

Was the out-of-date Anatomy lab an issue when taking Gross/Lower? Does an updated lab really make a difference?
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First year here. The other guy will have to touch on the boards question.

Temple has an honor society called Stirling-Harford and they offer tutoring to the first years like once or twice a month for classes. I went to a session and it was pretty helpful. Honestly, you will find a group of students to study with and someone will be able to answer your questions. For example, a friend of mine completely kills anatomy so a lot of people go to him for help. I've never heard of a one on one tutor here. From my experience, I've only gone to see professors for my Biochem and Histology class and the professors were very helpful. I just go in during office hours or schedule outside that time. I have had no issues.

Our anatomy lab is out-dated compared to other schools. It would be very helpful to have cameras/ TVs during dissections when the professors are there and for hard dissections, but not outside of dissection time. During lab the professors will be talking to one table and a lot of people huddle around the table and try to listen. It would be nice to have a TV so I could stay at my own table and be able to see clearly what they were describing. However, IMO anatomy is a class where you teach yourself especially with identifying structures and you do that on your own time. Outside of scheduled lab I normally go in with 1 or 2 people so there isn't any real need for cameras then. I would say having an out-of-date anatomy has NOT hurt my learning at all and I'm willing to bet I know my anatomy just as well or even better compared to students at other schools.
 
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Any chance you could tell why you chose temple also Kate2? (and if so, which other schools did you visit and could compare what you saw between them?)
 
I missed the application deadline for Temple's winter internship , hoping to do the summer version though! Temple's seems to have the most to offer out of all the internships, I think it's the longest too. I would try to apply to the DMU one as well but from what I can tell it's only a single day...
 
TheCzechShrek said:
I missed the application deadline for Temple's winter internship , hoping to do the summer version though! Temple's seems to have the most to offer out of all the internships, I think it's the longest too. I would try to apply to the DMU one as well but from what I can tell it's only a single day...
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The open houses are a good way to check out the school. Won't have the same shadowing experience like the internship, but a good way to cast your feelers. We just had an open house on the 21st and the next one is in the spring on April 9th.
http://podiatry.temple.edu/admissions/visit
 
did you enjoy your student life experience at Temple and being in Philly?
 
What is the overall feel of temple? Does it feel like a big dedicated school ? dedicated library? Dedicated teachers?
 
Thanks for the feedback folks. At Temple, I think I read that the curriculum has made some changes. Can you provide feedback on this? Also, as some/all of the professors teach at the medical school and at a different campus, are they still readily available with office hours/emails? Finally, are there active interest groups such as ACFAS?
 
How was the application process?
 
How much was it to apply to temple?
 
esamoham said:
How much was it to apply to temple?
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There is no cost other than the application fee itself. There is a $1000 deposit to reserve your seat in the class, but that's for every school.
 
Podseidon said:
There is no cost other than the application fee itself. There is a $1000 deposit to reserve your seat in the class, but that's for every school.[/QUOTE
Ok a couple of questions and i appreciate your feedback. When is the earliest you can apply? How long after you applied did you get your first interview? How much was the application fee? Did you mail your LOR after you apply or before?
Again thank you so much.
Click to expand...
 
Ok a couple of questions and i appreciate your feedback. When is the earliest you can apply? How long after you applied did you get your first interview? How much was the application fee? Did you mail your LOR after you apply or before?
Again thank you so much.
 
esamoham said:
Ok a couple of questions and i appreciate your feedback. When is the earliest you can apply? How long after you applied did you get your first interview? How much was the application fee? Did you mail your LOR after you apply or before?
Again thank you so much.
Click to expand...

If you look at the 2015-16 app cycle thread you can find out when many people applied and also when we all got our first interviews. I applied August 7th and received my first interview invite August 28th for Temple. Others got interview from NYCPM a bit earlier.

I don't remember the specifics for the prices but you can find the answers to most of your questions here: http://www.aacpm.org/apply/apply.asp

I sent my LOR through Interfolio right after I applied.
 
rushrhees said:
Hey everyone as the title says feel free to ask anything, figured I used this forum a lot when I was applying so it is always time to return the favor. Anyway hit me up if any questions about Temple, podiatry or what ever.
Click to expand...
(1) what is the competition like to get into the top specialties of pods?
(2) in terms of research, what is available to you at Temple?
(3) what's the clinical experience like?
(4) dumb question, but don't kill me - so from first year, it's all entirely about the feet? you don't learn anything else, like a semester or two in pharm, full anatomy, biomechanics?
(5) what advice would you give someone trying to get to where you're at?
 
Podseidon said:
If you look at the 2015-16 app cycle thread you can find out when many people applied and also when we all got our first interviews. I applied August 7th and received my first interview invite August 28th for Temple. Others got interview from NYCPM a bit earlier.

I don't remember the specifics for the prices but you can find the answers to most of your questions here: http://www.aacpm.org/apply/apply.asp

I sent my LOR through Interfolio right after I applied.
Click to expand...

You the man podseidon!
 
Kate2 said:
1. Earliest is when the cycle opens in like August.

2. I applied in November, but didnt get an interview until April because I took my MCAT in Jan and got them back in Feb.

3. Application fee was like $50 with a $1000 seat deposit that is applied to tuition.

4. I mailed my LOR when I applied through Interfolio.
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Ty Kate but the $1000 deposit is only after you are accepted...correct?
 
I have a couple questions id like to ask a current Temple pod student. Is there anyone on here i could private message or i can post them in here for anyone to answer? Im deciding between Temple and NYCPM and I'm really stuck between the two.
 
bschlak728 said:
I have a couple questions id like to ask a current Temple pod student. Is there anyone on here i could private message or i can post them in here for anyone to answer? Im deciding between Temple and NYCPM and I'm really stuck between the two.
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Just post here. They will see it.

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Are there any summer breaks in between semesters or is pod school year round?


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They told us at our Temple interview that we only get our first Summer off. Other than that there are the usual holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas/Winter break, Spring break, etc.). Not sure how the other schools do it.

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esamoham said:
Are there any summer breaks in between semesters or is pod school year round?


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First years summer break is 2 months basically June 1 - Aug 1
 
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bobtheweazel said:
They told us at our Temple interview that we only get our first Summer off. Other than that there are the usual holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas/Winter break, Spring break, etc.). Not sure how the other schools do it.

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I know at Midwestern we only get two weeks off in may. Classes go year round for us.
 
Podman16 said:
I know at Midwestern we only get two weeks off in may. Classes go year round for us.
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*This Summer break goes out to all my homies in Arizona that couldn't make it*

1465188630062.jpg


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You guys are the best.


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Kent goes full year round too. Pour one out for us too
 
(1) can I have your textbooks, old notes, old exams?

(2) can you get me a Temple podiatry t-shirt?

(3) what was it like adjusting your study strategy from undergrad for pod school?

(4) even though you got in and made it to 3rd year, do you / did have any doubts at times?

(5) since one cant work during pod school, you got any money tips / advice? Textbook purchasing, living on vs. Off campus, white coats, other materials

(6) how competitive is it? Is everyone trying to get into like the top 50 among the class?

(7) how much math is involved overall? Like for biomechanics will you be doing math on the level of physics and calc? Or would decent - strong algebra skills suffice for the 4 years of pod school?

(8) what would you do differently if you were a freshman again?

(9) strong memorization is the key / secret. Can you confirm or deny?

(10) What's the scene like for minorities at temple podiatry? Are there a lot of African Americans (relatively speaking)? Or even better, how many are in your class or year? 5 or more, or less?

(11) convince me to come to temple instead of NYCPM or DMU. What does temple have that those two don't? (I'll save money by attending NYCPM and commuting from home!)
 
1)Do Podiatry students take the same tests as the MD students since the professors are at times the same? If so, is there a curve?

2)How many externships can we do before CRIPS?

3)Whats a typical 1st year schedule like?

4) Do all of the classes start the first week of school or is it a scattered course schedule where a course like biochem is started in September?

5) Do you feel the basic science courses prepared you for the boards?

6)Are test are average given weekly, biweekly or monthly?

7) Would pre-reading now help in terms of grasping once classes start?


Thank you for all your help...
 
Pod2020 said:
1)Do Podiatry students take the same tests as the MD students since the professors are at times the same? If so, is there a curve?

2)How many externships can we do before CRIPS?

3)Whats a typical 1st year schedule like?

4) Do all of the classes start the first week of school or is it a scattered course schedule where a course like biochem is started in September?

5) Do you feel the basic science courses prepared you for the boards?

6)Are test are average given weekly, biweekly or monthly?

7) Would pre-reading now help in terms of grasping once classes start?


Thank you for all your help...
Click to expand...

You could've looked up a lot of this by yourself. A lot of it is also already answered in past threads on here.

1) Answered previously on a thread or in the Podiatry Student forum. Some curve and some don't. If you are at a school that is cross-taught with DO students, you are graded based on the same rigor/scale.

2) http://podiatry.temple.edu/academics/curriculum-and-residencies/fourth-year

3) http://podiatry.temple.edu/academics/curriculum-and-residencies/first-year

4) http://podiatry.temple.edu/academics/curriculum-and-residencies/first-year

5) Boards have been a hit and miss. Most liked comment in Podiatry Student forum was if you studied your butt off 1st and 2nd year and reviewed for boards, you'd pass. Overall impression of them was terrible. This is more so due to the questions being written and less to do with preparation by the school. Some schools have marginally lower 1st time pass rates than others.

6) Also mentioned in a thread on Podiatry Student forum. IIRC one student was working through an exam per week. The pace is fast.

7) Mentioned several times in other threads. Highest liked comments were take anatomy/phys if you can. Other than that, its very different in terms of course load from undergrad so if you got in, just enjoy your summer off. A background in histology/neuro helps but is not required.

I know you're new to this forum because you've only got 1 post and you joined today as well, but please take the time to Google/read through the other threads before posting questions. Self-research before asking is a good sign you're taking the profession seriously instead of jumping ship from another one.
 
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