All done! wooh!

[masterofmonkeys]

Just wanted to gloat at all you people who still have interviews to do.

I am having a tougher time than i thought deciding between my top 3, but I'm pretty excited all in all at what the future might hold, even if MGH, columbia, and UCSF don't love me.

Anyone else done and/or freaking out about ROLs as we speak?

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[triviaking]

hey congrats on being done! i have one more in january i'm looking forward to and that'll be it for me. ugh, but yup--i'm more freaking about my rank list than i am done with it...not sure what to do. ahhh. it'll all work itself out at the end though, eh?

Just wanted to gloat at all you people who still have interviews to do.

I am having a tougher time than i thought deciding between my top 3, but I'm pretty excited all in all at what the future might hold, even if MGH, columbia, and UCSF don't love me.

Anyone else done and/or freaking out about ROLs as we speak?

 

[futuredo32]

Congratulations on being done.

 

[2tall]

I'm done, too. It's a little unsettling. Programs I'll rank are so different and there's no clear winner in my mind.

Got a lot to think about.

 

[pseudodoc]

Congrats on having that part of the equation done, especially now that bad weather is establishing itself in many parts of the country. I almost got stuck in NY myself.

 

[dianamd]

Just wanted to gloat at all you people who still have interviews to do.

I am having a tougher time than i thought deciding between my top 3, but I'm pretty excited all in all at what the future might hold, even if MGH, columbia, and UCSF don't love me.

Anyone else done and/or freaking out about ROLs as we speak?

Yes, I'm done too.

Definitely having a hard time ranking my top programs... I am really thinking of, What's #1, what's #2... Very hard choice!

The way it looks now, I am going to basically be throwing a coin into the air to decide how to rank these programs. (not "freaking out" per se, but that's just not my style...)

 

[whopper]

The interview process being over was a very good feeling, especially for fellowship. I did a lot of unwanted travelling, and spent a lot of money during that process.

Both times I went through the process-1 for residency, 2-for the fellowship, both times came down to 2 places I wanted to go to, and I went through a period of about 2 weeks where I felt very uncomfortable that I'd make the wrong decision.

 

[espaceLumiere]

What's a ROL?

I'm pretty much done with interviews. I didn't get as many as I wanted, and I'll have 6-7 on my rank list.

For me, all the programs are all good in their own way. It's hard to decide, but since location plays a large role for me due to my girlfriend, that clears up the 1st and 2nd spot up for me.

After that, it gets hard- do I go to the place that I love but is far away from my girlfriend? Is 8hrs the same as 12hrs away? Which place has the lower cost of living so I can save up money to go visit her? Is that worth it?

 

[masterofmonkeys]

What's a ROL?

I'm pretty much done with interviews. I didn't get as many as I wanted, and I'll have 6-7 on my rank list.

For me, all the programs are all good in their own way. It's hard to decide, but since location plays a large role for me due to my girlfriend, that clears up the 1st and 2nd spot up for me.

After that, it gets hard- do I go to the place that I love but is far away from my girlfriend? Is 8hrs the same as 12hrs away? Which place has the lower cost of living so I can save up money to go visit her? Is that worth it?

ROL = Rank Order List

That's funny, I'm ranking programs higher the farther away from my girlfriend they are. I kid, I kid. Actually, I don't, unfortunately, which kinda sucks, but oh well.

As far as location issues, anything over about 5 hours driving = the suck. If I were working the day before (or the day) I left, and working the day after I came back, I would not want to drive it.

For cost of living:
http://www.bestplaces.net/col/

No easy answers when it comes to this kind of stuff. I don't mean to be a gloomy gladys, but on the interview trail, I met a lot of residents who chose where they ended up because of (unmarried) couples matching or staying near their boyfriend/girlfriend or where their boyfriend/girlfriend could get a job. To a person, every one of them was no longer with the person that they made their decision based on.

I know that's a pretty pessimistic view to take, but there you go. The ranking process is sucky and you make tradeoffs no matter where you choose to go unless you're very lucky. Personally I'd love to have a program that supported research, had a very strong child component, had (at the risk of Doc Samson screaming at me) light call, strong in mind-body interventions, strong psychotherapy training in IPT, CBT, and time-limited psychodynamic therapy, strong bioanthropology and exercise science programs at the associated university, I felt like I fit in, near my girlfriend, and was located in semi-rural texas but had an atmosphere like southern England. Guess what? Not gonna happen.

 

[2tall]

What's a ROL?

I'm pretty much done with interviews. I didn't get as many as I wanted, and I'll have 6-7 on my rank list.

For me, all the programs are all good in their own way. It's hard to decide, but since location plays a large role for me due to my girlfriend, that clears up the 1st and 2nd spot up for me.

After that, it gets hard- do I go to the place that I love but is far away from my girlfriend? Is 8hrs the same as 12hrs away? Which place has the lower cost of living so I can save up money to go visit her? Is that worth it?

1. Do you intend to marry her? Is she wife material?
2. It's 4 hours different , but you gotta plug it into this wicked formula depending on type of travel (x), call status , and wife-materiality (z). Either way it's still different.
3a. Highways travel in both directions. I'm sure gas 'ill be stable at a buck-fifty for the next eight years. 3b. Consider programs with scenic destinations halfway between the two of you (meet in the middle).
4. Depends on 1.

Ain't love grand.

 

[HCE]

1. Do you intend to marry her? Is she wife material?
2. It's 4 hours different , but you gotta plug it into this wicked formula depending on type of travel (x), call status , and wife-materiality (z). Either way it's still different.
3a. Highways travel in both directions. I'm sure gas 'ill be stable at a buck-fifty for the next eight years. 3b. Consider programs with scenic destinations halfway between the two of you (meet in the middle).
4. Depends on 1.

Ain't love grand.

"wife-materiality"...is this akin to husbandry?

 

[freaker]

It's a nice feeling to be done.

I've finished myself, and my top 2 didn't really resemble what I thought going into this process. I became a lot more serious with my girlfriend, and well, she has kids. When you start looking at cost of living for 4, places like Southern California, Seattle, South Florida, and the like start flying out the window.

In my mind's eye, it's pretty much criminal not to consider buying a home now at these prices and interest rates, especially with two people working.

Best of luck to all!

 

[dakinibean]

I'm thinking about buying, too. However, it looks like housing prices may drop through 2009 or 2010, and interest rates look to stay low. I'm not an expert at all, but *if* you're only going to be somewhere for four years, and the house might depreciate for the first year or two, buying isn't necessarily the right answer.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/30/real_estate/October_Case_Shiller/?postversion=2008123014

(The Case-Shiller has a two-month lag, so the October data came out Dec 30th).

 

[masterofmonkeys]

I would expect housing prices to continue to drop for at least another year or two.

You have to remember that the housing bubble is a more specific phenomenon than the generalized recession (whether it caused it or merely exacerbated it is up for debate).

Housing prices were pushed up by artificially high demand. This demand was a result of unsustainably 'cheap' (at least at first look) mortgages and a severe lack of rationality in the homebuyers' market. Between the Community Reinvestment Act, Fanny and Freddy's virtual government guarantee, issues with HUD, subprime and adjustable rate mortgages, etc, people who wouldn't have otherwise been in the market for homes were. And people who were in the market set their heights higher than they should have. Just because you can get a loan doesn't mean you should. And just because the bank will offer that much doesn't mean you should take it. It was both a bipartisan and nonpartisan effort, IMO, just to forestall any devolution of this thread into political bickering.

Basically, people acted like they had more money to spend than they did. That's not in doubt. That's why foreclosures rose. That's why market values dropped.

So especially with housing we're looking at a situation where demand is lower because of a recession, but also where the rules of demand are being reset (and hopefully will be allowed to reset). I wouldn't expect an especially fast correction (i.e. stabilization in home prices) all that soon. And that's not even looking at the other facet of this, which is the credit card debt crisis (see above for why).

There is the question of inflation though, especially with the government printing money under Bush and likely to continue to do so under Obama. If real value goes down at the same time as inflation goes up, the dollar price of the house could go down, stay the same, or even increase depending on how it balances out. *shrug*

 

[2tall]

"wife-materiality"...is this akin to husbandry?

Certainly not.

Wouldn't want PETA to get involved now would we

 

[2tall]

I'm thinking about buying, too. However, it looks like housing prices may drop through 2009 or 2010, and interest rates look to stay low. I'm not an expert at all, but *if* you're only going to be somewhere for four years, and the house might depreciate for the first year or two, buying isn't necessarily the right answer.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/30/real_estate/October_Case_Shiller/?postversion=2008123014

(The Case-Shiller has a two-month lag, so the October data came out Dec 30th).

Yes, you really should add up the actual cost. Get out your calculator and crunch the numbers to see if it's worth it.

If you plan on staying for 10 years, that's one thing.

Good friend of mine bought her home 4 years ago before the credit crumbled. She's now relocating or work after several foreclosures in her community. Value of the house...not so good + this ain't exactly a seller's market.

Word of caution. Look before you leap particularly if you're moving to a city where you have no idea of its communities and market dynamics. Start your research yesterday if you're moving in June.

 

[whopper]

I would expect housing prices to continue to drop for at least another year or two.

Jim Cramer called the housing market bottom to the day...

June 30, 2009

The following link explains his logic.
http://www.thestreet.com/s/cramer-m...analysis/investing/10434379.html?puc=_htmlatb

Is Cramer right? That's for you to decide. I do though think you ought to read his reasoning & at least factor his thoughts. I've seen Cramer wrong on things before, but IMHO its because he has the balls to give you his specifics & explain his reasoning, instead of giving vagueries and then being able to claim he never gave anything specific. A lot of media investor types do the latter which is IMHO pretty much worthless. Anyone doing the first is of course going to be wrong at times.

Real estate also varies per locality. There are good websites that can tell you how the local county real estate market is doing.

 

[dianamd]

Jim Cramer called the housing market bottom to the day...

June 30, 2009

The following link explains his logic.
http://www.thestreet.com/s/cramer-m...analysis/investing/10434379.html?puc=_htmlatb

Is Cramer right? That's for you to decide. I do though think you ought to read his reasoning & at least factor his thoughts. I've seen Cramer wrong on things before, but IMHO its because he has the balls to give you his specifics & explain his reasoning, instead of giving vagueries and then being able to claim he never gave anything specific. A lot of media investor types do the latter which is IMHO pretty much worthless. Anyone doing the first is of course going to be wrong at times.

Real estate also varies per locality. There are good websites that can tell you how the local county real estate market is doing.

Jim Cramer is an idiot. His recommendations perform worse than the market average -- just investing in a general mutual fund is better than taking his advice. I think he was pushing Lehman within one week before its collapse -- that's the kind of advice and poor analysis that will make you broke.

Housing prices dropped about 25% nation-wide last year (only 9% for poor old NYC). They may continue to drop a bit, but then stabalize... Nobody knows for sure and it will also depend on the economic recovery plan in Congress.

I just had to reply to say, please don't listen to Jim Cramer.