AZCOM Class of 2008

[LukeWhite]

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Pooh,

Letter grades aren't really real at AZCOM. Since we don't have any sort of honor system that I know of, whatever letter grades they put on your form will correlate with the standard 90-100, 80-90, etc scale. Keep in mind that grades per se are meaningless; class rank is the important factor, and you won't know that until the end of second year.

As for the ICM, who knows what they'll do this year now that the kind and very underappreciated staff has been reassigned, but I'd recommend reading your Mosby's--he took at least a few questions last year straight from the text.

 

[Pooh Chong]

As for the ICM, who knows what they'll do this year now that the kind and very underappreciated staff has been reassigned, but I'd recommend reading your Mosby's--he took at least a few questions last year straight from the text.

What do you mean by reassigned? The staff is different?

When you say the standard 90-100, 80-90...do you mean that there are only A's and B's...no plus or minus? I'd be soooo happy if this was true as I interpreted it!

 

[LukeWhite]

Well, unless there's been a change, there are no letter grades at all. Sometimes you'll see one on the score report you're handed back, but there's no letter grade system per se. In other words, there's no real difference between someone who gets an 89.9 and someone who gets a 90.1. The numbers go into the class rankings, and so there's no advantage (unless I'm missing something) in just making the cutoff, and no disadvantage in just missing it.

Re. ICM--the person who wrote the tests and organized the class for Dr Schwartz last year no longer works in that department. It'll probably be tough to get advice from previous classes because of this. If it's like last year, it's a matter of memorizing every detail you possibly can. I rewrote all the horrid powerpoints into two-or-three page summaries of key points I stapled to the top of each exam, and this served me pretty well throughout the year.

 

[azcomdiddy]

Pooh,

Letter grades aren't really real at AZCOM. Since we don't have any sort of honor system that I know of, whatever letter grades they put on your form will correlate with the standard 90-100, 80-90, etc scale. Keep in mind that grades per se are meaningless; class rank is the important factor, and you won't know that until the end of second year.

As for the ICM, who knows what they'll do this year now that the kind and very underappreciated staff has been reassigned, but I'd recommend reading your Mosby's--he took at least a few questions last year straight from the text.

You are given percentages in each class and an overall percentage. If you get an 90% in a class you won't get an A- on your transcript. It will just show 90%. All those percentages are then averaged together to determine class rank.

For all intensive purposes, class rank means nothing if you aren't in the top 20%. No one really cares about class rank anyway but they could really care less if you are in the top 50% vs. the top 30%. And if a program truly weighs class rank at all, it's usually one of the surgical subspecialties, derm or rads and they typically look for students in the top 10% of the class. For most people, class rank won't and shouldn't be an issue for them. You should focus on your board scores. If you get a 250+ on Step 1; that is by far better than being ranked 1st in your class and having an average Step 1 score. What is sad is that many people at AZCOM have really high overall averages. I knew someone who had a 99% overall. Amazing! If you don't have a 90% overall by the end of your second year, then you shouldn't worry about your class rank because it won't matter. Prepare for the boards instead.

 

[jgrady]

Re. ICM--the person who wrote the tests and organized the class for Dr Schwartz last year no longer works in that department. It'll probably be tough to get advice from previous classes because of this. If it's like last year, it's a matter of memorizing every detail you possibly can. I rewrote all the horrid powerpoints into two-or-three page summaries of key points I stapled to the top of each exam, and this served me pretty well throughout the year.

I looked through some of the old tests tonight for kicks and was amazed at how much relevant information was tested that we've never seen. ICM is the most disorganized class we have. It's a disappointment that it isn't structured more like OMM lectures and labs.

I also got through our McGee and most of Mosby's reading assignments tonight. Pretty boring stuff with lots of meaningless stats (McGee) and scary pictures (Mosby). I am certain we've learned a more about evidence-based medicine in one Biochem workshop than the McGee will teach us all this quarter.

Anyway, the Prof has repeatedly emphasized that we aren't going to be tested on the pathology. This would be great since he doesn't teach it. We just get terminology thrown at us in rapid fire fashion. However, I'm relying on those comments. Based on past tests, uppperclassmen's testimony and his teaching style I'm betting that a 70 will be easy (just study the slides) but a 90+ will be difficult unless your a really good guesser on random multiple choice questions. If they really tested what we've learned in ICM it would a practical test in any case.

Pooh Chong, on Biochem I think the average was surprisingly high, around the 85% Dr. Yueh mentioned before the short answer had been averaged in. Most of the people I've talked to, including me, were surprised with beter scores than anticipated.

 

[irish79]

85% is a high average? It seems pretty "average" to me...

 

[rahulazcom]

85% is a high average? It seems pretty "average" to me...

That's good to hear. 🙂

 

[Pooh Chong]

so what does it take to be in the top 10% / 20% / 25% of your class? What type of overall grades do you need? Anyone got any thoughts?

So how important are these class ranks? I know board scores and rotation evaluations are the biggest factors...but where does class rank fill in?

by the way, thanks for clarifying class percentages...and rank...i had no clue.

 

[VentdependenT]

ICM isn't worth many credits if memory serves me right. Don't sweat it too much.

 

[azcomdiddy]

so what does it take to be in the top 10% / 20% / 25% of your class? What type of overall grades do you need? Anyone got any thoughts?

So how important are these class ranks? I know board scores and rotation evaluations are the biggest factors...but where does class rank fill in?

by the way, thanks for clarifying class percentages...and rank...i had no clue.

It depends on your class. Typically 95% overall average and up will get you into the top 10% of the class. 90% and up will get you into the top 20%. You will be suprised how hard it is to rank in the top 10 at AZCOM.

Class rank is important for matching in DO residencies more than Allo. Allo fields look at USMLE Step I and II scores more than class rank by a mile.

 

[LukeWhite]

Another consideration is that there are no longer honors for rotations at AZCOM. They really haven't explained this well, so I'm fuzzy on the details, but grades for the first two years are now a bit more important than they were.

But like azcomdiddy said: If you're looking to go into a competitive program, you can't really afford to slack at all anyway. If you're interested in a less attractive specialty, class rank isn't all that. I have a rather pleasant life gunning for 50-60th percentile, and the stress level is minimal. There are definite advantages to a primary care track.

 

[novacek88]

Another consideration is that there are no longer honors for rotations at AZCOM. They really haven't explained this well, so I'm fuzzy on the details, but grades for the first two years are now a bit more important than they were.

But like azcomdiddy said: If you're looking to go into a competitive program, you can't really afford to slack at all anyway. If you're interested in a less attractive specialty, class rank isn't all that. I have a rather pleasant life gunning for 50-60th percentile, and the stress level is minimal. There are definite advantages to a primary care track.

It is a screwed up system. Apparently we can get up to a "4" on our rotations if we answer so many questions correctly on our "shelf" exam or something to that degree. That "4" is somehow calculated into our GPA, but your class rank is established at the end of second year which is bogus in my opinion. Someone can be incredible in pre-clinicals and be a terribe student during clinicals and still graduate first in the class.

That is the beauty of primary care fields, they tend to weigh other things more importantly than just the numbers even the most competitive ones. And I'm still not sure how allopathic programs view DO class rank?

 

[Pooh Chong]

It depends on your class. Typically 95% overall average and up will get you into the top 10% of the class. 90% and up will get you into the top 20%. You will be suprised how hard it is to rank in the top 10 at AZCOM.

Class rank is important for matching in DO residencies more than Allo. Allo fields look at USMLE Step I and II scores more than class rank by a mile.

Yeah, that is scary! Those averages are scary....*shakes head*

So do you guys think there is a correlation between class rank and/or gpa to your COMLEX / USMLE score?

What are shelf exams? Where do you take them? Are they really hard? All clinical questions? Multiple choice?

My unfortunate situation is that I don't know which area of medicine I want to go into....ugh...

 

[LukeWhite]

The upperclassmen will be able to give you a better picture of this, but my impression is that second year is really the big determining factor for boards. Big first year classes like anatomy aren't represented that much on either set of boards. I've stepped up my studying dramatically this year with that in mind--we don't get much time off to study for boards, so you have to really hit the ground running.

I would recommend studying from board review books in addition to your textbooks first year; this is something I didn't do that I wish I had. With the exception of physiology! For some inexplicable reason your assigned textbook is a board review book. This, in my opinion, is criminally insufficient. Get yourself a nice thick Berne and Levy along with the BRS book to study from when phys. rolls around, particularly since some profs have a habit of taking their underexplained diagrams straight from B&L. Physiology strikes me as AZCOM's glaring weakness, with the exception of one professor. It's really foundational for most every other class you'll take, and I felt a little shortchanged by it. You may have to do some studying in a depth exceeding what you're given to have a really solid USMLE foundation.

Shelf exams are a semi-standardized way of testing whether you've gotten what you should have out of a given rotation. So long as you know your stuff, it is, I gather, less stressful than preclinicals. If you do want to put in thought for 3rd and 4th years now, consider where you might like to do rotations...even if you don't know what type of med you want to practice, getting a few ideas and then finding good teaching hospitals in your spare time will make the process easier in second year. A good summer project.

 

[novacek88]

Yeah, that is scary! Those averages are scary....*shakes head*

So do you guys think there is a correlation between class rank and/or gpa to your COMLEX / USMLE score?

What are shelf exams? Where do you take them? Are they really hard? All clinical questions? Multiple choice?

My unfortunate situation is that I don't know which area of medicine I want to go into....ugh...

No, I did really well on both Step 1 (243) and COMLEX (95%) and I'm not in the top 30% of the class. I just studied really hard for those exams. I had a tough first quarter. I'm a 4th year and I still don't understand how our grades in 3rd and 4th year affect us. It's weird.

 

[Pooh Chong]

No, I did really well on both Step 1 (243) and COMLEX (95%) and I'm not in the top 30% of the class. I just studied really hard for those exams. I had a tough first quarter. I'm a 4th year and I still don't understand how our grades in 3rd and 4th year affect us. It's weird.

So why is it that there isn't a tighter correlation from gpa to board score? I mean, your gpa is supposed to be a representation of how much you know...and your board exams are supposed to be a test over material you were should have learned in your first two years. What am I missing?

Of course, I'd like to be top 10%...even top 20%...but I don't want to stress out and all the time!

 

[LukeWhite]

Anatomy's a huge part of the curriculum and doesn't appear much (at least by itself) on the boards. Moreover, it's the sort of class that rewards hard work more than it does critical thinking. So that introduces a bit of dissonance between GPA and board scores.

Likewise with many other classes to a lesser degree. When you factor in all our clinical courses (3 credits for ICM, 1.5-2 for Topics, etc) you start to get a pretty big chunk of GPA determined by classes that are capricious and again reward detail-memorization rather than board-centric critical thinking.

The impression I get is that the very top of the class is filled with brilliant people who study very hard. A little lower down there are smart people who study impossibly hard. But there are plenty of incredibly intelligent people who don't study too terribly much, but will, like others before them, do very well on boards because they have the basic facts and critical thinking skills necessary to translate BRS/QBank/etc prep to points on the test. Study to *understand*, and though you might have to sacrifice some short term GPA, it really does help on the standardized testing.

 

[bla_3x]

Luke has a great point. study to understand . I have friends, 3rd and 4th years now, at a few different schools who were of two types:
1) Studied like crazy to memorize the vast amounts of minutiae that went along with biochem, phys, etc. They did exceptionally well in class (like 100% or better on ?every? exam), and scored just over the mean on the boards.
2) Focused their studies on really grasping the principles of pre-clinical medicine?really studied to put things into their long-term memory. These guys went on to do very well on the boards (80s and 90s, percentile ranges). The funny thing was that the later group studied at a much lower stress level come April. Ideally, you would LOVE to be a mix of these two?and to those people I tip my hat.

As far as the relative importance of rank vs. GPA, I think that it was mentioned somewhere above, it really depends on the specialty/specific program that you are considering. For example, EM at Maricopa tends to look more for rank than GPA (as per one of the attendings at the program). Of course, boards are always important.

 

[jgrady]

No, I did really well on both Step 1 (243) and COMLEX (95%) and I'm not in the top 30% of the class. I just studied really hard for those exams. I had a tough first quarter. I'm a 4th year and I still don't understand how our grades in 3rd and 4th year affect us. It's weird.

Anyone have a suggestion for integrated study aids that would be useful for the summer between MSI and MSII? MSII sounds really busy (Path and Pharm) without trying to add COMPLEX/USMLE review on top of it. So in between research or electives and researching MSIII rotations, it would be cool to have audio tapes (ala Examkrackers Audio Osmosis) for commuting or a PC-based self-study course for the pre-clinical stuff.

Worse than not having some of the important stuff in one's long-term memory banks is not knowing what you have or don't have in there.

 

[novacek88]

Luke has a great point. study to understand . I have friends, 3rd and 4th years now, at a few different schools who were of two types:
1) Studied like crazy to memorize the vast amounts of minutiae that went along with biochem, phys, etc. They did exceptionally well in class (like 100% or better on ?every? exam), and scored just over the mean on the boards.
2) Focused their studies on really grasping the principles of pre-clinical medicine?really studied to put things into their long-term memory. These guys went on to do very well on the boards (80s and 90s, percentile ranges). The funny thing was that the later group studied at a much lower stress level come April. Ideally, you would LOVE to be a mix of these two?and to those people I tip my hat.

As far as the relative importance of rank vs. GPA, I think that it was mentioned somewhere above, it really depends on the specialty/specific program that you are considering. For example, EM at Maricopa tends to look more for rank than GPA (as per one of the attendings at the program). Of course, boards are always important.

I studied to understand and that hurt my GPA somewhat because understanding means taking more time to see how things fit in the big picture.


Rank vs. GPA - rank every time. GPA says nothing about a medical school especially if it is Pas/Fail or Honors, HP, P, F which don't award grade points. The only thing programs want to know is where you stand in comparison to your classmates so rank is the most important thing. At AZCOM, you can have an 88% overall and not be in the top 25% because so many students have an overall percentage that is prety high.

the real question then is

Board scores vs. class rank, it depends on the program. Most allopathic programs would rather see a high Step I and II score than a high rank from what I have gathered but there are exceptions. I don't know about Maricopa's EM program but it wouldn't suprise me if they favored class rank over board scores. I know that Johns Hopkins doesn't even care about your preclinical grades for peds for the most part. The Mayo Clinic Scottsdale stresses board scores over class rank according to one of its medicine residents. It is rare but it happens on occasion. I am not in the top of the class and I have gotten plenty of interviews based on my board scores. So for those who are not in the top 30% of the class, don't worry.

 

[novacek88]

So why is it that there isn't a tighter correlation from gpa to board score? I mean, your gpa is supposed to be a representation of how much you know...and your board exams are supposed to be a test over material you were should have learned in your first two years. What am I missing?

Of course, I'd like to be top 10%...even top 20%...but I don't want to stress out and all the time!

You can't control whether you will be in the top 10% or the 20%. The only thing you can do is do the best you can. If that means the top 10% so be it. Class rank depends on the success of your classmates overall.

You will find that class rank is only an issue for the surgical subspecialties, dermatology and radiology. Class rank is pretty much a non issue for everything else.

What you can control is how well you will do on the boards. That is something you have control over. You should study to understand and learn as much as you can in your pre-clinical classes and like Luke said, study from board review books.

 

[jgrady]

What you can control is how well you will do on the boards. That is something you have control over. You should study to understand and learn as much as you can in your pre-clinical classes and like Luke said, study from board review books.

That brings up a great topic. What review books to use, other than the BRS book for Physio that is required anyway? Any recommendations for Neuro, Biochem, etc.?

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[LukeWhite]

I like the Rapid Review series...a little light on questions, but it comes with a CD-ROM of several hundred questions per book. I didn't use them 1st year, but Dr Kerecsen of our own Pharm dep't wrote the Pharm book, and Dr Goljan of OSUCOM, who's maybe the best path prof in the nation, wrote the path.

The BRS anatomy is pretty thin; it might help to organize things, but the anatomy dept's notes are pretty good, and more thorough. BRS micro/immuno is a thin book, but when you do start immunology in spring, I'd highly recoomend some sort of immunology review...the class notes are difficult to follow and most people tend not to get a lot out of the class as a whole. Some sort of organizing review book would be useful. Rapid Review might be worth a look again.

The biochem review book seems as if it's from a good series; the pharm counterpart is helpful. Unlike physiology, I think that a reasonably thorough biochem review book is probably sufficient.

You might get something for neuro to review questions, but the notes themselves don't really need supplementation...Dr Mih. and Grow are spectacular profs who really teach with an eye to comprehension. It's a brilliantly organized class.

Here's my list of links for anatomy to help out in the short-term:

UW DISSECTION VIDEOS: My all-time favorite.
http://www.anatomy.wisc.edu/courses/gross/index.html

MUSCLE LIST: A nice but simple one, with some exercises associated.
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

ANATOMY TABLES: Lots of useful anatomy tables by both system and region. Images, videos, other links also. Good general practice questions and dissection tips.
http://anatomy.uams.edu/anatomyhtml/grossresources.html

MUSCLE ATLAS: Another nice muscle atlas, with all the essential origins, insertions, arteries, etc. Great for quizzing yourself or quick reference.
http://www.rad.washington.edu/atlas2/

ANATOMY TUTORIALS: A little simplistic, but these helped me to get a good general overview.
http://anatome.ncl.ac.uk/tutorials/index.html

LUMEN HISTOLOGY: Absolutely essential.
http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/Me...sto_frames.html

UW HISTOLOGY: Not as awesome as Loyola's, but still helpful.
http://www.anatomy.uiowa.edu/genhisto/GHWIN/index.html

 

[jgrady]

Here's my list of links for anatomy to help out in the short-term:

Excellent! Those are great. Thanks!

Man, I'm not even through buying MSI books and already have a long shopping list for STEP 1 and COMLEX 1. As for Dr. Mihailoff I agree. Nice guy and a good prof. so far. Same with Dr. Grow but we haven't had him much yet. Just bought Mihailoff's textbook and atlas off Ebay.

To your Histo list of links I would add these, the first is just the main Loyala Undergrad Medical School link that links to great anatomy and histo resources. The second link has great slides to, but no practice tests 🙁. I spent 15 hours going over pink smudges and fuzzy lines 🙂 in five books, two CDs and these sites. It paid off handsomely.

LUMEN
The actual link to th histo page is too long so here it is in text:
meddean.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/Histo/frames/histo_frames.html

JayDoc HistoWeb

 

[melmc]

Anatomy's a huge part of the curriculum and doesn't appear much (at least by itself) on the boards. Moreover, it's the sort of class that rewards hard work more than it does critical thinking. So that introduces a bit of dissonance between GPA and board scores.

Likewise with many other classes to a lesser degree. When you factor in all our clinical courses (3 credits for ICM, 1.5-2 for Topics, etc) you start to get a pretty big chunk of GPA determined by classes that are capricious and again reward detail-memorization rather than board-centric critical thinking.

So what are the more "high yeild" courses here for topics on the boards?
It sounds to me like its pretty easy to let yourself get distracted with studying stuff that won't really do you much good in the longterm, and thus, ends up taking away from time spent on more important courses/subject matter.

Also, thanks to all of you who have been explaining the whole grade/rank/boards mess, I hadn't really gotten the whole thing sorted out on my own yet. It's not exactly the most self-explanatory system out there.

 

[LukeWhite]

So what are the more "high yeild" courses here for topics on the boards?
It sounds to me like its pretty easy to let yourself get distracted with studying stuff that won't really do you much good in the longterm, and thus, ends up taking away from time spent on more important courses/subject matter.

Also, thanks to all of you who have been explaining the whole grade/rank/boards mess, I hadn't really gotten the whole thing sorted out on my own yet. It's not exactly the most self-explanatory system out there.

The upperclassmen will again have a better perspective than I do, but in general, 2nd year is much more important than 1st year for boards. One of my reasons for choosing AZCOM was a fairly progressive curriculum that teaches more to the test, so in theory board review and second year should go hand in hand.

Specifically, Pathology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, and Physiology seem like the big four from what I've seen. Biochemistry is more important if you take the USMLE (and the statistics especially!) and the more clinical elements of Neuro are also pretty important. (Maybe a third year can confirm--I've seen a few USMLE questions that have brain cross section ID'ing?)

I wouldn't say that the clinical courses are totally useless...Clinical Correlates now is a fantastic class; I feel as if I"m finally learning medicine. CC last year was helpful for some people; it struck me as more a vocab class than anything. And OMM is what it is, I suppose.

But you're right about the time spent. Some of your time will be on high-yield work that doesn't help your GPA; some on low-yield work that helps your GPA but not boards. But then there's that nasty third category so many get caught up in--low-yield stuff that will have minimal impact on your GPA and won't help for boards at all. Powerpoint presentations in Physiology, workshops, etc are the big offenders here. All last year, I carried around the sheet they give you with the credits each course is worth (also available online). It's crucial to maintain perspective on how much any given assignment is *really* worth, and apportion your study time accordingly.

In my opinion the lowest of the low-yield first-year gauntlet is anatomy lab. It's useful to see lots of bodies with good structures; it's *not* useful to try to pick all those structures out on your own corpse. Rohen and videos are way more helpful...Rather than thinking of your corpse as the repository of everything you need for the test, I belatedly found it far more high-yield to get a couple nice structures down and then rely on the rest of the class for the other hundred and fifty things on the list.

Good luck!

 

[Ice-1]

In my opinion the lowest of the low-yield first-year gauntlet is anatomy lab. It's useful to see lots of bodies with good structures; it's *not* useful to try to pick all those structures out on your own corpse. Rohen and videos are way more helpful...Rather than thinking of your corpse as the repository of everything you need for the test, I belatedly found it far more high-yield to get a couple nice structures down and then rely on the rest of the class for the other hundred and fifty things on the list.

Good luck!

I can't agree with the comment about anatomy lab. Anatomy is really a foundation course for just about everything that follows. There were quite a few interesting anatomy questions on the boards, some of the style and type as given in the written anatomy tests. Where the lab comes in handy on the boards is at the very end of the second day when you are good and exhausted and get a packet of 200 questions to answer in the afternoon containing lots of pictures. There are all kinds of images, x-rays, MRI, CT, EKG, bacterial images, etc. Your anatomy lab is going to be helpful in putting the relationships together for the human images because they are not of great quality, far from clear and you will be tired. Just remembering what goes next to where is a big help. Anatomy lab is also extremely useful in the surgical rotation where you are holding retractors and getting pimped about what not to ligate, landmarks and other devious questions. Lab will come roaring back into your head to help you answer those questions. Lab can be tedious but also can be fun, especially if you are with good folks at your table. Go around and see other dissections as much as you can. Rohan and other texts are also good but unfortunately not 3D. If you get a chance to be a lab TA then by all means do so, it will really help to drive the material home when you know you have to help others learn it. Good luck!

 

[kristing]

So what are the more "high yeild" courses here for topics on the boards?
It sounds to me like its pretty easy to let yourself get distracted with studying stuff that won't really do you much good in the longterm, and thus, ends up taking away from time spent on more important courses/subject matter.

Also, thanks to all of you who have been explaining the whole grade/rank/boards mess, I hadn't really gotten the whole thing sorted out on my own yet. It's not exactly the most self-explanatory system out there.

Anatomy is very low yield. Know the brachial plexus and the other plexus (oh my god the one in the leg! What is it called? I am so stupid!), neuro stuff for strokes and brain lesions (should be pretty well covered in ICM), and honestly, that's about 80% of it.

OMM is actually VERY HIGH YIELD for the comlex-I. If you have the Savarese book, know it, and you will be fine.

The Clinical classes are also high yeild. Especially Lovecchio's. I am telling you, there were things on boards directly from his lectures. (I can't comment on the other CC class, as we had Dr. Field and you all have someone else. Dr. Field's classes were also super high yield. He had outstanding brain lesion notes.)

When I took COMLEX-1, path was actually low-yield. It was totally bizarre. Everyone (based on responses from student doctor responses) thought it was strange how low yield it was. I don't know about last year's test. Phys was really high yield. (Hopefully, the quality of the class has gotten better in terms of teaching us what you need to know for boards. Thank god for BRS phys or else I would have crashed and burned.)

Micro - medium yield, as is biochem.

 

[Ice-1]

Subject matter varies with the year of boards, one is not like the others. COMLEX 1 has lots of 2nd and 3rd order questions, especially in the clinical scenarios. In other words, the question may not directly be about anatomy, path or whatever but you have to know it in order to answer the question actually posed. In the June boards there were lots of direct questions on bugs and drugs, lots of path and a nice helping of anatomy. There were just a handful of biochem questions, lots of OMM and some physiology. Just remember that you have to know the underlying stuff to get those 2nd and 3rd order questions, so don't disregard anything. I also heard that the powers that be are going to switch COMLEX 1 from a 2 day test to a one day computer test, I've heard that this is going to take place for 2007 taking the boards this June- but so far this is a rumor. If they change it to a one day test it will doubtless be a different format than our past experiences.

 

[theags]

Is everybody still alive?

 

[Pooh Chong]

Yup Yup. It's a good thing I don't got workshop in the morning...I'm up too late!

 

[melmc]

Is everybody still alive?

Yeah... still alive and kickin' here.

So did anyone go to Boards and Wards last night?

 

[jgrady]

Yeah, Boards and Wards was fun. The panel was hilarious and very open. I think the MSII and MSIs got a lot from it.

 

[Soon2BDrJones]

Can someone tell me how to find information about the luxury apartments on campus?

 

[James20062]

Jose is the housing manager and his email address is [email protected].

 

[James20062]

Jimmy Chonga?!? Do you read this anymore? 😕

 

[Pooh Chong]

Uh...yeah...I read this thread everyday!

luxury apartments are well worth it, in my opinion, and try to get one on the third floor because of the raised ceilings which are also well worth it. If you want to get on the third floor, you have to be quick when Jose mails you the application form as it is first come first serve.

 

[Pooh Chong]

so...

isn't the recent change in weather (even though it was only for a day) kind of a nice pace of change...reminds me of home.

 

[James20062]

mmhmm!


how do you know what the weather is like? shouldn't you be studying biochem?!?! hehe

 

[Pooh Chong]

studying biochem...why would I do that? Waaaaaaaait a minute....OH NO!!! Excuse me, I've got to go study biochem. 😱



Good luck everyone who reads & posts on this thread; so far this would only include dudes named James. Sweet.



Yesterday, while watching some show on MTV, I found out that "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It" is no longer a hip term and that, in fact, it is played out. Oh...how foolish I've looked for so long... 😳

 

[James20062]

The term, "Bling-Bling," also applies. You're a mess. Peace out homies! 😴

 

[Pooh Chong]

I am the worst bowler of all time. An embarassing 75 with more gutter balls than I can count on both hands is not a good way to show your bowling skills. Bowling was fun, we need more people to come out for the next event.

And like Triumph.....for anyone who did not go, I poop on you.

 

[crimicmar]

Hi class of 2007. I will be attending next fall. yeah. However I need some help. I will be moving my whole family to the Phoenix area. I would like to have someone to connect with who can help me with ideas.
#1 housing, realtor, neighborhoods
#2 elementary schools
#3 soccer leagues for kids
#4 Is there such a thing as a backyard there.

I am excited to move. I know this sounds premature but my husband and I want to start looking now to prevent some horrible surpises. Can anybody Help?
Thanks

 

[jgrady]

Hi class of 2007. I will be attending next fall. Can anybody Help?
Thanks

Congrats! Welcome to the Class of 2009.

First, I may not qualify for advice since I'm only class of 2008 🙂, but I can give you some relavent thoughts. I moved my wife and kids here from Oregon last summer.

For Realtors, try Eric Crane. He gives you a discount and if you know what you're looking for (i.e. spouses agree and you do some research online) he can help you find a house in 2-3 days. He's at:

(602) 327-8475 (Office)
(602) 327-8475 (Mobile)
WEB: http://www.justaskeric.com/Home

The first thing I did when I got accepted was line up a charter elementary school near AZCOM since we didn't know where my wife would be working or what quality of school we'd be faced with when we picked a house.

We chose Challenge Charter (http://www.challengecharterschool.net/) a mile South of AZCOM on 59th. It has some of the best test scores in the state and we are really happy with it. If you go charter, do your research now and sign-up early. Private might be an option for you, but we 1) didn't feel comfortable with the public schools here and 2) couldn't afford private.

I gave Eric a two mile radius circle around AZCOM and he showed us about 40 homes. We picked one about two miles East on 43rd Ave. It doesn't have much of a backyard, but we wanted the big pool for the kids. It's a 1980's home that is pretty average. If you are willing to go up to $200k you can do a lot nicer and get a modern yuppie neighborhood (Arrowhead and Surprise come to mind). But I wanted a 5 minute or less commute and don't mind a 20 year old non-descript neighborhood. We're on a culdesac with nice kids and even have a good public school nearby (Mountain Shadow) as a fallback.

I'm about to start looking for soccer leagues (on break) so I could use advice too!

Best of luck to you...

 

[Pooh Chong]

Hi class of 2007. I will be attending next fall.

First, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Second, mmm...probably class of 2008 is a better salutation.

Third, I can't wait to be over with this quarter. Next quarter, I swear I'll starting studying Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday....in addition to my Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.......eeeeek. 😱

 

[irish79]

You say that now--but you won't do it. And second year, when you SWEAR you will stay ahead of the game, guess again, you STILL fall behind! I am starting to get used to the "mad rush" for infinite knowledge in a weekend time slot!

Good Luck with finals all!
P.S. I thought his salutation to THE class of 2007 was appropriate!

First, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Second, mmm...probably class of 2008 is a better salutation.

Third, I can't wait to be over with this quarter. Next quarter, I swear I'll starting studying Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday....in addition to my Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.......eeeeek. 😱

 

[Pooh Chong]

You say that now--but you won't do it. And second year, when you SWEAR you will stay ahead of the game, guess again, you STILL fall behind! I am starting to get used to the "mad rush" for infinite knowledge in a weekend time slot!

Good Luck with finals all!
P.S. I thought his salutation to THE class of 2007 was appropriate!

Yeah...in the back of my mind...I know it's true....sad, isn't it? Sigh...a guy can dream, can't he?

 

[crimicmar]

Hey Jgrady thanks for the reply. My husband just got a job in Phoenix and is there monday - Friday. We are all a little ready to move.
thanks again.

 

[theags]

So now that the first quarter is over and grades are out, what is the overall average of our class?

 

[jgrady]

Crimicmar, hope it works out so you can have stress free months before class starts.

As for class grades, I would guess we are pretty high. The AZPODs had a little lower test scores, so just using AZCOM scores out I wouldn't be surprised if the class average is as high as 89%.

All those gunners ruining the curve.