hey Joel....congrats on your acceptance to KU and I wish you good luck w/ your other prospects. If you do decide to come to KU, I think you will find that the lifestyle is a very comfortable one. I myself ended up having to chose b/w this school and one in New York, and besides the obvious $$$ factor, my decision ultimately came down to the vibe that I got from each school/location, and after a semester here, I can safely say that I made the correct choice: I'm extremely happy here.
So, how about living situations first: As you probably found out when you interviewed, KU does not have dorms here.....however, thats not a really big deal if you want to live close to campus (i.e. walking distance). There are TONS of apartment complexes (and houses, if you're interested) both on the kansas side and the missouri side that can cater to your needs, and the prices around here are VERY reasonable (another plus about KU vs. East Coast for me). If you don't mind driving, your living options increase of course. All in all, I'm very satisfied w/ my apartment: I live about 7 minutes from campus (by foot), and a large number of my classmates/other KUMC people live there too.
The social aspects of life here at KU is also pretty cool. If you choose to live near the Med-Center, you have Westport and the Plaza at your disposal....these are two very nice areas to go eat, party, shop, and even study (well, maybe not at Wesport). These places, along with the general area around the med-center are filled with bars, great restaurants, coffee shops etc etc. If you're into music, you'll see that there's also always a good amount of shows to go see at venues scattered across KC, and even some bars that feature some good live music. You'll definitely have your share of freetime, and needless to say, there's almost always something to fill your time with around here. One thing that attracted me to KU was the closeness of the student body.....our class goes out together quite often, especially to celebrate the end of grueling test blocks. The med-school will sometimes even throw us parties, either by renting a bar out for us, or by just having a few kegs and barbeque on campus. Needless to say, its VERY chill here....not competitive, but very friendly
Despite how laid back it is, I don't want to paint a picture that all we do is party out here. It is medical school, and it is quite challenging (I'm still recovering from the past two weeks of tests/finals...ugggggh). KU also has great opportunities to explore interests in and outside of medicine: with the summer coming up, it is amazing to hear how much KU is willing to support their student's ideas, whether it be doing a humanities research project in Greece, or traveling to Honduras to work in a clinic there. There's a ton of opportunities for advancement here..........oh well, i could go on for hours. There are some other Jaydoc's around here, so feel free to send us a PM to get more info if you'd like. Good luck
~felipe
