I'm also from the Nashville area! I chose to commute from home since I'm only 20-25 min from campus and it's cheaper haha. Some of my classmates were from further out (Spring Hill and Kingston Springs) and still commuted to class, so you probably won't be the only one if you choose to live at home. Just depends on if you want to make the drive to campus for 2-4 days out of the week depending on when you have classes; all grad classes start at 6pm and go until 8 or 9. Some undergrad classes can count for grad credit, so if you decide to take those they're typically during the normal school day hours. Personally, I just didn't want to pay for housing for a year (or two) if I planned to move again for med school anyway. Nevertheless, I had other classmates who weren't from the Nashville area and found decently priced housing options not too far from campus like in the Green Hills, Bellevue, Forest Hills areas. It just might take some researching. As far as I know, there is no on-campus housing for grad students. If you need a roommate, you can always ask around in the program (the administrative assistant, Rachel Harley, can help with this) or on the Nashville housing Facebook page.
As for tips to succeed in the program - time management is a big one lol. You'll be enrolled in multiple classes at once within each 8-week block, so that's a lot of information to juggle in such a short time frame. A lot of the classes are primary article-based, so get comfortable reading those. I don't think you have to read each and every one of them extensively, but as long as you get the general idea you're fine. Presentations are also big, so be prepared to build great public speaking skills. I also recommend getting to know your professors because they can be a huge help and good letters of recommendations for when you apply to med/dent/PA/etc schools. Don't be afraid to ask them for help as well because I realized that some of my peers all didn't have the same experiences. For example, some have spent many hours in a wet lab doing benchwork whereas others had never - so if you don't really know things it's okay OR if you see someone struggling, help them out! I found that the program was more collaborative and that helped a ton. On a similar note, make some friends/study buddies too! For some of my classes, we made a group study guide and that really helped prepare me for the exams to have everyone's notes compiled into one. Don't forget to enjoy yourself too haha. I still found time to hang out with friends/family, work, and volunteer with a great gpa. It was also nice doing social things with classmates so you're not only seeing each other on campus. We would go out for drinks some nights after class especially after a big exam or for ice cream before class. We even still hang out after the program! We're going to dinner later this week actually haha. I just really appreciated the small cohort size because I got to know everyone well and we're all good friends. There's just something about struggling that brings people together tbh. The program was stressful but definitely worth it.
If you do decide to enroll in the program, let me know! I'd be happy to give you more information on specific classes and professors 🙂 Good luck! I hope you're happy wherever you end up!
