Mercer roll call

[periodista]

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All right. Which of you SDNers am I going to be spending the next four years with?

 

[arktec]

possibly me....I'm still on the MCG waitlist though, and I plan keeping my name on it thru the summer. Can't beat the price...But if I don't hear anything by July, I'll be at Mercer, and lovin' every minute of it.

 

[nkow]

so have any folks looked at housing yet?

 

[arktec]

I've been looking at stuff online at www.macon.com -- the rents are ridiculously low. Literally half the price of Atlanta. I don't want to live in university housing; Ideally I'd like to find an apartment in an old house, something with some character. 1 bedrooms are between 250-400 bucks a month. Insanity. This is a little off the subject, but we have access to Mercer's athletic facilities right??

 

[gjrbryant]

If you guys don't mind me asking what were your mcat scores and GPA. I live in Athens and will be looking at Mercer. I'd like to see what people who actually got in have instead of the averages you see from place to place. Thanks.

 

[southerndoc]

Most of the students in my class lived in north Macon. Colonial Grand at Wesleyan, River North, etc. are all great places to live. There is a new set of apartments off of Bass Rd that are also really nice.

Med students have access to the gym/athletic facilities at the main campus (not far from the med school -- walking distance).

The university apartments are actually quite nice. They are in a gated community.

 

[periodista]

Originally posted by nkow
so have any folks looked at housing yet?

so nkow, does this mean that you've decided on mercer and morehouse didn't work out?

i haven't looked at housing yet, btw. i keep meaning to get down there but something always comes up. i'll probly hed down sometime in the next couple of weeks.

 

[gjrbryant]

anyone?

 

[nkow]

gjrbryant,

My MCAT score was a 29 (9v,11p,9b,Q) and my GPA was 3.4 PM if you have any other questions.

Periodista,

Yeah, I have decided on Mercer. Just felt Mercer would be better for me than Morehouse...plus didnt' want to wait for waitlist from Morehouse...just a hasstle to worry about it...I've already gone down to Mercer twice to look at apartments and i'm pretty sure i'm going to be looking for housing in the north macon area... seems like the place to be...

kinda sucks that we don't get our financial aid packages until the 28th of june though...i would kind of like to know how much money i'll be receiving before i do final budgeting stuff...

oh yeah, Geek Medic, is Bell south DSL or Cox High speed internet better down in macon?

-nkow

 

[gjrbryant]

Thank You!

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by nkow
kinda sucks that we don't get our financial aid packages until the 28th of june though...i would kind of like to know how much money i'll be receiving before i do final budgeting stuff...

Call and ask the financial aid office how much you'll be getting. I think I got a check for $9000 every 6 months during my first two years (this includes book money, travel expenses, everything). You'll get more your third year (it's a longer school year), but less your fourth year.

Also, you'll have the opportunity to earn $1000 working 4 weeks between your first and second years. You'll be working with a primary care physician. It's an excellent way to get some clinical experience, and get paid for it. (You'll get some clinical experience during your 2 week rural preceptorship and your biweekly afternoon community office practice program visits).

oh yeah, Geek Medic, is Bell south DSL or Cox High speed internet better down in macon?

I was stuck with dialup when I lived in Macon. DSL wasn't available in my area at the time, and Cox didn't serve the apartment complex I was in. My apartment complex (Colonial Grand at Wesleyan) had a deal where they got their "cable" off a satellite. It was really cheap -- $35/month for nearly 80 channels. It was a good deal!

Unfortunately that deal meant no cable modems, and without DSL being available, I was stuck with dialup -- which sucked royally. Mercer does, however, provide you with a free dialup account that includes a toll-free number to dial into when you are away. BellSouth does offer DSL in the north Macon area now.

Most people I know who have Cox high-speed internet are very happy with it. They get good speeds off of it. The only gripe I've heard about it is how Cox went up on the price from $35/month to $42/month ($50-55/month if you don't have Cox cable).

PM me if you have any Q's!

Cheers!

 

[periodista]

Originally posted by Geek Medic
Call and ask the financial aid office how much you'll be getting.

I called this afternoon and the financial aid director said she had not started working on the freshman aid packages yet. It looks like we won't know much until the June 28 meeting.

 

[nkow]

bump

 

[GAdasooka]

Like GeekMedic said, it'll probably be between 9 and 10 grand every six months. You won't see the first check until mid-to-late August or maybe even September though. There was very little new information that they told us at the financial aid meeting... basically they give you a number between $9K and $10K, get you to sign some forms, tell you how high your interest will be if you pay it off in 15 years, and then get you to sign some more forms. I think what interested me most was just getting a first glance at my future classmates. But you'll get plenty of that at orientation week too.


About where to live:

North Macon is a great place to live, but I prefer to be closer. But this is just me... I am incredibly forgetful sometimes, and often just don't always know realize that I'm REALLY going to need that phys book at 5 minutes before the library closes... so I live close so that I'm very convenient to the med school. Considering it's been the "hub" of my life for the last two years, I found it advantagous to live closeby.

However, there are lots of people who live 5-10 miles out and are very happy with it. Some other places people like are the apartments on College Street which is right next to campus. There are tons of old houses that have been converted to apartments.

You're right about the price of things in Macon- it pretty much reflects the rest of GA with the exception of Atlanta. Cost of living is incredibly cheaper. However, that will be reflected in how much they dole out to you for anticipated "needs" when they start passing out loan money. I think they budget in plenty though. I pay $736 a month for rent, water, cable, electricity, T1 wireless (I have a 2 story, 2 bedroom) and I find that I have more than enough cash flow unless I spend alot on outside things (books, computer stuff, clothes, eating out-- hate to cook-- , going out to do fun things, etc). The only thing that really cost more than I anticipated was Board Step 1 stuff- about $500 for Kaplin (online q-bank and used books) and another $400 for the test itself. Plus I probably spent over a couple of thousand dollars in books (AT LEAST) in the last two years... So be ready for that. But otherwise, you won't have to worry about money unless you're trying to support a family or something. It's the folks who have kids and a spouse at home that run into problems with financial aid.

Anyways... pm me if you have any questions... or wait until after June 11th when I take Step 1!!! AHHHH!

Adios,
C

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by GAdasooka
You're right about the price of things in Macon- it pretty much reflects the rest of GA with the exception of Atlanta. Cost of living is incredibly cheaper.

Don't forgot to add Savannah in there.

It's expensive as crap living here, and MUSM doesn't give you any extra money to live here. The budget is for all classmates.

However, if given the chance again, I would again choose to do my last 2 years in Savannah in a heartbeat. I love it here!

 

[nkow]

what are advantages/disadvantages between rotations (3/4 year) in macon vs savannah?

specifically the program itself. i guess all i ever hear is that alot of the singles go over to savannah cuz it's more fun, but i guess i would like to know how the two programs match up.

 

[nkow]

bump

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by nkow
what are advantages/disadvantages between rotations (3/4 year) in macon vs savannah?

specifically the program itself. i guess all i ever hear is that alot of the singles go over to savannah cuz it's more fun, but i guess i would like to know how the two programs match up.

To be honest, I really don't know.

What I do know is it seems as though we are treated better here in Savannah. The hospital caters to us. Attendings don't yell at us. I've heard of a few instances of that in Macon, but those are limited.

We are not scutted in Savannah. I have yet to do a single blood draw while on a rotation here. In fact, when I tried to find the Vacutainers to do a blood draw while rotating through surgery (lab techs hadn't drawn the blood yet), I got laughed at by the lab tech. She said "sweetie that's not your job. What room do you need me to draw the blood in and I'll go get it now?"

Sweet!

It's a lot more fun here in Savannah.

 

[blhyqwy]

Hi there,

Does anyone know the residency matches for Mercer this year/last year?

Thanks

 

[dmitrinyr]

Hey all,

I don't mean to ask a stupid question, but I was looking to apply to mercer by amcas and I couldn't find it in the listings of medical schools. Even when I put the filter to show only those schools in georgia.

Another question if you may. What is the in-state😳ut-of-state ratio in mercer.

I am asking because I am a NY resident and contemplating whether to apply.

thanks and good luck to all of you on your acceptances.

dmitri

 

[blhyqwy]

Sorry...found match list on another thread...moving right along...

😎

 

[southerndoc]

Originally posted by dmitrinyr
Another question if you may. What is the in-state😳ut-of-state ratio in mercer. I am asking because I am a NY resident and contemplating whether to apply.

You must be a Georgia resident before they will even consider your application. MUSM will NOT accept out-of-state applicants. No exceptions.

I wish we would accept out-of-staters, but the school currently receives a substantial amount of its funding from the state in order to graduate physicians who will practice in Georgia. Currently about 80% of our graduates practice in Georgia.

Despite clearly stating that MUSM does not accept out-of-state applicants, we still get a large number of applicants who are not Georgia residents. Perhaps AMCAS no longer allows out-of-staters to apply.

To my knowledge, no out-of-state applicant has ever been accepted.

 

[arktec]

Does anyone know what time we need to be at orientation on Monday? I still haven't received my orientation packet.

Thanks

 

[southerndoc]

Not sure if it's 7:30, 8 or 8:30. I received an email with your orientation schedule (they email it to upper classmen in case we want to stop by and say hello). Unfortunately I deleted it since I'm at the Savannah campus.

 

[velocityjones]

I just looked over my papers and we start at 9 am. Its about time we got all this fun started!

 

[arktec]

Thanks for the help guys -- I'll see everyone at 9.