Ok a lot of things to cover here, but I think I can address them all! Here we go:
1. This is more of a personal perspective, but I know I speak for a lot of my classmates- my cohort in this program is really awesome. My classmates are super friendly, and everyone gets along really well. I think that part of this is because we’re all coming from diverse backgrounds and starting on the same level; there’s no undergrad class coming up, here everybody starts fresh. But seriously, I felt very comfortable with my class immediately. In the summer, we went out as a class all the time, organized trips and events, and celebrated after anatomy exams regularly. The same goes for the professors. They are genuinely cool/interesting people, and they make every effort they can to connect with the students. You can tell that they approach their teaching with the mindset that, in three years, we’re all going to be their peers and they make an effort to meet us all on an equal level. They have a very open level of communication with us and take feedback very seriously, and they’re very fair about addressing our concerns as individuals and as a class.
2. I did my undergrad at UMass Amherst, which is an enormous school. Honestly, undergrad was very much about the social aspect of being surrounded by a very diverse crowd and finding out where you fit into all of that. To me, it’s less important to get that kind of exposure in grad school- you’ve found what you want to do with your life and you know what career you want to pursue, and I feel that it’s more important to focus on that. That being said, I don’t really miss the huge campus atmosphere. I like being able to make more meaningful connections with a smaller group of people. Most of my time is spent in class or studying- I don’t feel that I’m missing out by not having a full campus. Besides, we’re in a really cool location, it’s not like we’re ever cut off from the rest of Boston. It’s a smaller, quiet piece of a much larger picture, so you’re never far from the rest of society. The only thing I do miss about UMass is the dedicated dining halls, but living off-campus has forced me (against my will) to become a more responsible and independent adult.
3. Your options for clinicals are outstanding in this program. This is the only program that I’ve seen that puts you into a clinical experience as soon as it does- we were doing a half day a week in inpatient settings in our second semester, and we’ll be doing our first extended clinical this summer already. As I’m sure you know, MGHIHP is part of the PARTNERS system- this means that you’ll have access to a ton of quality clinics in and around Boston. MGHIHP also has a very good reputation with these local clinics. So I suppose this is more ideal if you do plan on staying out here, but that doesn’t mean you’re limited to that. There are clinical sites all over the country, and if you know of a clinical site that you’re interested in working at, they’ll work with you to try to arrange for a contract. You definitely have options beyond Boston/MA.
I’m sorry if that’s a lot to read through all at once. Here’s the abbreviated version: 1.My classmates are some of the coolest people I’ve ever met, they’re awesome and I love working with them. My professors are also really cool, and I have a better connection with them than I ever did with my professors in undergrad. 2. We don’t have a campus, but we’re in the middle of Boston, so there’s never a dull moment around here. 3. Clinicals are awesome, MGHIHP really makes sure you get exposed to the clinical environment early and often, and I’m feeling more and more confident every day as my first full-time clinical approaches.
I hope that helped!
