Official: UTSW Class of 2008 Thread

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Originally posted by G_Eagle
Bad Mojo...I PMed you, thanks....

Oh yeah, shadowing this week has been awesome. Tomorrow I'll be in the ER from 7pm to 7am....woohoo!

lol I was playing video games from 7pm to 7am last night. You overachiever, you! 😀
 
Geez, I thought we were supposed to be the best class at the best school. The whole thread goes dead. If this keeps up, I'll have to start praying for Baylor...

So here's a question: how traditional vs. non-traditional is everyone as far as MD-admissions goes. I'm pseudo-traditional. I'm going straight into medical school from undergraduate, but I took 2 1/2 years off after high school and lived in Europe. I also look really young, so noone guesses that I'm a tad bit older.
 
GO TO BAYLOR?!?!?!?!? Heck no, gotta keep this thread going... :laugh:

Traditional? Hmm....non-traditional? Well, I'll tell you what I have done, and you can decide. I came into school with some AP credit, getting some prereq's out of the way and freeing up my schedule. Then, I majored in something called the University Scholars program. Basically, that allows me to take whatever classes I want as long as I maintain a 3.5 gpa (there are no program class requirements at all, at least, not when I joined). Also, University Scholars are allowed to register for their classes before almost anyone else at the school. Because of this, I took quite a few political science classes, history courses, and even an accounting course to name a few. Furthermore, this allowed me to structure my schedule so I could study abroad in the fall of my junior year. Based in Maastricht, The Netherlands, we also had the entire month of November to travel all over Europe freely. In total, through the trip I watched surgery, took courses like Immunology, and visited over 15 countries. It was a wonderful trip! That's about it...I did clinical research with trauma surgeons at UTSW for the past three surgeons, but currently I do not see myself doing much research in the future (that could change). This summer...I'm working at a camp until the beginning of July (one last chance to relax before school). Umm...that's all I can think of for my ramblings. I would say that parts of my curriculum were non-traditional, and I have loved most every minute of college!!!!!

Don't die thread...I promise, you guys post questions and topics, and I'll join in.... 🙂
 
I am traditional in that I'm coming straight from college. 5 years of college, that is. I, too, have loved college. But mostly because of all the free time I have. You can't beat 12 hours a week. And no, I don't do anything productive with my free time, either. 😀



Here's a question:

What do you think social interaction will be like in med school? I mean, the small class size is kind of like going back to high school for me. I'll know everyone and all that. (High school total enrollment = 150. College total enrollment = 30000) So does that mean it will be like high school?


Fill-in-the-blank:

I will be the class _______. (e.g. clown, slacker, partier, etc.)
 
I figured everyone had gone on vacation or something?

I'm traditional...4 yrs of undergrad...straight into med school. It works well for me, I want to complete my education and training by the time I'm 30.

I decided recently to pursue summer research at SW....but how do i go about it??? Do I call Dr. McPhaul up and tell him or do I just call/email specific scientists doing research there??? They sent me a letter, but it's not specific as to how to go about it.


I also have decided to stay at home. i live in Mesquite...so the drive each morning will be a pain in the butt....but I'm hoping for a few scholarships to come through and hopefully my debt load upon graduation will be less than 20K. I'm just hoping my parents stay out of my hair....I'll try it for sometime and see how I like it.

I haven't really given much thought to the social interaction at med school. I think I'm just trying to figure out how I will survive the first two years. I'm not accustomed to studying that hard on a consistent basis....in fact, I have 2 papers due this afternoon, and I'm SDNing. 🙂 Soooo sad.
 
Class Interaction- My high school class was about 295 people so this will be like returning to high school for me as well. I expect there to be diverse backgrounds and interests represented in our group so I am not afraid of us being homogenous in spite of our common bond in medicine. Therefore, due to the varying personalities and connections, I do expect our class to break into smaller groups. Some people will probably never show up to class, studying solely on their own, and I am not sure how that will affect their social interactions with the class. Others will show up all the time. Because of the increased pace of the class, I think social situations will evolve more slowly as we will all be so busy. Though I do not have a problem with smaller groups forming, since I believe that is natural, I do fear that they will become cliques. The main way to avoid that is by not acting selective yourself, which is easier said than done.

My class role- I want to be the guy who is approachable with a pleasant spirit and ever-present sense of humor. I want to know almost everyone's name and stay on cordial terms with everyone I meet (not necessarily good friends but at least on pleasant terms). I feel like I have achieved this in college, and I would like to duplicate this in medical school. In return, I would like to use the disarming nature I have established to allow me to be accepted into every group in our class (i.e. I can sit with anyone in the cafeteria). That way, I can ask questions from people when I do not understand the material and will try my hardest to help people out when they seek my help. In this way, I will have turned a potentially uncomfortable, unknown environment into one that is inviting and not as intimidating (that is until test day :laugh: ).

UTSW Research- Definitely call Dr. McPhaul. He sounded like he was very willing to help any students do research who showed interest in it. I am sure that he could answer your questions. Do have a few ideas in mind as to what areas you prefer or even specific projects if you notice one you want. That way, he can get you lined up with a researcher.

Studying- In the past I have leaned toward the slacker side, but I can kick it into gear when I need to. I have a feeling that the environment of medical school (not being on a college campus, surrounded by other people who are working hard) will drive me to work hard. Also, fear will push me to not let my guard down and relax.
 
Originally posted by Bad Mojo
Geez, I thought we were supposed to be the best class at the best school. The whole thread goes dead. If this keeps up, I'll have to start praying for Baylor...

So here's a question: how traditional vs. non-traditional is everyone as far as MD-admissions goes. I'm pseudo-traditional. I'm going straight into medical school from undergraduate, but I took 2 1/2 years off after high school and lived in Europe. I also look really young, so noone guesses that I'm a tad bit older.

although i'm still waiting on baylor (PM me if you desire the gory details of my southwestern/baylor debate, some of you already know it), i feel like i should contribute to this conversation since there's a >50% likelihood that i'll be your classmate. 🙂

i'm a traditional applicant... 4 years undergrad, graduating in june. the past few summers i've spent in different places, doing research or working on health policy.

as for what kind of classmate i'll be, i guess i'm blessed with good test-taking genes and have never had to work terribly hard. i value friendships over getting ahead in class (many people at my undergrad don't), and i like going out--having drinks, dancing a bit, meeting new people. even though i'm sure utsw will be difficult, i'm not freaking out about it and don't plan to. also, i don't particularly want to live in the utsw student apartments--my dream if i end up in dallas is to share a small house like in highland park with some roommates (is this feasible? my tour guide said this is what he did)...

PM me if you want to talk more. 🙂
 
I'm definitely one of the good-natured clowns/goof-offs. Nothing, even my self-respect, is truly safe from my sense of humor. At MS0 day, at lunch I happened to sit with another guy that seems to have a similar sense of humor, so look out if the two of us get going.
 
What fields are you all genuinely interested in (and none is a perfectly acceptable answer since we haven't even begun school yet)?

For me, I know for sure that I would like to do something involving acute care, probably in a hospital setting, though some clinical patient visits is fine. Knowing my personality, I am leaning toward surgery because I am fairly impatient and like to have quick results. Also, I would rather feel like I am working toward a goal rather than tinkering with medicines to achieve an outcome. As far as area of surgery, I cannot say. I really don't think my family life will allow me to train for 9 years+ after medical school. I did like some of the features of ophthalmology, but I can't say I know much more than the few procedures I saw. It does look very tedious, and that might not fit my personality. Whatever I do, I would like to find a balance in feeling that I have trained enough to be practicing in a field that I enjoy, while having chosen something that allows me to settle down without having to do six fellowships (hyperbole) that force me to move around the country. Oh well, the nice thing is that I won't have to make that decision for a few years. For certain, I do NOT think I am looking into Family Practice, Anesthesiology, Psychiatry, Pathology, Dermatology, or General Pediatrics.

Of course, everything could change when I actually rotate through the hospital, but I have had the privilege of observing quite a few specialties to help me narrow down what I want.
 
Wow...this thread hasn't seen the light of the front page in such a long time. How is everyone doing???
 
I put a nice, long post and nobody replied to it.... Umm...I'm doing fine. It's the weekend, and I'm meeting my brother and his wife at a state park for a cookout. Good times!
 
My computer is on its dying breath. I don't think it will hold out for financial aid to kick in. After about a week of going AWOL on the internet, I ran the cable connection through a different room to one of my roommates computers, so that's my excuse. Ndi, what did you figure out about research, do we just call the one guy? I want to get up to Dallas for the summer if possible -- 3 more months of working at the gas station is something I'm going to try to avoid. My problem is finding somewhere to live that soon. Outside of G-Eagle, how is the housing search going for everyone? I'm heading up there in a couple weeks for 2 days of joyous pavement pounding...
 
I am excited because my parents are going to have me install a wireless network in our house (which I have never done before but am researching on the internet). This is great because we'll finally be done with dial up at my home. Also, my roommates at school and I share a cable line, but we have all our cables running down the hall to a router, which is a pain. Wireless....can't wait!
 
when exactly does financial aid information get back to us?
 
Howdy y'all!

34 more days until graduation! :clap: :clap: But bleh, I've got 4 papers to write before then. 😡 And of course I'll be putting them off until the last minute.😀
 
This thread has been buried for too long, and I wanted to try my first post in the new format. I hope everyone is doing well. I am at home in Big D on Easter break. Some friends of mine and I saw The Whole Ten Yards last night and The Alamo today. Two movies in two days! Last time I went to the movie theater was...January? Well, somebody else chime in soon. We have to keep it up for UTSW!
 
Glad to see the thread back up. 🙂

I'm in the middle of the home stretch before graduation. Had to write 2 papers last week, one this week, and one next week. 😱 Do we have to write papers in med school?

Also waiting on pins and needles to see if my wife gets a job in Dallas. She interviewed 2 weeks ago and should hear back this week. :scared:

26 days til graduation!
126 days til med school!
 
A student told me that for our Bioethics class in the spring semester of MS1, we have to write a 30 page paper. I hate papers and am not looking forward to that. Then again, if that is our only paper, I'll survive. Let us know if your wife gets that job. Good luck to her!
 
30 pages?!?! That's just ridiculous. It'll be about 2 pages of substance and 28 pages of BS. 😡


Oh yeah! Go Stars!
 
The Rangers are actually doing decent as well. Hank Blalock is a stud! I hope they stay competative so I can enjoy watching them this summer. Someone give me a Karma point...I want to see what it looks like in my user cp (no I won't ask for any more after that)....
 
G_Eagle said:
Someone give me a Karma point...I want to see what it looks like in my user cp (no I won't ask for any more after that)....

Done! 😀 I approve of your post!
 
Thanks...that really helped!!! And I won't say no if anyone else wants to approve me...I share the love, you know! 😀

Also, I e-mailed the financial aid office, and she said they are sending out awards "late next week." Hopefully, that will prove an accurate estimate, and we'll know our aid packages by then.
 
Could someone explain this whole kharma thing to me. I know what Kharma is but not how it relates to SDN. So the financial aid thing doesn't get me too excited. Darn my father the doctor and his money. Darn those grants. I didn't really want a grant anyway. So its either loans or scholarships for me. Sure, the gunner in me says I'm gonna get some scholarship loving, but I'm trying my best to not listen to that evil voice. I'm going to have to suppress him for the 2 pre-clinical years.
 
i would just like to say that it's very encouraging to see that the UTSW 2008 thread is like one of the most active class threads on the forum. hopefully these interactive and conversational feelings from SDN will carry into our real live class too. 🙂 yayyayaya.
 
🙁 Must I be late in absolutely everything??? My citizenship paers need to be mailed out to the fin aid people or they won't give me a package....dang....i hope it's not too late.
 
Bad Mojo, I think this explains the Karma system the best...Karma Explanation Make sure to give this guy karma for typing out this long explanation. Also, I'll keep spreading the points to you all, and I hope you guys do too. As for financial aid, I have no clue how much I will get. I have no clue what my budget will be like this upcoming year. Does anyone know how long we have to take action on accepting the package? I am not sure if I will want to take the whole thing or only part of it (probably will take a huge chunk of it no matter what).
 
Sunkists, are you going to be with us at UTSW? For some reason, I was under the impression that you were going elsewhere, though you had been accepted. But hey, if you choose to go to UTSW, I would be honored to have you as a classmate. I say, the more, the merrier! Oh yeah, did you make it to MS0? If so, I wonder if I met you. Hmm....
 
On the slim chance that I even get offered fin aid due to my own procrastination, how does this financial aid stuff work? Let's say i only accept a portion of my package, can I come back in November and ask for a little more? Am I penalized in any way?
 
I'm afraid I don't know. You could e-mail financial aid, though. I am sure they could answer it. Here is their number and the e-mail address of the woman whom I contacted about financial aid.

214-648-3611
[email protected]
 
G_Eagle said:
A student told me that for our Bioethics class in the spring semester of MS1, we have to write a 30 page paper. I hate papers and am not looking forward to that. Then again, if that is our only paper, I'll survive. Let us know if your wife gets that job. Good luck to her!

Definitely NOT a 30 page paper. I think it was more like 5 pages or so when I did it. The first rule of med school is don't trust everything you hear from other med students. There is a lot of student-induced panic around UTSW (and probably most other medical schools).
 
i took ethics in the fall (no ethics in the spring) there is no paper to write. they've changed it. ethics is a fun class. i like siimple sentences. i'm not sure why. adios.
 
i'm still mulling over my choices but i'm leaning towards utsw. i'm leaning so much i've already put in the $200 deposit to live at the university apartments. 🙂 those are quite nice.... man. i've never lived in a place that pretty before.

and no, i didn't get to make it out to MS0 day. or the pizza dinner in austin the other night. mmm.

see you... in dallas?
 
I really hope you decide to come, sunkists!
 
Hey guys,

Since I didn't make it to MS0 I was wondering if someone else could fill me in on what makes the med center apartments so nice? I mean how are they different from other apartments? I'm still not sure if I'm going to UTSW, should I go ahead and pay the deposit (is it too late?)? How hard will it be to find housing elsewhere? Is the main attraction of the UTSW apartments the proximity to campus? Wow, that's a lot of questions... but you guys are cool and I know someone will answer them!! 🙂
 
haha the med apartments are nice. let's just say... really nice. they're so shiny and new. like really new. i think some are a year old and some are 100% brand new -- like finishing up construction in a few months?

i live in austin -- and live at this complex -- www.villasonguadalupe.com
they're the newest apartments around campus and they're considered "luxury living." and no, i'm not rich. i just got a special deal offered to me. but yeah. check out the website. i visited the med park apartments and i personally think they're nicer than my place now. of course, the safety and feel of the place is totally different there...

but the rooms are big. open kitchens. good security. good clubhouse. nice pool. weightroom. wireless internet. everything is SHINY. 🙂 and parking is not a problem. the rent is also really competitive compared to other stuff around the area. i've heard its also one of the safer places around the relatively unsafe area.
 
*sigh* I'm not living at the med apartments cuz they don't allow pets. Gotta have my kitty. 🙂

and w00000000t! my wife got a job offer in Dallas, so it's now 100% official that I'll be coming to UTSW! :clap: :clap: :clap: My goodness it's so wonderful finally knowing where I'll be in 2 months.
 
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (to your wife) That's definitely good news!

So do you all have any idea where you will be living (since it won't be in medpark)?
 
This week is my main apartment-hunting week. I'm going up to Dallas for Thursday and Friday and hopefully will be able to get it all worked out. I want to move up to Dallas at the beginning of the summer to get acclimated and maybe do some research. I don't really know anyone up there anymore and all the postings for roommates seem to be for August, so I'm kind of looking for a 1-bedroom place. I've been searching online and will check it all out in person this week. I found some spots off of Inwood that seem affordable. I also figured out The Village that most of the students seemed to be talking about at M0 day.
 
Yeah, we're moving to Dallas at the end of May. Going apartment hunting after graduation (24 days!). We were thinking about Uptown. Our tour guide said there were plenty of apartments and it's a short distance to the school. And it looked like an ok neighborhood.
 
I know the Village is supposed to be nice. Right now, my girlfriend is still apartment hunting (she'll be at Baylor College of Dentistry). I am thinking that she is leaning toward living in the Village. One good thing about Dallas is that there are a ton of choices. Right now this is an apartment hunter's market so you won't be slammed with only a few options.

So I graduate in about a month, and I have almost completely shut down. I am ready to be done with school. Counting the days....
 
haha. it is done. hi classmates. 🙂
 
So today is MCAT day. I have called a few of my friends and told them that I was thinking of them.... But the main thought on my mind? SO GLAD I AM NOT TAKING THAT TEST AGAIN! Doesn't it feel good to be past the MCAT, past classes, past applications, and IN?! Yep, it's great to be on the other side...

Then again, we are about to do it all over again with the USMLE and more classes and residency applications (I'll try not to think about that).
 
of course each step of the process seems like a big deal at the time... and its all relative. but what do you all think is (or will be) the most serious/stressful/emotionally numbing step in all of this?

undergrad admissions
MCAT prep/exam
med school admissions
med school... in general
usmle
match

haha i want someone to say we've been through the worst already.
 
We definitely haven't been through the worst. I know that residency is supposed to be very taxing. I would guess that the worst is yet to come, though I what specific step is different for each person. The hardest for what we have been through thus far was the MCAT (at least to me). It puts all the pressure on one test, and then you have to wait forever for the results. The application and interview process was fun. Getting in is a blast! Waitlists do suck...waiting is never fun...
 
Hey Everybody,

I just wanted to jump on this thread. I didn't even know UTSW had one going so hopefully this will bring it up to the front page and get some more folks involved. I just sent in the deposit for my apartment. I'm getting married in May and we're moving up to Dallas right before the wedding so I'll be there all summer. We went up to Dallas a few weeks ago to look for places. We wanted to rent a house but they were a little to pricey so now we're living at the Gables on Pearl Street. Really nice places and you get a 2 car garage with your apartment so that's pretty sweet. Anyway, congrats to all coming to UTSW and I look forward to meeting you all.
 
Any word on financial aid news?
 
ndi_amaka said:
Any word on financial aid news?


none for me yet, but I didn't get my FAFSA in til the end of March
 
none here either? fafsa complete in jan.
 
The Financial Aid Office told me they would be sending out the packages at the end of this week. I'm watching my mail...
 
Any word on financial aid packages yet???
 
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