University of Colorado Class of 2012

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Congrats everyone. Hopefully we will meet this fall. It is so far away. I just want to start school. the "real world" sucks, except for no homework.
 
Hi guys!

Yup, definitely looking forward to getting started. Colorado was my top choice without a doubt; everyone was very laid-back, and the new facilities appear to be top-notch. I know there are more accepted folks running around, but it looks like we don't have a verbose crowd just yet. The fellow interviewees I met were outstanding folks and were very friendly. I think we'll have a great class!

For the lurkers who are reading the thread but haven't posted, take the time to say hello!
 
I've found it! I didn't know there was a thread started for the class of 2012. Just wanted to say hello to all the others out there. I'm not quite sure if I will be at Colorado yet, but I only have one other school I would consider if accepted. Hope to know by March. Anyway, I am looking forward to finally beginning this crazy journey either way. Congrats everyone!
 
NeuroticPreMe said:
I'm not quite sure if I will be at Colorado yet, but I only have one other school I would consider if accepted. Hope to know by March.
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I'm in the same position. I'll be interviewing at one other school soon to check it out (one should always examine all opportunities!) but it would have to be ridiculously impressive to out-do Colorado in my mind. I'm definitely going there with an open mind (who knows? I might fall in love with it) but Colorado will be a tough act to beat.

Grats on your acceptance!
 
DeAlighieri said:
I'll be interviewing at one other school soon to check it out
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That wouldn't be Dartmouth would it?

I really enjoyed my interview there, but I think Colorado has them beat in a few key areas. As far as academics, the schools are probably comparable, but Colorado has the "new" curriculum. As far as locale, both are in a great place for the outdoor enthusiast, but Denver is much closer to a major airport for family visits and the like. I will give Hanover the edge on charm though. The hospital there is top notch and impressive, but so are Colorado's and Colorado has many to choose from.

Overall, I like Colorado over Dartmouth, but then again I don't even have an acceptance there yet, so I might be biased.🙄 That's my two cents.

Definitely go and enjoy, it is a great place and the experience is one you won't forget. Congrats!🙂
 
Hello!

Thought I would add another post to this thread! I'll be going to Colorado for MD/PhD next fall, so I'm looking forward to meeting you all!🙂
 
Dendro,

Do you know whom you'd like as a PI? Or are you going into rotations to find one? I think you'll enjoy the graduate program.

Mtn
 
NeuroticPreMe said:
That wouldn't be Dartmouth would it?
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Yes, it would be. Thanks for your impressions of the school. I'm looking forward to seeing what sort of vibe the place has, in addition to the obvious stuff like academic programs and facilities. I have a lot of friends out here, and a few already attending Colorado, and the airport thing has occurred to me too. Still, this whole interview process is about "fit", so I'll be going to Dartmouth to see whether I'd mesh well there too, or whether I'm not Ivy-league material after all. 🙂

Are you just waiting for your Colorado acceptance at this point?
 
MtnGntx said:
Dendro,

Do you know whom you'd like as a PI? Or are you going into rotations to find one? I think you'll enjoy the graduate program.

Mtn
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MtnGntx-

Are you an MD/PhD or PhD student at Colorado? I'm currently making a list of possible people to rotate with. I don't have a specific PI chosen who I'd like to do my PhD with, but there are a few whose research I'm really interested in. I think I'm going to like the graduate program too. The immunology at Colorado is great!

What program are you in?
 
Dendro,

Im finishing up my PhD at UCHSC and will be starting Medical school here in August. My grad work will be through Human Medical Genetics, but my department is Cardiology. My grad work is predominately the genetics and electrophysiology of dilated cardiomyopathy.

Yes, you are correct... Immunology rocks here. Probably one of the best places on the planet for this field.

Feel free to pick my brain about the grad program... and I look forward to meeting you in a couple of months.:hardy:
 
MtnGntx said:
Dendro,

Im finishing up my PhD at UCHSC and will be starting Medical school here in August. My grad work will be through Human Medical Genetics, but my department is Cardiology. My grad work is predominately the genetics and electrophysiology of dilated cardiomyopathy.

Yes, you are correct... Immunology rocks here. Probably one of the best places on the planet for this field.

Feel free to pick my brain about the grad program... and I look forward to meeting you in a couple of months.:hardy:
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I'll let you know if I have any questions. Looking forward to meeting you next fall too! 🙂
 
DeAlighieri said:
Are you just waiting for your Colorado acceptance at this point?
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Sorry for the confusion. I have an acceptance at Colorado, but I am still waiting to hear from Dartmouth.

Have fun in Hanover. 🙂
 
NeuroticPreMe said:
Sorry for the confusion. I have an acceptance at Colorado, but I am still waiting to hear from Dartmouth.
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Oh, excellent! Sorry, I misread your post. Congratulations on your acceptance to Colorado then. For myself, after some serious consideration, I think I'm going to drop my application to Dartmouth. While I have no doubt that it's an excellent institution, I think I'd be happier in Colorado. I've been wrestling with this decision ever since I got my invite, and have concluded that I simply can't justify the financial outlay required to interview out there when I'm so thoroughly enamoured of the idea of attending Colorado. The large support base I have out here is also one of my deciding factors. Best of luck with your Dartmouth decision, and I hope that you'll choose to attend Colorado in the Fall.

See you then!
 
Hey guys, I just got accepted to Colorado this week, and I'm very excited about it! Of course, I'm a little less stoked about the OOS tuition, but what can you do? I've got one quick question for you all, do you know if the lectures are recorded in some way? This might be in that packet they gave us on interview day, but I'm out of town right now. Thanks!
 
postbaccer2006 said:
Hey guys, I just got accepted to Colorado this week, and I'm very excited about it! Of course, I'm a little less stoked about the OOS tuition, but what can you do? I've got one quick question for you all, do you know if the lectures are recorded in some way? This might be in that packet they gave us on interview day, but I'm out of town right now. Thanks!
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Well, OOS tuition aside, congratulations on being accepted to what is surely a fantastic medical school. With respect to recorded lectures, my friends who are currently attending the school report that there's ample opportunity to access lecture material. I believe (and I'll double-check next time I talk to them) that there's some form of video/audio recording, accessible via the intranet, as well as the usual note services and so on. I'm not 100% on how it's handled, but I seem to recall that they were quite satisfied with it. Congrats again!
 
Yes, postbaccer2006, what Dealighieri said... notes from a service, downloads of powerpoint presentations via intranet, and I imagine some video links as well... (the new classrooms offer state-of-the-art audio visual technology).

I understand the AV and IT people have been working their bottoms' off ironing out the bugs in the system.... but that will all be taken care of long before we take our lecture seats for the first time.
 
Does anybody know how many hours we're in class for MS1 year?
 
dendro said:
Does anybody know how many hours we're in class for MS1 year?
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No idea. However, I've already mentally resigned myself to a monk-like existence of constant studying for MS1, so it didn't occur to me to wonder!
 
Hey guys,

Congrats on your acceptances to Colorado. I'm currently an MSI here so I can answer some of your questions. For lecture recording, there is someone in our class who has volunteered to record the lectures and then post them on our class discussion board. Usually it's a week before they get posted so I don't find them that useful unless I've missed a class and the notes aren't adequate. Professors provide notes for their lectures, which for the most part are pretty good, but sometimes are just copies of their power points. Power points are also available for download online.

Classes typically go from 8-12. Thursdays we have PBL from 1-3 too. Anatomy is a little different in that there aren't quite as many hours of lecture but you have to spend time in the dissection lab too. Sometimes you have 4 hours of class plus 4 hours dissecting which sucks but doesn't happen too often. In general the schedule gives you plenty of free time, but it just depends on how much you need to study.

Let me know if you have any more questions.
 
Opusthecat-

Thanks for the info. It's nice that classes are done early afternoon- this gives us more time to study. I feel like being in lecture a ton tends to waste some time. I'll let you know if I have any other questions! Thanks again!
 
Dendro, your reality will be somewhat different because of the additional obligations with the graduate school curriculum. YOu will be a very busy camper. This will be especially dependent upon which labs you rotate through... get a tough PI, and you will be expected to live in the lab. When you interview for your rotations, be certain to ask specific questions about what will be expected of you and dont be afraid to pass on a PI if you are unable to come to an understanding regarding your schedule requirements.

Just a little advice. Hope it helps.
 
Opusthecat...do you feel like most of the kinks in the curriculum change have been worked out? Also, any idea what the average Step 1 score was last year? I heard that it dropped quite a bit, but I assume that's to be expected immediately after a new curriculum is implemented. Thanks!
 
Yes, they are still working the kinks out. I can't really say how good the curriculum is, since this is the only medical school I go too, and I haven't taken the boards yet. I think the avg. board scores may have been down slightly last year (I think ~217 but don't know for sure). More significantly, there were 12 people that didn't pass the first time around which was up from prior years (I think 6-8 is more typical). Not really all that suprising IMO since they were the first class with the new curriculum, as you pointed out. Also, they were only given 3 weeks off, I believe, to study for boards 😕. That is being increased. From what I've heard, things are much better than they were two years ago. I think board scores are much more dependent on the student than on the curriculum anyway.

There is much less lecture time now than there was in the old curriculum. This means you have plenty of time outside of class to learn the material even if the lecture sucks. For example, we just had an awful lecture on the coagulation pathway and after two hours felt like I had hardly learned anything. So that afternoon I studied the material using completely different sources (you'll come to love wikipedia) until I understood it. This set-up emphasizes personal responsibilty to learn the material, and I love it like this. By the way, most lecturers aren't that bad and some (like Dr. Cohen, our immuno prof) are outstanding.
 
Thanks for the info opusthecat. So how many of you are definitely going? I'm still waiting to hear from a few places, but the more I learn about Colorado, the more excited I get!
 
Come on Cookies, commit already... you know you want to.😀
 
Hey MtnGx-

Thanks for the advice. Luckily I'll be doing my first lab rotation this summer, so I won't have to work in the lab during the school year. I will be taking some grad classes though🙄.
 
toughcookies said:
So how many of you are definitely going? I'm still waiting to hear from a few places, but the more I learn about Colorado, the more excited I get!
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I'm committed. I got the email the other day about the April 18th Open House meet-up, and I'm going to do my best to attend. It'd be great to meet up with you guys and get to know each other a little before we start in August. It's finally starting to really sink in that I'm heading not just to medical school, but to my top-choice medical school. I've got a few friends who have interviewed there and I'm hoping they'll get an acceptance. Starting med school with a few buddies already in the class is a nice bonus!
 
hi colorado class of 2012,
i have a set of pharmcards that i'd like to get rid of. they are several years old, second edition. good for studying pharmacology. i really don't know why i kept them as a resident. pm me if you would like to have them.
 
update: the pharmcards are no longer available, someone has called them.
 
Just got word that I won't be attending UW through the WWAMI program. Now I am pretty sure I'll be in Denver with no word from Dartomouth or Baylor yet. I am really excited to be headed to Colorado, but I am seriously scared of the OOS tuition.😱

Hope I can get WHICHE funding and cut some of the costs.😀
 
NeuroticPreMe said:
Just got word that I won't be attending UW through the WWAMI program. Now I am pretty sure I'll be in Denver with no word from Dartomouth or Baylor yet. I am really excited to be headed to Colorado, but I am seriously scared of the OOS tuition.😱

Hope I can get WHICHE funding and cut some of the costs.😀
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Hey Neurotic, out of curiosity... when did you interview at CU?
 
NeuroticPreMe said:
Just got word that I won't be attending UW through the WWAMI program. Now I am pretty sure I'll be in Denver with no word from Dartomouth or Baylor yet. I am really excited to be headed to Colorado, but I am seriously scared of the OOS tuition.😱

Hope I can get WHICHE funding and cut some of the costs.😀
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I'm OOS too. Maybe we could share a cardboard box...or at least clip coupons together 🙄
 
toughcookies said:
I'm OOS too. Maybe we could share a cardboard box...or at least clip coupons together 🙄
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I've thought about buying a house and renting rooms out, but I'm not sure any med-student would want to live in a house with 3 kids under 5 (exept me of course). 🙂
 
NeuroticPreMe said:
I've thought about buying a house and renting rooms out, but I'm not sure any med-student would want to live in a house with 3 kids under 5 (exept me of course). 🙂
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You have 3 kids? That's great! Are you the proud mom or dad? One thing I really like about Colorado is that it seems to have a pretty diverse class with lots of older/non-trads. I'm only 24, but at some of the schools I looked at I felt like an old lady.
 
toughcookies said:
One thing I really like about Colorado is that it seems to have a pretty diverse class with lots of older/non-trads.
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Well, I think you'll get your fill in our class. I'm ex-military non-trad (31) and a friend of mine just got accepted who's also an ex-military non-trad. I'm looking forward to a really awesome class. Will any of you be making it to the Open House in April? I know I'm already committed to Denver, but I want to spend a bit of time hanging out with some of the current medical students and, hey, free food!

As far as OOS tuition for people who aren't WICHE qualified, does Colorado switch to in-state after the first year? Not sure on that one.

Also, wanted to wish the best of luck to everyone who is waiting for the big decision day in March. I've got a few friends who are growing progressively more wild-eyed every day as they wait to know their fate. Good luck!
 
DeAlighieri said:
Well, I think you'll get your fill in our class. I'm ex-military non-trad (31) and a friend of mine just got accepted who's also an ex-military non-trad. I'm looking forward to a really awesome class. Will any of you be making it to the Open House in April? I know I'm already committed to Denver, but I want to spend a bit of time hanging out with some of the current medical students and, hey, free food!

As far as OOS tuition for people who aren't WICHE qualified, does Colorado switch to in-state after the first year? Not sure on that one.

Also, wanted to wish the best of luck to everyone who is waiting for the big decision day in March. I've got a few friends who are growing progressively more wild-eyed every day as they wait to know their fate. Good luck!
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Not anymore. This is the way that it used to be but the Grad school in Boulder complained about this so they spread the total cost out over 5 years so the 1st year is less but 2-4 are more expensive.
 
DeAlighieri said:
Well, I think you'll get your fill in our class. I'm ex-military non-trad (31) and a friend of mine just got accepted who's also an ex-military non-trad. I'm looking forward to a really awesome class. Will any of you be making it to the Open House in April? I know I'm already committed to Denver, but I want to spend a bit of time hanging out with some of the current medical students and, hey, free food!
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Very cool. I can't say my background is that interesting. I was a political junkie in college and almost became a lawyer before I saw the light. I had a great time getting to know my diverse post-bacc classmates, so I'm really looking forward to being part of a class that isn't composed entirely of pre-med robots.
 
toughcookies said:
Very cool. I can't say my background is that interesting. I was a political junkie in college and almost became a lawyer before I saw the light. I had a great time getting to know my diverse post-bacc classmates, so I'm really looking forward to being part of a class that isn't composed entirely of pre-med robots.
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Glad to hear that you didn't start down the dark path. I hear that once you do, forever will it dominate your destiny. As far as pre-med robots go, one of the best things about Colorado in my mind was how laid-back (relatively) and friendly people were. I really wanted to go to a school where there was a sense of community and mutual support, and that was definitely the impression I got during my visit. I'm hoping our class will be friendly, supportive, and cohesive, as we negotiate what will undoubtedly be some very trying years.
 
toughcookies said:
You have 3 kids? That's great! Are you the proud mom or dad?
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I'm a proud pop of 2 girls and one more due in April. 😀 I thought Colorado was definitely the best place for raising my kids and having some sort of family life.
 
For those looking for living arrangements, you may want to keep an eye on www.paulsapartmentliving.com

I should immediately be clear that I'm not shilling for some company, but rather got that address from a billboard sign that's posted in front of some huge apartments that are being built literally across the street from the campus library. A guy passing by in a car stopped and told me that they were planning to open some up by June/July, and be completely open by August/September. Supposed to be one- and two-bedroom apts, with a parking garage attached to the building (which is something I haven't seen before). Just thought I'd throw it out there for anyone already thinking about living arrangements.
 
Thanks for the information! I will be putting myself on their wait list.
 
I just started my search for housing close to the new campus (I live close to Boulder right now). The Stapleton redevelopment is another great area to check out- it's less than a 10 min drive from campus and has several apartment complexes, not to mention infinite options for buying, should that be something you're considering.
 
Another thing to consider is vicinity to public transport. A friend of mine says he knows of some apartments very close to a park-and-ride that are a good price and high quality. I'll post info when I get it. I seem to recall hearing about free bus passes for med students. Sure, you're sitting next to a psychopath, but hey, free!
 
I'm glad this thread is picking up steam. I'm excited for the big round of acceptances to go out so we can see some new faces. Unfortunately I'm going to miss out on second look. But I'm not too sad because I'm going backpacking in Southeast Asia for 2 months!
 
Hey everyone!
Just wanted to say hi - I'm a potential class of 2012 (looking at OHSU also) and congrats to all of you!

I live in Denver now (and work on Anschutz campus) so if out of state people have questions please ask. Also, where are you all thinking about living? If not on campus (ie: paul's apts seem to be the only option) what do you think of Lowry, Stapleton or just off Colfax (ie City Park area)?
I live in the Highlands now and the commute on I-70 is just a bit too painful...

Anyway, I'll be there on April 18th and look forward to meeting everyone! Let me know if you have thoughts on housing.
 
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