University of Maryland Class of 2011

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Hey guys!

My roommate just informed me that she will be moving out in June. This means that I will need a roommate for the next year. If any of you are interested or know someone who will be interested, I am offering a the top floor of my house. It's a 1-bedroom apartment with its own bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. Parking on the street is free, and I also have a garage (though the doors aren't electrically operated), a back porch, and a substantial backyard. Cable, wireless internet, phone, and an alarm system are also included in the rent, which is extremely competitive with anything you will find downtown. (Most 1-bedrooms downtown will run you over $1000/month, and I am asking substantially less). The only add-ons that you have to pay for are water and energy. Energy is billed monthly, and water every 3 months.

There is only one catch - my house is about 1.5 miles from school. I usually drive (there is free parking on a street near the school, or you can park in the garage), but lately I have been taking the bus - it picks me up right outside of the house, and drops me off right in front of school. AMAZINGLY convenient. It is also a bikeable distance. Compared with downtown, my neighborhood is relatively safe, and, although the neighbors are trashy people (they like to cuss and litter a lot), I haven't had any problems in terms of violence or break-ins.

If you are interested, shoot me a PM and we'll talk. I prefer to rent to a student (my current roommate is in the PT program and she has been wonderful) - I don't care which school (med, dent, PT, law, pharm, etc.), but you must sign a year lease (which is no different from anywhere else).

Let me know if you're interested!
 
LucidSplash said:
you guys are getting LW and I mixed up again - I'm the one the crack dealers call "ma'am" (I'm not joking).
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Lol! I remember us talking about this! My bad...hey, at least you know you own them (or can get a really good deal if you ever need)
 
Allie86 said:
Also, any idea if the redwood is a further or scarier walk? (heh.. can you tell I'm a girl?)
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I know this has already been answered a few times, but I'll second (third, fourth, whatever) what others have said. I'm a 5'4'' girl (with no upper body strength to make me look imposing) and live at Centerpoint, which is 1 block north of Redwood. I have no problem walking home by myself...even at night. It's actually not bad because the Hippodrome and Mariner Arena are right there on Baltimore street, so there are frequently shows/concerts going on and a lot of people walking around at night before and after the shows. I always feel safer when I can see a lot of people, as opposed to those scary deserted streets over on the "other" side of MLK. If you do feel unsafe, there are always people to walk with, the shuttle surface, etc.

I can tell you where I wouldn't go after dark...I wouldn't wander up to Lexington Market, or go further north in general. But east and even south of campus isn't bad. Heck, there are even parts on that dreaded "other" side of MLK that are quite nice. You will have to get used to people verbally harassing you, but this is a city afterall (especially if you walk past the VA Hospital, where there are usually small groups of men who try to get the attention of anything with breasts that walks past). And there are homeless people, but they are harmless and usually more concentrated on the other side of Howard street.

For people inquiring about the match list, I'm not sure if it has been posted online yet, but they definitely have paper copies available on campus now. It's a pretty impressive list - 4 derm matches (normally it is around 1-2), a few rad/onc, a handful of orthopods (all female, I believe 👍), etc. The quality of institutions that were matched seemed impressive as well, but you can get a look for yourself. There were a few people that had to scramble (meaning they didn't match), but that is pretty normal and from what I was told the number of people who had to scramble is consistent with previous years. And for my fellow classmates, is anyone else said that spring break is over?
 
I think we should formally petition the school to extend spring break for at least another week. Hell, while we're at it, we should request that for our strong presence and recruiting capabilities here on SDN, we should receive a grade of "A" for both Functional Systems and Neuroscience, and be excused for the rest of the year.
 
PS, I've STILL never been to Nacho Mama's. Are you guys going to that piano bar thing on Saturday? I think I may go.
 
Skimming over the match list, I'd say we did very well as a whole, I don't even mean just specialty wise, but if you look at the places where people are training, the list as a whole I think is pretty impressive! Most of the places are very reputable centers to train...you'd have a good name at pretty much all of those places.

Then again, the only times anyone ever cares about where you trained for residency are if a) you are doing fellowship training and/or b) are entering the pissing contest that is academia. Looks like we get set up to be competitive for either 👍

Private practice? Patients don't care if you went to Penn State vs. UPenn, NYMC vs. NYU. Cure the runs from whatever orifice and collect that check. I try to tell myself this when I start thinking "Oh the breaks are too short, the studying is too much, and I'm gonna fail." Word.
 
I still don't really know how to interpret those things. I wonder why there was so much interest in certain specialties, and less interest in others? I understand now that one really good or really aweful experience can make or break one's interest - perhaps there are some really good Oncology and Anesthesiology faculty/preceptors, and really poor ones in Ortho? I'm also surprised at how few people were interested in Ob/Gyn.
Med-Peds seems to be pretty big at Maryland, as well as the EM-IM (Med-EM) program. I don't think I'd want to do that 5-year residency just to get boarded in both; although one of my mentors here is in the EM-IM program and really likes it.
Do you think all of those Psych matches (9?!) were in CAPP?
 
LadyWolverine said:
I'm also surprised at how few people were interested in Ob/Gyn.
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My aunt is an OB and she straight up told me above all else, do not go into that specialty! There is a lot of dissatisfaction among practitioners within the field these days and I'm sure the crazy malpractice premiums work into the equation somehow. I don't remember why she says its so bad, but I think there were a lot of bureaucratic reasons for it. I suppose we'll find out more about it third year. Alls I know that its something about the way healthcare is right now is what makes it very unattractive.
 
LadyWolverine said:
Med-Peds seems to be pretty big at Maryland, as well as the EM-IM (Med-EM) program. I don't think I'd want to do that 5-year residency just to get boarded in both; although one of my mentors here is in the EM-IM program and really likes it.
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Yeah, I like the idea of the EM-Peds and EM-IM but the 5 year residency does make it slightly less attractive. On the other hand, I think it would give you a lot of versatility in term of the location for where you worked and what you did. Especially for underserved areas or overseas. Living overseas is an option my husband and I are keeping open so one of the dual programs might be a good idea, but I still have no idea what I want to do. But I have heard way too many Ob/Gyns talk about how they can't deliver babies anymore so I'm not really surprised there are less people going into it with all the uncertainty.
 
I'm not surprised Ortho is low. It's one of the top 5, maybe top 3 most competitive of all specialties. It doesn't mean the interest isn't there. Ob is in crisis - no one wants to go into it because premiums skyrocket when you actually practice it vs. straight gyn. Problems that don't have anything to do with the actual doc are reflected in lawsuits and malpractice rates. Not feasible to practice OB these days.

I'm actually really interested in the EM-Peds program, but I found out you don't get to sit for the Peds ER boards when you are done. You get boarded in Peds, and boarded in EM, but not in the subspecialty Peds ER. Really weird. You'd have to go do a fellowship to be able to sit for them. It doesn't mean you can't practice, but depending on where you want to work, you might have some issues.

Match lists aren't always useful. They're more fun than anything, IMO.
 
Yes, I agree that the lists are fun to look at. However, I don't really know if they serve any practical purpose for the rest of us. As someone who has NO CLUE what kind of medicine she wants to practice, it's kind of like going to a buffet and seeing what everyone else is putting on their plates. Definitely entertaining to observe, but I won't know if I like it until I taste it.

Anybody have any ideas of what they DO NOT want to do? I used to think I didn't want to do EM, but I really like the faculty that I've met here so far. I still have very limited exposure, however. I guess we'll have to wait for 3rd year - sigh. (Although I'll probably seriously hate my life once it starts - we can't win!) I just miss having a JOB to go to every day. It feels like everything we are doing is so far removed from actual medicine - even the clinical correlates, which are usually far enough over my head to sometimes be frustrating.

LS, I understand what you mean about participating in a dual program if you plan to practice in an underserved area. As a matter of fact, my EM-IM mentor stated that this was her reasoning for selecing the dual-degree program in the first place. I think that's probably why a lot of people do it - multiple board certs seem to be becoming more and more popular lately.

On a more fun note - we should do more flaming Dr. Peppers soon. 😀

- LW
 
I'm so down for Flaming DPs, especially since I missed round 1.

What DON'T I want to do? Derm, any Surgery, Family Practice, OB, probably Path, and PSYCH. Psych is like the depths of hell to me.

Top 3 are Anesthesia, EM (which are like 1a and 1b right now), and Peds. Rest is still fair game though.
 
Coz, you're down for flaming DPs? That's gotta hurt. How does that work with a dude, anyway?
 
Ha there are two flavors of MD's, physicians and surgeons. I'm definitely NOT a surgeon, nor desire to be one, although observing in the OR is cool I cant lie.

For me, PM&R is no. 1 until further notice (hence, the SDN sn) but EM, gas, and IM (either Cards, general, GI?, Genetics?) are all things I gotta look into also.

I wouldn't mind Family Med so much, I think the concept is pretty cool, but the passion is not there. Path and rads...not unless I want to be a vampire when I grow up. Pulm/CC is def out after our physiology exam on it :laugh: Psych, apparently you start to take on a few of your patients traits, not really my thing, though I highly respect anyone who does it though. OB/Gyn...we just won't get into that, and it's not because of the exorbitant malpractice premiums due to our friends, Siontz, Kirk and Miles :scared:

Before, I thought I would never touch sports med, but after shadowing in an MSK clinic, I've all but made up my mind 😍--unless something else grabs and shakes me. And as the days go on, I've been getting more and more into the health and wellness bit. So it just seems like a good fit...

But watch me follow in my father's footsteps and become a nephrologist 😎
 
LadyWolverine said:
Coz, you're down for flaming DPs? That's gotta hurt. How does that work with a dude, anyway?
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Dude, I MUST know when this gets down...I have to see this! I bet Coz takes em' down like a champ.
 
Hey kids - I agree that my class did very well in the match. We got several into derm and a few into rad-onc (at some prestigous institutions). Many went into surgery and radiology. We matched well in EM and anesthesia (which is what I'm going into). Ortho is very competitive - two of my female classmates matched at UMD (and are very excited).

First, when I'm giving tours I tell people to not look too much at these lists when trying to decide where you go to med school. It doesn't really mean much and just b/c some people match at what you would think are excellent places, it may not mean the training is superior. I agree that it will help in fellowship or academic medicine but, in the long run it really doesn't mean anything. There are SO many factors that go into making your rank list that name doesn't alway equate to happiness (I thought about location, how I would fit in with the residents, if the program was stuffy and if I enjoyed the interviews). I would much rather be where I'm going then at Hopkins or UPenn.

Please, please don't decide which school you are going to attend based on who matched where (especially if you already know what you are going into and are just looking at that specific specialty on these lists). Medicine is very cyclic. What is popular now may not be popular six years from now which means it could be more or less difficult.

Anyway, I think you should pay little mind to both match lists and board scores of the classes that are currently attending a medical school. If you want to match into something competitive then you can do it regardless of whether those currently at the school did. You just have to work hard. Same with boards, if you want a decent score then you have to study. What I got on my boards has nothing to do with how you are going to do on yours.
 
Thanks for the post, luvumms. It's always good to hear the perspective of someone who has been there. It is difficult sometimes to not look to the future (hell, most of us here have been programmed to do that our entire lives 😀), but it's hard to gauge what is "successful" without some kind of standard. And I think that people use match lists, or institutional names, or specialties, or programs, etc. to fill that requirement, even though the assumptions are flawed to begin with.

In my few years of (relative) freedom post-undergrad, I've realized that what makes me happy isn't always what people consider "prestigious," "successful," or even "popular." But I don't give a rat's a$$. I want to go into a field that makes me happy, and lets me do the things I want to do. If I can be in a location that I like, with people I really get along with, then who really cares where I go?

Luvumms, congrats to you and everyone in your class - hopefully you will all end up being very successful at what you are most passionate about. Carry on the proud Maryland name! Good luck in anesthesia.
 
I have a question for the 3rd and 4th years. How stressful are the rotations at UMB? I mean do the attendings and residents brow beat you or are they actually kind people. I understand med students are at the bottom of the food chain, but it'd be nice to have patient/nice mentors.
 
question for current students or anyone else who knows....
I dont get the whole two hours of lecture a day deal. i mean it sounds like a sweet deal but how do you learn all that information in 2 hours a day? My friend is in the physical therapy program and she has lecture for 3-4 hours every morning and then lab in the afternoon. Dont we have to do the cadaver labs at some point too and other other labs besides the cadavers, or is that only during one portion of the first year? It seems like if you have class only 2 hours a day and small groups on some days...we would have enough time to get all our studying done before the evenings and weekends, unless of course there is a big test or etc. im just trying to make sure that we arent paying 20+ K to learn alot of information on our own.. and also if its realistic to have a 10-12 hour/week commitment at another job (which has pretty flexible hours in terms of which evenings to work and options to cut down on very stressful weeks), but is still a fairly big commitment. I also want to be involved in some student groups and community things. Is this realistic?
thanks for the info, sorry for the long post🙂
 
dancerchick said:
question for current students or anyone else who knows....I dont get the whole two hours of lecture a day deal. i mean it sounds like a sweet deal but how do you learn all that information in 2 hours a day? My friend is in the physical therapy program and she has lecture for 3-4 hours every morning and then lab in the afternoon. Dont we have to do the cadaver labs at some point too and other other labs besides the cadavers, or is that only during one portion of the first year? It seems like if you have class only 2 hours a day and small groups on some days...we would have enough time to get all our studying done before the evenings and weekends, unless of course there is a big test or etc. im just trying to make sure that we arent paying 20+ K to learn alot of information on our own.. and also if its realistic to have a 10-12 hour/week commitment at another job (which has pretty flexible hours in terms of which evenings to work and options to cut down on very stressful weeks), but is still a fairly big commitment. I also want to be involved in some student groups and community things. Is this realistic? thanks for the info, sorry for the long post🙂
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Hey, I know what you mean in a sense...it really seems like 2hrs of lecture a day and another 2hrs of small group isnt nearly enough classtime, but really, its just enough lol. Most medical schools these days are moving to less hours of class, and thats really because no matter how you slice it, 2hrs or 8hrs, there is TONS of self study no matter what.

I think this will be the case no matter where you go, but at least I find that no amount of class will help me to learn it as well as I do on my own. Don't let the amount of time we spend in class fool you either...most of us still put in ~6hrs a day. And after extra-curriculars, meals and exercise, its probably around 8 or 9pm, so not really time to work, I would strongly advise against that!

The reason for the amount of class time is more Maryland's philosophy, that no matter how long in class we will be, what we learn in the first two years is essentially nothing (though I'm not denying its importance, the pre-clinicals are the foundation for everything we learn later). My dad is still shocked that I only have half days cause he is still used to 9-5 class. But I have to explain to him that back in his day, he didnt have things like the human genome project and second messenger pathways to learn about, which are fundamentals of our basic science courses. There's so much to know, its fruitless to have class all day anymore IMHO.

That's why you see schools like Duke and UPenn shortening their pre-clinical years so dramatically. Even Howard, where my father went for medical school, went from 9-5 or 6 to 9-1. Once you begin to experience med school, you wont want it any other way!

We start out with anatomy, and our lab is considered the small group from 10-12. Other people had it differently, but I often stayed until 1 or 2 and even came in on weekends to look at other cadavers to study. Now during physiology, there are some days I wake up, begin studying at 7:30am and look at the avi's later cause I dont have small group some days. It really varies, but they keep you plenty busy!

You'll have the time for some extra-curriculars and volunteering. Most things only ask you to meet a few hours a month (if that). I also tutor at an afterschool program on saturday mornings, when there's not a monday exam. So I guess to finally address your concerns, your tuition wont go to teaching yourself every little thing we need to know for Step 1. At the same time, there is a lot that you will need to go over on your own...its just the nature of med school, not so much Maryland itself.

A lot of us do feel that information is run through very quickly sometimes, but its really hard to tell if thats just Maryland or if its just the nature of the schooling. After talking to friends in other places though, I gather its more the latter. I do feel very well prepared when talking to physicians about patients in clinic or shadowing on the wards, at least for our level. Overall, I feel as though they teach us very well. No worries!

My colleagues may agree or disagree with me at will 🙂
 
I concur with all of MSK's comments. One of the reasons I chose Maryland is their philosophy about teaching.

They give us TONS of resources, between AVIs, MP3s, note sets, power points, recommended texts, etc. The access to faculty is very good. For Structure & Development (anatomy), Functional Systems (Physiology), and Neuro, there are forums you can post questions on that the faculty are in general very quick about responding to. All the professors give out their e-mail addresses and contact info and it isn't hard at all to get questions answered, etc. The majority of the lectures are well organized and well taught (I'm not going to say I'm in love with EVERY prof we've had, but 95% of them are great). At the end of every section, there is an online evaluation for the class that you have to fill out (its mandatory and they won't release your most recent exam grade to you until you do it) and I think they really pay attention to the feedback they get - they replaced the person who ran the respiratory physiology section for us this year, based on comments given by the current second years during their first year. If you're having trouble in a certain area, Dr. Parker is always willing to talk to you about studying and there are even ways to get set up with a tutor if you're really struggling.

With all that said, Maryland's stance (as I interpret it) is: Here are all the resources you could possibly need. We are not going to tell you which ones to take advantage of as we believe that if you have gotten to this point, you know how you learn best (which is why we don't make lectures mandatory). If you need something else, definitely come talk to us about it and we'll work something out; we are here for you to provide whatever you need to do well, we just don't want to assume that all 160 of you are the same, so we let you do most of the deciding about how to do it.

Like MSK said, my classmates may have a different view, but this is the impression I have gotten starting with when I interviewed. Obviously there are some things that can always be improved - but Maryland is very big on paying attention and trying to react to the feedback they get as appropriate. I would definitely NOT say that we are paying tuition to "teach ourselves," and I can say that I can't really see what benefit we would gain by sitting in class for an extra 5-6 hours a day. What we get in lecture is what we need to study, it just takes longer to learn/memorize that it does for a prof to tell you about it in lecture.
 
You know, sometimes I think about the education that I'm getting here, and I wonder, would I be more disciplined in a curriculum that required us to go to school every day, had us in class from 9-5, had less time for self-study, etc? The truth is that I really don't know which I would prefer. I like the fact that we have so much downtime here, but sometimes it feels like we have *too much* downtime.

I used to be (and probably still am) the type of person who is very good about learning stuff on their own. However, in this curriculum, I find myself having a lot of trouble getting self-motivated to study. It always turns out ok, and I pass my exams, but I have a brief 2-3 day period of what I like to call "completely flipping out" right before each exam. It can't be healthy for me. But no matter how early in the 3-week period I begin studying, it doesn't seem to matter - I have not approached a single exam (except perhaps our very first S&D exam) feeling adequately prepared. Perhaps that's just the way I am - I remember feeling similarly about a couple of classes in grad school - but it certainly doesn't make me feel very good about myself and my study habits.

Personally, I usually go to lecture for the first couple of days after an exam, to feel out whether or not it is worth it for me to go to lecture for that block/subject. (It's usually not, and I'll tell you why in a minute.) However, if class is mandatory, I go. For example, when I was in PSP this summer (and thus didn't have access to AVIs of the lecture), I never skipped a single class. I still come in for things that are mandatory, and usually for the clinical correlates, because they are sometimes interesting. I also love going to ICM. But I HATE - I repeat, I HATE - going to lecture. I don't know why. It has nothing to do with the time; I was always up and ready for my 8am classes in grad school/during PSP. I think the reason is this. In lecture, I am so distracted by things going on around me, and sometimes the lecturers go so fast, and if I get behind or miss one little thing they are saying, then I'm behind and playing catch-up for the rest of the class time. I hate that feeling. Instead, I really like the AVIs, where I can stop/rewind. Sometimes, it takes me 3-4 hours to get through a single AVI, but then I never have to watch it again, because I spent so much time on it. I don't get this feeling from attending lecture.

I guess what I'm trying to say in regards to mandatory class time is that, with med school, there's so many types. Some people need to go to lecture each day, just to stay motivated. Some like going in early, getting it done, and leaving early. Other people like to still get up early, but instead of sitting in lecture hall, go to the PODs or library or even stay in their home, and begin independent study. Still others get up late and study until very late. Then you meet certain other people, who hardly study at all, and still manage to do very well on their exams. We don't like those people. 😀

I am of the camp that likes to get up relatively early, have my breakfast and coffee, watch a lecture or two and read notes from a previous day at my kitchen table, go in at 10 (if we have small group/clinical correlate/other mandatory stuff) or a little later if I don't, and then study at the pods until I have either another committment, or until I get tired (on Friday, this was about 7pm, but LS and I have been known to crank it out in in the pods until after 11pm). But everybody has to find their own way to do it.

To answer your original question - is 2 hours of lecture enough? Yes, but realize that those 2 hours are just the scaffolding. It is up to you to fill in the blanks, whether it be with AVIs, notesets, textbooks, labs, small-group problems, Wikipedia, medical journal articles, case studies, review books, interactive websites - you don't have to use them ALL, just whatever it is that makes you learn what you need to know. I guess I won't know if I'm adequately prepared or whatever until I get to the USMLE, or perhaps out on the wards.

To give you an example, during anatomy, we spent 2 (8-10) hours in lecture, and then 2 hours (10-12) in lab. Some people opted to stay in lab until 2 or 3pm, a couple of people would go even later (not necessarily every day). Some of us just learned better by seeing the stuff in our cadavers. I, personally, was usually one of the first people outta there. I didn't like being in that big, smelly room with a bunch of stressed-out med students (no offense, guys!) I did come in a couple times on the weekends/at night, usually right before exams. But my time was better spent with Netter, and my Netter flash cards (DEFINTELY A WISE INVESTMENT!!!).

This is the longest post ever. I'm going to stop talking, now. Apparently I'll do ANYTHING to help me procrastinate while studying for endocrinology. SDN is gonna be the death of me.
 
This is a very good illustration of what I was saying about different learning styles. At first, I didn't go to lecture because, like LW, I don't really LEARN much in lecture. I would always watch the AVIs and take notes on the powerpoints later. But as classes have gone along, I've started going to class most of the time.

I'm not gonna lie - I sleep in at least once week. I don't plan it that way, but the fact is I have NEVER been a morning person and even though I have been trying to adhere to a strict "in bed by 11pm" schedule, I still hate it when my alarm goes off at 6:30 or 7 for 8am class. I bring breakfast to class in the form of a yogurt smoothie or something.

However, I've found it VERY useful for me to at least sit through the lecture. I gave up trying to catch every little thing during lecture, because I just can't, and I was stressing myself out about it. I still do the AVIs and take notes then, but I've found it's MUCH easier, I have to rewind less, and a lot of the time I can listen to them at advanced speeds. For me, I get more of the material this way, because I've been through the material TWICE by the time I'm done with the AVIs, even if I'm not exactly hanging on every word during the actual live lecture at 8am or 9am.

All that rambling just goes to illustrate my point that what Maryland is good at is giving you what you need, but expecting you to make use of to the best of your ability. I like being able to sleep in and being treated like an adult - knowing that I am making that choice and its up to me how I spend my study time. I know that I definitely wouldn't fare any better, gradewise or stresswise, if I had manditory 9-5 lectures. LW is ambivalent. Moral of the story: if you really feel you need someone to tell you where to be, what to do, and how to do it to be successful academically, Maryland probably isn't for you - but in my opinion, neither is being a doctor (since so many people consider the ability for self-determination a highly ranked reason for wanting an MD degree).

PS - LW may freak out before every exam but whatever - she totally honored biochem, so healthy or no, she's not suffering. 😀
 
You guys are so helpful and just great! There is simple no way I could've gotten all this information anywhere else.
 
I will have to say that our friends at the dental school across the street have 9-5 class. With a few exceptions, most of their classes are mandatory, as far as I understand. My college roomate, as well as a few other students there have close affiliations with some of us med students (even med/dent twin sisters!). Believe me, all I hear from them across the street is how much they envy us, lol. I suppose the grass is mostly greener...

Personally, for whatever reason, I always came to class for the the anatomy and biochemistry blocks. During physiology, I rarely show up anymore because I get more out of waking up early and beginning self study, like LW. I usually study notes or review avi's again during that time until 12ish, when that days avi's come up. Then I'll listen to those and study the note sets for that day.

It really depends. If I get a lot out of class, I'll go in the morning and usually keep my laptop tucked away, cause otherwise I get too distracted :laugh: I'm very visual, so I can keep a huge amount of what they say retained as long as Im looking at the screen while listening to what they say. Later, its just a matter of studying the necessary graphs and figures on the slides and studying any details the left out of lecture that are in the notes.

If im REALLY good about it (usually I'm not so much) I'm done by 7-8pm. If we had class 9-5 with the amount of material we get, theres no way I could get it all done. 9-5 in college was no biggie...simply because there wasn't this kind of volume. Sure, the science class or two that I took was pretty dense, but then there were the other 3 or 4 BS psychology classes or whatever else to fulfill my 2nd degree required nothing of me. Now...well...you get the idea. But you'll really experience the fun when you guys get here.

You'll likely take until Christmas break at the latest to figure out how you run within the system. I'm a very chilled out guy, and even I freak out before an exam (usually its 11pm the night before and my gf tells me to just shut up and go to sleep, which does work). Like LS said, medicine is very self-motivated. When you get on the wards third year, you'll be lucky if you get told to read up on your patients and research the disorders and pathologies you'll come across. If you don't, your attendings/residents/interns will see right through you and won't trust you enough to teach you anything cool, like procedures. And why would they if you don't care enough to research what's happening to your patients??? Luckily, I'm sure everyone that's here is motivated enough to do that or UMD would have given you the big no.

(To answer a prior question, I'm not a third year, but many of the physicians who lecture us and teach us in ICM also teach us third and fourth year. Any physicians who teach us do so because they want to, and from what I have seen they don't and hopefully wont crap all over us. I'm sure all of us will come across exceptions, but most won't make you not want to come back I'm pretty sure. It seems like OSA makes it so that we actually ENJOY our rotations)

But I should also stop my long winded posts too, I'm procrastinating hard. Truth is I just spent all day helping someone else study for an exam, so I'm unmotivated to study for my own. I know, bad me lol, we are hoping for brownie points though.

I will also attest, LW is being quite modest, she's a champ. Now, if only I could by "lazy" like her...

Allie86 said:
You guys are so helpful and just great! There is simple no way I could've gotten all this information anywhere else.
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No applause, please. Just throw money 😀
 
DoctaJay said:
At maryland, do the med students take their basic science classes with the graduate, dental, PT, etc. students?
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We had some pathology students take anatomy with us, and some graduate students (in what program I dont know) take biochem with us, but not many at all, the numbers are small. For the most part, the med students are by themselves 🙁

That's actually fine by me, less people to fight for seats in Taylor when I walk in 3 secs before lecture begins, if im lucky :laugh:

Dental students have their own fresh new building and lecture halls (ya'll should check it out, its like the hospital and library!) so we don't share anything with them. I'm pretty sure its the same with PT and all the other graduate programs. Dental students use our anatomy lab for their anatomy course, but they use it after we are done around November.
 
There are also a few graduate students taking physiology with us. I think there are few in each class, but for the most part, it's just us. I can tell them apart because they don't have the same laptop as all the med students. 😀
 
I'm so sad...college basketball is officially over for the year 🙁 We have to wait until November again to get more!!! :scared: I guess the NBA playoffs and re-runs of the Real World will have to suffice until then...
:idea: Oh yeah and House too!

Isn't it funny, I said NOTHING about studying in any of that :laugh:
 
I'm so happy that OSU LOST!!!! I have a love-hate relationship with college hoops - it's always more fun when you can root for someone that you really care about (ahem, Georgetown). But the good news is that LS won the class pool, or came in 2nd, I can't remember which, but it's definitely awesome!!!
 
Yup, I came in 2nd. I wonder what my prize is? They were talking about gift cards at the beginning. I do have to come clean and say I didn't actually make my picks on my own. I know nothing about basketball and I wanted to be that girl who picked her teams by uniform colors. Greg wouldn't allow it. So if I get a gift card, I guess I'll have to use it to buy him something. 🙂
 
Lol, thats kinda funny. Usually doing a bracket by coolest colors, mascots, or team names gets you further than using sheer knowledge. I guess you were destined to win either way!

LW, I thought of you last night after the game. I pictured you out in the streets of Baltimore burning something :laugh:
 
MSKalltheway said:
Lol, thats kinda funny. Usually doing a bracket by coolest colors, mascots, or team names gets you further than using sheer knowledge. I guess you were destined to win either way!

LW, I thought of you last night after the game. I pictured you out in the streets of Baltimore burning something :laugh:
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That was just her neighbors.
 
Ha ha. Very funny. My neighbors don't burn stuff - they're too busy throwing it all into my backyard.

Also - I was recently reminiscing over our c/o 2010 thread. If you have some time/feel the need to procrastinate, start at p.16 (I think) and go from there. Start at the post by "Mixtli" about the "weak 2006 match list," and watch it disintegrate from there. I promise, it gets good around p.18-19. I was nearly peeing my pants recalling "Derm-Wench" and the color-coded match list T-shirts.
 
LW, youre killin me. I got back to my place at 10 and saw your post about the 2010 thread, and I just HAD to waste time and look at it instead of STUDY FOR OUR PHYSIO FINAL. That's such a me thing to do.

By the way, clearly the 2006 match list was not impressive by any means. Actually, it downright sucked. I'm gonna bring my t-shirt to lecture tomorrow :laugh:

Obviously a match list is no good unless 75% of your class is going to either Stanford Derm, MGH Neurosurg, HSS Ortho, or Brigham and Women's...DUH

loveumms really torched em. Procrastinating for that 45 minutes was worth reading all that. You must protect the house.

PS what happened to all my PODS people? I was actually on campus studying for once and no one to play with me?
 
Pontifex Maximus said:
Pods are for suckers. Suckers that...get better grades than I do. At least I get to watch TV!

btw, lol at us taking over this thread
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Haha.. I was just thinking the same thing. I wasn't aware that there was a 2010 thread that huge (I'm computer challanged and have the patience of a 2yr old). Man you guys went a little crazy.. nm the 30 somethin pages, but I think I saw a couple of drunk posts hah.
 
Hey MSK, I was in the pods till about 3:30-4, then I had to go to the post office before it closed. After that I just went home. LS and I are usually in the pods doing our study thing, if you ever want to join us for an afternoon/evening of the MOST FUN YOU WILL EVER HAVE...NOT.

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. That leaves 5 days to finish endocrine/integrative, and review Cell, CV, GI, Renal, and Resp. ARGGG.

As for that Mixtli guy/girl (I think it was a he, but I don't remember?), they really didn't show their face in our thread again, and they certainly didn't join us at the bar that night. I'm sure they went to a school with a much more suitable match list. 🙄
 
LW I'm feelin the pain too! We'll I guess its safe to assume we all are...but apparently not Coz so much since he's enjoying the tube in the comforts of his living area. Oh dude by the way Tracy called and said she'd rather not wait until later(!) to see you. Maybe you should, she might allot you extra time for your exam 😉

I doubt I'll make it up to lecture tomorrow or friday. I will be there all weekend and monday though (haha hilarious that I DON'T come on lecture days but will on weekends, huh?) So I'll def join your (un)fun party LW, part of my problem is that I'm having fun when I need not be 🙁

Hey they closed our 2010 thread so we gotta take something by storm! I'm sad that was before my SDN days...drunk posts eh? I'm so tempted, but it'll have to wait until tuesday afternoon, like everything else sadly...
 
MSKalltheway said:
PS what happened to all my PODS people? I was actually on campus studying for once and no one to play with me?
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LW and I were there yesterday until like 11. I was on 2nd floor HSF today until about 8:30 - I had to switch it up. I found an open conference room with a REAL WINDOW - NATURAL LIGHTING! I might go back to the pod tomorrow, we'll see.

Sorry to take over the thread 2011ers. We did go a little crazy with ours and I guess its just spilling over.

And, its 2:30am and my ass should be sleeping.
 
I got some orientation info from another school a few days ago and was wondering, what's orientation like for Maryland?
 
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