University of Oklahoma, Classes of 2008-2011

[Smitty3L]

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Anatomy lecture exam tomorrow AM & I pretty much didn't do much studying for it... I'm just hoping my over-studying for the lab exam will balance it out.

Oh and I need to read like 3 chapters for micro this weekend... I guess I'll just need to read 5 by next weekend instead! 😱 Ah well.

Just wait, that will seem like nothing come September. I have about 60 pages of physiology syllabus to read by next Monday, the entire block of histo to learn by next Tuesday, that's about 11 hours of lecture and a bunch of slides to learn, human behavior next wednesday doesn't really count, and 100 pages of neuro syllabus to read along with 2 online labs I haven't looked at by next Friday. Oh, and by read I mean memorize. Man, I wish I could keep up with my classes instead of it piling up like this.

Anyway, don't sweat it. All you have to worry about until August is just passing. My advice is go rent a movie and blow off studying while you still can!

 

[JohnnyOU]

Question about Neuro.

Do we know what structures might be on the practical?
I've watched the neuro vids and am trying to figure out which ones I need to memorize for block 1...any advice ???

There's 12 vids but do we need to memorize all 12 or just some?

Thanks
That bald guy

 

[Amxcvbcv]

Question about Neuro.

Do we know what structures might be on the practical?
I've watched the neuro vids and am trying to figure out which ones I need to memorize for block 1...any advice ???

There's 12 vids but do we need to memorize all 12 or just some?

Thanks
That bald guy

I don't think I ever watched any of the dissection videos last year. If you know the structures in the interactive lab guide on Hippocrates you'll be fine.

Have you had "labs" 1 and 2 or just 1?

Also, I don't know if Blair pointed this out or if it was in the survival guide, but you can not repeat not rely on the color of the regions on cross sections on the guide. In previous years Dr. Blair wouldn't change the colors of things for the exam, so if you wanted you could just associate color with structure. At the course review earlier this year, though, he made a point of saying he's not doing that again. I don't think it's really important until you get to the higher levels of CNS organization (thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, caudate, etc.) but it never hurts to know what's coming.

It's all fair game. 😉 When you get down in the lab for the practical, make sure you take your time. Some of the midbrains they used last year were really old and if you didn't look carefully it was easy to misidentify things (or maybe that was just me).

Videos are nice, an atlas is nice, and the online lab guide is great, but there's really no substitute for getting hands on, so you can really grasp the spatial relationships.

Good luck!

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Just wait, that will seem like nothing come September. I have about 60 pages of physiology syllabus to read by next Monday, the entire block of histo to learn by next Tuesday, that's about 11 hours of lecture and a bunch of slides to learn, human behavior next wednesday doesn't really count, and 100 pages of neuro syllabus to read along with 2 online labs I haven't looked at by next Friday. Oh, and by read I mean memorize. Man, I wish I could keep up with my classes instead of it piling up like this.

Anyway, don't sweat it. All you have to worry about until August is just passing. My advice is go rent a movie and blow off studying while you still can!

Yeah, that's about where I'm at. I've done very little studying beyond what we were tested on for the minis. I'm disappointed in myself for slacking so much so far this term, especially because I freaking hate cramming.

 

[oudoc08]

Hey,
I'm not sure what the rumors of 3rd yr. are, but here's my take.
1st year sucks.
2nd year sucks a little less.
3rd years sucks quite a bit less that that.

Seriously, 3rd yr's pretty chill. I'm not sure what to make of the whole OKC vs. Tulsa thing. I think the majority of our class that picked Tulsa did so, due to family in the area, etc. I don't think there is significantly more or less opportunity in either place, just whether or not you want a change of scenery.

Although if you're wanting to do a particular specialty that is emphasized more in one area or another, you might factor that in.


Anyways, 3rd year is so much better than the first two.
I'd say for the most part, you're pretty involved in patient care, procedures, or whatever you want to do.
I've only had one week of the entire year that felt like pre-med shadowing and that was with a private pediatrician last week.

So far I've done ORL, neuro, fam. med, medicine, surgery and peds. So if you have any ?'s on those things, let me know.

Good luck guys! Eyes to the sky🙂
(BTW, my myspace page is www.myspace.com/tonyspatz
if you want to stop by or send me an invite or whatever)
T

 

[Antigunner]

Anyways, 3rd year is so much better than the first two.
I'd say for the most part, you're pretty involved in patient care, procedures, or whatever you want to do.
I've only had one week of the entire year that felt like pre-med shadowing and that was with a private pediatrician last week.

So far I've done ORL, neuro, fam. med, medicine, surgery and peds. So if you have any ?'s on those things, let me know.
T

It seems like everyone has a different opinion on this, but any thoughts on what sort of schedule you would recommend? We get our lottery numbers in about a week.

 

[Amxcvbcv]

It seems like everyone has a different opinion on this, but any thoughts on what sort of schedule you would recommend? We get our lottery numbers in about a week.

At this point I have the feeling that the best schedule/lottery number is going to be the one you/I didn't get.

Of course, it will be a moot point if I don't get on the ball and study some more.

 

[rabok416]

Hey guys, sorry to talk about a different topic, but I was wondering what area of the OKC metro area you experienced guys would recommend. I had a friend of a friend who lived off of NE 10th in MWC and was less than 10 minutes from the school, but I have heard bad things about MWC as far as crime and schools go. Another friend is in Yukon, but that's an awfully long drive to OU. Ideally, I would like to buy something 120K or less, not much more than 15 minutes to school, and relatively safe as I am married with one daughter and a son on the way. As far as commute and affordability go, the area south of 240 off of Sooner Rd. and a little bit further west seems good. Does anyone know anything about Choctaw, or is if I am going to be that far out is it better to just go to Yukon. It seems like it would be hard to get anything decent for a good price in Edmond. Also, where do you 3rd and 4th years do rotations? I guess my priorities are as follows:
1. Safe area, decent schools
2. Convenient (less than 20 minutes) to school and to rotation sites
3. Price
4. Not being stuck in traffic (which pretty much rules out anything off of 35 between OKC and Norman)
Thanks for your comments.

 

[Amxcvbcv]

Hey guys, sorry to talk about a different topic, but I was wondering what area of the OKC metro area you experienced guys would recommend. I had a friend of a friend who lived off of NE 10th in MWC and was less than 10 minutes from the school, but I have heard bad things about MWC as far as crime and schools go. Another friend is in Yukon, but that's an awfully long drive to OU. Ideally, I would like to buy something 120K or less, not much more than 15 minutes to school, and relatively safe as I am married with one daughter and a son on the way. As far as commute and affordability go, the area south of 240 off of Sooner Rd. and a little bit further west seems good. Does anyone know anything about Choctaw, or is if I am going to be that far out is it better to just go to Yukon. It seems like it would be hard to get anything decent for a good price in Edmond. Also, where do you 3rd and 4th years do rotations? I guess my priorities are as follows:
1. Safe area, decent schools
2. Convenient (less than 20 minutes) to school and to rotation sites
3. Price
4. Not being stuck in traffic (which pretty much rules out anything off of 35 between OKC and Norman)
Thanks for your comments.

I'm one mile west of I-35 on SW 19th in Moore, and depending on when I leave for campus it is between 15 and 30 minutes to get there. I-35 is much better now that all the construction on it is finished. My wife teaches at Moore High School, so if you're in her class you're getting a top-tier education, in my opinion. 😉 They're opening a new high school less than 1/2 a mile from our house in the Fall of 2008, but it doesn't sound like your daughter is that old yet. Our house was sub 90k for just under 1200 square feet - built in the mid 80s. There are also tons of houses going in around here (mostly to the south), but I bet they're out of your disclosed price range.

Like pretty much every city, Moore has good and bad areas, so don't let people dissuade you with the cesspool talk. 😉

Basically, don't discount Moore.

 

[rabok416]

I'm one mile west of I-35 on SW 19th in Moore, and depending on when I leave for campus it is between 15 and 30 minutes to get there. I-35 is much better now that all the construction on it is finished. My wife teaches at Moore High School, so if you're in her class you're getting a top-tier education, in my opinion. 😉 They're opening a new high school less than 1/2 a mile from our house in the Fall of 2008, but it doesn't sound like your daughter is that old yet. Our house was sub 90k for just under 1200 square feet - built in the mid 80s. There are also tons of houses going in around here (mostly to the south), but I bet they're out of your disclosed price range.

Like pretty much every city, Moore has good and bad areas, so don't let people dissuade you with the cesspool talk. 😉

Basically, don't discount Moore.

And you are right next to Aldi, which is a plus. I graduated from OU before they finished the construction, so hopefully it is better now, though I would like to be able to take Sooner Rd. if necessary to avoid the I-35 traffic. By the way, the daughter would start kindergarten when I am an MS4. Thanks for the comment! I will need to check into Moore. how is your location in relation to rotation sites?

 

[Amxcvbcv]

And you are right next to Aldi, which is a plus. I graduated from OU before they finished the construction, so hopefully it is better now, though I would like to be able to take Sooner Rd. if necessary to avoid the I-35 traffic. By the way, the daughter would start kindergarten when I am an MS4. Thanks for the comment! I will need to check into Moore. how is your location in relation to rotation sites?

Oudoc08 is in a better position to comment on this than I, but as far as I know all our rotations except for rural preceptorships are at the OU Medical Center/VA, unless you do an elective/selective at Baptist or something like that.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Welcome back, rabok.

For 120K, you can probably get something in the Edmond ghetto if you're dead set on their school system and/or potential property value.

Probably the first thing that comes to mind with that range though is The Village or Moore. I'm not a big fan of Choctaw.

I really wouldn't concern myself with M3/4 if I were in your shoes. The longest rotation will be eight weeks. Amx brought up a good point. I'll add that if you take a selective on the south side, you're far from Edmond. If you take one at Baptist, you're further from Moore; so it's going to be a wash any way you look at it. I don't think that most people who live in the metro are concerned that much about driving distance, otherwise the south side (as in I-40 to I-240) would be prized real estate.

Bottom line--if you want appreciable growth in property value, you're looking at a minimum one-way commute of at least ten miles.

Something relevant to pretty much only me--Midwest City and south of 89th street (Cleveland County) are covered by a different US representative than the rest of the metro. That may cease to be a big deal to me now that Mr. Istook no longer votes on federal policy, but I have been pretty annoyed by my representation here in Oklahoma county. 😡

As for Yukon (or Mustang), the prospect of driving back and forth across I-40 every day makes me want to get on some anti-anxiety meds. Mucho accidents, the highway (at least right now) is a bridge for several miles west of downtown (ice, ice, baby).

NTT stays AFK in between exam blocks, but he has advised to remain a renter unless you plan on staying here for five or more years. If you're certain that you want to do a residency here and/or would be willing to have your home rented out the few years you're away, then I'd probably support ownership since he is far more financially savvy than myself. I would however caution that marrying yourself to an Oklahoma City residency this early would be likely an impractical decision, especially if you are interested in emergency medicine, rad onc (neither of which are offered here as of now) or something competative enough to possibly force you to move. The advice you'll almost universally receive regarding residency is that you should go with the program that will give you the best training since that is where you'll really learn how to be a doctor.

 

[JohnnyOU]

Don't move to yukon...there's too many white folks out there so it's dangerous! Crazy crackerz everywhere.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Bleh, Yukon, Choctaw, Mustang -- they all seem like such depressing places to live. I'm a snob, though.

If schools aren't an issue, you could buy a decent house in a safe area in that price range in OKC. The area around Baptist/Penn Square isn't bad at all, and there are lots of smaller fairly cheap houses there. It's OKC school district, which is eh from my understanding, but the commute wouldn't be bad, and it's safe.

 

[Amxcvbcv]

... if you are interested in emergency medicine, rad onc (neither of which are offered here as of now) or something competative enough to possibly force you to move.

At our mod's Deans' lunch last week I asked about the radiation oncology residency they're working to put in here. According to Schmidt, they have gotten accreditation in the last few months and it's highly likely they'll be taking a resident starting in July - yes, this July.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

At our mod's Deans' lunch last week I asked about the radiation oncology residency they're working to put in here. According to Schmidt, they have gotten accreditation in the last few months and it's highly likely they'll be taking a resident starting in July - yes, this July.

Yeah I heard too. Don't you need a prelim year for that? Hmm. Not sure who this Schmidt person is... 🙄 (Burns?) but the deans have lied to me enough to not trust them. I think that rad onc is September start, so they're probably forced to take PGY-2 scramble only if they want to start in July. I'll believe it when I see it (and only 1 resident? who'd want a new program with no senior trainees? gamble... 😱), not listed for NRMP yet, mixed feelings...

Lovely...attendance not required for EBM. 2 hours of sleep lost forever 😴

 

[JohnnyOU]

Lovely...attendance not required for EBM. 2 hours of sleep lost forever 😴

I hope you're right...
since I just woke up

 

[Wizard of Oz]

To you Stillwater 2011er's...

I have scheduled some time at an AED meeting to answer any questions that you guys might have about med school and stuff. Hopefully I'll see you there. 👍

 

[soonerfan77]

Interview's tomorrow, and I hope to do well. Might stop by Norman campus to say, hi. 😎

 

[shortitalian]

To you Stillwater 2011er's...

I have scheduled some time at your February 22 AED meeting to answer any questions that you guys might have about med school and stuff. Hopefully I'll see you there. 👍

I'll do my best to be there. Were you originally scheduled to come last week?

 

[soonereng]

Interview's tomorrow, and I hope to do well. Might stop by Norman campus to say, hi. 😎

Good luck!

 

[Tiagao]

Interview's tomorrow, and I hope to do well. Might stop by Norman campus to say, hi. 😎

I'll be there too. Yeeeaaaahhhh!!

 

[soonereng]

Lovely...attendance not required for EBM.

My (non)commuting plan is back in full swing. 👍

 

[Wizard of Oz]

I'll do my best to be there. Were you originally scheduled to come last week?

Nope.

 

[Mr. Freeze]

Little late getting to the housing theme, but:

I live in between Tenf and Reno in MWC. More crime? Probably. But compared to what? I feel safe enough. Keep in mind there is gradient of changing socio-economic class as you move farther south from Tenf. It is what it is.

But, despite having to lock my doors at night, I got up this morning at 7:20 and was in the mod at 7:50 (always bathe at night, you never know...); the walk from the student lot takes as long as the drive...

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Interview's tomorrow, and I hope to do well. Might stop by Norman campus to say, hi. 😎

Good luck!!

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I'll be there too. Yeeeaaaahhhh!!

Good luck to you, too! 🙂

Yeah, no EBM required attendance except for those quizzes has made my life a lot easier.

 

[rabok416]

Thanks for the comments so far. Hopefully other 2011ers are finding this helpful. How would areas like Warr Acres and Bethany compare to neighborhoods like Belle Isle and Mayfair or the Village? i don't know if OKC schools are that bad or if Putnam City schools are that good, but that is a factor for me.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Thanks for the comments so far. Hopefully other 2011ers are finding this helpful. How would areas like Warr Acres and Bethany compare to neighborhoods like Belle Isle and Mayfair or the Village? i don't know if OKC schools are that bad or if Putnam City schools are that good, but that is a factor for me.

Warr Acres and Bethany are varied, but I'd say comparable to The Village. Belle Isle is probably a little bit pricier due to its proximity to businesses and Baptist. In general, my feeling is that Warr Acres will have higher valued homes than Bethany, but neither is particularly well innervated by the Interstates. I actually call NW Expressway NW Highway because there is nothing express about it. I don't know where Belle Isle and Mayfair segregate--both are closer to main roads than the Village, and that is what you'll be paying for rather than the school district (though I shouldn't say since I have no idea what school district it is that I live in).

BTW, if you're interested in buying, I think that there is some way you can look up property values on the Internet for a given neighborhood. Try the county assessor.

 

[Mr. Freeze]

Good luck to you, too! 🙂

Yeah, no EBM required attendance except for those quizzes has made my life a lot easier.

Is tomorrow not required!??! Sweet...

 

[glp]

Is tomorrow not required!??! Sweet...

attendance is 5 percent of the grade so if you dont come you are missing out some but not much.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

attendance is 5 percent of the grade so if you dont come you are missing out some but not much.

My understanding was that there was no penalty for missing the lectures that aren't small-group discussions. The prof apologized the other day in case the only reason we came was because we thought we had to. To me, Feb. 22nd looks like the first mandatory class. I have sleep to catch up on.

Smitty--new Beauty and the Geek tonight.

 

[Antigunner]

Thanks for the comments so far. Hopefully other 2011ers are finding this helpful. How would areas like Warr Acres and Bethany compare to neighborhoods like Belle Isle and Mayfair or the Village? i don't know if OKC schools are that bad or if Putnam City schools are that good, but that is a factor for me.

This was about 2.5 years ago, but we got a 2 year-old (built in 2003), 1400 sf house in Edmond (Deer Creek schools) for $125K. I don't know how the prices compare, I just wanted to point out that you may be able to find stuff in the "nicer" areas if you're willing to look. We basically bought the smallest house in a nice neighborhood, and we're very happy with it.

 

[Mr. Freeze]

attendance is 5 percent of the grade so if you dont come you are missing out some but not much.

I like how GLP's attendance here is inversely proportional to how much time is left until exams. 👍

 

[Smitty3L]

Smitty--new Beauty and the Geek tonight.

Oh yeah, there was some beauty on geek action tonight.

ARS update - I met with Dr. Chung who gave me hell about how I should have gone to class. He was saying that I should have come to him in the beginning and talked to him and the deans about not coming to class, which really pissed me off. If I had understood that not coming to class was going to drop my grade by 10% I would have just come. Apparently this has never happened before, I'm the only idiot that didn't show up to get the freebie ARS points. So after I get all upset and argumentative for 35 minutes, he tells that he made the decision before I ever walked in the door to change my grade.

For all you 2011er's I found out from O'Don during the neuro lab review that next year there will be no lists for the anatomy practicals, you will have to write in the answers.

 

[soonereng]

This was about 2.5 years ago, but we got a 2 year-old (built in 2003), 1400 sf house in Edmond (Deer Creek schools) for $125K. I don't know how the prices compare, I just wanted to point out that you may be able to find stuff in the "nicer" areas if you're willing to look. We basically bought the smallest house in a nice neighborhood, and we're very happy with it.

Deer Creek has some of the best schools in the state according to a friend who teaches in the district.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

I like how GLP's attendance here is inversely proportional to how much time is left until exams. 👍

That, my friend, is why glp is my dawg. 😎

We shall eagerly await the arrival of Non-Trad Tulsa. T-9 days...

ARS update - I met with Dr. Chung who gave me hell about how I should have gone to class. He was saying that I should have come to him in the beginning and talked to him and the deans about not coming to class, which really pissed me off. If I had understood that not coming to class was going to drop my grade by 10% I would have just come. Apparently this has never happened before, I'm the only idiot that didn't show up to get the freebie ARS points. So after I get all upset and argumentative for 35 minutes, he tells that he made the decision before I ever walked in the door to change my grade.

For all you 2011er's I found out from O'Don during the neuro lab review that next year there will be no lists for the anatomy practicals, you will have to write in the answers.

All's well that ends well? 😳 (Wizard offers relaxing foot massage.)

So when they said that they were using the ARS points to attempt to help us out grade-wise, what they were really trying to do was force us to go to lecture. Mental note...

In retrospect, I think that maybe they should have simply let us do the class self-study and replaced the lectures with problem-solving sessions sans the necessary correct answers. I didn't speak to anybody who thought that the lectures were helpful (acknowledged by the relevant notegroup policy). 😴

As for the practicals, ad's and disad's either way--probably a wash (lateral sacral artery...). I think it would have been better to just have a long alphabetical list with the same term possibly appearing in more than one slot like "neck of humerus" and "humerus, neck." I spent too much time hunting for the number (this from a guy who failed the final practical). Or were we supposed to actually have spent time going over the list before the exam?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Oh yeah, there was some beauty on geek action tonight.

ARS update - I met with Dr. Chung who gave me hell about how I should have gone to class. He was saying that I should have come to him in the beginning and talked to him and the deans about not coming to class, which really pissed me off. If I had understood that not coming to class was going to drop my grade by 10% I would have just come. Apparently this has never happened before, I'm the only idiot that didn't show up to get the freebie ARS points. So after I get all upset and argumentative for 35 minutes, he tells that he made the decision before I ever walked in the door to change my grade.

For all you 2011er's I found out from O'Don during the neuro lab review that next year there will be no lists for the anatomy practicals, you will have to write in the answers.

Yay for getting your grade up, but sorry about the weird lecture. 🙁 In retrospect, I wish I didn't go to class because I got nothing out of anatomy lecture and while the ARS upped my grade by maybe a percentage point, it didn't change my letter grade. I guess I'm not getting why missing anatomy lecture is inherently a bad thing.

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Yay for getting your grade up, but sorry about the weird lecture. 🙁 In retrospect, I wish I didn't go to class because I got nothing out of anatomy lecture and while the ARS upped my grade by maybe a percentage point, it didn't change my letter grade. I guess I'm not getting why missing anatomy lecture is inherently a bad thing.

Ditto. I like the part about how you're supposed to talk to the deans if you don't want to go to class. Are we required to stand at attention and salute when they walk past us in the hall too? They'd be pretty busy if they had to talk to all of us who don't show up. Then they'd have to explain their justification in light of the fact that our exam scores have improved since we stopped going.

It's my last day at the Bethany Mercy clinic. I'd bring them food or something, but the drug reps pretty much have that area taken care of.

 

[glp]

I guess I'm not getting why missing anatomy lecture is inherently a bad thing.

it is an inherently bad thing for the egos of the lecturers. posting on sdn just seems more interesting when i am supposed to be studying. im not sure why.

 

[Mr. Freeze]

it is an inherently bad thing for the egos of the lecturers. posting on sdn just seems more interesting when i am supposed to be studying. im not sure why.

Have you ever felt the need to cut down or guilty about your posting habits?

 

[glp]

Have you ever felt the need to cut down or guilty about your posting habits?

no but somtimes i have to post first thing in the morning in order to get going for the day.

 

[Jwax]

Just wait, that will seem like nothing come September. I have about 60 pages of physiology syllabus to read by next Monday, the entire block of histo to learn by next Tuesday, that's about 11 hours of lecture and a bunch of slides to learn, human behavior next wednesday doesn't really count, and 100 pages of neuro syllabus to read along with 2 online labs I haven't looked at by next Friday. Oh, and by read I mean memorize. Man, I wish I could keep up with my classes instead of it piling up like this.

Anyway, don't sweat it. All you have to worry about until August is just passing. My advice is go rent a movie and blow off studying while you still can!

Hmmm instead of renting a movie & relaxing, I picked up a nasty little stomach virus & enjoyed some quality time with my floor & our trashcans over the last few days. I'm finally feeling like I won't throw up today, and I'm finally able to eat a few things. 👍 Bad things: I missed my anatomy lecture exam & there are no make ups... not sure how all that is gonna work out yet, but it'll be okay; also, I now feel way behind on anatomy for the next unit (limbs & pecs) b/c I pretty much missed all of two labs... 🙁 . Good thing: my microbiology lab partner did all of my experiments along with her own on Monday 👍 . How sweet is that? She didn't even know what was wrong w/me, she just thought she'd do it. Gold star to her.

Anyways, thanks for all the just relax advice, but I like to put pressure on myself. Besides, I imagine I could actually fail these classes if I totally blew 'em off. 😱 I've worked to hard to get into med school to have that nightmare happen. I am maintaining a healthy dose of fun (ie clubbing, movie watching, parties, fave tv shows, etc)... so I'm enjoying the fact that this semester doesn't really matter.

Good luck to you guys that interviewed today. Hope it turns out well.

 

[soonerfan77]

Finished my interview today, and all went pretty well. Didn't expect to have a 1hr 15min interview. Dr. Hall mentioned that no one would hear anything until after the final AdCom meeting on Feb 25. This conflicted with some of the threads that have mentioned a "big red envelope" in the mail shortly after the interview. Did she mean that everyone(all interviewees) would hear something after that date? Is there still a possibility that I could still receive a big red envelope of my own before then?

P.S. Is it a good thing if you can get your interviewers to laugh? With you not at you. 😎

 

[Wizard of Oz]

Good thing: my microbiology lab partner did all of my experiments along with her own on Monday 👍 . How sweet is that? She didn't even know what was wrong w/me, she just thought she'd do it. Gold star to her.

If you have unknowns to do in microbiology, put 'em on sheep blood agar and let me have a look at them before submitting them. When I used to teach micro lab, I had some really oddball ID's given back to me from students.

Finished my interview today, and all went pretty well. Didn't expect to have a 1hr 15min interview. Dr. Hall mentioned that no one would hear anything until after the final AdCom meeting on Feb 25. This conflicted with some of the threads that have mentioned a "big red envelope" in the mail shortly after the interview. Did she mean that everyone(all interviewees) would hear something after that date? Is there still a possibility that I could still receive a big red envelope of my own before then?

The website updated 12-24 says 106 offers made, and another round of interviews took place between then and now. My best guess is that what the gatekeeper said holds true. There were probably only a few firm offers left before this interview round, so they are likely going to decide everybody's fate between now and the 25th to save on postage. I think that most of the advice before was from people who interviewed early in the cycle. I'd say that no news will be good news until after the 25th.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Finished my interview today, and all went pretty well. Didn't expect to have a 1hr 15min interview. Dr. Hall mentioned that no one would hear anything until after the final AdCom meeting on Feb 25. This conflicted with some of the threads that have mentioned a "big red envelope" in the mail shortly after the interview. Did she mean that everyone(all interviewees) would hear something after that date? Is there still a possibility that I could still receive a big red envelope of my own before then?

P.S. Is it a good thing if you can get your interviewers to laugh? With you not at you. 😎

Yeah, I think is Wizard is right. For the later interviewees, you won't hear until the final meeting. I'm glad to hear the interview went well. 🙂

So I'm very happy that we won't have student written exam questions on our tests because they suck. I thought the real exam questions were nitpicky and overly anal, but d@mn, those student written questions are 10 times worse. It's like they just randomly opened their syllabus to one page, picked one sentence on that page and decided to write a question based on that one very minor point mentioned in the sentence. Gotta admit I'd probably be lazy enough to follow a similar technique. 🙂

The histo cd apparently requires windows. 👎 I'm going to try out bootcamp and see how that goes.

 

[Mr. Freeze]

Yeah, I think is Wizard is right. For the later interviewees, you won't hear until the final meeting. I'm glad to hear the interview went well. 🙂

So I'm very happy that we won't have student written exam questions on our tests because they suck. I thought the real exam questions were nitpicky and overly anal, but d@mn, those student written questions are 10 times worse. It's like they just randomly opened their syllabus to one page, picked one sentence on that page and decided to write a question based on that one very minor point mentioned in the sentence. Gotta admit I'd probably be lazy enough to follow a similar technique. 🙂

The histo cd apparently requires windows. 👎 I'm going to try out bootcamp and see how that goes.

That's not what O'Don does!?!?

 

[Wizard of Oz]

So I'm very happy that we won't have student written exam questions on our tests because they suck. I thought the real exam questions were nitpicky and overly anal, but d@mn, those student written questions are 10 times worse. It's like they just randomly opened their syllabus to one page, picked one sentence on that page and decided to write a question based on that one very minor point mentioned in the sentence. Gotta admit I'd probably be lazy enough to follow a similar technique. 🙂

Gotta admit that I know nothing of any student-generated questions.

 

[Mr. Freeze]

In the past there have been exam questions for MSI submitted by MSII. As far as I know, there won't be any this year, but there are practice q's from the last couple years on blackboard. And by blackboard, I mean blackboard, not to be confused with the discussion board, MSI homepage, the neuro hippocrates link, the glass cabinet, or any of the other 17 places information seems to be hiding this semester.

<-----waiting for the Biochem dept. to leak info about Anna Nicole's tox screen...

 

[Amxcvbcv]

In previous years MS1s would write questions in small groups of four that would appear on the exams - two questions per exam.

Dr. Blair just left previous class's questions up on Blackboard as a study tool. You wouldn't get questions that our class wrote on your test, although theoretically it's all the same material.


As for the interview stuff... As of Tuesday they had extended approximately 140 acceptances for a class size of 162 (which will ultimately include a few repeaters from the Class of 2010, I'd bet). The reason they gave us (tour guides, StAT folks, etc.) for the late acceptance notices was that the interview process got all screwed by the snow days last month. Normally they meet over lunch to decide applicants' fates, but that didn't happen for at least one of the interview days. As far as I know, some (maybe all?) of the January interview decisions got rolled into the final decision date which is February 25th. So basically... if you interview earlier you get notification pretty quick, but if you're part of the late group you've got to wait a bit.

Chance of hearing something before the end of February - zero. After that, you'll get an acceptance, rejection, or wait list notice.

I hope I'm not made a liar. I got my information from the ladies working in the admissions office.


Anyway, I'd say your chances are good. 22ish spots out of ~81 interviews, and there are always good chances that wait listed folks get acceptances eventually.