******UT-Houston Class of 2011*******

Started by dancer75088
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Anastasis said:
Ugh - it's so funny. I know that's not far away but it feels like forever! :laugh:
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Yeah I know what you mean. The wait is killing me. Not nearly as bad as waiting for an acceptance, but still the anticipation of finding out more information about our first year of med school is really high.
 
dokota said:
I spoke with a lady in the admissions office this morning. They are still working on the packets and will mail them out to us in March. Hope that answers your question.
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👍 Thanks for figuring that out!
 
Just got on the waitlist at an apt. complex! I can't believe that medical school is almost here. I have been waiting for this moment since elementary school. Feels kind of weird...
 
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NCF145 said:
Just got on the waitlist at an apt. complex! I can't believe that medical school is almost here. I have been waiting for this moment since elementary school. Feels kind of weird...
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Which apartment complex? I am going to Houston to visit my sister and am planning on putting my name on the waitlist at Alta Lofts....

I know what you mean!

Also, has anyone heard anything about financial aid? I am assuming we will get more info in our acceptance packet, but I was just curious.
 
dancer75088 said:
Which apartment complex? I am going to Houston to visit my sister and am planning on putting my name on the waitlist at Alta Lofts....

I know what you mean!

Also, has anyone heard anything about financial aid? I am assuming we will get more info in our acceptance packet, but I was just curious.
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Lanesborough
 
Waiting on the acceptance packet sucks, but patience, my friends. Come this time next year, you'll wish you had time to sit around and anticipate that plump correspondence arriving in your mail.

Also, if anyone ends up being interested in signing a lease at The Greebriar, PM me. I'll give you my name, and if you list me as your referral, I'll split the referral fee with you (which I think is like, $200-300)!
 
Hey all you texas residents, some good news! I matched to UTMB on 2/15 BUT... I just got a call from UT-Houston and I was accepted =) looks like i'll be spending the next few years in Houston, and most likely at UT-H unless by some miracle Baylor accepts me. So the wait list movement has begun people! And hopefully more calls will go out soon.
 
milian said:
Hey all you texas residents, some good news! I matched to UTMB on 2/15 BUT... I just got a call from UT-Houston and I was accepted =) looks like i'll be spending the next few years in Houston, and most likely at UT-H unless by some miracle Baylor accepts me. So the wait list movement has begun people! And hopefully more calls will go out soon.
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Congrats and welcome!
 
If people are not living in university housing where do ya'll plan on living. I am currently on the waiting list for university housing but really want to live in these condos called the valencia (http://www.thevalenciaapts.com/) near the medical school. I was just wondering what other places people are looking at.
 
ckf0006 said:
If people are not living in university housing where do ya'll plan on living. I am currently on the waiting list for university housing but really want to live in these condos called the valencia (http://www.thevalenciaapts.com/) near the medical school. I was just wondering what other places people are looking at.
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You must have a lot of extra funds for housing. Those are really expensive condos. But to each his/her own I guess.
 
oh, that's only if i get a roommate. I don't have that kind of money to live by myself and they lease, I am not buying one.
 
ckf0006 said:
If people are not living in university housing where do ya'll plan on living. I am currently on the waiting list for university housing but really want to live in these condos called the valencia (http://www.thevalenciaapts.com/) near the medical school. I was just wondering what other places people are looking at.
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I got on the waitlist at holly hall apts. I've heard bad things about them but it's so cheap that I couldn't resist.

And trust me: Any place is better than the last place I rented. 100 year old house that was freezing all the time. 😱
 
tkatchev said:
You must have a lot of extra funds for housing. Those are really expensive condos. But to each his/her own I guess.
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You'll get more info on this in your acceptance packet (or you can trawl the FinAid site for a pdf), but your housing allowance is about $800/month if you take the full loan amount. You won't have to worry about 80% of places in Condoland (south of TMC) for that rate. (Though not a single in Valencia.)

BTW, I highly recommend taking the full loan amount even if you won't need it for housing. It can be very useful for funding a trip during your looooong post-MS-1 summer, traveling to do research, etc.—all at a much lower rate than paying by credit card!
 
I'm really glad this thread is around. otherwise I wouldn't have thought to do my housing application before I leave for europe (tomorrow) for a month and a half and if I'd waited until I got back who knows if there would be any spots left! sorry, that was a run on, but i'm delerious because i've been up for at least 20 hours planning, running back and forth to the store, talking on the phone all day because i'll be out of contact w/everyone, and packing, packing, packing...

Ana, like you i have the semester off, so i'm taking advantage of it. (oh, and ps. i always knew you were a female... your name really isn't that cryptic, hehe)

paris, rome, florence, venice, milan, amsterdam, prague, vienna, budapest, and bucharest. this should be an interesting trip... hopefully the workings of european healthcare will be just as vague to me in two months as they are now. i don't want to see the inside of a romanian hospital!:d

I'm so excited for next year guys! and now, 😴
 
jeffCAandTX said:
I'm really glad this thread is around. otherwise I wouldn't have thought to do my housing application before I leave for europe (tomorrow) for a month and a half and if I'd waited until I got back who knows if there would be any spots left! sorry, that was a run on, but i'm delerious because i've been up for at least 20 hours planning, running back and forth to the store, talking on the phone all day because i'll be out of contact w/everyone, and packing, packing, packing...

Ana, like you i have the semester off, so i'm taking advantage of it. (oh, and ps. i always knew you were a female... your name really isn't that cryptic, hehe)

paris, rome, florence, venice, milan, amsterdam, prague, vienna, budapest, and bucharest. this should be an interesting trip... hopefully the workings of european healthcare will be just as vague to me in two months as they are now. i don't want to see the inside of a romanian hospital!:d

I'm so excited for next year guys! and now, 😴
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Nice! Have fun! I lived in N. Ireland for awhile and I must say I'm sad not to see Dublin on that list 😉 Venice is beautiful though and you're going early enough that it won't smell like dead fish (you think I'm kidding, try it in July 😱 )

Oh and if you need to get sick, get sick in the UK/France 😉

(Glad to know I'm not so cryptic - you'd be surprised how many times it's come up recently that people think I'm a guy! :laugh: )
 
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drchekhov said:
You'll get more info on this in your acceptance packet (or you can trawl the FinAid site for a pdf), but your housing allowance is about $800/month if you take the full loan amount. You won't have to worry about 80% of places in Condoland (south of TMC) for that rate. (Though not a single in Valencia.)

BTW, I highly recommend taking the full loan amount even if you won't need it for housing. It can be very useful for funding a trip during your looooong post-MS-1 summer, traveling to do research, etc.—all at a much lower rate than paying by credit card!
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What about that research program for next summer? I'd like to do that. I've never had the opportunity to do clinical research and I think I might like it. Do many people participate?
 
HOly crap. I have no idea about housing.

You gunners already signing leases. Um so I don't know a thing about Houston or the apartments around UTH. Anybody willing to give a crash course on living arrangements?
 
Anastasis said:
What about that research program for next summer? I'd like to do that. I've never had the opportunity to do clinical research and I think I might like it. Do many people participate?
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If you want to participate you can.....they have a research fair in the spring where you can meet research physicians/lab researchers and find out about what projects they have and what you can do. Alternatively you can just go find someone in a field you're interested in and if they agree to let you work with them over the summer the program will approve them as a mentor.

Some ppl do lab research, some do clinical.......if you're lucky you can find someone who will pay you 🙂 Depending on what ur mentor does you might get to do clinical stuff also....I did research all summer reviewing charts and writing, but I also got to see patients in clinic and scrub in to surgeries.

You get blue book credit for the program, and once a week you go to a one hour lecture (and they feed you). Some ppl are paid through the program itself (5 thousand for the summer)....you basically write a grant application to apply for that funding. I can't remember exactly how many ppl were in the program last year.......maybe a little less than 50.

The best thing about the summer, regardless of what you do, is there are no tests......
 
Thanatos said:
If you want to participate you can.....they have a research fair in the spring where you can meet research physicians/lab researchers and find out about what projects they have and what you can do. Alternatively you can just go find someone in a field you're interested in and if they agree to let you work with them over the summer the program will approve them as a mentor.

Some ppl do lab research, some do clinical.......if you're lucky you can find someone who will pay you 🙂 Depending on what ur mentor does you might get to do clinical stuff also....I did research all summer reviewing charts and writing, but I also got to see patients in clinic and scrub in to surgeries.

You get blue book credit for the program, and once a week you go to a one hour lecture (and they feed you). Some ppl are paid through the program itself (5 thousand for the summer)....you basically write a grant application to apply for that funding. I can't remember exactly how many ppl were in the program last year.......maybe a little less than 50.

The best thing about the summer, regardless of what you do, is there are no tests......
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K i'm at work so I don't have my UTH folder here. Can someone link me to or give me a crash course on what exactly Blue Book is and what things are classified as Blue book?
 
eternalrage said:
K i'm at work so I don't have my UTH folder here. Can someone link me to or give me a crash course on what exactly Blue Book is and what things are classified as Blue book?
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Yeah I'm curious too. I've never heard of them. Except the kind you use to take exams 🙂
 
i just remember that blue book stuff is for residency match and is the equivalent of extracurriculars for applying to med school.
 
I tried to do a search for you but I couldn't come up with anything. I think they work just like ECs - pretty much anything from the lunch courses to work at the free clinic can go into your blue book. The school keeps track of it all for you.
 
Info dump below:

Anastasis said:
I tried to do a search for you but I couldn't come up with anything. I think they work just like ECs - pretty much anything from the lunch courses to work at the free clinic can go into your blue book. The school keeps track of it all for you.
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Bingo. Lunch lecture series, volunteering, giving tours at interview days—pretty much anything can go in your Blue Book as long as its school-related and under the aegis of a faculty member. For instance, tonight I've got the last meeting of a class called the Art of Observation, where we've gone down to the Museum of Fine Arts, looked at paintings, and then looked at patient photos, in an effort to better attune our eyes to the nuances of the clinical presentations.

--

On the summer research program: applications are gearing up right now. I'm trying to latch on and do some more clinical work (and hopefully get one of the grants). A lot of the real gunners (ortho/derm/etc.) looked for faculty members late last semester, but I'm not that crazy. If you get one of the NIH grants, you're paid a $5K stipend; if you don't get one, from what I understand, as long as you're up front with your mentor and they have money, you should be able to get something.

--

Housing: don't anyone get their heart set on El Paseo (i.e., new UT housing). I applied, like, two weeks after the match last year and did get a call—on the day of orientation. If you're more flexible with you move-in date, you'll stand a better chance, but those apartments are really, really in demand. So have a back-up.

If you just want old housing, however, you'll have no problem getting in.
 
aggiesarah2007 said:
So does anyone know anything about the schedule for Welcome Weekend? Like activities and the like?
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I missed the two main planning meetings, so I'll let one of my first-year classmates fil-in the details. But I can say that you should mark your calendars for April 14-15! And if you don't show up, you'll make me cry, since that Saturday is my birthday.
 
drchekhov said:
I missed the two main planning meetings, so I'll let one of my first-year classmates fil-in the details. But I can say that you should mark your calendars for April 14-15! And if you don't show up, you'll make me cry, since that Saturday is my birthday.
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I know a couple of years ago they did a pool party. I'm really really hoping we can just show up in shorts and a t-shirt and not all this business casual crapola that's going on in pre-allo. Heels, slacks and a button-down shirt + pool party =/= fun. 🙁
 
Anastasis said:
I know a couple of years ago they did a pool party. I'm really really hoping we can just show up in shorts and a t-shirt and not all this business casual crapola that's going on in pre-allo. Heels, slacks and a button-down shirt + pool party =/= fun. 🙁
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Don't worry—we're the laid back school of Texas. Last year it was exactly as you said: pool party at the Rec Center with some nice barbeque and beer, then some clubbin'. But again, I can't speak to exactly what tricks my class has planned this year.
 
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I'm actually a Baylor MS0, but I'm already starting to think about a great place to work out (seems like there should be plenty of stress to work off). I heard that the UT-H gym is nice, but I didn't have a chance to check it out personally. Do you all know anything about it? I'm looking at both weights and cardio. I hope I can eventually make some friends to work out with, but it's probably too early for that. I heard that there is also a small TMC gym. Another student I spoke with who was a MD Anderson doing research said she used 24 hour fitness.
 
OncoCaP said:
I'm actually a Baylor MS0, but I'm already starting to think about a great place to work out (seems like there should be plenty of stress to work off). I heard that the UT-H gym is nice, but I didn't have a chance to check it out personally. Do you all know anything about it? I'm looking at both weights and cardio. I hope I can eventually make some friends to work out with, but it's probably too early for that. I heard that there is also a small TMC gym. Another student I spoke with who was a MD Anderson doing research said she used 24 hour fitness.
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I have several friends who are at Baylor now, and they use UTH's gym. One of them is fairly serious about staying fit and he says it is a good place to work out. If it suits him, I'm sure that it would work for anyone.

http://ae.uth.tmc.edu/recreat/index.html
 
I've tried to do the criminal background check. I payed through pay pal and every time I enter my pay pal transaction number and press continue it says I don't qualify for the position, wtf? Anyone else having trouble?
 
Does anyone know of a gym close to the TMC that has racquetball courts? I am a little disappointed that the UTH rec center doesn't have any- it's such a great way to relieve stress.
 
Is the UTH gym the same one connected to the housing they showed us on the tour? I think I'm spoiled by the ugrad gym at UofHouston. Only an alumni pass can satisfy me now. 😍 I think a public membership is cheaper than 24 hr fitness or the like, and it's widely regarded as being better. Ya'll might wanna check it out. Not too far from the med center either. I'd like to have med school friends to work out with!
http://www.uh.edu/recreation/Facilities/index.html

Btw, I may be starting here in the fall too. 🙂

Looked it up - sorry no non-UH affiliated people can join. You'd have to live with or marry an alum. I already have a roommate and, um, yeah that would have been the only viable option there. But the gym's almost nice enough to make you wanna drop a knee. 😱
 
mychelle774 said:
Is the UTH gym the same one connected to the housing they showed us on the tour? I think I'm spoiled by the ugrad gym at UofHouston. Only an alumni pass can satisfy me now. 😍 I think a public membership is cheaper than 24 hr fitness or the like, and it's widely regarded as being better. Ya'll might wanna check it out. Not too far from the med center either. I'd like to have med school friends to work out with!
http://www.uh.edu/recreation/Facilities/index.html

Btw, I may be starting here in the fall too. 🙂

Looked it up - sorry no non-UH affiliated people can join. You'd have to live with or marry an alum. I already have a roommate and, um, yeah that would have been the only viable option there. But the gym's almost nice enough to make you wanna drop a knee. 😱
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Hi Mychelle,

Wow the pictures do look nice. It's too bad that UH isn't available to non-students/staff or their families/partners. They don't even have visitor / guest passes? UT Austin has guest passes you can buy for $8/day ... not an everyday purchase, but not bad for a visit. I don't think there is anything close to what UT Austin's Gregory Gym to be found anywhere near TMC:

gre_racquetball.jpg


7 basketball or 9 volleyball courts
1/7th mile indoor jogging track
10 handball/racquetball/wallyball courts
2 international size squash courts
Weight training/conditioning room
Separate faculty/staff weight training/conditioning room
Climbing wall
Multi-purpose rooms
Billiards/games room with big screen TV
Badminton
Table tennis
Sports Cafe
Cardio theater
Outdoor and wellness resource centers
Retail store
Steam and sauna rooms
Separate faculty/staff locker rooms

Virtual Tours at: http://www.utrecsports.org/facilities/locations/gre.php (more toward the middle of the page).

I'm leaning toward the UT-H rec center for now. I still have my membership at the UT Austin rec center (which I'm really going to miss), but once I officially move to Pearland in mid-May, I will switch over to UT-H most likely. I get the impression that quite a few medical students go there, so it should be possible to find a handful of med students to work out with.
 
Does anyone know if we get any kind of discount from dell for laptops? I was just trying to price one out to see how much I'm going to need to save from work.

Is it better to get a totally pimped out laptop that will last all 4 years or a just passable one? Do you really need the laptop for anything other than wordprocessing in 3rd & 4th year?
 
dwigt said:
Does anyone know of a gym close to the TMC that has racquetball courts? I am a little disappointed that the UTH rec center doesn't have any- it's such a great way to relieve stress.
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The rec center does have a solitary racquetball court. What's really stupid is that they rebuilt the entire rec after a lightning strike in 2001, and they only kept that single court. (Sorry, pet peeve of mine.)

That said, you can call to reserve the court a day beforehand, so you can generally play whenever you want.
 
Anastasis said:
Hey OncoCaP: My best friend lives in Pearland... I sent her an email and left a voicemail asking about gyms in town if you're interested. It's a nice little town!
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Hi Anastasis: Thanks! Yes, Pearland is a gem if you have a family. There is 24 hour fitness just outside my neighborhood here, so that would be easy to go to. Either way, I'm curious as to what your friend says. Right now I'm leaning toward going to a gym near school with the hope of maybe working out with another med student. I find that I'm much more consistent when I work out with a friend.
 
Anastasis said:
Does anyone know if we get any kind of discount from dell for laptops? I was just trying to price one out to see how much I'm going to need to save from work.

Is it better to get a totally pimped out laptop that will last all 4 years or a just passable one? Do you really need the laptop for anything other than wordprocessing in 3rd & 4th year?
Click to expand...

Personally, I would check out HP's and Macs first and maybe Lenovos if you like their tablet (depending on your computer religion -- Apple or Windows :laugh: ). Dell has let the quality slip quite a bit and they are going through a huge reorg right now. Both HP and Apple offer student discounts, but I wouldn't just go with price anyway. Those $200 you saved won't mean much if your system won't boot, charge, overheats, etc., and you get incompetent support.
 
OncoCaP said:
Personally, I would check out HP's and Macs first and maybe Lenovos if you like their tablet (depending on your computer religion -- Apple or Windows :laugh: ). Dell has let the quality slip quite a bit and they are going through a huge reorg right now. Both HP and Apple offer student discounts, but I wouldn't just go with price anyway. Those $200 you saved won't mean much if your system won't boot, charge, overheats, etc., and you get incompetent support.
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Unfortunately we're not allowed to have Macs at UT-H 🙁
 
Anastasis said:
Unfortunately we're not allowed to have Macs at UT-H 🙁
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I wonder if they'd take issue with the new MacBooks and Bootcamp/XP... fulfills all their requirements otherwise.

Anyhow, I second the stay away from Dell motion for all the aforementioned reasons. Any computer you buy with UTH's minimum specs is pretty powerful, so it should last through four years of normal usage. Personally, I'm avoiding the major brand markup by going through powernotebooks.com, I think.
 
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On another note, can anyone give me the low down on financial aid? I can't break down how I'm gonna pay for school without an idea of what the interest rates are and how much I can take out.
 
decal said:
I wonder if they'd take issue with the new MacBooks and Bootcamp/XP... fulfills all their requirements otherwise.

Anyhow, I second the stay away from Dell motion for all the aforementioned reasons. Any computer you buy with UTH's minimum specs is pretty powerful, so it should last through four years of normal usage. Personally, I'm avoiding the major brand markup by going through powernotebooks.com, I think.
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Thanks for the tips, guys. I haven't bought a computer since 2000 so I must admit I'm pretty clueless about what to get (though I'm not completely computer illiterate) Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out by August 😳
 
decal said:
On another note, can anyone give me the low down on financial aid? I can't break down how I'm gonna pay for school without an idea of what the interest rates are and how much I can take out.
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For MS1 they give you around $32,000 i am not sure the exact amount but they have it up somewhere on the financial aid page. That is more than enough to pay tuition and live on ( i even squeezed a vaction out of that loan money). The interest rate for last year's loans were 6.8% and that is about as low of a educational loan rate you will get anywhere. I am not sure what the rate will be for this upcoming year but i think the rate can't go over 8 or 9% i can't remember the exact %. About $ 8,000 of the loan is subsidized stanford loans which means no interest acrues while you are in school. The other amount is unsubsidized stanford loan so you acrue interest during school. Hope this helps a little.
 
Anastasis said:
Thanks for the tips, guys. I haven't bought a computer since 2000 so I must admit I'm pretty clueless about what to get (though I'm not completely computer illiterate) Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out by August 😳
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If you have the minimum specs, I'm sure several people can tell you what worked well for them in the past. If you want more detailed suggestions, feel free to PM me.

Several SDNers also talked about a similar issue on the Baylor thread. Some of the Baylor students said that although Macs were not supported, lots of students got them and liked them anyway. They pretty much ignored what the administration said about that and it worked out. You all might be on a shorter leash; I'm not sure.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=330463&page=4 (start at around #170 and then jump down a few messages to the replies).
 
Anastasis said:
Unfortunately we're not allowed to have Macs at UT-H 🙁
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(Although we'll probably get this question five more times since people won't search the thread) FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL:

You can use a Mac at UTH.

You'll just need to use Boot Camp (Apple's virtualization solution) or Parallels Desktop (a third-party solution that I and most of my fellow Mac classmates prefer). http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/

Additionally, setting things up will require a tiny bit more work, but I'm willing to help my fellow Mac users (and any converts). 😀

You are required to use your computer for Neuroscience Lab in the spring of first year and to optimally watch videos online. Additionally, the administration keeps trying out various uses for them in other classes, but the aforementioned are the only two consistent purposes.

Now, advice on what you'll want in your computer (whichever platform you end up choosing):
1. If you want to use it everyday in class/in the LRC, get something LIGHT. Trust me, your syllabi and books will weigh down your bag enough. However, I have a lot of classmates who prefer to use the LRC computers for most of their video-watching needs when they're studying at school, so if you're more likely to go that route, weight may not be as much of an issue.
2. Go with a company with a good warranty/customer service. As a medical student, the last thing you want to do is waste a bunch of time on tech support and then be hindered by having to send off your machine for days for repair.
3. Get something with at least a good 2-D video card and enough memory to handle video well. (Again, for utilizing those streaming lectures.)
4. Depending on how you'll use it, get something with a screen size that maximizes your needs. I can't stand a 12" that can only display one web page at a time, but I didn't want the added weight of a 15 or 17". So I split the middle and went with a 13.3".
5. I'm not sure what it says in your incoming packet, but be wary of Vista. The IT gods have barked emails to us that Vista isn't supported on the network and in various matters yet, so we need to stick with XP.

As for cost, you get up to $2500 that can be added to your budget. Basically, you collect all your receipts, submit them to FinAid, they check that things match specs, and then increase your loan amount. Takes a bit of time and is a little bit of a pain, but you can push it through in 2-4 weeks.

I went with a MacBook, using their educational discount to knock off $150 or $200, and get a free iPod nano in a promotion that they offered during the summer:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=A4791B5D&nclm=MacBook
 
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