Woo.. hey folks! All the fun posts.. reminds me of how fun life used to be.... (meditating on the good ol' days)... nah, it's not so bad. We (MS-II class) just finished our endocrine system and have moved right into repro! Only a few more months, boards, and then rotations!
I whizzed by so many different topics I wanted to comment on so I'll just start blabbing...
Wireless internet- I actually recently brought this up with the Director of Network Operations at Western and it is something they are looking into for the future.. perhaps even as early as next year if there is enough money in the budget to start moving things along. I originally thought it would be simpler, but I have a feeling in order to make the entire campus and its buildings "wireless", it would take a lot more work. It would save in costs of extra wiring for ethernet ports in the future as people could bring their laptops to more places. I know that schools like Dartmouth, USC, and UCSD have some wireless areas. At any rate, it's being looked at.
Merger- There's all sorts of news here and there. You can look up articles in the LA Times and Inland Valley Daily Bulletin for a few... but you could probably find links for these articles on each school's website (
www.westernu.edu or
www.chapman.edu). There was a lot of buzz weeks back when the news first came out, but as far as my class goes, it's back to the normal priorities of a medical student.. heh. I do believe if the merger goes through, we will graduate under a slightly different name than WUHS if they do decide to tweak the name a little bit. We will still graduate under COMP which is the important thing. That being said, the actual name of WUHS has not been around very long (maybe 5-10 years?) while Chapman has been in existant for over 140 years. I see and hear a lot of prons and cons and things that have to be resolved before the merger would actually go through, but I have a feeling they are very very seriously looking at it. It's true.. the possibilities of joint programs and bringing more degree options for Western U. students would be interesting to say the least. From what I hear though, Chapman U. has a respectable name and quite a bit of money. As far as sharing campuses or anything like that, we would most likely stay separate as the Chapman campus is about 15-20 miles away (20-30 minute drive depending on traffic)...
Single People- Don't worry at all... I think the majority of our class is currently hooked up in some shape or form... but I'm sure the single girls get plenty of attention from the guys, single or not (haha). That probably goes for the MS-I class too. At any rate, after seeing the same faces for 8+ hours a day, you'll probably get tired of some people. That being said, there will enough time to study and still go out once in awhile to actually meet people in the outside world (which is always a refreshing thing). =)
Adobo- Sounds good... considering I used to work in a lab with almost all Filipino and Vietnamese folks and have had pot lucks, I don't know why I've never tried it. Just as long as there won't be any caninus-adobo (Sorry Tae!)
Commuting from LA- There are people who commute from around LA and even farther so it is definitely possible but depends on how much driving you're used to. It gets tiring driving home at night but depending on when classes get out, you can try and beat the traffic (although it will be going the other way) or just stick around, study and/or nap for awhile, then head back to LA.
Dogs- Don't forget the vet school should be in operation by the time school starts up! There should be more pets wandering around campus hopefully (although I "think" they are going to try a different learning system in the classroom of using animal models instead of real animals) and perhaps they'll even open up a small pet clinic too. Guess we're going to need more park space...
Summer anatomy programs- ISAC and SAPP both have their advantages... it sorta depends on what your time schedule will be that summer, how much energy and time you can sacrifice, what your living situation will be, etc. ISAC starts in mid or late June I think and it's a very intense six weeks, so it helps to have living quarters set up by then. Most of the folks in my class that did ISAC were from California. Contrary to belief, you don't have to have previous anatomy experience and I had none... you can do well without it. If you perform well enough, you can become a TA/facilitator in the fall which has lots of benefits including bonus points which will help reassure most of getting an A in anatomy. There were other people in our class that got A's in anatomy without taking any summer courses.. so it's up to you really. It's always nice to get some vacation time in as it will be your second-to-last free summer... enjoy everything SoCal has to offer! (disclaimer: I'm not from California)
Buying houses- Don't know much about them although I had a friend who mentioned there were some in Chino Hills going for about the 300-400k range.. which is pricey, but the area isn't too bad and things could be a lot more expensive the closer you move to LA. All I know is I'd like to live in a house one day so I don't have to keep on moving my stuff everywhere.
Vaccines- The earlier you can get all this out of the way, the better. If you are missing your last Hep B series by the time registration comes around, sometimes they'll do it for you during the registration process... which saves a little money because they will only charge you for the price of the shot. That being said, it's easier to get it out of the way during the summer.. TB, varicella titer and all.7
Folks from Bawstun- You won't have to miss the white stuff when you come here. It was a nice sunny mid 70's a few days ago, but it has rained the last day or two and there is some nice powder on the nearby slopes (1.5 hours away) for anyone who's into snow sports. I expect to be back in shorts by the middle of next week. =)
Ok that's enough for me. We are TA'ing the MS-I class at 8am tomorrow and I find myself waking up a quarter till every morning! One bit of good news I suppose... I found out a few weeks ago I'll be an OMM Teaching Fellow so I will have the pleasure of meeting all you folks hopefully this Fall!
