I was accepted to the August 2004 class and now I have nearly 8 months before I start. I'm a nontrad and with my acceptance I have decided not to take any classes during the spring semester. I didn't want to deal with the stress of classes, but at the same time, I'm the type of person who really enjoys school. When I'm not studying I feel like my brain turns to mush . I'd like to know if any of the second termers on up through the graduates have any suggestions on reading I could do before I get there to help get a jump start on things (yes,yes, I'm a nerd ). Was there a class where you felt particularly overwhelmed by the volume of reading and wished you had studied up before starting? Any suggestions on text that it would be good to be familar with before starting in August?

8)

my advice? DONT read a thing. Two reasons. First and most importantly, no matter how much work you do, you'll find that what took you months to read you'll cover in days in med school And this will freak you out, cause anxiety and depress you. Invariably happens. Whereas if you dont do this, you will just go with the flow once you get in.

Second, this will be the last time in a loonnnnnggggg time for you top enojy other things unfettered. Do it. Travel; if you like to read, fine, read something else your interested in. Do some research if you like. But do not try to study what will amount ot a very depressing and anxious drop in the bucket. good luck!

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Steph
If you get a warning, put on yer manpants and stop whining about it.

RELAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cant stress that enough. If you want work somewhere and earn extra cash for the rock. But like steph said dont read.

Nimitt
3rd year

If you're going to read anything, make sure it has nothing to do with any of the sciences. Read for pleasure because it may be the last time you can do that for many years. I've read some autobiographies of doctors and stories about med school and found them interesting as well as entertaining. Get some volunteering experience if you haven't already. I took my last summer before med school to volunteer in a cancer ward at a children's hospital. I figured it would be the last chance i'd have for a long time to see if thats where i wanted to practice.

Don't read anything that has to do with what you will learn at SGU. However, be sure to get your life in order before you head down to the island like financing or SO issues. Because what you will need to know is so broad I doubt anybody can benefit from just reading a textbook without guidance which the school and the professors will provide. What you can do now is take care of every day life ordeals so that it will be of minimal hinderance once you are there. Have fun and good luck.

BTW I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I graduated last year from SGU and now I am a pediatric resident in the Miami area. Please ask any question that I may anser and be of help

kiddoc

PS how did people get these fabulous avatars and quotes included in their posts?

Go to your profile towards the top of the page

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Watch Out!! - The most expensive thing in the world you may ever PAY for is "free-advice."

Hi Kiddoc:

I am looking at applying to SGU in the future and am trying to get as much info as possible. Could you give me some insight on your clinical years. Did you have to move to a different city/state to do each rotation or did you stay in one city?

Thanks for offering to answer questions!

For my clinical years I tried to group them together so that I did not have to move around so much. This is perfectly possible if you are willing to do much of your rotation in the New York area, specifically Brooklyn and Queens. I did spend some time in England and California as well as some outside rotations at Las Vegas, but all these were by choice since I love travelling (I recommend some time in England to anyone who asks as it is the perfect opportunity to observe different medicine and a chance to explorer the old world). Most of my friends stayed in New York area at the same apartment for their two years of clinical. All in all, as I look back, the most pressure I felt during the clinical years were from taking the boards and going through the process of obtaining a residency position. It is no secret that you are at a disadvantage as a FMG especially for the sought after positions. However for primary care and even surgery to a certain degree, a spot will be there for you as long as you have fulfilled what is expected of you as a medical student. And it is not impossible to obtain positions like urology and ENT and ortho as I know of SGU graduates who have personally. In a hospital setting rarely if ever did I feel disadvantaged because I was an FMG. Most residents and attendings were very interested in my education or at least did not treat me differently because of where I was from (and these were guys from JH, Harvard and UCSF) and I believe this has to do mostly with the roadwork laid by my predecessors. In terms of lifestyle, you will need to study and there will be some moments of pressure and scut work and abuse that is no different from any other med students. But you will have plenty of time for extracurricular activity as well, trust me. I myself quite enjoyed my clinical years especially now as a first year intern. For reidency, the amount of interview offered might be less, but I obtained more than my share as have others. Just be diligent in finishing and filing all the paperwork in time. Remember that Board 1 score is the single most important factor.

Answering a query from drnick07, I am a resident at Miami Children's. I did not do any rotation down here and I do not believe it is necessary. I decided on Miami Children's because of reputation, fellowship rate and where it is obtained at and because of the atmosphere. I have more positive things (as well as very few negatives ) to say about my program but lets leave that for later. There is also the UM/Jackson ped program around here as well. One of my classmate is there as an IM resident. Sorry I did not reply to you directly to your message but my old laptop from Grand Anse era is somehow refusing to show the reply button for your post.

Anyways if there is anymore questions please ask and I will try my best to give an honest and concise answer.

Kiddoc