Here I Come!!

October 31, 2008...what a great day! Today I got accepted to the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health as well as George Washington Medical School in Washington D.C.

This has been a long time coming, and I am overwhelmingly elated. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, and also like I can finally get a good nights sleep. I will most likely go to the UW, but I will also still consider going on a few more interviews to keep my options open.

In other news, last Monday was Rebecca and my 6th anniversary, so we made an amazing dinner to celebrate. We had to go big this year because in Sweden they say that the 7th year together is the hardest and I wanted to start it off on the right foot. Rebecca, thank you for being there for me and sticking with us for the past six years. I couldn't have gotten into med school without you, and I can't wait to marry you (in a year and a half!)

Well...I'm off to celebrate with a couple of cold ones and an awesome dinner made by Rebecca. Thanks to everyone for all the support and help throughout this long process!

Boston University School of Medicine

Sorry everyone that this update didn't get posted sooner, but both Rebecca and I have had a crazy busy week and today is the first day we have had to catch our breath. So from the title you can deduce that I had my Boston interview this week, Wednesday to be exact and it was awesome.

I flew into Boston on Tuesday, and my flight landed at 11:00 am. I took a shuttle to my hotel, and they allowed me to check in early which was nice. I wasn't able to secure a student host for this trip because neither of the students that I emailed got back to me. This was one strike against the school coming in because I have felt like I got to know the schools and the student body a lot better when staying with someone that is in the middle of the program, but this was the only real negative about the trip...more on that a little later. Once I was checked in, I took the subway (which was really easy to use and is very extensive for a city of Boston's size) downtown. I got off of the subway at Boston common, which is a very large park in the center of town as well as the oldest public park of its kind in the nation. I was determined not to look too much like a tourist, so I only looked at my map when I started to get a little lost and needed to figure out where to walk next. In this spirit, I wandered around the park a bit and down some side streets until I decided to make my way toward the Charles river. I walked the side streets and past Massachusetts General Hospital until I got to the Charles river. There was a beautiful park on the river complete with a hard wood outdoor amphitheater and a running trail that, I was told, goes for miles right on the river bank. After taking in this area, I doubled back through the park and down state street until I got to the Harbor area. As I was wandering around, I got into the Italian area of the city, and I can tell you I have never seen so many Italian restaurants in one place...there was no shortage of places to eat. I ended up eating at an Irish pub and was able to sit outside and people watch. The feel of this city was intoxicating. I just loved the vibe I got, and felt immediately comfortable. It is a very young city...a third of the entire population is comprised of students mostly because it has the highest concentration of schools of any city in the world (90 secondary education schools within a ten mile radius outside of the city!). After dinner, I headed back to the hotel to watch the debate and get ready for my interview.

My interview the next morning, started at 7:30 am. The medical school is located in South Boston, which is about a 15 minute subway ride from downtown and is nestled between old residential and industrial areas of the city. They had some light breakfast for us during the initial talk given by the dean of admissions. He was very enthusiastic about the school and gave us a lot of the history behind the University Hospital as well as the Medical school which I though was really interesting. After our first one hour initial info session, I had my interview. Another unique thing about this school is that they provide you with a synopsis about your interviewer, which I found to be helpful in anticipating the kind of questions they were going to ask...I had a phd who has spent his career doing gastrointestinal research, specifically on absorption. The interview went really well. We talked about my research quite a bit, as well as my EMT experience and a number of other things he found interesting in my application. At the end of the interview he said that he hoped to see me there next year, which I took as a very good sign.

After the interview, we had some time to ask a clinician some questions and then we had meetings about financial aid and housing (I didn't realize it was so expensive to live in Boston: it is the third most expensive city in the US). Then we got to have lunch with some current first and second year students, and I was surprised at how many came up to eat with us, there were probably 15-20 students there. They were all very open with their answers, and it seemed that the student body is very cohesive. After lunch, we went on a long tour of the school and the hospital led by a fourth year student. Finally we had some closing remarks by the Dean and were done for the day.

I loved this school. The program seems very committed to producing top notch physicians, and the curriculum is set up in a way that I feel I could thrive. It has everything that I want in a school...a cohesive class without much competition for grades (pass/fail the first two years), research opportunities, international opportunities, exposure to public health in the curriculum, wide range of experinces and hospital settings within the third/fourth years, and enough flexability to pursue any specialty I may be interested in. The one negative is the cost. It is an expensive school, and an expensive place to live. The average debt of their most recent graduating class was $170,000 compared to $120,000 at UW. Madison is still my top choice, but if it came down to these two schools, it would still be a very tough decision.

I currently don't have any more trips planned for a while, so I will get to refocus on building my training base for the next few months. Rebecca and I will start our formal training plan in January, and I think it will sneak up on us really quickly.

Click here to see all of the pictures I took during my trip.

UW-Madison (My Top Choice)

Yesterday was my UW-Madison Interview. It pretty much went the same as the last two years, with the same format.

I got to the medical school at about 7:30 for an 8:00am start. There were already about three others there, and we just chatted until all 23 of us were there and the day began. The day started with meetings about the school, and a get-to-know-you activity. After the first info sessions, half of the group went on a tour of the medical school building while the other half had their one-on-one interview. I was in the second interview group, so I toured the building first. When it was time to start my interview, I met him in the room where we were going to talk. He is a family practice physician who also is part of the clinical faculty for the school. The interview was just like I remembered it from the last two years...very laid back and conversational just like he was getting to know me as a person a little bit. I feel that it went well.

After our interviews, we ate some lunch (which was better than last year) while we got a talk about financial aide, and how to pay for medical school. They did this talk over lunch each year, and I truly think that this is intentional, so that the news isn't as stressful.

After we ate, we broke off into groups of 3-4 for our group interviews with second year med students. This was where I was too quiet last year, and this year I had lots of questions ready. I think I ended up being the most talkative person in my group, which is a good thing.

After the group interviews, we went on a tour of the hospital, and the children's hospital and we came back for one more talk about diversity within the school of medicine.

Madison is the school that I want to be at. I love the academics, and how the curriculum is set up all four years. I love this area, and I would really love the in-state tuition. We were told that we should hear back by the end of the month, so I will be keeping my fingers crossed.

Next week on wed. I have my interview at Boston University. This is one that I am looking forward to, as it is a great school and the colors should be gorgeous this time of the year. I will get into Boston before noon, so I should have some time to explore the city a little. I am looking forward to having a break from this traveling after next week. I will finally be able to get some serious weeks of base training in, which I really need. My run today really hurt!

I hope that everyone is doing well, and that they have a great weekend. GO BADGERS!!

UNECOM Interview

I returned from my trip to Maine early wed. morning, and have been super busy until now. Overall I was really impressed with UNECOM.

I arrived into Portland and rented a car to drive down to Biddeford and meet my host at his house. I stayed with a second year student who shared a house with three other medical students. He was really nice and was able to answer any of the questions I had. All of the second years had just had a big exam that day, so I went with my host to the local brewery with about 20 of the other second years. It was a lot of fun to get to talk with lots of the other students. Most of the students at this school are non-trad, and have either taken a number of years off between undergrad and medical school, or actually had another career before deciding medicine was for them. This provided a great atmosphere of students that are very dedicated to their studies but also have the life experience to complement that. The food at the new brewery was really good, but sadly their beer was average at best.

The next day, I carpooled with my host to campus (about a 3 mile drive from his house) where we all met in the cafe area of the medical school building. One of the best parts of the day is that we had an open tab at the cafe and were able to eat whatever we wanted for breakfast and lunch there. The presentation of the school was well done, and provided a lot of good information.

My interview was the last one of the group. I was interviewed by a panel consisting of a second year med student, a DO, and a PHD professor of pharmacology. The interview went really well, I thought, and was more about getting to know me and my motivations to pursue medicine then anything else. They were very good at answering all of my questions at the end, and didn't make me feel rushed even though we went over my scheduled amount of time.

The curriculum seemed very good, and they put a lot of emphasis on international experiences which is something I am very interested in. I was also able to attend a class with my host. I went to his osteopathic manipulative medicine lecture and part of the lab. Except for being singled out by the professor as a prospective student at the beginning of lecture, the class was very interesting. Mostly, I saw a lot of parallels with PT, and a lot of potential to help a physician especially sports medicine or orthopedics.

That evening, I went with my host out to dinner at a sushi place in downtown Biddeford (picture to the right). The area is absolutely gorgeous, but I will let the pictures talk about that. I also drove down the coast just past sunset, to look at the ocean although there wasn't anywhere for me to stop and walk along the beaches as most of the beach in that area is privately owned.

Some negatives about the school: in the third year you choose where you want to do all of your core rotations (none of which are in Biddeford, the closest is in Portland, and the others are scattered all over new england) and that is where you live and complete the entire third year. I would prefer to have the option to move around and complete rotations in different areas. You also need a car because almost every med student lived away from campus. Third, you are sharing the campus with the undergraduates, in fact the medical school building is used for both undergraduates and med students as well (this is nit picking a little, but I think I would prefer to not deal with undergrads through med school)

Overall, I really liked the school and would definitely consider going there.

One down ??? to go!

I had my first interview on Tuesday 9/16 at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington DC, so here is my first interview report.

When I arrived into DC, my first impression with the school was good. The campus is right downtown (actually about 4 blocks from the white house!) and I was able to take the Metro from the airport. The medical school and the University Hospital were good looking buildings, and during the interview we found out that the hospital is only 5 years old and the 6th floor is entirely dedicated to multiple simulation labs. The security on campus seemed really good, I saw security walking around everywhere. I tried to get into the library to use the computers before I met my host, but they wouldn't let me in without an escort which is another testament to the security of the campus.

I met my host at about 5:15 after he was done with Gross lab, and he took me back to his apartment to drop off my stuff. He lived about 3 blocks from the school. Then he showed me around campus. We went to the athletic facilities, which were nice except for the pool, which was a 3 lane 25 yard dungeon in the basement of the facility. He did tell me, however that there is another facility at the other campus with an olympic sized pool...it just requires a 15 min shuttle ride to get there. Then we walked into Georgetown and had some dinner at a Thai restaurant which was good food and reasonably priced. I felt safe the entire time walking around, and there were only a few panhandlers out on the streets.

The next day I went to the school with my host at about 8:00, but my interview day didn't start until 9:30, so I got my guest pass to the medical school then I walked over to the hospital and got some breakfast at Starbucks in the cafeteria and read the undergraduate student newspaper. The interview day started with a welcome talk from the Dean of the Medical School, who was very laid back and proud of his school. He did a good job of selling the highlights of the program. Then we took a tour of the facilities. The med school itself is nice, with a fairly new lecture hall dedicated to the pathology course, which is entirely computerized. The simulators in the hospital were set up to look like a mock OR, and it seemed that the students really liked having this resource as part of the curriculum. The financial aid presentation was very shallow, and she didn't even mention the actual cost of tuition, only the average indebtedness of the recent class. Both of my interviews were very laid back and conversational, just as promised. They seemed to be there to find out about your personality and drive for medicine.

The schools curriculum is interesting as well. They have a work-like schedule of class from 8am to 5 pm nearly every day which is something I don't think I would like. On the other hand, they have a unique "track" program where you can choose an are of interest such as policy of medicine, global medicine, medicine in humanities, etc. which is integrated into the curriculum to force you to participate in your interests throughout the four years.

Overall, I really liked this school. The location and track program would provide me with the opportunity to pursue my interest in medical policy, and the student body seems cohesive and noncompetitive against each other in class. The biggest drawback is obviously the cost, both of living and tuition.

My next interview is 9/30 at UNECOM in Maine. In other news, I also finally received word from the UW. I will be interviewing there on 10/3, which will give me a really busy two weeks coming up, but I am really looking forwarded to it as well.

The path ahead

Well, its official. I have a blog, and I hope that it will serve it's purpose and help me keep in touch with everyone. I also figure this will be a good way for me to keep a public record of my goals and aspirations over the next year.

First off, Rebecca and I just reserved our spots for the '09 IM WI. After spending the entire day on Sunday being a spectator, I am super excited to participate. Our heavy training will most likely start in January sometime, and the race will be 9/13/09. I will also post our racing schedule, which will begin with a run in May. As for my goals in this race: if the weather is ideal I want to be under 12 hours, otherwise I want to finish in the top half of my age group (which took under 12 hours this year!)

I will also be posting reports from the medical school front. I currently have three interviews lined up: GW next Tuesday, UNECOM on 9/30, and Boston University on 10/8. This process has already been draining, as I have now submitted 30 secondary applications out of the 35 schools I applied to. I have not heard anything back from most of the other schools, but will keep a list of the progress posted.

I look forward to keeping everyone posted on my progress toward becoming an Ironman and a medical student!