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.