Albany Medical College c/o 2013!

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sillyrussian said:
Update about possible living situations. So Me and one other guy have PM'd about a place to live in albany. We wanna live close (within 10 min walk) and we both have cars (thus want off street parking available). hes 24 2 years removed from undergrad. im 22, 1 year removed. Personally I'd like to live in a 3 or 4 person housing situation whether it be apartment or house. PM if youre interested.
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Try to find an apartment west of the hospital. Friends of mine have 2 apartments in the Norwood, west erie neighborhoods. Parking is not an issue for them, even though they can't park in the drive way.

For many apts., there IS a driveway or lot, but who gets to park in it is based on who's been living there longer. Parking in those neighborhoods is really easy though, and there is zero crime.

Myrtle ave is the closest you can be to the hospital (on the east side of the hospital), but the neighborhood is markedly crappier.
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I also got the "tablet pc required" message in my acceptance packet. If it's just for annotating PDFs, I'll stick with my linux / mac OS set up. Unless we need the X61 to get onto the wireless network, or if it is *crucial* during rotations?
 
Another question about the computer. What specs exactly are they looking for (the computer can come with a variety of things installed / added on)? And how much does it cost through AMC?
 
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For the computer thing, the required laptop issue wasn't there when I started, but in my experience almost the entire class is more technically savvy about laptops and tablets than the IT staff. The may be good at setting up groupwise things and AV equipment, but support for individual computer issues is not great. Just take that into account when decided what software and OS you wasn't to use. Linux is probably a mystery to them, Apple was for the better part of last year. Vista is still unsupported as far as I know.

For everyone looking near school for housing, I'm just being honest here. There has been a string of car break-ins and and other crimes in the immediate vicinity of the hospital recently. By immediate vicinity I'm talking parking lots and surrounding neighborhoods. I'm not sure if this is just an increase in reporting these to students or if crimes have increased recently.

If you have a car, I would think of expanding your housing search to Delmar, Guilderland, Glenmont, Latham, and other surrounding areas that are a little nicer. The farthest away you can get is maybe 20 minutes.

The other current students and Albany residents can elaborate if they know more, but they should back me up here on most of what I said.
 
Steiner said:
...There has been a string of car break-ins and and other crimes in the immediate vicinity of the hospital recently. By immediate vicinity I'm talking parking lots and surrounding neighborhoods. I'm not sure if this is just an increase in reporting these to students or if crimes have increased recently...
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There has been a string of break-ins. I think it's due more to the economy turning south.

Steiner said:
...If you have a car, I would think of expanding your housing search to Delmar, Guilderland, Glenmont, Latham, and other surrounding areas that are a little nicer. The farthest away you can get is maybe 20 minutes...
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All of these are fine. Lots of my classmates live in these towns. The areas I mentioned are all within walking distance of the main hospitals.
 
...however, it has been difficult for me to do any online searching based on just your listing street names, etc. What is the actual area near the hospital called where it is nice to live? Do most people live in apartments or houses? Also, what is the price range (ranging from a so-so apartment to a really nice one, within walking distance of the hospital)?
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Mine is a nice 2-story one bedroom for $625/mo. I haven't shopped for a rental since 2006, but I've seen listings for $1300 3 bedrooms. Try Craigslist. Or Google maps.

I guess the name of the area is University Heights. Also look at New Sctoland, Vooheesville, Slingerlands (all pretty nice places, not within walking dist.).

...do you recommend living with someone your freshman year (presumably someone you don't know) or would you recommend living alone?
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I can't tell you one is better than the other. I can't study with another person, so living alone, or having access to a quiet study area for me is key.

If you like study groups, then a roommate may work. I'll say it'd probaby be a pain having roommate issues while school's going on.
 
RxnMan said:
Mine is a nice 2-story one bedroom for $625/mo. I haven't shopped for a rental since 2006, but I've seen listings for $1300 3 bedrooms. Try Craigslist. Or Google maps.

I guess the name of the area is University Heights. Also look at New Sctoland, Vooheesville, Slingerlands (all pretty nice places, not within walking dist.).

I can't tell you one is better than the other. I can't study with another person, so living alone, or having access to a quiet study area for me is key.

If you like study groups, then a roommate may work. I'll say it'd probaby be a pain having roommate issues while school's going on.
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Since steiner and rxnman are encouraging slingerlands and vorheesville, maybe i'll go ahead and offer the open room at my place again. It's a drive, but hey, living in a real live house for 450 bucks rent ain't bad.
 
So is anyone else dismayed by the fact that there is no room for parents and friends at the White Coat Ceremony? Seems like they could just hold it in a larger auditorium so that loved ones could be present at this important ceremony. Perhaps if we make a large enough effort, this could be changed. Anyone agree?
 
Can anyone find a calendar that says when the first day of school is? And where are you finding this info about White Coat?
 
dwc929 said:
Can anyone find a calendar that says when the first day of school is? And where are you finding this info about White Coat?
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august 12th is the first day of orientation. Orientation was 2 days last year, so if the same holds true this year, the first day will be Monday the 17th.

The white coat ceremony? It was mentioned at my interview, I have heard other people mention it, it's a fact.
 
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...Since AMC is affiliated with Union, does that mean we can use various other libraries, gyms, attend intercollegiate events, etc? Or do the students just stick to AMC?...
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I've never heard of anyone doing so, unless they came from that particular ugrad. e.g., the RPI/AMC 7 year program is pretty active in getting med students near the program to mentor kids starting the program.

...Similar to the last question, any mixers between AMC, the law school, and pharm?...
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Eh. It's not like there's a wall between campuses. You will see all of the schools advertising open events all of the campuses. You'll get emails.

...Is it a pain to commute from the nearby suburbs? (eg, snowing, etc.)...
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I know Troy's snow removal is terrible. Maybe Steiner can contribute more on this one.

...Ever hear of any opportunities in health policy given AMC is in the state capital?...
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AMC has a 5-year MD/MPH option. Within that, you can work with the DoH, Wadsworth, and other places.
 
snow removal is better where I live than in Albany. Glenmont-Delmar area.
 
I think the White Coat ceremony sounds like an important thing now, but once you've been here for a while and you look back, it's not that big a deal. It could be b/c I hate wearing it... They do stream it live online so others can watch it though.
 
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If you're interested in health policy, there's one guy at school who is bigtime into health policy. He's kind of goofy looking and always wears a bow tie. He's also an MD, I'm not sure what specialty although I'm pretty sure it's primary care. He's a big proponent of universal health care, so if you're interested in that, then you could work with him and have plenty of policy experience. I'm not sure that you'd be working towards another advanced degree with him, but the opportunity for experience is there for sure.
 
Any female who already knows they are going to Albany looking for a roommate? PM me if you are!
 
$1685 for that tablet. Oh well, it looks like a big step up from my 4.5 year old desktop with 512 MB of ram and the Pentium not-so-fast processer.

Thinkpad X200 Tablet

intel core duo SL9400 (1.86GHz)
12.1" display
Intel Wifi link 5100 (AGN)
3 GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM
200 GB Hard Drive
Intel GMA 4500MHD
integrated fingerprint reader (sweet)

When do we get loans?
 
Any place to get AMC schwag?

*Edit:

Aside from a $1700 tablet, that is. :(
 
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Theres a student bookstore in the J Building that sells sweatshirts and stuff.
 
On the status website now there is another link about a student survey. Are we supposed to be filling this out?? There has been no mention of it in any emails or the packet I received. There is also more information regarding housing, the computer etc. Although most of that is duplicated from what we've already received.
 
Thanks. I had not heard anything in a while so I was wondering if I was missing anything. So I take it that the lull in communication is normal.
 
RainerMaria said:
Me thinks if someone called the library we could get a sense of how required the laptop is, on a scale of 1-10.

http://www.amc.edu/Academic/Schaffer/ContactUs.html

*touches nose*
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You don't have to get that particular one. Here's the deal with the tablet; the syllabi for each unit consists of all of the ppt slides that the lecturers will use in that unit. Up until this year's first year class, students were provided at the beginning of each unit with a stack of papers ranging from several to many hundred pages. You then take the syllabus to class and take your notes on it. Now they no longer provide a paper syllabus. All of the lecture slides are available as PDFs through the school's academic web site. The idea is instead of paper, students will use a tablet and directly annotate the PDFs, thus saving many trees. You don't have to get a tablet, you can import the PDF files into one-note and type notes, etc. You have to have some sort of laptop because exams are all computer-based and you take them on your own computer.
 
nogolfinsnow said:
. Here's the deal with the tablet;
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This is off topic, but I have noticed the med students on morning rounds using the white hospital tablets. Are they using them to chart or to look stuff up, or what exactly?

Also, where do they get the white tablets that they use?
 
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Hello class of 2013 and congratulations on your acceptances! I look forward to meeting you all in the fall, enjoy your summers and make them count (for once you dont have to worry about your resumes!)

I am writing to let you guys know that my apartment is going up for rent again because my roommates and I are splitting up and living with different people next year.

Our place is a 3 bedroom thats only a 4minute walk to the school (save yourself the trouble of parking at AMC if you can help it) for $950 a month ($316/ea)

The place is completely furnished, including kitchen and dining room tables, chairs, a couch lay-z-boy and coffee table in the living room, tv stand, dressers and beds+mattresses in the bedrooms.

If you are interested and would like to know more, or just have questions about life at AMC in general

feel free to email me at : [email protected]

take care and congrats again everyone!





p.s. the tablets are overrated as hell; almost every one of my classmates who has one hates it. i use a mac and can take notes just as good as them.. also my computer doesnt break.

see if the school is goign to mandate u get a tablet.. they told us last year in the mailing they required it but when i called she said my mac was fine.
 
nogolfinsnow said:
You don't have to get that particular one. Here's the deal with the tablet; the syllabi for each unit consists of all of the ppt slides that the lecturers will use in that unit. Up until this year's first year class, students were provided at the beginning of each unit with a stack of papers ranging from several to many hundred pages. You then take the syllabus to class and take your notes on it. Now they no longer provide a paper syllabus. All of the lecture slides are available as PDFs through the school's academic web site. The idea is instead of paper, students will use a tablet and directly annotate the PDFs, thus saving many trees. You don't have to get a tablet, you can import the PDF files into one-note and type notes, etc. You have to have some sort of laptop because exams are all computer-based and you take them on your own computer.
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There has been a lot of discussion about this Tablet PC. Has anyone contacted the school, (I know someone mentioned contacting the Library) about its necessity? My guess is that we are told it's "required" by AMC so that they can remain in good standing with Lenovo. My computer just died out on me, so I am in need. I have other means of internet/computing; but would really like to guy a new Mac. To summarize, has anyone explicitly contacted the school to find out how "required" this tablet is?
 
I spoke with AMC tech support. They said you don't need a particular model to get onto the network. (Though I've heard you might need XP, but you can use a virtual OS program for macs, I think.) They weren't sure whether it is a "requirement," however, and said talk to Student Services.

The only hesitation is whether lenovo tablets are helpful in rounds at all? But I just heard something about white tablets being used, which is definitely not what this laptop looks like. I also heard from an AMC student that Iphone/Itouch is infinitely more helpful than a tablet, but not sure if this would change in two years.
 
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RainerMaria said:
I spoke with AMC tech support. They said you don't need a particular model to get onto the network. (Though I've heard you might need XP, but you can use a virtual OS program for macs, I think.) They weren't sure whether it is a "requirement," however, and said talk to Student Services. I got the sense that it is probably because of a contract that it is a requirement.

The only hesitation is whether lenovo tablets are helpful in rounds at all? But I just heard something about white tablets being used, which is definitely not what this laptop looks like. I also heard from an AMC student that Iphone/Itouch is infinitely more helpful than a tablet, but not sure if this would change in two years.
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Yeah, the med students - if they use tablets at all during rounds - have been using these white tablets. They belong to the hospital and are what the support staff use to chart vitals and other things.

I'm not sure what the med students use them for exactly (because they used them even before charting went electronic this year) though I'm guessing they aren't necessary because only a few students use them. I haven't seen anyone using a black lenovo tablet.
 
PokerDoc said:
p.s. the tablets are overrated as hell; almost every one of my classmates who has one hates it. i use a mac and can take notes just as good as them.. also my computer doesnt break.
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I need a new laptop and was actually looking to get a tablet even before being accepted at Albany so the requirement was never a big deal. But this concerns me.

Why do they hate it?
 
Conky said:
Yeah, the med students - if they use tablets at all during rounds - have been using these white tablets. They belong to the hospital and are what the support staff use to chart vitals and other things.

I'm not sure what the med students use them for exactly (because they used them even before charting went electronic this year) though I'm guessing they aren't necessary because only a few students use them. I haven't seen anyone using a black lenovo tablet.
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med students, for the most part, don't use any computers during rounds. the nurses use those white tablets more than anyone. if you do need to look something up (a patient's recent lab values, for example) wireless workstations are plentiful on almost every floor. if i need to look something else up, i use my ipod touch and epocrates (or wikipedia. the entire hospital is wireless.) other people use iphones, palms, blackberries, etc. no one carries a personal computer with them during the day when they're doing clinical rotations in 3rd and 4th year.

the tablets are really only intended for the first two years of school. i don't know how required they are. i personally view the entire program as a misguided attempt at being a tech savvy institution (as well as a waste of money.) but that's just my opinion.

and as far as getting on the intranet on your personal computer goes, you use citrix, which works fine on OSX (i've had a macbook since i started here and never had a problem.)
 
GonnaHappen said:
I need a new laptop and was actually looking to get a tablet even before being accepted at Albany so the requirement was never a big deal. But this concerns me.

Why do they hate it?
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I only know one first year, but in an email she told me she "absolutely loves it."

At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get one. Tech support is a big deal for me as well, and I bet that if you have a school computer that sort of thing is included.
 
When I visited the school and spoke to students they had mixed opinions about whether the laptop was REQUIRED. The above was all true, that tech help etc is lacking for other computers, but in their class many students had macs, PC's of various kinds, and of course many had the tablet.

However, every student I spoke to has been very happy with their tablet from the school. I feel like it is really what you are comfortable. I always have been a mac person, but don't feel confident in my abilities to fix problems without help, so probably will get their computer. Plus in class it seemed to be a help to be able to draw on notes etc. However, again you have to know how you like to study and take notes. If you are going to write or take notes in Word, then the tablet may not be necessary.
 
The girl that gave our tour was a 2nd year and didn't know much about the tablets, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one though.
 
GonnaHappen said:
The girl that gave our tour was a 2nd year and didn't know much about the tablets, unfortunately. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one though.
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that is because the current 2nd years were the last class to have paper syllabi only. Honestly, if you want to get the lenovo, more power to you, but there are better tablets out there for half the price whose screens arent microscopic and will cause you a lot less problems. that is of course you insist on having a tablet.
 
Hi everyone,

I am an accepted member of the class of 2013. I had a few questions about the required laptop so I e-mailed them. I thought someone here might be interested in the responses.

1. Why XP instead of Vista?
Most of the network at the hospital/on the campus is still running on XP so it is more compatible that way. However, "the tablet is actually purchased with a Vista license so, in the future, you will be able to migrate to the Vista Operating System (if you desire) at no additional licensing cost."

2. Is there an option to upgrade to additional memory/hard drive?
"We have defined the standard tablet with 3GB of memory and a
specific hardware based encrypted hard drive. We are not offering the
option to upgrade during the ordering process. Down the road, if you
decide to upgrade parts, you can do so but at your own risk (although we will do our best to support)."

3. Regarding warranty:
"The Tablet is priced with a 3 year warranty, next day service. We
will also have spare parts and loaner tablets in the case of an
emergency."

4. Regarding on-campus support for the laptop:
"Since the Tablet is the standard for the Hospital and the College,
our Help Desk and Technical support folks will be able to help when
there are issues. The Library Technical staff is also well versed in
the day to day operations and troubleshooting of the device."

Hope this helps someone... looking forward to meeting everyone in August!
 
Let's move on from laptops, so we don't scare off the non-techies. I'll give you a topic. The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire. Discuss.
 
RainerMaria said:
Let's move on from laptops, so we don't scare off the non-techies. I'll give you a topic. The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman nor an Empire. Discuss.
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Agreed, I don't think we're going to come to a concensus on this laptop issue. I say go with what you want and find a way to make it work. Though it would be nice to have full tech support readily available.

As for the Holy Roman Empire, wasn't its full title "The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation"?
 
Chipotle can't shake a stick at real mexican food. This I know.

But its still one of my favorite spots.
 
Conky, you guys find someone to take that room yet? Anybody else start looking into housing?
 
09medstudent13 said:
Conky, you guys find someone to take that room yet? Anybody else start looking into housing?
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nope. Some guy with a Pomeranian was interested but our boxer would probably eat it, so we told him no.

3070_97655115428_638395428_3077236_2568442_n.jpg
 
Not to rain on peoples parade but if you've had actual good Mexican food, you will find no such thing in Albany. If you're from the Southwest don't even attempt to find a place. I want to tell some of the restaurants around here that just because you wrap a tortilla around it doesn't make it a burrito. In exchange for the lack of authentic good Mexican food, there is a wide selection of good pizza and some unbelievable Delis. If you need a semi-Mexican fix, Bros is light years ahead of anywhere else in town. The jerk "burrito's" at Bombers are tasty but no way are they Mexican food. They have a tofu "burrito" there.....come on.
 
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