Hi all,
I am currently a third year, and I thought I would add my 2 cents while I have the weekend off between Peds and OB-Gyn.
This e-mail is long and includes info on third year, intersessions third year, and housing.
I think a lot of applicants spend a lot of time worrying about the first two years. I know I did! I think this is for two reasons: 1. you mostly meet first and second years (hosts, tour guides, etc). 2. Third year seems ages away! So I think it is great that you guys are thinking about it already!
About hospitals: Vandy is a great place to do your rotations. We are not a public hospital, but we are a
teaching hospital (pts expect to see students, residents and attendings) and we take the teaching part really seriously. If pts dont want to see students, they go to the private hospitals. We also take Medicaid and lots of uninsured pts (unlike most private hospitals), so dont think you are only going to be working with rich snobs who dont even want a student to be present. (I hear rumors about some schools with this problem, but I cant vouch for accuracy.) I also know students at other schools who are required to drive quite a distance to go to other hospitals - I have enough to worry about without adding an extra hour or so to my day to commuite! But, as previously stated, you can do some of your third year rotations elsewhere, including Ob-Gyn at Baptist, Out-Pt Peds and Medicine in private practices or Peds at Meharry, and of course almost anything fourth year.
About third-year intersessions: These are not about learning to put in lines! This is about covering material that is not taught elsewhere. The first half of the week brings the whole class back together (which is also really nice!) and covers different material each session in several differnet areas, including communication, palliative care, Hot Topics (Evidence Based Medicine on something new - our first one was on the HPV vaccine which was approved about a month before), the "medical system" (including non-MD's who are part of the team and what they do, consults in the hospital, understanding how doctors and the hospital get paid - it is really amazing how much goes on without our having any clue about it!) and a few other. We do some role-playing on difficult scenarios with some of the best attendings giving us feed-back. Our theme last time was "geriatrics," so we discussed how to include children in planning, privacy issues that this raises and respecting the patient's wishes, talking about things that are embarassing like incontinence, etc. I was pretty skeptical, but these have ended up being really good - really well taught and planned, interesting material, and useful topics which really arent covered elsewhere. (One was pain management - yeah we talk about dosing narcotics after surgery, but we dont talk about chronic pain, and all the different options, including patches, electric stimulators, massage and physical theray, etc.) They are designed to be topics which dont fit into a specific class or rotation, but are important to discuss.
The second half of intersessions is specific to your rotation. Each rotation does it differently. So on psych\neuro we had one student interview a teenager and his mom (separately! also, the student and pt were in a room with a one-way mirror) and then spent the rest of the afternoon discussing schizophrenia, how it affects families, some of the new research going on and how it applies to clinicians today, some resources that are available to help families, etc. This was a great way to learn about a disease in more depth than we had studied it our 2nd year of school and in a way that was really relevant and helpful. In peds we spent some time talking about child development and in what ways kids are different - reviewing ways to examine kids (keep them on parent's lap) and things to ask and look for that you wouldnt do in adults (birth history!) and how it effects your management and diseases you worry about. We also met with child-life specialists (who work in the hospital and often basically make it possible for you to do your work! Yes, you can explain stiches to a child, but they do it 100 times better with their "magic" string and lots of other tricks!) and visited the family resource room where we learned about all the info that they have available for families (both child and parent friendly), support groups they run, etc. So we used the time to learn about kids, families, and caring for them.
Questions in general I would recommend asking about third year if you get to talk to upperclassmen: how are pts assigned? Are students responsible for covering a whole service or just selected pts? Do the residents still see the pts? How much teaching is there? If third-year lectures take place during rounds, do I go to lecture or stay for rounds? Etc.
Lastly, housing:
The paddle is a great resource! I found it to be pretty accurate. Yes, students do live in the Village at Vandy, but it is super expensive (and also super close!), so I think it is a small number. A few students live in the Groves, but not a lot because they are just a bit too far to walk and unlike Vandy undergrads (sorry!) we prefer to pay a lot less and get something slightly less nice. (No car-wash in our parking lot or gated entrance that doesnt ever work anyway.) I dont know too many med students who live at the Wesley or 20 and Grand for more than a year (it is so expensive!) because there are just better, cheaper places to live that are equally close - and still walking distance.
I lived in "Hillsboro Village" my first to years in a really nice 1-bedroom with a washer-drier (and an outdoor pool!) which was an easy 12-15 min walk to class (I have done it in 7-8 when I am running late - still walking!) and I paid $600 a month. There are other comparable places. If you are willing to have\want a roommate, you can live in the same area for even less and get a nice town-house. Yeah, it costs less if you go further out - but the $100 seemed worth it to me to not have to drive (and I saved money on gas and a parking permit - which is only about $10 or so a month, but.....).
I actually bought a place this past summer and moved all the way across the street (did I mention I liked the location?). Still walking distance. Still surrounded by lots of other students who also walk in the morning, who I bump into on the way in in the morning. My "rent" went up a bit, but I think it is worth it.
If I didnt find a place, my plan was to stay where I was.
In summary for rent, I would basically say it depends on what you want. $600-700 will definately get you a perfectly nice 1-BR apt in walking distance. You can get it down to $350 if you have a roommate about 1.5-2 miles away. I would say probably $450-600 for a 2-BR in walking distance. Of course, you can spend as much as you want, if you want to buy or rent one of the gorgeous new lofts downtown, for example, or you want a huge house to yourself. But one of the things I love about Nashville is I can afford to live by myself in a nice condo which is walking distance.
Good luck with interviews and decisions! Its a fun time! And dont forget to relax and enjoy yourself this spring and summer!!!
