====Virginia Commonwealth Univ/ MCV Class of 2012====

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Instatewaiter said:
I may be wrong on this but I thought MCV required you to have a car since you have get to your preceptor.
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Ah, true, may be my mistake or misunderstanding. Good for you to clear that up!
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For any upperclassmen,
any recommendation on type of clothing for the first two years?
Is casual sufficient or are there frequent event where more formal is required?
Are you required to dress formally for any classes?
 
vmp200 said:
For any upperclassmen,
any recommendation on type of clothing for the first two years?
Is casual sufficient or are there frequent event where more formal is required?
Are you required to dress formally for any classes?
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20040101b-closeup.jpg
 
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Anyone have any idea when the white coat ceremony is going to be held? I imagine it'll be during the orientation week, but being able to let family know the specifics would be cool.

I need to call the admissions office next week to ask about second look, and if I find out any information, I'll post it here.
 
vmp200 said:
haha, sounds good. This looks a bit more expensive than what I had in mind, I will have to make some adjustments. Shouldn't be a problem.
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:)

On a serious note, you can really wear whatever you want to class. We do have FCM preceptor sessions every other week, and you need to dress up for those (dress pants, shirt, tie for men; ??? for women). Otherwise there are few occasions as a first year where you need to dress up, but they happen occasionally. The biggest thing is just having appropriate preceptor attire.
 
I imagine it'll be during the orientation week
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What do we do during orientation week besides getting ID and the White Coat Ceremony? I got the mass e-mail about the dates, but I can't figure out what takes five days.This is not to say that I'm not incredibly excited (I've got ORIENTATION WEEK in bright red on my calendar already :)).
 
Fiddlergirl said:
What do we do during orientation week besides getting ID and the White Coat Ceremony? I got the mass e-mail about the dates, but I can't figure out what takes five days.This is not to say that I'm not incredibly excited (I've got ORIENTATION WEEK in bright red on my calendar already :)).
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Last year's orientation week schedule may answer this question for you.
 
pseudoknot said:
Last year's orientation week schedule may answer this question for you.
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i can't decide where i should look for housing. first i though i would live in a dorm; that way i can have the whole dorm feeling and i won't be left out from all kinds of dorm social activities. then i hear, most people do live off-campus. i'm also planning to keep a car, so should i look for housing in downtown or further from the city. all these north end, south end making me confused:idea:
 
Thanks pseudoknot, that was exactly what I wanted to know. I have to admit I laughed at the parent session on the last day "Do They Really Never Come Home?" I didn't go home except for major holidays during undergrad, and Mom stopped complaining a long time ago.
 
Shejeboshease said:
i can't decide where i should look for housing. first i though i would live in a dorm; that way i can have the whole dorm feeling and i won't be left out from all kinds of dorm social activities. then i hear, most people do live off-campus. i'm also planning to keep a car, so should i look for housing in downtown or further from the city. all these north end, south end making me confused:idea:
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It's hard not to be confused until you've driven around the city a bit and looked at maps for a while. Google Maps can be helpful if you mark the location of school, just to see where things are in relation.

I'd recommend not living south of the river just because you might feel a bit more isolated. Having a car isn't a problem, I think that most places have some kind of parking. I don't know anyone who doesn't have a car here, in fact.

I think the basics of the areas have been covered, but it really depends on what your specific choices are and what you want. PM me if you want to talk about it more, although I've only been here since August and am not the all-knowing god of Richmond housing or anything. I can put you in touch with some people who live in the dorms if you want to know more about that too.
 
Shejeboshease said:
i can't decide where i should look for housing. first i though i would live in a dorm; that way i can have the whole dorm feeling and i won't be left out from all kinds of dorm social activities. then i hear, most people do live off-campus. i'm also planning to keep a car, so should i look for housing in downtown or further from the city. all these north end, south end making me confused:idea:
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I was confused last year too...but Instatewaiter was nice enough to write this up...

"This picture should help you figure it out a bit better.
350px-RichmondFanDistrict.jpg


in the above picture MCV is located right above where the purple line intersects the O of downtown

Sketch areas that you probably don't want to live in include: oregon hill, Jackson ward, Randolph or anything with court in it (ie Gilpin court). Also, dont live right across the river from downtown (ie called manchester on the second picture). Finally dont live too far north of broad street in church hill. For those of you that went to the financial aid workshop the director lady told you that Jackson ward is a good area to live in. I pretty much crapped myself when she told you that. Jackson ward is a really sketchy, really dangerous part of Richmond. Don't live there.
.

Here is a second picture that shows things a bit further east
350px-DowntownRichmondNeighborhoods.jpg


Here MCV is located right around where it says "court end"

The Fan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_District
Note that while Wikipedia doesnt consider west of boulevard 'the fan' many in Richmond do. Others refer to west of boulevard as "the museum district." Either way it is nice to live near carytown (shopping/eating area). You will be good living pretty much anywhere in the fan area. But the further away (west) from the undergrad campus, the quieter things will be. Generally around the 2000 block (of streets parallel w/ broad st) you should be in good shape. Other considerations are that there are a lot of bars on Robinson. So you might want to live around there (i think about 2500 block). The further west you go, generally the safer things get.

Church Hill: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Hill
Note that you dont want to live very far north of Broad street. If you can, stay SOUTH of broad street (red line going up church hill). Really I cant stress this enough. If you go like 10 blocks north of broad around church hill you will get shot. Only half kidding about this. South of broad street has some very beautiful areas and some very nice apts. North of broad is a great place to buy crack. You see the dark black line going north of church hill, that is where the projects are and is arguably one of the most dangerous area of Richmond. So stay away from it.

Shockoe Bottom: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shockoe_Bottom
Apts are spotted throughout here generally above shops or in converted industrial buildings. The apts generally have a lot of character but, it can get loud if you are near the clubs/bars. Most of my class lives in the bottom so that is a consideration, plus it is nice and close to MCV. Basically on a decent day you can walk from the bottom. Things can get pricey here but if you look you can find a cheap place.

Other notables are the west end and the southside. Unless you have kids, these are kinda far. If you have kids: freeman and godwin school districts are good in the west end."

That's a copy and paste from his/her reply to me last year. It helped me figure things out a little better.
 
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To update a few things from last year:

I had been hearing a lot of talk about the new revitalization of the Manchester area. I was curious about how much they could have done and my girlfriend was looking for a place to live so we decided to head across the river. I am not too sure what people consider a 'revitalization' but it didnt look a whole lot different. I'd still recommend not living there (well that is unless you plan to sling crack to pay for school-which i also do not recommend- but Glenda Palmer, the financial aid lady, always encourages us to be creative to save money so she may recommend differently).

Now a bit west from manchester you get to the Westover Hills/Forrest Hill Ave area (still in the southside). It is a bit of a drive but using the Nickel Bridge (which funny enough has a quarter toll) it takes around 10 minutes to get to school. This is a pretty safe area and you can get a pretty nice house to rent or buy for really, really cheap. Of the south-side area, this is probably one of your better options based on price and distance from school. This is right across the river from where the "fan" turns into the "museum district"

The Fan
Stretches of the fan are surrounded by kinda sketchy areas. In some stretches of broad you may feel unsafe. My GF lived on Grace a few years back and the alley behind her building was shared with the shops on broad. While I felt perfectly safe, she often felt uneasy walking alone at night. So if you are a female or would like to feel safer, if you choose to live in the fan, living either on the south side of grace (so you dont share an alley w/ broad) or just living south of grace st would be best.

The West end-
This is where I grew up so if you have any questions feel free to PM me. Unquestionably the safest and nicest area of Richmond. Can be a bit of a hike to class ranging from 15-45 minutes based on what part of the west end you live in. The apt prices vary wildly from obscenely expensive to pretty cheap.

Church Hill
I re-read what I wrote and it basically sounds like church hill is a war zone. It is not. South of broad is very very nice. Some of the nicest apts I have seen in R-Va are in Church hill. The people I know that live there feel safe. That said, stay south of broad because the projects really are about 10-15 blocks north with a nice little transition zone starting about 6 blocks north of broad. Stay south of broad and you will be fine and shouldnt feel unsafe.


I currently live in the fan/museum district. There are pros and cons about each area. My class is spread mainly in Downtown and the fan. There are probably a few dozen who live in the southside or west end. If you have questions feel free to PM me. If you have a specific apt complex in mind I probably wont be able to help you since I have limited exposure to the thousands of apt complexes in Richmond. But if you are worried about an area or want some input, feel free to PM me.
 
Very good advice about housing in this thread.

When you start looking just use common sense, for the most part in Richmond it seems that you get what you pay for. One thing to add about the Fan since I currently live there, is to stay away from the south part, specifically around Cary street in the Fan. The middle of the Fan between Floyd and Park is very nice and historic. Plus it seems that most Liver Rounds are either in this area of the fan or downtown so if you live here you will be in good shape after those tests.
 
mglavin said:
Very good advice about housing in this thread.

When you start looking just use common sense, for the most part in Richmond it seems that you get what you pay for. One thing to add about the Fan since I currently live there, is to stay away from the south part, specifically around Cary street in the Fan. The middle of the Fan between Floyd and Park is very nice and historic. Plus it seems that most Liver Rounds are either in this area of the fan or downtown so if you live here you will be in good shape after those tests.
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What don't you like about Cary St? I live near there (Thompson and Stuart) and I think it's a great area, although I guess I'm more in the Museum District than the Fan.
 
Yeah Richmond is funny like that. As you move a bit toward the VCU undergrad area, Cary street and those streets south of cary (ie right next to the RMA/Downtown expressway) are a bit sketch. But west of Thompson, the nicest area is south of cary. Some of those houses are worth multiple millions dollars and within a miles or so of the sketchy area south of Cary.
 
What month would you current upperclassmen recommend for us to come to Richmond and look for an apartment. I might not be able come up till May. Is this too late or would I still have enough time to get something close and at a reasonable price? Thanks a lot for your help, by the way!
 
Elixir86 said:
What month would you current upperclassmen recommend for us to come to Richmond and look for an apartment. I might not be able come up till May. Is this too late or would I still have enough time to get something close and at a reasonable price? Thanks a lot for your help, by the way!
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I think my wife and I flew out here about a month in advance. It seemed like most places wouldn't be renting much further in advance than that.
 
It seemed like most places wouldn't be renting much further in advance than that.
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I'll put in my two cents. I decided to rent a place now, since I'm leaving for Texas in late May and won't be back in Virginia until the weekend before orientation. I thought I would have an easy time finding a place because I was looking so far in advance, but it was the exact opposite. I ended up going with an apartment building (albeit a nice one away from downtown) because no one else had anything available this far in advance.
 
i just recieved an email saying that i have been awarded a scholarship from vcu. is this an academic scholarship or just vcu grant? i wonder if everyone gets it too.
 
wow congrats shejeboshease! :thumbup:

i think this is an academic scholarship if you haven't filed for financial aid.
 
mmmcat said:
wow congrats shejeboshease! :thumbup:

i think this is an academic scholarship if you haven't filed for financial aid.
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yeah, i haven't submitted my fin aid yet; thats pretty interesting that they picked me cause i have a very average stats. oh well...can't complain :hardy:
 
I got one too, without filling out my fafsa and need access form.
 
congrats..guys...

i got one too...that's very nice of them :)
i've already filled out my fafsa though..
 
Congratulations to everyone who has gotten the scholarship. I was just wondering (and you don't have to answer this if you think it's too personal) the extent of the scholarship. Does it cover complete tuition or a small fraction of what you will likely spend in/on med. school? Once again, great job!
 
it's a small frac for me.. hope that helps..
 
its a very small fraction, to give you an idea mine is 4k.
 
this thread just got really quiet.
BUMP!!!
 
vmp200 said:
this thread just got really quiet.
BUMP!!!
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Yeah, and there's something else wrong here:

Who Posted?
Total Posts: 182
Member Name Posts
pseudoknot 36
mmmcat 21
vmp200 20
Instatewaiter 14
Fiddlergirl 13
Shejeboshease 12
Julietcf14 7
vicinihil 7
Elixir86 7
montessori2md 6
fitnesspremed 6
KVO 6
Tangent 6
kpod 3
LaMusicienne 2
Carmenita79 2
natusss 2
AppTrail 2
NEpats 2
mglavin 1
BringBackBenton 1
MC Tasty 1
nka1985 1
wistarrat 1
meister 1
jgb8 1
ellaellaella 1

I shouldn't be at the top of the list! I'm not even in your class!
 
pseudoknot said:
Yeah, and there's something else wrong here:

Who Posted?
Total Posts: 182
Member Name Posts
pseudoknot 36
mmmcat 21
vmp200 20
Instatewaiter 14
Fiddlergirl 13
Shejeboshease 12
Julietcf14 7
vicinihil 7
Elixir86 7
montessori2md 6
fitnesspremed 6
KVO 6
Tangent 6
kpod 3
LaMusicienne 2
Carmenita79 2
natusss 2
AppTrail 2
NEpats 2
mglavin 1
BringBackBenton 1
MC Tasty 1
nka1985 1
wistarrat 1
meister 1
jgb8 1
ellaellaella 1

I shouldn't be at the top of the list! I'm not even in your class!
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Yes, but I think I speak for the others in my class when I say we are very appreciative of all of your informative posts.
 
pseudoknot said:
Yeah, and there's something else wrong here:

Who Posted?
Total Posts: 182
Member Name Posts
pseudoknot 36
mmmcat 21
vmp200 20
Instatewaiter 14
Fiddlergirl 13
Shejeboshease 12
Julietcf14 7
vicinihil 7
Elixir86 7
montessori2md 6
fitnesspremed 6
KVO 6
Tangent 6
kpod 3
LaMusicienne 2
Carmenita79 2
natusss 2
AppTrail 2
NEpats 2
mglavin 1
BringBackBenton 1
MC Tasty 1
nka1985 1
wistarrat 1
meister 1
jgb8 1
ellaellaella 1

I shouldn't be at the top of the list! I'm not even in your class!
Click to expand...

EVERYONE WATCH LOST!
 
I have yet to see an episode of Lost, which required concious effort. I will admit to watching Kyle XY, though, even though I know that the science makes no sense.
 
This thread just exploded. Another reason for this post was to attempt to overtake mmmcat in post count.
 
We have so many future VCU students here but only 7 have joined the Facebook Group.
 
vmp200 your attempt at overtaking my post count is futile :laugh:

did everyone get the second look email?? It's on April 5. Should be fun
 
hi, guys
i got the second look email too..do you guys know if any traveling exp is paid for??
 
vmp200 said:
you are kidding right?
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its funny, right after i got my 2nd look invitation from vcu, i got an email from evms with their 2nd look weekend. although i'm surprised that they didn't schedule them together, or at least during the same week. now that they two weeks apart, its really tough to attend both if you are living up in new england
 
vmp200 said:
you are kidding right?
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no i'm not...i was just wondering if anyone knows???
i have to fly out from west coast...which would cost several hundreds...
 
just found out they don't reimburse for it!
 
No, I'm not attending either. I'll be on vacation during that time, but I think I've seen and been to the campus enough to get the idea. Besides, I already made my decision to attend MCV, so there's no turning back now.
 
Elixir86 said:
No, I'm not attending either. I'll be on vacation during that time, but I think I've seen and been to the campus enough to get the idea. Besides, I already made my decision to attend MCV, so there's no turning back now.
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Elixir, you should join our facebook group for our class.
 
I hear back from VCU on March 15th. Here's hoping they show me some love. :thumbup:
 
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