Tuition

Orientation Countdown: 27 days!!! 

I received my bill for my fall semester tuition yesterday. For this element of med school expenses alone, my bill is $27,105.75. Luckily, I do have financial aid so some of this bill magically goes away for 4 years. However, because interest rates are so high, I have decided to not take out the full amount of loans, but instead my very generous parents are letting me go into debt to them. So, they are loaning me a portion of the tuition money (interest free!!!) for a few years. So, after all of this, MSU financial aid is covering $21,149.00 and my parents are covering $6,956.75.

Even though this is a ton of money, I received my budget of how much tuition/living/books/equipment/insurance would cost a few months ago, so I have been mentally preparing for this HUGE amount of debt I will be collecting over the next few years. In fact, my first reaction towards seeing the bill was not shock, but more excitement because of the fact that med school is approaching so quickly! 

Oh, and on another note... I have officially decided that I will be road-tripping it across the good ol' USofA to get to Michigan (rather than flying and having my parents drive my car). So, I have a new countdown: 20 days until Roadtrip 2011 begins! 

Book Lists, Schedules, and Tests...Oh my!

Orientation Countdown: 35 days! 

More exciting emails came my way yesterday. I now have all of my information on the required books for my first semester, all of the equipment for my whole first year, my 2011-2012 academic calendar, and my first semester exam schedule!

So here is the breakdown....

Books: Each class has their own "coursepack" which includes all of the lectures and notes. From what I have heard, this is absolutely the best resource for any of the classes. On top of that, there are 20 other recommended/required books for these fall semester classes. As you can probably imagine, books would cost me an arm and leg if I had to buy all of them. So, thank god for S because he is letting me use basically all of the books. In fact, on the whole book list, I think I am only going to purchase 3 of them! :)

Supplies: This list was probably the most exciting because it actually had "doctor tools" on it! For my first year, I will need a lab coat, gloves, a blunt-tip metal dissection probe, a stethoscope, a blood pressure cuff, an otoscope/opthalmoscope, a penlight, a reflex hammer, a tape measure, a small plastic ruller, a wristwatch, a tuning fork, and an eye examination card. Again, I am so so so greatful for going to the same medical school as my boyfriend because using his stuff is obviously going to save me a lot of money also. In fact, the otoscope/opthalmoscope costs $600, so thats already a big chunk of change saved.

Schedule: I finally have all of my dates for finals, holidays, and breaks for my first year. Two of my best friends are getting married this year (one week apart) in late May/early June, so I have been trying to figure out exactly how I am going to make it to both of their weddings. Now that I have all of the dates, I can start to figure it out!

Tests: Lastly, I have 25 tests for the first semester...Basically every Monday I have at least one and on average each week I have at least two. My first test is in biochemistry and it is only 6 days in....(gulp).

White Coat/Orientation Invitation

Orientation Countdown: 37 days!!! 

Today, I received my official invitation for my white coat ceremony as well as an order-form for my actual white coat! That email made me so excited, that I submitted all of my responses about 60 seconds after I received it! haha. The ceremony is set to for Sunday, August 28 in DeVos Performance Hall. For those of you who don't know what a White Coat Ceremony is, let me explain. Basically, it is the initiation into medical school. Each entering student gets called to the stage and is given their white coat (which they wear during all clinical settings during medical school). Lastly, all new students take their physicians oath. From what I have heard, these ceremonies are really great and make you feel like you have really accomplished something great. So, I am very very excited.

I also found out today that during our orientation we are required to participate in a day of community service. CHM's motto is "Serving the people" and one of the reasons I was so drawn to this school and medical program was its commitment to community service. I know everyone says that, but I genuinely do love going to new organizations and think this will be an amazing initiation into my time at MSU.

Lastly, I don't know if S is going to be upset with me about including this, but I just wanted to give him a shout-out because he just received his USMLE step-1 medical licensing exam scores back and......he is in the 99th percentile! Yes, that is the 99th percentile of medical students...which is crazy. I know he is a genius, but now I hope he realizes it too. His dreams of being a cardio-thoracic surgeon are definitely coming too. Now all I hope is he doesn't leave me in Michigan to go to Harvard...

Enrollment

I officially enrolled in my first year medical school classes! Here is my list of classes for both my fall and spring semesters:

Fall Semester 2011

1. Gross Anatomy: 6 credits
2. Biochemistry: 3 credits
3. Molecular Biology/Genetics: 2 credits
4. Cell Biology & Physiology I: 3 credits
5. Integrative Clinical Correlations: 2 credits
6. Clinical Skills: 2 credits
7. Year I Mentor Program: 1 credit

Spring Semester 2012

1. Neuroscience: 4 credits
2. Cell Biology & Physiology II: 4 credits
3. Microbiology/Immunology: 5 credits
4. Human Pathology: 2 credits
5. Introduction to BIostatistics/Epidemiology: 2 credits
6. Integrative Clinical Correlations: 1 credit
7. Clinical Skills: 2 credits

Its all starting to feel so real! Only 42 days to orientation!! :) 

iPhone

I got a new iPhone on Saturday and I LOVE it! I have been looking into getting one for medical school because I know there are a lot of great clinical apps, like a pharmacology reference and a clinician guide. However, I had no idea of how many amazing apps there really are out there. I am kind of a cheap-o, so I am not going to buy an app unless I really need it, but I still have downloaded the following free apps:

1) MyFitnessPal (which allows you to type in all the foods you eat and get a complete breakdown of the nutritional factors; it also gives you a breakdown of all the exercises you do)
2) Daily Yoga (My new favorite thing... I have done yoga every day for the last 2 weeks!)
3) Jillian Michael's Recipes and Workouts (I <3 J.M.)
4) Human Anatomy Study Guides/Practice Quizzes (I am a big nerd and am studying for med school already)
5) Learn Spanish! (Because I am currently trying to learn on my own)

Its truly amazing how much technology can do these days! :)

Zoo Day!

S and I went to the Zoo on Thursday! Here are some photos from our trip:

Entrance to the San Jose Zoo! 

Capybera (My favorite!!)

Feeding the Goats

He looks sad...but still a cute miniature horse 

Other favorites that did not end up in good pictures: The Lemurs, The Cheetah, and the 100-year-old Tortoise.

It was a great day at the zoo. The only thing that was missing was the Hippos and the Elephants!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

As you all know, my boyfriend S just completed his second year of medical school at Michigan State. This means he also just finished his step 1 board exams (part of a 3-part medical licensing exam series). While he is very excited that he is done with this exam, I am excited because now I get my boyfriend back for a whole week! :)

S arrived in California on Friday night, but I was unable to visit with him (because I work) until he came to Elk Grove on Saturday night. When he arrived, we ate dinner and went to see the movie Super 8. For those of you who have not heard of Super 8, its the new Steven Speilberg movie that has been (quite accurately) described as a combination of Cloverfield and The Goonies. Overall, it was pretty good. I would definitely recommend it!

On Sunday, we went to watch the Sacramento River Cats, a minor league baseball team. I have been bragging to S for years about how good the RiverCats are and have joked about possibly seeing a no-hitter. Well, I got a surprise............The Sacramento RiverCats got their butts kicked big time. That was the worse I have seen us lose. Oh well. It was still a really fun day, minus the massive sunburn I got from sitting in the baseball seats.

Warming Up!

Goooooo River Cats!

Notice the Sunburn....ouch!

Well, thats all for now! I will update more when we go on more adventures!