Stevens Admissions: Julia

On to the Next One

It's been a busy week but I am finally done with my pre-clinical years!

On Friday when we finished our last shelf exam, we were greeted with cake, cookies, sandwiches, beer, and a slip-and-slide - all provided by the M1 class. 

After a relaxing weekend, we began studying for our Step 1 exam. A bunch of my classmates have deactivated their facebook pages so they can 'focus'. I hope my relationship with facebook never becomes serious enough for me to consider deactivating it so I can get work done. 

Congratulations to the 2013 Stevens Graduates! I'm excited to see another class graduate, and I hope to welcome more alumni to the DC area.

Less than a week away!

I've got lots of exciting news!

1.) Rotations are in! I will be starting with Obstetrics/Gynecology on July 8th, and potentially will delivering a baby on my birthday. Best birthday present ever.

I was unable to focus for hours after our rotations came out.  As soon as we got our assignments, my friends and I made a spreadsheet to keep track of each other. It turns out that we all have similar schedules (ie: a lot of us are ending the year on surgery), so I'm happy that I'll have more chances to see my friends next year. 

2.) I completed my last OSCEs of the year! Yesterday we had 2 standardized patient exams, one complete physical and one focused exam. This time we also had to present the case to an attending after the second exam, it almost felt real.

3.) I am BLS (Basic Life Support) re-certified. Hooray!

Less than a week. Eye on the prize. 

Natural Happiness vs Synthetic Happiness

Today we finished our Endocrine exam! Only 10 more days until we're done with 2nd year...

This period of time is particularly overwhelming to a lot of medical students. The Step 1 exam that is typically taken between 2nd and 3rd year is a big factor in deciding which specialty a student can choose. It's not to say that it is the final determinant, but it is very important. While to some people the exam seems like a life-and-death situation, I don't feel the same. It is a little bit stressful, but as with every medical school hurdle, it can definitely be overcome with the same amount of work and effort. 

I watched a TED talk recently on happiness by Dan Gilbert, and thought that the message was appropriate for this specific time. One of the most striking slides came up in the first couple of minutes when he presented data on 2 groups of people: lottery winners and paraplegics. A year after winning the lottery, and a year after becoming paraplegic, both subsets are equally happy. Definitely check the video out if you have the time.

World of Choices

In my opinion, one of the best parts of this medical school is that the alumni stay really connected with the school. We've had a number of professors who have graduated from Georgetown; it's fun to learn that certain teachers were in the same graduating class, dressed really well, slept in the back of the lecture hall etc. Our alumni association hosts a number of events throughout the year, including a Georgetown Basketball game, fundraising events, wine and cheese mixers, and even a series of events called 'Dine with a Doc' - in which a physician will open their home to a couple of students and host a dinner.

A couple of weeks ago I attended one of the events called 'World of Choices', which invited medical students to come and talk to physicians of all different specialties. Each specialty was assigned a color, and we were able to wander around the room to speak with the Internal Medicine doctors at the blue table, the Pediatricians at the lavendar table, the Dermatologists at the yellow table, the Surgeons at the red table, etc. It was a fantastic event and I was so happy to have the opportunity to speak with so many different physicians about their careers. 

I asked one of my friends to be the model in this picture so you could get an idea of the setup.

I think she nailed it. 

My Last Day of Classes. Ever.

While I've enjoyed my 18 years of classroom experience, I am eager to move forward. 

Today was our last day of classes-- the feeling is surreal. I guess it hasn't hit me in part because we have 4 finals, 3 shelf exams, and 2 standardized patient exams until the actual end of 2nd year- May 10th. Nevertheless, this is a small victory for me and I am going cherish it!

On Wednesday the 4th year students hosted an event called 'Boosters', which was a series of workshops dedicated to helping us get an idea of what to expect in July. It was VERY helpful- all 3.5 hours of it. One of the best pieces of advice I got was that "you guys aren't the first class to go through third year, there are no mistakes that haven't been made before".

Third Year Rotations

This is my last week of classroom-style education. It's been a good run, but I am eager to leave it behind and start my hospital training. While there are still several hurdles between now and July 5th, I am excited to think about my third year rotations. Here is the list of rotations from which we are choosing:

Last week we were introduced to the lottery system for rotations, which allows us to rank schedules from 1st (most desirable) to 24th (least desirable). Our four quarters will basically be divided into Medicine, Pediatrics/Ob-Gyn, Surgery, and Family Med/Psych/Neuro. Since there are around 200 of us, we need to be placed into different streams so that we won't flood any departments/hospitals. It's really interesting to hear all the strategies that my classmates have. We've all heard from upperclassmates what 'the best' schedule is, which order is the 'strongest' for surgery, what you 'definitely don't want to have last' etc.  I thought I was overthinking my rank list until I saw a copy of my classmates list color-coded with 8 different schemes. Just a few more weeks!

Our thoughts are with Boston: all the injured and affected, all those taking care of the injured, and all those who helped keep the rest of the crowds safe.

 

Ethics Work-Up

For the past week we have been presenting cases in our Ethics class. It's a nice break from our science classes and it has gotten us thinking about the clinical years.

Last week I presented a case on whether a non-adherent adolescent should receive a second organ transplantation. Today one of my friends presented a case on 'Ashley X', a child born in Seattle with a case of static encephalopathy- which would prevent her from ever progressing past a 3 month-old's cognitive ability. Her parents opted to have a number of procedures/treatments done to prevent her growth/sexual maturation. The parents believed that what they were doing was in Ashley's best interests and would allow for them to provide care for her throughout her years-- without subjecting her to things like menstruation and bed sores from growing too big to be rotated.

As you can imagine, a heated discussion of what Ashley's best interests are ensued. I highly suggest reading about the case, it is fascinating how differently people view her case.

Cherry Blossoms!

For the past couple of weeks, the DC news has been trying to predict the best time to see the Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin. With the cold spring we've been having, the date keeps being pushed back. My friend and I decided to try our luck today and see if we could catch the early portion of the season. Despite there only being about 2 trees in full-bloom, there were TONS of people at the Jefferson Memorial (I made a good decision in running to the Tidal Basin- public transportation was a mess).

I think we got some really great shots. I'm only going to post my photos because my friend is in law school, and I know better than to use his pictures as my own. 

DC GOLD Launch!

Last week, after months of coordinating we finally had our first DC GOLD event. It was nice to meet other alumni in the area and find out what they've been doing down here. I picked up a lot of recommendations for places to eat/drink and sites to visit. We also had the chance to meet the President of the DC Alumni Club, Ray Durante, who was nice enough to come to our event and really get to know each and every one of us. Hopefully we'll have another event for the DC Club over the summer!

We managed to get a partial group picture in a sports bar... in the center of DC... during March Madness (almost more impressive than the planning that went into the event).

Sigur Rós

Yesterday, my friends and I saw Sigur Ros at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA. I had heard some really great things about their live performances and I was ecstatic to finally have the chance to see them. 

Sigur Ros is an Icelandic band, so it wasn't one of those concerts where everyone knew the words and could sing along. Their music is hard for me to describe, so this is taken straight from Wikipedia: "Known for their ethereal sound, frontman Jonsi Birgisson's falsetto vocals, and the use of bowed guitar, the band's music is also noticeable for its incorporation and minimalist aesthetic elements"

All of their songs were paired with visuals (some of which were pretty trippy). I've never been to a concert like this one where art has been so incorporated into the performance. Our car ride there was also pretty memorable, as we tried to navigate George Mason University's campus in the snow. The campus is beautiful, but they could improve their signage system.