i'm back at the parent's hizzy for now. NYC PART 1 has come to a close, and it was a blistering success. MUCH MUCH LOVE FO SURE to radbard and tam'ron for putting me up for 2 months ("our asian refugee," they called me. or "adopted son." or "hanger-on," "squatter," "uncle jason," or "rory.") they were the generousest hosts and most wonderfulest friends to stay with. (if you ever need a place to stay in NYC for a LONG period of time, GIVE THEM A CALL)
yesterday was a long day of interviews and near-tragicomic misses. i know i haven't given a good solid update for a while, so i'll do my best to make amends now. brace yourself, this is going to be a long one.
INTERVIEWS
i've gone on 6 interviews so far: Brookdale University Hospital (for prelim medicine), St. Luke's-Roosevelt (anesthesia), Einstein/Montefiore (prelim medicine), SUNY Downstate (anesthesia), and Maimonides (prelim medicine & transitional year).
the impressive programs, i've found, tend to be the ones with the most structured interview days. you walk in, pick up a name badge with your school identified on it (so helpful in initiating ice-breaking small talk), a glossy folder with glossy inserts featuring glossy writing about their glossy program, help yourself to a lil' dixie cup of coffee, maybe half a bagel, and grab a seat next to someone who you think you might be able to have decent conversation with. or, if you're like me and tend to arrive early because you overestimate the commute on the subway, you sit next to whoever has arrived 30 minutes early like you did.
usually then we proceed to informal introductions, where the faculty may greet us all as a whole or walk around the table and individually say hello. then there's usually a presentation outlining the history of the institution, how the program is structured, and what makes it so great. then the group gets split up and you go off for interviews with faculty and staff or for a hospital tour. after that is a lackluster lunch, more informal chatting with residents and staff, a post-lunch tour (if you haven't gone already), and then that's it.
those are the good ones. the bad ones have been just sitting in a conference room with one resident and the program secretary, and just listening to them go on and on about the program for about 3 hours. the worst is while you're waiting for interviews and the staff is insisting that you ask questions, but you've been all questioned out for the past 2 hours, so you try to think of stupid shit to ask. and you know you're getting a lot of the same bullshit answers from program to program.
then there's the interviews themselves. the good interviewers, they've clearly read your file. they ask you questions that are unique and clearly directed towards you and what you've written about yourself. and those are the most fun to answer. gives you a chance to show how you're not like the other 9 nondescript asian dudes interviewing for the same position. the bad ones, they're clearly reading your file as you sit there in front of them. the worst ones, they open to the first page, read it in front of you, and never progress beyond that during the course of the interview.
the big perk about the interview process, methinks, is meeting all the other students. yes, a lot of them are dorky. hell, MOST of them are dorky. this is medical school, after all. also, most of them are asian. still. i've definitely met a bunch of cool folks that i would probably pal around with if we ended up in the same program.
there was the overly-testosteroney indian kid from kansas city, who let me know that he was "on a roll" on the interview trail, as far as the ladies were concerned. i went with this dude to the Met with a couple other guys from the interview day, and they were definitely more interested in the leggy model-types browsing the collections than they were in the collections themselves.
and i met this chap from england, who was originally recruited to the US to play college soccer (his father was a pro footballer back in the day), busted up his knee, and ended up in medical school. totally cool guy, we talked a lot about london and soccer (i had little to add on that end) and his accent ("comes in handy", he told me).
i've also found many a student that are moving along a trail very similar to mine: not from new york, rotated through NYC programs, looking to do anesthesia in the city, also applied to programs in chicago and california, etc. it's a trip to look at some of these kids on an interview day and imagine that they could be my classmate, teammate, and/or future colleague (sheesh).
...AND OTHERWISE
rodbard and i really tried to pack in the bad-eating habits towards the end of the stay. we scarfed down papaya king hot dogs, a whole array of heart-stopping food at schnak, way too many nights at the neighborhood chinese jawn TING-HUA, and some other shit that i'm having trouble recalling. i do remember a night where we made all sorts of shitty food at home, i.e. pizza rolls and mini taquitos and buffalo wings etc. we also ate lots of sugar cereal.
highlights of last week: placing a conference call to one chas p. ubaghs, esq., via the wonderful facilities of the bard's soon-to-be-former workplace. he couldn't chat long, cuz he was off to see harry potter. (speaking of which, i'm def going to see that sometime this holiday weekend.)
we also picked up a $4 bootleg copy of the new 50 cent movie, which was filmed using a camcorder in the theater. and hey, for $4 - pretty good. well.. the story arc was engaging enough, anyway. sort of. actually, 50 cent still looks like the world's luckiest retard and raps like his mouth is full of peanut butter and bullshit. and the entire romantic subplot was excruciating, if only for the fact that the female lead was quite attractive and to watch her love scene with 50, well, you could only imagine her pain. also, via conference call, chas alerted us to the "very gay" prison scene in the movie. jeebus cribmus. there's like an entirely too long scene where 50 and a bunch of randoms in a prison shower get into a brawl. a buck ass nekkid prison shower brawl with SO MUCH COCK. not even joking. seriously, way too much.
now that i'm thinking about it, that movie kinda blew ass.
AGENDA
sooooooooooo, what do i have left to do so far?
i'm flying to houston (fuck) on monday to take the dreaded and hated STEP 2 CS exam. basically an 8 hour session where you see standardized patients (read: actors) and write notes. there's an angry patient, a sad patient, etc. should be so fun, and be fun i mean 100% misery. i fly back that tues night.
after that, i'm done with major testing for a while. what a relief. the plan is to maybe start taking care of myself a little better again, what with the decline in major studying. i might re-join a gym! then interview season REALLY kicks into high gear.
12/1: UIC (prelim) + happy hour with UIC residents (medmayne, i expect you to come along)
12/2: UIC/Christ (prelim)
12/7: UW-Madison (anesth)
12/8: Michael Reese Memorial (prelim)
12/9: Rush (prelim)
12/10: UIC (anesth)
12/13: Univ of Chicago (anesth)
i'll need place(s) to stay during those chicago stints, so if you've room (and esp if you live nearby any of those spots), please, let me know.
12/16: i have this purported interview at USC which i'm more and more likely to cancel, esp since i haven't booked a ticket yet.
and then i need to be back in NYC Jan 2nd, since NYC PART 2 begins the morning of Jan 3 with an interview at St. Vincent's. so what may happen is NYE in chicago (right? right?!) and then fly out of o'hare the next manana. right now it's looking like i'll be out there til 1/17 or 1/18. i restart rotations in madison on 1/23. and on 1/28 i have another interview in NYC. if i keep that one, that will be a fly out and fly back the same day sort of thing. maybe.
SO WAS THAT LONG ENOUGH FOR YOUS?
p.s. the Brooklyn branch of tha 446 got a little bogged down towards the end of the stint; magic started being created right at the end of my stay out there. rather than rush everything, it's been our decision to push back release of the workingly-titled "Brooklyn EP" to February. NYC PART 2 will facilitate the finishings of these magical projects.
this educational lesson brought to you by dr. j around 10:53 AM |
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dude, your schedule is like whoa.
dropped by 
on 23 November, 2005 14:39 [*]
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dropped by on 23 November, 2005 15:00 [*]
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dude did you get my email to yr gmail?
if not: holla at me re: jacobbunge et gmail etc
also holla re: place to stay in chicago re: UIC re: wtf
my apt = 5 blocks from division blue line stop, 1/2 hour ride to UIC stops
dropped by on 23 November, 2005 19:17 [*]
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dude when you go to houston you should try to stop by SCREWED UP RECORDS & TAPES
dropped by on 24 November, 2005 19:58 [*]
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dropped by on 29 November, 2005 12:50 [*]
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drop some science: