Go for it, Vicki! I honestly kick myself for not applying to a “reach” school - I might have been rejected anyway, but now I’ll never know.
Had my first day of med school today and I am beat…
Poor Shawn. I got to meet a bunch of other 1st years today. And realize that paying $20 for lunch is a luxury I won’t be able to afford very much longer.
Congrats, Shawn! I remember being exhausted the entire first week. Somehow once we got into a regular class schedule it was (at first) less tiring than orientation! I think just because it’s not 8 hours straight.
Kate
Congrats, Shawn-- you are officially on your way!!!
i have to agree with kate - orientation was exhausting. just the rigors of doing a zillion and one things and all the other things that go along with it, it is exhausting
you will find classes much less exhausting
Our Class schedule is on our outlook now. 
We have some of our schedule, and every time they send us an update on something they remind us that other courses are not yet finalized and could change at any time.
Nine days to orientation, we still haven’t bought a new bed (but we did go looking yesterday) and my office is half finished, half a disaster. 
Good times.
4 weeks INTO clinical rotations and my office is half done/half a disaster. Planning to get another filing cabinet and bookcase this weekend and that should enable me to finish setting up. Also nedd to put up my ginormous white board. I don’t have a level and want one to get it straight on the wall before making holes. May improvise a level. (plumbob and T square?). Plus all the studying I need to do this weekend! Want to be amazing the second 4 weeks!
Kate
Shawn, congrats on orientation!
My orientation is less than a week away. I went and got one of my IDs today. Our house is as organized as it is going to be, I’ve got my big whiteboards up, school supplies at the ready. I even got my med books in the mail today. I sat looking through the Color Atlas of Anatomy by Rohen for awhile before my husband came in to see what I was taking me so long 
We’ve been going hiking a little around here. It is so beautiful in this part of Virginia. We got a secondhand Kelty for a very good price to carry our son when we hike.
My son starts his daycare on August 6th, my first day of classes. I’m really excited for him because the place that he will be going to is one of the best in this area (we were on the waitlist forever before getting lucky enough to get a spot). He loves being around other children and I’m really hoping that going to school will be a good experience for him.
I’ve been in my house since Wednesday and the internet finally got hooked up this morning. I think I’ve been in withdrawal!
We had a half day of registration/orientation yesterday. Monday will be all day and I am not looking forward to that - classes on Tuesday will honestly be a welcome relief!
Get ready c/o 2016 because this stuff is intense!
So after 5 days of my Bridge Program to demonstrate to us how rigorous med school will be, I find that it is slowly getting easier. That first day was a killer because I wasn’t used to the schedule or where things were or how to use my iPad. But now I’m beginning to settle into a routine.
The lectures started out so tough because we were going crazy fast through a lot of biochem mechanisms. But after the fourth day that has started to slow for me, too. I can tell that I will need to change my study techniques and employ ones that I haven’t previously used (preview lecture noes, use iPad flashcards and whiteboards).
Already had two CBI (case based instruction) sessions and they were really fun. I think I’m really going to enjoy applying our knowledge to various cases while we explore the biochem pathways and enzymatic defects behind our hypotheses in conjunction with lab results.
We have our Bridge Program test on Tues. It’ll be over 8 lectures. Doesn’t count towards anything but I’m still studying hard for it. I will be relieved to have orientation starting Wed because I want to meet the rest of my class (117 of us total) and have a little break!
Our fall schedule is up as well. As of tomorrow, goodbye life outside of med school!
Shawn good luck with your test!
My office is 2/3 done. All that remains is to do the IdeaPaint and the filing - in the process of cleaning up both myself and my husband dropped stacks of files, and papers flew out of folders and rained down. We are truly graceful and poised. 
Five more days of freedom…
Sitting here watching Olympics tonight, and I had a thought…the next time we see the summer games in Rio, you guys will be starting your intern year.
Wow.
See, that’s not so far off, right? 
Just think of what you’ll know then that you don’t know now…proud of you guys!
Hello class 2016
I started classes last Friday and it is pretty intense. We do not have to attend lectures because u can watch it on media-site same afternoon, so many people are not going to attend.
They gave us nice tablet with installed one-note - this is great software - u upload power point and later during lecture can type, highlight or even write with the stylus and there is hand writing recognition software, pretty cool.
ok good luck everybody , have to go back to histology and epithelium tissue
haha gabe, they turned it on for a week for me, now it’s off for orientation, but will come on again next week.
yay, so i passed my first med school test. it didn’t count towards anything but was still nice to know my study techniques worked. i will have to further refine them as the blocks go on.
orientation has been fun these past 2 days. it’s been full of presentations, free meals, and gelatto (yum). tomorrow will be another easy day and then we will be seeing patients starting on monday. eek!
First week down - it was a mix of classes and orientation, so they’re breaking us in gently. Monday morning is our first quiz and anatomy starts.
Shawn, wow, what will you be doing on Monday with patients already? I’m guessing history taking type skills?
I have my white coat!!! Such a satisfying and thrilling day Sunday we “meet our cadaver,” and full-force anatomy starts Monday. I have my scrubs, a bunch of books from my “big,” and my new laptop, so I’m ready to go! Good luck everybody!!!