After five years of off and on premed classes and two more babies, I have finally made it! I attended the “Get Acquainted Day” at school on Saturday. Since I deferred a year and have been out of school for two, it was hard to feel like I was really supposed to be there. I am so excited to get started, though! I was very thankful to meet other students with families. The school has a very family friendly environment. Spouses are invited to all college of medicine events, and children are welcome to visit at any time. Even some of the docs presenting had their kids along for the day. They made it feel like this is the family effort that I feel it will be for us.
I just wanted to share…I can’t believe this is really happening. Like many of you, this came from what felt like an impossible dream, and now I feel like I have arrived.
We are on our way down to Iowa City tomorrow to start interviewing daycare providers and look at houses. I hope to be an Iowa City resident in the very near future!
Angie!
Welcome and get ready for the ride of your life. Please continue to post your experiences here. I can’t wait to here about your first day of school!!
DRD
I have decided to take the “Introduction to Medical Education at Iowa” program. It is a six week prelim program aimed at nontraditional students and/or non-science majors and helps students get a head start before the actual thing starts. Since I fall into both catagories, I will participate. There is no tuition involved, and they pay a generous stipend. It will also allow my family to get used to my new role without the stress of grades and tests. There are classes and exams to help with preparation, but the grades don’t actually count.
Because I have opted to take part in this program, I start June 13!! Ahh! We bought a house in Iowa City on Saturday and close the last week of May. That leaves us approximatley two weeks to move in and get settled before I jump in. Is that crazy, or what?
Since we have not yet found suitable daycare, my husband will try his hand at stay-at-home daddy this summer. That will be interesting!! We will continue to search for a good provider and he will continue to look for a job and hopefully things will fall into place. So far, things seem to be working out. We got an offer on our house here the same weekend we found a house to buy - what a nice coincidence, eh?
Congratulations Angie! I hope you will update us on what the prelim class is like. Maybe I can vicariously benefit just a bit. 
I am in both those categories too.
I hope you and your family love Iowa City! Good luck and keep us posted. It sounds like you will be the first OPMer of this summer/fall to start med school.