• Electronica Event: Thomas Dolby and BT at the El Rey Theater Friday, Dec 1 http://www.abqmusic.com/
• Games Night: Saturday, December 2 4pm. Lo Tech games: board games, card games. Family friendly. Fried rice and munchies provided.

Halloween Party 2006
Halloween Party 2006 sign-up sheet

In order to practice, after I earn my MD, I have to do a few years of postgraduate training. For a while, some states only required a year, called “internship.” Nowadays, I have been informed that most states require a full progam of postgraduate study, called “residency” (of which the first year is still called the “intern” year), for a physician to qualify for a license to practice. Residency programs are hosted by hospitals that may or may not be affiliated with a medical school or university.

The timeframe to apply to residency and when a hospital would offer a promising student a spot in their residency program kept getting earlier and earlier in the pre-MD training, to the point that second year students with no clinical (that is with patients) experience were being offered residencies (which only qualify you for certain specialties) and dealing with the dilemma of passing up on Famous Hospital X's offer and maybe never seeing it again.

Hence, the new application process, which for most people involves ERAS and the Match and finally Match Day, which is when almost everyone across the nation on the same day and at the same time finds out where they will be going for residency. See this link for information on my wine tasting to our Match Day.

For more information on the very interesting and easy mathematical algorithm used to create the student-hospital pair list for the Match, try SaveTheMatch.org's page on it, and Google Scholar it. co

Travel: Since I was doing a three city hop, I looked for fares on Orbitz instead of just on Southwest as usual. In order to get an itinerary with decent travel times, it was only $50 bucks less than Southwest. Considering that SWA was having a special where 3 roundtrip flights would get you a free ticket (which could get me to CT and back for $10 in tax), it was well worth staying with the airline I loved. From the Austin Airport (code = AUS) to the hotel, I took the Super Shuttle for $12. I also booked Super Shuttle for a ride back from Children's to the airport for $13 for the next day.

Lodging = Perk 1: you get a free night at the Doubletree Club hotel across the highway from the current Children's hospital of Austin. This is booked and paid for by the program, and a resident meets you at the hotel and will give you a lift to the hospital if you desire.

The day: 7:30 (breakfast) to 1:30 (end of lunch) for us. There was only one other interviewee that day other than myself, so the day was very short.

The program: small, cozy, transitioning from community-based to university-affiliated.

The city: a great location.

In order to practice medicine as a physician, one is required to take the 4 parts of the United States Medical licensing exam USMLE. The Step 2 Clinical Skills portion involves live, standardized patients, and only 5 centers in the US offer it. Thus, I'll be in Philly for a weekend in June to take it on a Sunday before heading back to Washington DC where I'm spending the 1.5 weeks of summer break with Sunny. If anyone would like a free ride to Philly the morning of the 18th, I would love the company.

Registration: Now I happen to like Philly as a city – I've experienced great house music and dancing there, and the Mutter Museum is a huge source of clinical fascination – however, the $1K fee this test carries was more than a bit heavy in the pocket. Griping aside, I registered for the exam in October of 2004 in order to assure myself of a place to take the test in June 2005. I had no problem registering for the day I wanted, which was coincidentally exactly one year after I had taken Step 1. As always, for USMLE Steps, you register and pay online. You also send in a paper form with 1) your picture on it 2) the registrar's seal on the form and picture and 3) a signature from a designated school official verifying your status as a medical student.

Lodging/Food: AMSA provides a short list of hotels which will give medical students a reduced rate in order to take the exam. The one hotel on the Philadelphia list was right around the corner from the exam site, so for $99, Sunny and I were well tucked in. Now they say that they have free continental breakfast, but don't believe them. There's a Cosi around the corner, which is where I bought a breakfast and lunch, neither of which I ended up eating. There's also a tiny row of restaurants nearby. I highly recommend eating there; however I don't quite remember

Transportation: I drove to Philly on Saturday in order to take the exam on Sunday. It was hot. The New Jersey Turnpike was congested for 2 hours before the Trenton exit, and then the traffic magically disappeared. It took me 5 hours to do a normally 3.5 hour drive.

Test Prep: I pretended to read First Aid the night before. For years UConn has had a rigorous clinical skills program with standardized patients, so I didn't really take the national exam all that seriously. In reality, the exam checks more for fluency of English than much in the way of a clinical skill like hearing and describing a heart murmur, from the student point of view (which may be a bit jaundiced after that $1K bill). The only other thing I did for preparation was join the “control group” for the UConn medical class of 2007 3rd year clinical skills exam in order to get ready for the time limit. So my recommendations: know the test format and physical layout, get used to writing notes on the computer, and relax.

Test: They have really good food there, so don't bother buying lunch. And I would recommend not bringing anything extra to the test, as you have to lock it up anyway.

I took the exam the Sunday after 3rd year ended. If I had been smarter, I might have studied for, and taken, Step 2 CK soon after, but 3rd year was honestly a wracking experience that I never want to repeat again, so I took the time to relax and enjoy before begining my Sub-Internship month 1.5 weeks later.

In the spirit of relaxation, Sunny took the train from Washington, D.C. to Philly on Saturday, I drove down at the same time, and we met with Thaddeus, who is studying for his MD at Thomas Jefferson, for drinks and dinner. On Sunday after the exam, Sunny and I poked around the Mutter Museum. To my disappointment, the museum closed only an hour after we got there, so I didn't get to see everything, but my official opinion is that the wax models of dermatologic findings are still a necessary and educational tool medical schools should be using.

Afterwards, we wandered through the various and sundry shops in downtown Philly. We finished up at a restaurant where I had won a gift certificate for dinner; considering that I had won it at the AMSA conference two years ago. It has a great ambiance, and the owner makes his own infused vodka. I, as a vodka fan, of course had to try the pineapple vodka after seeing a denuded yellow thing, soaking beautifically a glass jar, much like the specimens in the Mutter museum. The restaurant's on 12th street. I think it starts with an N. Fresh pasta. I'll look it up when I get a chance.

Finally, after exam, pasta, GLBT shopping, and all, Sunny and I headed back to DC for an affectionate, and somewhat squishy, night.

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