And now the paperwork

Now I am busy getting in all the paperwork for all the different entities at the school:

1. Financial Aid
2. Housing
3. Temporary Residency

Financial Aid:
So there are a million (ok more like 5) documents that needed to be filled out for financial aid. I call the financial aid office yesterday and finally get someone on the line at x1023, who turned out to be quite helpful. I asked the man if he could make any suggestions on which company I should choose for private loans and he said he was not allowed to do so but that he could give me information about the individual companies. Long story short he "informed" me that the Student Health Express loans or GRADplus loans would be best. (I ended up sticking with GRADplus since they were federally affiliated, although I may have been able to get a decent but variable interest rate due to me superior credit)

Then after figuring all that out I went to go make copies of all the Master Promissary Notes (MPN's a.k.a. legal documents by loan companies that state they can take your first born if you don't pay them and will charge you random fees whenever they please) and other paperwork. I decided to go out and trek to the lab in the 98 degree whether because I didn't feel like paying Kinko's $12 for all the copies that I needed to make. Why was I making copies of EVERYTHING you may ask? Because my father has made me a paranoid person, and also because I can't have any more problems along the way since I have very limited time to get everything in order to make sure I can start this fall.

Got that done sometime around 6pm, of course it took me longer than it should since I did the obligatory crapping around the lab and talking to everyone that was around. Before I left I wanted to print out my Student Aid Report (SAR) for the FAFSA (you can figure that acronym out) and came to the realization that I never filed my own FAFSA, just my sisters. Sweet! Now I get to file that for myself before Saturday, even sweeter!

So now I am kicking myself for not remembering, but hey at least it isn't July 1st, otherwise no Stafford for me. Either way I need to get all that in before July 13 otherwise I have to come up with ~$20000 for the fall semester (wonder how much I could get for my soul on eBay...)

Housing:
I called the housing office with a few questions and have heard that they are very helpful and such...WRONG! The lady couldn't answer any of my questions but instead just told me to get my housing request form in, which makes me eligible to get on campus housing but I wouldn't find out if I actually did until 2 weeks before classes start(...welcome to paradise I guess...tents on the beach anyone?) Either way I got an email later yesterday from my Orientation Advisor (OA) about housing on the island that didn't really comfort me but at least it was honest and kept it real. Apparently she's a BU alum and hopefully will be able to help me figure out the housing situation and provide me with estimates and allay some fears of evil landlords. I feel this saga will continue for sometime...stayed tuned for more about this...

Temporary Residence:
Called Medical Education Administrative Services (MEAS) and asked the lady about the required Police Report/Letter of Good Standing from the PD, and she did not know what a CORI was (...concerned?...I am). She did not know if that would be sufficient but then said it should be because the PD in my area may have there own thing. I imagine a CORI should be more than sufficient to prove I am not running from the law.

Also while I was down at the PD I asked them about my citation for not yielding to a pedestrian in a crosswalk (yes that's what I do for fun) that I received back in Oct '06 and requested a hearing for but never heard anything back. Even after contacting the MA RMV soon after they said the court will contact me when they are ready. (Thank you civil servants for being so helpful) However this time I was able to speak to a person, instead of writing an email, and they gave me a number to call. I can't wait to see what happens when I do call them...tune in next week (or something like that)

I may sound a little perturbed, it's only because I am, probably since I am still sort of sick from whatever I caught at the New Charles River Run over the weekend but also because the weather is ridiculously hot and I hate administrative stuff. Well enough whining for now I still have a ton of stuff to finalize and the airline company to call to see if they have any special deals for students studying "abroad" and find about cargo limits and all the fun stuff for relocating my life to a tropical island (wow it really doesn't sound that painful when I put it like that)

Till next time...enjoy this link

I've been accepted!

So it was about 2pm on Monday June 4th when I was startled by the buzzing sound of my cell phone, which was on the vibrate mode. In my daze I saw a number that I didn't recognize but answered anyway. Damn glad that I did. It was my admissions advisor from AUC calling to tell me that I had been accepted. So you may have two questions by now:

1. What is AUC?
2. Why the hell were you passed out at 2pm?

Now to answer the second one first because I am a rebel without a cause. I had gotten home at 8am after my 12 hour overnight shift at the sleep lab, and 2pm was prime sleep time. It was fairly muggy though and I found it difficult to fall back asleep, mostly due to the excitement. But I forced myself to pull off a few more hours so I could better reset my cycle to do day shifts after my next few days off. The quirky part of the acceptance was that I had to send in my enrollment fee before all the spots filled up so I was still slightly worried. Either way I had the interview for Ross University on the coming Thursday so I still had hope if things didn't work out at AUC; although AUC was my second choice and Ross was third. The hell with it though, at this point whoever gives me the chance to become a doctor and help people will get my money.

Now to question the first. AUC stands for American University of the Caribbean, which is a an "offshore" medical school located on the island of St. Maarten/St. Martin depends on who you ask. The U.S. considers it an international medical school although the curicculum is geared to have studnets practice in the U.S. and the clinical rotation sites are ACGME certified and blah blah blah. Basically it is the last chance of students from the U.S. who want to attend medical school and practice in the U.S., although there is a large stigma associated with having attended a "foreign" medical school. And it seems in terms of the eyes of the powers that be in the medical community the hierarchy falls as the following:

M.D. (US schools) > D.O. (US schools) > M.D. (foreign schools)

Such hierarchy exists in obtaining residencies, social status, and I'm sure employment opprotunities and pay (I'll find out soon enough). My only problem is with the first thing I mentioned - obtaining residencies - since that is the only thing that could prevent me from practicing in the U.S.

I could really careless if other physicians or institutions look down upon where I learned to be a physician, as long as I get to help those in need. And society can keep it since the only people that truly matter to me don't see me as a failure because I didn't attend an Ivy Leauge school (even though I might do that to myself from time to time).

***

June 7th: The Ross University interview left much to be desired, the interviewer was kind enough and we had a good time (translation: I talked his head for 1 hour 15 mins). The short version of the story is that with 'my grades and applying so late in the cycle' I would most likely get accepted but be deferred till the January semester. Little did he know I had been accepted to my 2nd place school for the fall.

***

June 18th: The Registrar's office contacted me and confirmed the acceptance for the fall semester. NICE! And now to get everything setup to get down there, sounds like fun.

I am sure there will be some more fun posts between now and the time I am actually down there...await some fun!

P.S. I will probably NEVER write a post this long.