hey everyone! i'm trying to decide which city to go to and I'm reading all of these posts where people say how much fun they've had in various places. I really want to go to a city where I can get the best education, but also have a lot of fun. I know that wherever I go I'll have the experience of a lifetime, but which city would have both things to an abundance?

i had fun in DC. we stayed at georgetown, a great place.
my roommate visited johns hopkins med school for one of her site visits. she said there were some hot med students there.
well i actually got to visit NIH oncology, George Washington Med school (saw 2 cadavers), Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), where a guy actually offered me his jacket b/c i was freezing.
we had our final dance on the potomac i believe.
you can catch a pic of the sunset. its so beautiful.
There are socials i think every night, ice cream, meeting new ppl, dj social (1st dance i believe on the fri.), Chipotle, and a couple others.
you shop on m. st. visit malls, and so on.
you'll learn a lot.
i'm actually going to Boston this year, go alum.

jess

I think you'll have the best outcome whereever you choose to go. I personally think you have the best opportunities in either Boston or DC, simply because they have such a wealth of outstanding schools and hospitals in those two cities (and surrounding areas). I went to Boston. I spent a day at Harvard Med School, a day at the BU School of Public Health, and a day shadowing a nurse in the NICU of the New England Medical Center, which is the hospital associated with Tufts.
The city you choose reall is up to you. Is there a part of the country that you really want to visit? An area that's cheaper to get to? You will have an amazing experience no matter where you go. It's been 2 1/2 years since I went, and it was, hands down, the best experience of my life.

I agree with monarchsfan...you will definately have an amazing learning experience wherever you choose to go...

I went to DC and like dukegirl said it was worth it because you get to see a lot of the city (we got to go to see the White House, the Korean War memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial, WWII memorial, the Washington Monument, M-street which is famous for its clothing stores, Union Station: a huge mall, and much much more) while learning valuable information at the same time. DC is great because of the excellent schools in the area especially Johns Hopkins (and being a DC metro area native, JHU is where all the medical-career oriented kids want to get into).
Of course, Boston is great for BU and Harvard of course, and I'm sure they will show you a fair bit of the city as well (as they tend to do in all NYLF/MED locations)

Good luck choosing your venue and trust us that you will not be disappointed...wherever you choose to go.

I think that Atlanta was the best city of all of the cities. We threw parties every night in the commons of Harris Hall, that’s where the boys will stay. Unfortunately for the girls they stayed in Means and Longstreet which were the guys dorms and it smelt bad, the boys had the girls dorms which are quite pleasant. Other than that the site visits were awesome I went to MCG and we went to the dentistry, nursing then the med school, while there we were able to experiment on the cadavers. We also went to Southern Regional Hospital; I had an alright time because I was sanctioned off to the radiology department, but some ppl got to see births and a man who O.D.ed and was going crazy. It is soo much fun the ppl are nice and the information is great you will learn so mch and make a lot of friends. We also went to the Mall of Georgia which is really great and went to Six Flags. The overall learning experience is awesome but I'm going to LA this summer hoping it will be similar or better than Atlanta.

Thanks for your help

So in the program you actually get to go and work with real doctors and nurses on the job? I am kind of confused just about what actually happens during your time at the forum.
Thanks

So can actually have fun while you work, WOW!! Here Iam thinkin' that we only goin'to be workin'OHHH I can't wait!!!!!

you dont work with doctors or nurses. you get to see the facilities, kind of see what they do, and so on. the most exciting visit was when we went to see cadavers, which sounds gross, but it was my first experience.
hopefully this helps.

Ok, I'm seeing a lot of questions about what goes on, so I'm going to tell you everything I can think of that will hopefully answer those questions.
You don't get to work with the doctors and nurses. However, on certain site visits you may get to shadow doctors and nurses. You'll follow them around, see how they interact with their patients, and find out what they do. On other site visits you might be sitting around listening to med students talk about med school, or hospital administrators talk about their hospital. It really depends on the site visit.
There are also fun days. I went to Boston. We spent a day at a beach in NH, a day in downtown Boston (we could either shop in Fanuil Hall market place or walk the Freedom trail), and our closing dance was a dinner dance cruise on Boston Harbor.
Then there are the days where you're on campus. You'll have different speakers (and at times have choices about the speakers you go to). An AIDS patient came and spoke to us. Actually a panel of AIDS patients spoke to everyone in attendance, and then we were broken into smaller groups to ask more questions of an individual. I also got to hear a cardiologist and pediatric oncologist talk about their jobs. A victim of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis spoke to us from the patients perspective. A resident spoke to us one night.
There are academic activities too. We had a medical ethics debate, and put together a public health project. We learned to do stitches on an orange, and take pulses and blood pressure. We participated in a simulation that helped us understand the selection of residents by hospitals.