T minus One
Orientation, day two: More welcomes, introduction to the library and library resources, basic introduction to school's email system. No explanation as of yet as to why email from outside takes 9+ hours to arrive. General IT introduction, and usual Mac blowoff ("We're a Windows shop, and we don't support Macs.") a, well, less-than-ideal approach in an academic environment. Professionalism. Maximizing Learning, Hepatitis B vaccination, and a slice or two of pizza. Overview of M1 curriculum, intro to career advising, incoming student questionnaires for longitudinal study (which did ask about computer OS usage on non-school hardware at home, so maybe there's some hope). Helpful hints from 3 M4s and a faculty member, of whom two of the former are parents (and one of whom had her first child in December of her M1 year), much impressing us assembled M1s. President's picnic, including tales of EVMS's foray into reproductive medicine in Tbilisi in the late '80s, apparently cut short by tank fire from (surprise) the Russian army a few weeks after ribbon-cutting. Mandatory tattooing of 6-inch EVMS logo on left butt cheek (just kidding).
T minus Two
Orientation, day one: Welcomes from the Big Cheeses (Dean, President, Rector of Board of Visitors, President of Alumni Association). Community service and outreach (fundamental to the philosophy of the school, the only grass-roots-organized medical school in the nation). The honor code, counseling services, disability policy, student health, health insurance, lunch (one of two "free" such before the hammer comes down on Wednesday). Registration and financial aid entrance interview. Parking, campus security, Big Sibling introductions, locker assignments and combinations, mailbox, email account. Fall course schedule, book list, syllabus for medical histology is in the mailbox. Primary care provider for student health. Pitch to sign up to call alumni for donations ($12/hr.). Buzz-cut shaving of head (just kidding).