To the incoming MS1s,
A year ago, we MS2s walked through the lobby of PCAM, rode the elevators with patients, doctors, and nurses, and stepped through the glass doors of JMEC — for many of us, it was the first time doing so since our interviews months before. We were greeted warmly by the staff from the 6th floor and moved on to pick at muffins and blueberries for breakfast as we turned to our new classmates with standard greeting of name, college, state, and what we did over the summer. We took selfies with the first patient we ever met as medical students, and whispered amongst ourselves as our future professors shared photos of their dogs and thoughtful advice.
That first week of orientation was filled with deliberation over which “fun facts” we would present at the white coat ceremony, dozens of awkward first conversations, long naps on the bus rides to and from the orientation site, and over 150 faces that we had seen but hadn’t yet tied to names. As we ended each exciting day with bowling sessions and drinks in Center City, and as we bonded through orientation activities like building spaghetti and marshmallow houses or performing skits and songs in front of the whole class, we formed the beginnings of friendships that would grow stronger under the overhead lamps of the anatomy lab and through nights out during Philadelphia Restaurant Week.
The concept of medical school has undoubtedly changed since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Since March this year, our small group sessions have been replaced by BlueJeans calls with visits from preceptors; our in-person lectures have been replaced with Canvas recordings; our group brunches over shared pitchers of mimosas have turned into Zoom hangouts with disjointed “cheers” through video cameras. Perhaps for all of you — our long-awaited MS1 class — the biggest difference comes right at the start: a virtual orientation lacking the in-person awkwardness but rich with BlueJeans links, online first conversations, and digital bonding activities. Furthermore, when your class starts lectures and small group sessions a week from now, you won’t be able to cluster up and chat in the JMEC hallways, pointing out the mysterious (likely stressed out) upperclasspeople hanging out and having lunch at the tables in JMEC. You won’t experience the thrill of running downstairs with a plucky squad of randomly assembled classmates for PCAM or Starbucks coffee during a ten minute lecture break. Although there is a veritable army of dedicated faculty, staff, and students who are putting their everything into creating alternatives to model the MS1 experience, we acknowledge that the incoming Class of 2020 has a very different MS1 year to reckon with than we did.
We want you to know that your class is not alone — we’re on this bumpy and unpredictable road together. These massive COVID-19 changes, which abruptly scattered our class across the country in March and have kept us physically distant from each other since, have not stopped the Penn Med student community from bonding, learning, or working together to stay connected. In this issue of apenndx, we feature letters of advice from MS2s that have taken the path that you are on, covering topics ranging from mentorship to imposter syndrome and beyond. We also feature the photos and short biographies of many of your classmates, who have come from different corners of the world to join you here. We hope that this orientation issue gives you a slice of our collaborative and supportive community and your new home.
So here is a warm congratulations and a joyous welcome to Penn! We hope to hear from you over the next few years — your poems, your art, your passions, your observations, and more. We are always here for you to express your voice or to seek inspiration from the work of others. And we look forward to this time next year, when you will welcome and pass on your own words of advice to the next class of MS1 students.
The apenndx board
Sonia, Catherine, Diane, Andrew, Jackson, Susannah, Likhitha, Chris, Angela, Prateek, Cammille, Carina (MS2s)
The apenndx team can be reached by email at [email protected].
