Thanks to everyone who attended NYCC Open House on Saturday...it was a great time.  At least the rain held off til towards the end.

A lot of prospective students (and their parents) fielded some great questions about NYCC, chiropractic education and chiropractic profession. 

The best message I can universally send is this:  do your research.  Find out everything you possibly can about NYCC (or any other institution) before making up your mind.  The best decision is an informed decision.  Trust me, this is a huge investment in time, energy (and money)...so take your time to consider all the right questions to ask.  Sometimes, some students including myself have had to learn this the hard way.  For example, you should ask about elements later on in the program.  Are elective courses available?  How does course selection work?  What technique systems are taught?  How is grading done?  How are exams formatted?  How does clinic selection work?  Do students struggle to find patients?  How do board licensing exams work and are students successful (Canada, US, beyond?) ?

In retrospect, I would have asked far more questions before I started chiropractic college.  My selection, as yours, should be based on both objective and subjective elements, not only the latter.  Do not simply trust your graduate education to what other people say, seek the truth yourself.  If you do so, you will be best positioned to enjoy the program that best suits you and your goals.

Remember, you want to ask questions about not only how to enter a chiropractic program...but also how to surivive (and thrive) to emerge at the end successfully.  Keep the big picture in mind! 

Do your research.

Sorry I have been MIA this week, it's been busy as we've had our 7th Trimester EBCCM midterm exam.  EBCCM is Evidence Based Clinical Case Management.  It is a great class so far, as it is all patient-case focused...reminds me a lot of Canadian Chiropractic board exams!  Fun.

Now on to something really fun. 

This weekend iNew York Chiropractic College is hosting its Spring 2009 Open House.  It is a really a great chance for prospective student to meet admissions staff, ask questions, learn more about chiropractic and the NYCC program.  There are activities set up including campus tours and interactive demonstrations sessions with chiropractic technique lab, anatomy lab and so on.

For more information go to:  http://www.nycc.edu/news/newsitem.asp?id=126

This is really a great opportunity to check out the school in detail.  Not many chiropractic colleges do this, including the chiro college I attended previously...so really take advantage of this if you can.

- R

ps.  check out my classmate Nick Andolina and myself on the speaker panel at Open House!  See you there.  We won't be hard to miss, we are both relatively good looking.  Free autographs and photographic opportunities upon inquiry.

- Just kidding about the autographs and photos

- No but seriously, if you ask, we'd be happy to.  Okay, good talk!

Figure 1. Nick Andolina, circa 1995.

Hello everyone...

Welcome to Ryan's NYCC Blog!

Firstly, a big thanks to Steve Budgar, Mike Lynch, Jarred Riggall and the rest of the office staff for making this possible. Also, a big shout out to everyone who gave their thoughts on a name for the blog.

I'm excited to get this off the ground.  To my, and my office's, knowledge...we have never encountered a chiropractic student online blog before. 

What are you going to see on this?  Well...anything and everything really. 

I get tons of questions about chiropractic, relationships with other health professionals, nutrition, research, active recovery care and rehabilitation to name a few.  Not to mention, plenty of questions about chiropractic college here at NYCC. But these are just starting points...no one has really done this kind of chiro-student-blog thing before.

Think of this blog like Barney Stinson's (How I Met Your Mother)...there are no rules.

More to come soon...

- Ryan Shum

ps. Hi Mom and Dad. Hi Adrienne.