Curriculum: UMDNJ-SOM finally switched over to a systems-based curriculum in the 2009-2010 school year. While I'm glad they finally got with the times, it's also obvious that the new curriculum perhaps wasn't quite ready for prime time. For starters, the layout of the first year curriculum was a bit strange; some systems (e.g., cardiology) were given generously sized blocks that lasted nearly two months while topics like renal and neuro were crammed into comparatively short blocks (renal lasted all of a week and a half) that didn't allow adequate time for instruction or study. The clinical neurology block (normally a 2nd year block) was moved up into the tail end of the first year curriculum, further crimping the already short neuroscience blocks and causing all sorts of weirdness with grading. Another frustration was the fact that our first half-dozen block exams were dramatically harder than for first sets of exams the second years had taken (mostly because they took individual exams by subject on different days). Predictably, this made the class of 2013's averages on those early exams far worse than the class of 2012's, and the administration didn't seem to know what to make of this. (At least a couple of professors were overheard stating that the class of 2013 was "lazy" and "didn't study enough".) In fact, the average in some classes was bad enough by the end of the first semester that they decided to make most of the first year classes year-long to keep from having to fail/remediate anyone by winter break. Granted, the deans were ultimately responsive to the issues associated with the new curriculum and implemented many tweaks that seemed to improve things, but I still wish I didn't have to be one of the "guinea pigs" for this new curriculum. Hopefully it'll be better for the classes that come along after ours.
Some other curriculum points:
- OMS-1s must complete 30 hours of precepting with a family practice physician within the school's network.
- The second year Physical Diagnosis class utilizes the patient simulation suite to test various aspects of physical examinations, etc. (We were supposed to have an introductory session in the suite with patient actors regarding smoking cessation, but the disorganization that resulted from the new curriculum seemed to have prevented that from happening this year.)
- There is a PBL track, but it currently has room for only about half a dozen people.
- Students in the regular lecture track participate in several PBL-like case sessions during first-year physiology. During the second year, lecture students have weekly PBL-style sessions administered by a member of the clinical faculty.
Technology: We have a good-sized patient simulation suite with rooms simulating various clinic and hospital situations. Most lectures are recorded and posted so that they can be viewed at home; additionally, audio files are sometimes made available so the lectures can be loaded onto ipods, etc. Our OMM lab has a camera mounted above a demo table that is connected to several TVs mounted throughout.
Testing: We have "block exams" every 4-6 weeks, depending on which system was covered during the block. The written portion of these exams takes place in the afternoon on the test day and lasts for 3-4 hours. In the morning of this exam day, we usually have practicals in anatomy and/or histology. The anatomy practicals are split into cadaveric and digital imaging portions (we do full cadaver dissections with 3-4 students per cadaver), and the histo practicals are fully computerized and are taken on your personal laptop. OMM practicals occur once or twice a semester, and the OMM department does a decent job of laying out their expectations for the practicals beforehand. The testing style varies somewhat between classes; for instance, our biochemistry class had computerized quizzes that were given during the semester at various times, and a couple of other classes had online "case studies" that the students were supposed to read and then answer several questions about. If less than 70% of the class gets a given written block exam question right, it automatically gets thrown out. Students can challenge a question they feel is faulty by submitting a formal challenge to the course director within a certain number of days after the exam; however, since you can't write down any of the questions during the exam period, relatively few challenges ever get filed. Otherwise, a great amount of latitude is given to the course directors in terms of curving the exams and/or overall class grades; this has been both a blessing and a curse at times.
Location: Stratford, NJ. It's a suburban area ~11 mi from Philly, ~ 60 mi from Atlantic City, and ~90 mi from New York City. Because there's not all that much to do in the immediate area around the school, many students take road trips to the above cities for fun. What's nice, however, is that most everything else you could possibly need is no farther than 5-10 min from the school or surrounding locales. There are plenty of movie theaters, fast food joints, nicer restaurants, Walmarts, grocery stores, churches, etc right within the surrounding area. Stratford itself is a tiny borough of only about 1000 people, so many students live in nearby boroughs of Lindenwold, Clementon, Blackwood, Marlton, Cherry Hill, etc. Some of these boroughs unfortunately border the city of Camden, which at the last census was the poorest municipality in America. Consequently, portions of some of these boroughs (esp. Lindenwold) are noted for their crime and unpleasentness.
Cost: For the 2009-2010 school year, the cost for OOS students was $40k; in-state was $20k. Budget issues have required the UMDNJ system to raise tuition somewhat for the 2010-2011 year, but AFAIK they haven't fully finalized these increases yet. OOS students can become in-state residents after the first year.
Faculty: We have a few big names (White, Nagele, and others). Otherwise, I'd say the faculty ranks as just ok. Some of the profs make a real sincere effort towards teaching, but far too many don't. There are a surprising number of clinical lecturers who seem to throw together a half-baked set of slides and basically "wing it" up in front of us, which is frankly embarrassing and a waste of time for all involved. The quality of the OMM instruction seems especially poor at times, and there's honestly only one member of that department who can explain the techniques concisely and clearly. The physiology lecturers are generally quite good, however, and everyone seems to enjoy White's neuro lectures. I wish I could say something more positive here, but I was really only "wowed" by the neuro, physio, and perhaps micro lecturing. Disappointingly, there was a language barrier with some of the other professors that extended even to their test questions. (Some subjects had a lot of test q's thrown out on the block exams because of grammatical errors that literally made the questions impossible to get right.) That said, the faculty at most medical schools seems to be of mixed quality, and overall I don't think we're any worse here than any other med school. It's a plus in some ways because it forces you to keep on your toes as a student and ensure that you learn the material cold yourself.
Study areas: Currently, this is the one thing that lots of students complain about. The library is tiny and has only four dedicated study rooms. The second floor also has several other rooms that can be used for studying, but a couple of these are for PBL use only. (The neighboring University Doctors Pavilion also has a few rooms that can be used for studying at times, but they aren't very large.) The school has tried to address these complaints by moving a bunch of desks into the halls of the 3rd floor, converting a computer lab into a dedicated study space and opening the histo labs up for general study use. (Our histo instruction is now fully computerized, so the histo labs weren't being used much anyway.) Still, study space is inadequate overall.
Clinical rotations: Currently, these seem to be high-quality and generally well-regarded by most 3rd and 4th years.. There is a "North Track" in which ~20 SOM students can do their rotations at Christ Hospital in Jersey City. The rest of the students do their rotations at various hospitals in the Kennedy, Our Lady of Lourdes, and UMDNJ clinic systems throughout South Jersey. The rotations seem to allow for a great deal of responsibility (one 3rd year I talked to said he had delivered several babies with a resident during one snowy night in which an attending didn't show on an OB rotation). However, some third years have stated that there may well be a "shake up" in the rotations because of budget issues between UMDNJ-SOM and its clinical partners, so stay tuned. I certainly hope nothing changes here in the near future.
Housing: No housing is available on campus. Surrounding housing prices range from reasonable to quite expensive depending on how good of a shopper you are. You can expect to pay between $500-1k+ depending on what size of apartment you want. Because of the expense of larger apartments, many students choose to have roommates. For whatever reason, many students choose to live in the (IMHO very overpriced) Echelon Glen or Village apartments. Here's a little secret: do yourself a favor and look around at the multitude of cheaper, better apartments (Cherrywood, Timber Ridge, King's Row, Autumn Ridge, and many others) that are just a few more miles away from the school. You'll probably save yourself $200-300+ a month and get a bigger apartment with better amenities to boot.
Social scene: This is probably my only serious beef with the campus. Quite a few SOM students have noted that the class of 2013 is "cliquish", and the cliques are a bit more exclusive than I'd hoped. This seems to be because many students in the class of 2013 have lived their entire lives in NJ and have attended state schools like TCNJ and Rutgers. Consequently, many of the younger students seem to have known each other already from their college days, and this makes it much harder for OOS students to meet people and make friends. My wife and I are pretty frustrated at the fact that we've lived here a year already had haven't made any real solid friends yet. It wasn't this hard in college! Furthermore, the chief pastime of many of my classmates seems to be hard partying and drinking, and I'm not really into that. It's honestly been hard to find people that share my interests - and it's not as if my interests are bizarre or anything.
To sum up:
Curriculum: B- It was frustrating for us, but I have faith that it'll get better for upcoming classes.
Location: A- The immediate area is sort of bland, but more interesting places (esp. Philly) are not far away. Plus, everything you need as a student is right here.
Cost: A Even OOS tuition isn't that expensive here, and the fact that OOS students can get in-state tuition after a year makes SOM a real bargain.
Faculty: B/B- Nothing much more to say here...just make sure you prep for the boards hard yourself because there doesn't seem to be much "hand-holding" in that department.
Housing: B+
Study space: C+ This needs work, and I'm not sure when they're going to get around to fully fixing it.
Clinical rotations: A- These are in great shape currently, and I hope they stay that way.
Social scene: C- I'm hoping this changes as I get to meet more of the incoming members of the class of 2014. They seem to be a lot different from the 2013ers.
Overall: B+/B
Feel free to ask/PM me if you want to know anything else; I'm not afraid to call a spade a spade.
Funny, but you know the game. You go where you get in. Secondary is already in the making.
