Hello, current OMS-1 here. If you have any questions feel free to send me a message. I might respond late because of classes and everything, but I'll be on the lookout. Believe me, I was in the same boat as you guys last year neurotically checking SDN forums for all my school applications so I know how you feel.
If you guys want some idea as to the curriculum here, at least for the first semester, I can give some details.
- All of our lectures are prerecorded so there are no in-person lectures. This actually saves you a lot of time since you can watch all of them at double speed. Of course, one downside is that you can't directly ask the professors if you have a question about the lectures, but since the professors don't have to spend time lecturing they have lots of office hours for you to hop into.
- Labs are held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays so your Mondays and Fridays are usually free. There are mandatory meetings sometimes on those days but the school will let you know in advance through the online semester calendar. The class is split into 4 lab groups of about 30 people and each group has its assigned lab times posted on the class calendar.
- The anatomy lab consists of only prosections. It definitely saves you time compared to dissections, but you have to come prepared by doing the prelab work to get the most out of your time.
- In the OMM lab, you practice the techniques that are assigned to the class for the week and in the DPR lab, you practice clinical skills such as taking patient histories and physical exams.
- In each block, there are two exams: the pre-comp and the comp. The pre-comp counts for 10% of your semester grade and is split into anatomy and lecture portions, and both are taken the Monday of the week before the comp. The comp contains all material from the pre-comp plus the lectures assigned during pre-comp week. The comp is the big one and it counts for 90% of your semester grade and it is also split into anatomy and lecture portions, each on separate days. During comp week, there is also an OMM practical. If by chance you fail the practical, you get a redo the following week.
- To pass the semester, you have to achieve an average of 70% in anatomy, 70% in lectures, and a minimum of 50% on each comp exam. Of course, you also have to pass all of the OMM practicals.
I hope all of this helps and good luck with the rest of the cycle!