New Year, New Thread!!! Discuss away!!!
So, I am applying here this year and was wondering what the school week looks like. I am married and I have a newborn who will be a 1 year old around the time I start, if accepted. I think I read that classes during 1st and 2nd year are mostly online and you only meet with your professor and group approx once a week? Is this true, and if not what does a typical day (hour breakdown look like). I am hoping that I can go to school and study the majority of the day (as if I was at a job) and then have some family time at night. If anyone is in medical school with young children and want to comment on how family life is during medical school, please expound as much as you would like. Thanks so much.
I have a friend entering his 4th year here. He is at the Flagstaff CHC. In conversing with him, my understanding is that the first year is pretty involved when you're in Mesa at "home base" I guess you could call it. He said that when you move to your CHC location in the 2nd year most of your work is done online. I believe he said they met weekly as a group (about 8-10 students) and began clinical experience during this year. If you're very self-motivated this is great. I can't yet decide if this is for me or not. It's great because you can see your family more... bad because it's easier to be distracted I believe. Perhaps if a current student could provide some info it'd be more helpful?
Man I wanted to apply here but I'm not liking the sound of doing alot of stuff online......
Man I wanted to apply here but I'm not liking the sound of doing alot of stuff online......
You don't have to do anything online 1st year if you don't want to.
2nd year you get your lectures in video-podcast format, but that's the extent of the "online" portion of the curriculum.
Honestly, I don't think this should be a concern. The vast majority of med-students don't attend lecture, but study independently instead. Most of my class (1st year) hasn't attended class since November because watching lectures online can be so much more efficient.
You don't have to do anything online 1st year if you don't want to.
2nd year you get your lectures in video-podcast format, but that's the extent of the "online" portion of the curriculum.
Honestly, I don't think this should be a concern. The vast majority of med-students don't attend lecture, but study independently instead. Most of my class (1st year) hasn't attended class since November because watching lectures online can be so much more efficient.
Gotcha. So just lectures online. I take it you still have lab and stuff though? Do you still meet at least once a week? Last question....where exactly do they place you second year? Ive searched around and cant get a definitive answer.
You move to your CHC (community health center A.K.A. community campus) after the 1st year. The CHC is where you will perform the majority of your rotations in years 3 and 4.
http://www.atsu.edu/soma/medschool_future/community_health_centers.htm
This is the list of all the locations. Hope that helps! (I'm also curious about the details of your schedule during year 2)
OK so...once you are done with MS2 and pick your 2 choices for CHC...how do those get awarded? I mean, is there a preference such as single vs head of household? class rank? first come-first served? connections? or just plain luck?
Great! Do you get to pick your CHC?
Along the lines of what hopefulMD9 asked.....once you are done with MS2 and pick your 2 choices for CHC...how do those get awarded? I mean, is there a preference such as single vs head of household? class rank? first come-first served? connections? or just plain luck?
GREAT info. Since 2nd year is usually when (depending on the curriculum) medical students begin to lean different organ systems etc. in a classroom setting, how does this differ during SOMA's 2nd year? Appreciate all the info! You guys have really persuaded me to apply here. Can I find a match list on their website?
http://www.atsu.edu/soma/prospective_students/postgraduate_placement.html
And the link is just to 2011 post-grad placement. I don't think they've published 2012 yet (or I don't know where to find it)
Thats a good match!
...Since 2nd year is usually when (depending on the curriculum) medical students begin to lean different organ systems etc. in a classroom setting, how does this differ during SOMA's 2nd year?...
This is where SOMA really shines in my opinion.
Basically, organ systems start right from day 1. As you may know, our curriculum is based around the "clinical presentation model" which holds that there are 120 some odd ways that a patient can present to a physician. Patient's don't come in telling the doctor that they have congestive heart failure, they complain that they're putting on weight, tiring easily, feeling short of breath, etc. Maybe even all of them.
Because of this, we are taught by clinical presentation. Our courses are split up into organ systems (MSK, Neuro, Cardio, Pulm, Nephro, Endo, GI, GU, etc.) and in during the course of each of these blocks we are taught all the basic and clinical science that relates to that organ system, and all in the context of clinical presentation.
I'm taking my final exam in the morning, it's for the GI course. An example of one of the clinical presentations we have in this course would be jaundice. Now of course patient's don't present to their physician telling them they have jaundice (unless they're familiar with the term), but we expect that the student can recognize yellow skin tinting to be jaundice. So how do we proceed? Here's a list of the lectures we had in that segment of the course:
1. Jaundice intro
2. Biochem of Bile Synthesis
3. General Liver Physiology
4. Microbiological causes of jaundice
5. Microbio focusing on liver flukes
6. Biochemistry of Heme Degradation
7. Biochemistry: Liver function testing
8. Physiology of portal hypertension
9. Pharmacology for the liver
10. Pathology of Liver diseases and jaundice (this includes or was preceded by a liver histology lecture)
11. Viral Hepatitis PBL session.
That all took about 3 days of class to accomplish. Then we moved on to the next clinical presentation (abdominal pain) which you can probably imagine was a lot longer and more complicated.
All of our classes were like this in 1st year. Next year will be more of the same, just with different organ systems.
What I like about this curriculum is that I'm being taught to think like a physician from day 1, and I'm taught everything in context. That's huge for me, and really helps me tie concepts together. It's a brilliant curriculum for the type of person who can work with it.
It's also nice because beginning in 2nd year we have mandatory clinical time. I'll be spending 8 hours per week seeing patients in what I like to think of as "pre-rotations" in just a few weeks. You can bet that my preceptors are going to expect me to contribute wherever I have knowledge. That will really help me solidify it, and all before I'm tested on it in the Boards at the end of year 2.
If you can't tell, I totally love my school!
Best of luck with the application season. You're all going to do awesome!
This is where SOMA really shines in my opinion.
Basically, organ systems start right from day 1. As you may know, our curriculum is based around the "clinical presentation model" which holds that there are 120 some odd ways that a patient can present to a physician. Patient's don't come in telling the doctor that they have congestive heart failure, they complain that they're putting on weight, tiring easily, feeling short of breath, etc. Maybe even all of them.
Because of this, we are taught by clinical presentation. Our courses are split up into organ systems (MSK, Neuro, Cardio, Pulm, Nephro, Endo, GI, GU, etc.) and in during the course of each of these blocks we are taught all the basic and clinical science that relates to that organ system, and all in the context of clinical presentation.
I'm taking my final exam in the morning, it's for the GI course. An example of one of the clinical presentations we have in this course would be jaundice. Now of course patient's don't present to their physician telling them they have jaundice (unless they're familiar with the term), but we expect that the student can recognize yellow skin tinting to be jaundice. So how do we proceed? Here's a list of the lectures we had in that segment of the course:
1. Jaundice intro
2. Biochem of Bile Synthesis
3. General Liver Physiology
4. Microbiological causes of jaundice
5. Microbio focusing on liver flukes
6. Biochemistry of Heme Degradation
7. Biochemistry: Liver function testing
8. Physiology of portal hypertension
9. Pharmacology for the liver
10. Pathology of Liver diseases and jaundice (this includes or was preceded by a liver histology lecture)
11. Viral Hepatitis PBL session.
That all took about 3 days of class to accomplish. Then we moved on to the next clinical presentation (abdominal pain) which you can probably imagine was a lot longer and more complicated.
All of our classes were like this in 1st year. Next year will be more of the same, just with different organ systems.
What I like about this curriculum is that I'm being taught to think like a physician from day 1, and I'm taught everything in context. That's huge for me, and really helps me tie concepts together. It's a brilliant curriculum for the type of person who can work with it.
It's also nice because beginning in 2nd year we have mandatory clinical time. I'll be spending 8 hours per week seeing patients in what I like to think of as "pre-rotations" in just a few weeks. You can bet that my preceptors are going to expect me to contribute wherever I have knowledge. That will really help me solidify it, and all before I'm tested on it in the Boards at the end of year 2.
If you can't tell, I totally love my school!
Best of luck with the application season. You're all going to do awesome!
This is where SOMA really shines in my opinion.
Basically, organ systems start right from day 1. As you may know, our curriculum is based around the "clinical presentation model" which holds that there are 120 some odd ways that a patient can present to a physician. Patient's don't come in telling the doctor that they have congestive heart failure, they complain that they're putting on weight, tiring easily, feeling short of breath, etc. Maybe even all of them.
Because of this, we are taught by clinical presentation. Our courses are split up into organ systems (MSK, Neuro, Cardio, Pulm, Nephro, Endo, GI, GU, etc.) and in during the course of each of these blocks we are taught all the basic and clinical science that relates to that organ system, and all in the context of clinical presentation.
I'm taking my final exam in the morning, it's for the GI course. An example of one of the clinical presentations we have in this course would be jaundice. Now of course patient's don't present to their physician telling them they have jaundice (unless they're familiar with the term), but we expect that the student can recognize yellow skin tinting to be jaundice. So how do we proceed? Here's a list of the lectures we had in that segment of the course:
1. Jaundice intro
2. Biochem of Bile Synthesis
3. General Liver Physiology
4. Microbiological causes of jaundice
5. Microbio focusing on liver flukes
6. Biochemistry of Heme Degradation
7. Biochemistry: Liver function testing
8. Physiology of portal hypertension
9. Pharmacology for the liver
10. Pathology of Liver diseases and jaundice (this includes or was preceded by a liver histology lecture)
11. Viral Hepatitis PBL session.
That all took about 3 days of class to accomplish. Then we moved on to the next clinical presentation (abdominal pain) which you can probably imagine was a lot longer and more complicated.
All of our classes were like this in 1st year. Next year will be more of the same, just with different organ systems.
What I like about this curriculum is that I'm being taught to think like a physician from day 1, and I'm taught everything in context. That's huge for me, and really helps me tie concepts together. It's a brilliant curriculum for the type of person who can work with it.
It's also nice because beginning in 2nd year we have mandatory clinical time. I'll be spending 8 hours per week seeing patients in what I like to think of as "pre-rotations" in just a few weeks. You can bet that my preceptors are going to expect me to contribute wherever I have knowledge. That will really help me solidify it, and all before I'm tested on it in the Boards at the end of year 2.
If you can't tell, I totally love my school!
Best of luck with the application season. You're all going to do awesome!
Is anyone using Interfolio? Or did anyone who applied last year send their letters via Interfolio? The secondary says that letters should be sent directly from evaluators...
Is anyone using Interfolio? Or did anyone who applied last year send their letters via Interfolio? The secondary says that letters should be sent directly from evaluators...
For the evaluations page on the secondary, do we have to fill out the information part if we are sending our letters via Interfolio, or can we leave it blank?
Would like to know. This part is very confusing.
Also what right are we waiving, exactly? What is the importance of waiving the right to access of an evaluation?
And where do we send letters of rec to? It doesn't give a discrete address.
Just got my invite an hour ago! I'm way excited; Im pretty sure they send these to everybody that gets accepted. :/
For the evaluations page on the secondary, do we have to fill out the information part if we are sending our letters via Interfolio, or can we leave it blank?
Would like to know. This part is very confusing.
Also what right are we waiving, exactly? What is the importance of waiving the right to access of an evaluation?
And where do we send letters of rec to? It doesn't give a discrete address.
It is because of FERPA...which states you have a right to access all academically related files about you. You have to sign away your rights so that the school knows the letter is and will remain confidential.
Is it necessary to fill out information regarding the letter writers? (Academic Rank or Title, Address, etc)
First secondary is submitted 6/26.
Fixed that for you!
Stay optimistic, optimism breeds confidence, confidence gets acceptance letters!
You guys are going to kill it!
For the volunteer section where they want you to list the supervisor and they number etc.... do they honestly verify your hours and experience???
Where does AACOMAS want you to list the supervisor and their number??
FYI...I asked the same question to the volunteer coordinator at the hospital I volunteer at and she told me that she does get a bunch of requests for verification.