how does Baylor's 1.5 years of preclinical work?

[Sam32]

I hear lots of people liking Baylor's 18 months of preclinical courses compared to 2 years at other schools. But what is so good about it if you still have to learn all that material but even in shorter time period? everyone says that in med school in general there is so much material to learn, then how does decreasing time from 2 year to 1.5 years help ?

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[armybound]

that's why they only accept gunners.

 

[DrYoda]

I hear lots of people liking Baylor's 18 months of preclinical courses compared to 2 years at other schools. But what is so good about it if you still have to learn all that material but even in shorter time period? everyone says that in med school in general there is so much material to learn, then how does decreasing time from 2 year to 1.5 years help ?

More elective time.

that's why they only accept gunners.

 

[Sam32]

More elective time.

well, yes, but is it worth it if you had no time to digest the basics during preclinical time?

 

[armybound]

well, yes, but is it worth it if you had no time to digest the basics during preclinical time?

you do digest it. any school is going to throw a ton of info at you and you're going to learn how to catch a lot of it. the pace difference between them and a 2-year school is probably minimal. for all I know, they might just start school earlier and have shorter holiday breaks.

 

[pharmacy85]

that's why they only accept gunners.

 

[DrYoda]

well, yes, but is it worth it if you had no time to digest the basics during preclinical time?

Like Army said, you'll adapt to whatever pace they set. If it wasn't working out well for students you'd see the 1.5:2.5 schools bailing on it (Penn and Duke have the shortened pre-clinical set-up as well).

 

[GoSpursGo]

I hear lots of people liking Baylor's 18 months of preclinical courses compared to 2 years at other schools. But what is so good about it if you still have to learn all that material but even in shorter time period? everyone says that in med school in general there is so much material to learn, then how does decreasing time from 2 year to 1.5 years help ?

OK, well keep in mind that I'm just a first year getting his feet wet, so I haven't really experienced it all the way through yet, and maybe I'll have a different opinion at the end of it all. However, the condensed preclinical curriculum really was the number one reason I chose to go to Baylor. The fact of the matter is that while, yes, it's something of a tradeoff that the pace is faster and our breaks are shorter (only one month between MS1 and 2), realistically, a lot of the basic science stuff is going to be low-yield for you ultimately as a physician; the stuff you have on your clinical rotations is going to be the stuff you actually use on a day-to-day basis much more often, so having the extra six months of "real" experience is only going to help you in the long run. You might worry about how you're going to perform on Step 1 from having "rushed" through the material and being six months or more removed from your basic science material when you take it, but a lot of the third years I've spoken to say that they think that getting their feet wet on the clinical side of things and actually seeing how some of the basic science things were incorporated in the real world helped them out; our board scores are high every year, so I think it's safe to say it's not hurting us. And the extra six months of clinical rotations are especially helpful for those of us who don't know exactly what it is we want to specialize in, as again, it gives us more practical exposure before we have to make our real decision. Ultimately, I think that the pros far outweigh the cons, and I do think that Baylor does a very good job of minimizing the stress level associated with the somewhat faster pace.

that's why they only accept gunners.

Moving to 2009-2010 School-Specific Discussions.

 

[longhorn09]

...and Duke only has 12 months of pre-clinical curriculum. Can you imagine that?

 

[GoSpursGo]

...and Duke only has 12 months of pre-clinical curriculum. Can you imagine that?

Seems like their students do pretty well for themselves too

 

[armybound]

Seems like their students do pretty well for themselves too

if you can handle the secondary, you can handle anything

 

[KMFDM]

On this subject, I'm left wondering how many schools have shorter preclinical time?

Penn, Duke, and UVA are three I know, and apparently Baylor as well.

Any other schools?

 

[longhorn09]

if you can handle the secondary, you can handle anything

Actually I don't think Duke's secondary is that bad. For the schools that I have applied to, Vanderbilt's worse.

 

[DrYoda]

if you can handle the secondary, you can handle anything

lol. You're on a roll.

Actually I don't think Duke's secondary is that bad. For the schools that I have applied to, Vanderbilt's worse.

but Vanderbilt only makes you fill out a secondary after they grant you an interview.

 

[armybound]

Actually I don't think Duke's secondary is that bad. For the schools that I have applied to, Vanderbilt's worse.

which one was the awful one? UNC? I couldn't remember if it was UNC or Duke.

Vanderbilt's was pretty easy, though it's hard to write an autobiography that isn't really similar to your PS. Or maybe my PS shouldn't have been so much of an autobiography.

 

[longhorn09]

which one was the awful one? UNC? I couldn't remember if it was UNC or Duke.

Vanderbilt's was pretty easy, though it's hard to write an autobiography that isn't really similar to your PS. Or maybe my PS shouldn't have been so much of an autobiography.

Duke's essays are pretty bad... 5 essays without character limit.

 

[Bbon]

On this subject, I'm left wondering how many schools have shorter preclinical time?

Penn, Duke, and UVA are three I know, and apparently Baylor as well.

Any other schools?

Emory's is also 1.5 years.