Here's an informative post by Loma Lindian two years ago... Makes sense that the board scores are doing so well, since in 2002, 16-17% of the students scored in the 99th percentile.
Just to set the record straight...
I am a fourth year student at Loma Linda University, as such I can hopefully give you an honest account of the school and its policies. Here goes...
1)Admittance: I must preface this by saying that I am SDA (Seventh Day Adventist). LLU is looking for students that share their common interest in patient care. This is coming from a Christian perspective. As such, they are looking for Christian doctors. It doesn't matter if you are SDA or not as long as you fit into the mold of students that they want to train. They ask about religious preference because it is there prerogative--SDA's fund the hospital, so they want Christian doctors. If you don't agree with this philosophy, then this might not be the school for you. They also have a policy of living a healthy lifestyle, which includes not eating meat, drinking alcohol, or smoking. It is true that a person must sign a waiver that they will not drink alcohol--but the school doesn't police this. If someone puts that they drink occasionally, the admissions committee might explore to what extent alcohol is involved in their life. As for caffiene in the hospital, almost every floor has caffienated coffee, softdrinks, etc.. You just can't buy it in the cafeteria (as well as meat). I personally think the caf is pretty good.
2)Atmosphere: LLU focuses on whole person care--physical, mental, spiritual. There are classes during all four years that try to help students address all aspects of patient care--including spiritual. They do not force it on you, you don't have to follow their advice, but I personally believe that there is much credence in what LLU teaches. Classes have rankings, but they are based primarily on standardized tests (mock boards). There is a lot of camaraderie amongst the students. There will always be gunners, but they don't sabotage other students to my knowledge.
3)Didactics: The first year is pretty average with concerns to didactic material. I think the only strength of the first year is Anatomy. But this is more than made up by the second year. Second year pathology and pathophysiology are very strong. This is evidenced by Step I board scores. In the class below mine, 16-17% scored 99th percentile!!! Yeah I wished I started a year later... anyway, the teaching is second to none as far as BS on Step I are concerned.
4)Clinical: 3rd and 4th years have a pretty broad clinical experience, including 2 county, university, and VA settings. There is no elective time during the third year--which I think is a weakness if someone wants to do radiology, pathology, or other specialties. Also, most of the med schools in California participate in a standardized OSCE. Loma Linda's mean has been consistently one SD above all other schools means. LLU is KNOWN for the clinical skills that its grads leave with.
5)Reputation: LLU is known around the world--but primarily on the west coast. If someone wants to go to "the best" surgical subspecialty residency or something comparable, UCSF or Stanford might be a better choice. Can our grads get into these programs--of course, many grads go on to hopkins, MGH, UCSF, Mayo, etc.. LLU grads are known as being very solid physicians(according to what I've heard on the interview trail).
Anyway, I hope this helps. All in all, I've had a pretty great med school experience. For the high-powered, academic research types, LLU might not be the best for you. If you are concerned about getting a great education with an emphasis on ethical responsabilities of physicians, LLU is a great choice.
If you have any questions--plz post.
