So, this thread has been making its rounds across the MD/MPH classes, and I'm sure you'll get a more balanced perspective in the next few days (so keep and eye out!). And, as a second (almost third) year MD/MPH student, I feel like I can provide a different perspective on everything that's been posted above.
1. "Mandatory class" really, there is not that much mandatory class throughout the first two years. You'll have mandatory PBL 8 hours a week, a couple hours for Physicianship, Anatomy every two weeks, and public health for a few hours a week. Honestly, not that much. All the biomedical lectures are recorded so you can watch them at home, or, if you're like me, not watch lecture at all (that's just the way I prefer to learn; it has absolutely no indication of the lecturers, who I really enjoy). There is copious amounts of free time throughout the first two years, even when you factor in MPH coursework. Seriously, medical school and public health do take some time, but remember, you're in medical school getting a concurrent public health degree.
2. PBL- I absolutely love PBL! It is such an amazing way to learn, and honestly, gives you more skills than just "knowing" the learning objectives. For instance, during Step One, I never had to look up lab values, because I knew all the normals through PBL. Likewise, PBL teaches you how to become an independent learner, because it forces you to go find the info need for your presentation (I've never seen anyone use Wikipedia, but lots of Uptodate, AAFP, Epocrates, Medscape, etc), synthesize it, then teach others. All skills needed in medicine, and to become a team player. When you're a resident, or an attending, will you know how to look up something you don't know? Will you know how to present a patient to an attending? You definitely will after having to do it during PBL.
For instance, there was a PBL case on diabetes during first year, and afterwards, when I went to Caridad clinic (an MD/MPH clinic you can volunteer at with the Regional medical deans), AND SAW ALMOST THE EXACT SAME PATIENT. I could understand all the labs, pt history, etc. And that sold me on PBL.
3. Step One- so, the class of 2017 average is a 230, above the national average for sure. It is definitely possible to do very well on Step (and a fair amount of my classmates have) within the MD/MPH program, by studying for Step only during the dedicated six weeks. Furthermore, the match list of our first class is impressive, and should tell you how well our program prepares its classes.
But, I think it's more important to tell you why I chose this MD/MPh program, and would choose it again and again.
1. You not only get two degrees in four years, but you get a plethora of opportunities, from working in DOCS positions (many were held by MD/MPHers this year), to research (seriously, UM is pretty much the only med school in Miami, we get access to a lot more of Miami than GW would in DC), to clinical opportunities (West Palm rotations are universally loved, and, along with PBL, helped our graduating class out score the MD program on Step 2)
2. You'll live in Miami. Much more fun than almost any other city out there.
3. Your patient population is unique. Where else do you get to treat Haitian Americans, African Americans, Hispanic populations (from all over, including Cubans), low socioeconomic status folks at a large county hospital, rich South Beach folks at UM hospital, people who come here from South/Central America, the poison control center for Guantanamo bay, numerous clinics around the area serving diverse patient populations, two student-run clinics, and a ton of health fairs, just to name a few.
4. Honestly, the MD/MPh program in particular is relatively low stress, and my classmates are a large part of that. While everyone pushes themselves, there isn't really a culture of intra-class competition, which can't be said for a lot of medical schools.
I could go on and on, but I just wanted to give another perspective (I don't think there's very many CockDocs in our class) on the issue. Is our program perfect? Nope. No program is perfect. But I couldn't imagine going to any other medical school, and wouldn't want to be part of any other class. Seriously, please don't let the bitterness of a first year (I doubt GingeryAsian really is a second year) make your decision for you. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions on the school, my experience, etc.
It depends on your learning style. As a Miami MD MPH student the program wasn't what I thought it would have been. On paper it sounded great but in truth you waste a lot of time sitting in mandatory class. Most med schools get out at 12 but we get out at 5 p.m almost everyday sometimes-- stack that with neuro and you're basically left with no time to study. Also, out of your 8 hour day, only 2 hours of it is lecturing/learning new stuff. PBL is 2 hours 3 days a week but in Miami you learn NEW material in PBL. Imagine your classmates teaching you your undergrad science courses via wikipedia. No offense to wikipedia, but this is real life medicine and no one's got time for this. So MD MPH is a lot of mandatory hours which I honestly think we could have had more time to study for boards. I have boards coming up in a bit and honestly am not sure how I'm going to do b/c we finished 2 months earlier than the MD track does and we got less time to study overall.
GW's MD program probably is the same as most MD tracks. It's no revolutionary models but when you're trying to save lives and learn medicine, sometimes the traditional and tried and true method is better than radical ideas that are aimed for specific students but not others but now have to nod along bc they can't back out.
Also, bc you're in class from 8-5 sometimes, you lose track as to why you want that MPH anyways. You have barely any time to study for the MD part, so MPH becomes almost a burden to most people in the MD MPH track b/c it just becomes annoying youre stuck in lecture learning about theorems and you're already 5-6 lectures behind. most med schools, people are at most a day or two behind, but here it's common to be behind by a whole week if your day was too long