Hi all! I am this close to MSM being the school I end up at. Got a full scholarship, hard to turn down! Is there a Second Look? I would love to talk to some current students about many aspects of life at MSM. I want to know how class is run, is info posted online, do they have a note taking service, etc. I would love a day in the life run down. See you guys soon hopefully!
Congrats on the scholarship. We do not have an official Second Look day, as far as I know. However, there have been a few accepted individuals who have scheduled their own visits to the school. Also, as House MD mentioned, you can call the school if you have any questions.
In response to how class is run, all of us have the same lecture at the same time. Most classes are lecture style, although each professor is different.
There is no official note taking service but each class of students has one. In our class, there is an academic committee whose members which will provide notes for lectures, among other things. Also, the teacher's notes are always available online, even before they teach the lecture, although how helpful this is varies. For some professors, it may be an almost word for word copy of their lecture. For others, it may be a 80 page document that contains all the information you will ever need to know about the topic, but you'll have to determine on your own what is important if you miss the class. And for others, it may be a selection of unlabeled diagrams or MRIs that they plan on going over in class.
A brief overview of first year: As a 1st year, the first class starts at 9 and ends at 10:30. There is a thirty minute break before the next class at 11. This class is also an hour and a half. There is an hour long break for lunch. For the first 3 months of the year (school starts right after July 4th), these lectures will cover the "basic information" like biochemistry, cell biology, and basic histology. After lunch, there is normally histology lab which ends after you have covered the material.
For the rest of the year, each test will cover a different organ system or region of the body and the lectures will do the same. For example, the first lecture might be about the embryology of the kidneys and the second might be a lecture about renal physiology, taught by a different professor. The course after lunch varies. Normally, you'll be in either gross lab after lunch. There is no set time for lab. It ends when you and your lab group cover everything or decide you are done. Gross lab lines up mostly with the material you will be going over in class so when you're learning over renal physiology, you'll also be dissecting the posterior abdominal wall and examining the kidneys as well. Occasionally, there is another lecture after lunch for the Fundamentals of Medicine course. FoM is a year long course that covers all of theinformation that you need to learn that is "less related" to the body. For example, while the other courses cover biochemistry, anatomy, and physiology, FoM covers topics like biostatistics, medical ethics, and cultural competency. FoM also covers the basic clinical skills such as how to take blood pressure or take a history, although most of this is taught in 2nd year instead of first year. There are also clinical preceptorships where you go shadow a physician. Every Wednesday, you'll spend in the Community Health course. Community Health is another year long course in which a group of around 15 students is tasked with conducting a needs assessment and developing a intervention to promote or increase the health of a predetermined site in the community.
No matter what is after lunch, you can expect to be done with
class by 5 at the latest and normally you'll be done way before then. Most of your time outside of class will be spent studying, although how you go about that is up to you.
All tests and quizzes are multiple choice with clinical vignettes and are taken on the laptop you receive (the cost of the laptop is part of your 1st year's tuition) at the beginning of the year. Miniboards (aka Subject Exams) are also taken on your laptop.
And I would definitely like to know of a way they might help us get in touch with classmates so we can work on housing or even if they will provide us with some info on housing in general...
For my class, we started a Facebook group to get in touch with incoming students. I'm not sure if the school provides a way. There is a Facebook group for the class of 2015 (
http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_151657561548535). I know that the school provides a list of housing and apartment complexes that current students recommend to students who decide to attend MSM. However that is still a month or two away, after the school has a solid idea of who will be attending. A couple individuals who will be in the class of 2015 got in touch with one of us through Facebook and asked for a housing list. I'm not sure if that list is available to the MSM Class of 2015 Facebook group. However, I can provide that list for you if it isn't.
I'm not sure if I adequately answered either of your questions. If I did not, or if you have any more, feel free to ask. I know a few members of the MSM Class of 2014 still frequent these forums. Alternatively, you can email me at
[email protected]. I will respond, although I might be a little slow over the next few days as there is a test on Friday. Congratulations to all of you on your acceptances and good luck in your future endeavors, wherever you go.
