Research: We have a couple people in the DO/PhD program per year but that is a very competitive program to get in to (paying for your 7+ years of education plus stipends is a huge financial commitment for any lab). Having said that and outside of the formal PhD joint program: I worked in a research lab with UMDNJ for 4 years prior to becoming a student and like most universities, especially state public universities, research is huge here. The opportunities are endless but I have already approached three professors since I began classes a few months ago and they were all receptive to me taking on a project. I feel like a kid in the candy shop with a stomach-ache though. I mean that there is just so much to do between research, clinical shadowing, clubs and activities, working-out, and of course the endless studying that needs to get done. Basically, it comes down to your commitment because the opportunities are here for sure. There is also a summer research program where you get a 2000 dollar stipend for doing 5 weeks of research between your first and second years. We have off from mid-May until August so there is still plenty of time to do some shadowing and vacationing aside from the research. UMDNJ is #1 in NIH funding and grants among DO schools so really, this is THE school for doing that.
Clinical experiences: Again, here it is up to you how much you do. As for what you have to do, there is a clinical preceptor program. The first year you are required to put in 30 hours, which isnt much but that is the minimum. I am not sure how many hours the second year requires. This is part of your community medicine grade and you are matched to a primary care doc who will be your preceptor for both pre-clinical years and you can also choose to stay with him/her for your family medicine clerkships in the clinical years. Apart from that, you can get involved with shadowing surgeons, internal med docs at the hospital we have right on campus, and ER docs, etc. For those, you basically join the prospective club and get involved with their shadowing programs or you can just approach the faculty on your own and ask to shadow and in my experience they are very receptive to that and encourage it. In my 2 or so months here I have already been to the OR for a day to shadow a surgeon, spent 2 days with my preceptor taking patient histories, and went to a county fair where I did blood pressure and sugar screenings. We also have a high tech standardized patient lab which is used for that same clinical medicine course and is also used as a training tool for the students preparing for the standardized patient part of the COMLEX/USMLE. Even the residents use it here for their training purposes.
Atmosphere: We are a big family. Period. That says it all. I was sick with a bad cold last week and skipped a couple days of classes and man did people miss me and offer to get me notes or catch me up. The email is always full of peoples notes or study sheets or websites to help each other out. We are a small class and everyone gets to know you real fast. Our deans and professors are very accessible and wander the halls; it is just a great atmosphere. We do have grades, honors, high pass, pass, fail, but our rank is never shown to us and the classes are not curved, you get what you earn.
Any other questions feel free to ask.
~Nate
