yo baylor students: what is the curriculum like for the basic sciences (aside from being 18 mos)? true pbl?
By true pbl, I mean, "Kids, here a case that we modifed for you. Now, go ahead and learn all of the basics on your own..."
Curriculum website:
http://www.bcm.edu/medschool/curriculum.html
Also, who does the mentoring for the "personal guides."
Thanks
Sorry it's taken me a while to see this; we had our exams all the last two weeks, and I've been sleeping since the end of it
So truthfully, we only have a tiny bit of PBL--one afternoon a week for about an hour and a half to two hours; it's called Integrated Problem Solving. Basically, it's a way for us to step back and look at the things we've been learning in lecture from a different angle, as the cases will almost always correlated with what's going on in lecture (i.e. a neuro case when we're taking Neuro, a case on polypharmacy when we're doing Pharmacology, etc). We definitely aren't supposed to "learn all the basics" on our own; it's really just a small part of our curriculum.
The real meat-and-potatoes is our lecture, which is 8-noon, five days a week; this includes the two hours of anatomy lab (for the first four blcks) and two hours of histology lab (for the first three blocks) each week. I feel like the reason we wind up having fewer in-class hours than most schools is because they're giving us the freedom and responsibility to figure out what study schedule works best for us individually; I'm sure we all make up for the time we're not in class with time we study outside. Additionally, there's plenty of opportunity to get additional instruction outside of class if you're someone who benefits from having someone else there teaching you; usually, one of our anatomy professors will be in the anatomy lab after class, and we have practice practicals for both anatomy and histology on Friday afternoons, in addition to other reviews and other opportunities (anatomy buddies, Big Ass Histology reviews, etc).
In addition to the PBL session, we have one other afternoon session each week, which is Physician, Patient, and Society (PPS). Basically, that's the class where we learn all of the required parts of the physical exam. We'll go in one week to learn one part of the physical exam, and then the following week we go out to our preceptor's office to practice it on a real patient.
Our classes are arranged in 5-8 week blocks, and our curriculum is systems-based (i.e. we learn Cardio/Respiratory/Renal in one block, GI/Metabolism/Endocrine/Reproductive in another, etc). For the first three blocks, you're taking one big mega-course called "Foundations," and you take one big exam each block, including a histology and an anatomy practical. Ultimately your grade for the three blocks are averaged and that's your grade for Foundations. Starting in block 4 we have individual classes with individual grades and you have the more normal "week of exams."
Hope that's helpful. I really thought the curriculum was well-organized this year, and it's one of Baylor's strongest selling points, in my opinion. Let me know, either here or via PM, if you have any other specific questions
The mentoring you're speaking of: I believe you're referring to PRN groups...Peer Resource Network. Incoming students are assigned to a group of advisors. Advisors are several 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years. There is also faculty mentorship, not sure whether this is directly tied to the PRN groups. I'll see if I can get Go Spurs Go or Rishk on here to answer more accurately.
canjosh is right about PRN, but in addition, four PRN groups are grouped together under one faculty mentor, who is supposed to follow us through medical school and give us advice on basically whatever we need at the moment (getting adjusted to medical school, finding a mentor in a field we might be interested in, applying to residency, etc). Basically, they're supposed to be a resource for us within the faculty that we can go to for help advancing our careers.
I just looked at the website, for those who don't know yet
good luck everyone!!!
Ooh exciting day. Good luck everyone
Was just wondering, from past Baylor applicants, is Spanish flunecy weighted heavily? If your a strong applicant will they care or not? Thanks
Nah, it certainly never hurts, but is not required; I got in fairly early without being fluent.
