So I gotta do a quick update after completing Week 2 of this new curriculum...
- Every day I am amazed at how well all the courses fit in with this new curriculum!! We learn science in the mornings. We get to see a patient interview on Monday mornings in our lecture room who often has a disease that relates to the science we will be learning that week and hear their experience. The physician conducting this patient interview will also bring in elements of clinical skills we'll be learning that week. We then go to a clinical education center and get to practice that specific skill with standarized patients (had that this week already!) Then we have Problem Based Learning that somehow features the science we have learned (although we haven't gotten around to too much in lecture). We have other stuff too like medical ethics, some elements of public health, and medical decision making courses... but this integrative-ness is incredible and so well thought-out.
- I will admit, our days are a little longer than we had thought. Previous years had 3 afternoons off; we have 2 afternoons off... We have longer afternoon sessions than the previous years. Still we are in session/class far less than schools that still have a 9-to-5 schedule. Also, I was informed that this is a result of the new curriculum trying to wrap up "preclinical years" in 20 months.
- You guys will have a slightly easier time than our class I hope! We are giving lots of feedback already to the administration about how the past 3.5 weeks have gone, and they are taking them into consideration. A big frustration for us was that (1) information wasn't available to us in advance as much as we would have liked since the school is still working on it, (2) we have no upperclassmen who have gone through the new curriculum. However, you guys won't have any of that!
- A plug for FSM is that it's right in downtown Chicago!!!
AND by the beautiful lake/beach!!!!! Housing can be expensive (though didn't feel like it to me, coming from Boston), but there are cheaper options in surrounding neighborhoods that are easily commute-able by bus. By comparison, Pritzker is located in Hyde Park. Though it's technically "in Chicago," I think one will quickly find that it's pretty isolated from all the on-goings in downtown Chicago... for one, it's 7-9 miles south of downtown Chicago (with no good neighborhoods in between the two) so if you don't have a car, it takes about an hour to get to downtown by bus. By cab it's ~$15-20 per way to downtown. I personally felt that Hyde Park is sorta lacking in restaurants, bars, AND stores. Well, anyway, if anyone has the privilege of gaining admission to Pritzker, it's an awesome school I'm sure ;-)
I highly encourage you all to apply to FSM!!!! The curriculum has really changed a lot and I think it's even more fantastic than ever before.
