Can any current students respond to this? I found this in last year's thread and it is freaking me out a little bit:
"Hey guys. I'm a current clinical years UMMS student, and long-time SDN member. I created this acct for anonymity, because there are some things I wish I'd known more about before deciding to come to UMMS, so I thought I would share them with you all so that you can make a fully informed choice.
First of all, the positives: the people at UMMS are really nice. Deans and other administrators, faculty, the majority of the clinical staff - noticably warm and welcoming, especially, or so I've been told by a number of visiting students, when compared to other schools. The price is indeed excellent, especially given the low cost of living in Worcester. There is a lot of development going on at UMMS, new construction, pretty buildings - there's a sense of energy, which is cool. There is school support, both administratively and financially, for research, public health, and international work.
Now, the cons. As you probably are aware, there's a massive curriculum redesign in progress. You can hear more about that from current students in MS1 or MS2. It's been a bit of a cluster**** at times, with materials not ready or changes to classes made at the last minute, but I actually don't think the preclinical curriculum matters all that much, and I do think it's getting better. There are a lot of motivated people working on it, and the professors are very dedicated. The medical school preclinical years are very standardized in terms of material to cover, so if you take responsibility early on for staying aware of what you need to be learning for step 1, you can do just fine regardless of what the school does. More than 10 people failed step 1 in the class of 2012, and a large percentage of the class of 2013 delayed taking it. A lot of people also scored very highly - just ignore what Dean Rogoff says (repeatedly!) about step 1 not mattering all that much and go your own way in terms of preparation.
The biggest con, however, has been the clinical years experience. You will have limited chances to talk to MS3 and MS4s during your interviews/second looks, so it's hard to get a feel. And while preclinical weaknesses aren't that big of a deal because you can do your own thing, that's not the case with clinical years. So here they are - I don't know how different these things would be at other schools you are considering, but I didn't even really know to ask about them when I was applying. Just take it as a list of issues to consider.
1. Clinical rotations are scattered all over the state (and beyond), from the Berkshires to Connecticut and Rhode Island. The housing provided in the Berks is extremely ghetto. The driving gets expensive and tiring. The scattered sites make it difficult to provide a standardized experience. One of the inpatient pediatric sites had literally 2 patients while a student was there for his MS3 pediatric rotation this year. That is not a rotation, IMO. The sites have always been a little scattered, but from what I understand it has gotten a lot worse recently because the class size expanded before slots for clinical students had been lined up.
2. The residency programs at UMMS are not very strong. I had absolutely not understood that before starting clinical years. There are a lot of preliminary people who scrambled for spots and got them here. There are a lot of IMG/FMG/DOs. BTW, some of those folks are the best, and I've really enjoyed working with the FMGs/DOs, but the rest of them are visibly struggling compared to the US MD grads we see. And there are two reasons that matters to you as a medical student. First, when your intern/residents are struggling, it's miserable to work with them. They dump more scut, they radiate more anxiety, and the teaching is not as good because they don't have time and/or energy. Second, given the realities of home-field advantage, you'd be better off going to school somewhere you would like to stay. That is not to say, however, that you can't leave. Most people do. Regardless, you'll come to find out that your team makes or breaks a rotation.
3. You will hear a lot about how many people extend for a 5th year, and you will hear it framed as a good thing. Oh, opportunities for research, travel, fellowships! And that's somewhat true. Except that a significant number of people are doing that research because they need to be more competitive for the specialty they want. Or because they had little exposure to fields outside of primary care until it was too late to apply on time. There is a big uproar in the class of 2013 because the cost of a 5th year is going to be raised to ~$8000...which the administration says is still very cheap. Except that a 5th year doesn't cost you the tuition and living expenses for that year, it costs you whatever your salary would have been for that year were you applying on time, so who cares if it was $800 or $8000? It costs you 200k. Which is fine if you are making that choice because you are doing something awesome that year and it's necessary to get you to where you want to go, but if you are doing it because you weren't adequately prepared to apply on time, that's not cool.
So, like I said, some of these things may be the same or worse at other places you are considering. I don't know. But ask about them. I'm not saying don't come to UMass, I'm just saying compare your options carefully. "
