Hey CFCDoc, I'm an M2 at the school and I'll try to shed some light on our school. We have an integrated curriculum (organ system based), starting out with foundations of science (biochemistry, cell biology, immunology, genetics) and moving on to muscle/skeletal/skin, neuro, heart/lung/kidney, and finishing off with gastrointestinal/genitourinary for the 1st year. The material is presented with a mix of lecture, collaborative classroom (groups of 8 working on tasks, although in practice 4 pairs of 2), and seminar groups (groups of 10 and discussion based). All lectures are recorded barring technical difficulties although previously recorded lectures are often retrieved in those cases. The clinical curriculum is integrated with the basic sciences as well, so you will learn how to do the respective physical exams with the lecture content. Once a week starting about 2 months in, you will work with a primary care physician (peds, family med, internal med, or geriatrics) and get to practice the clinical skills you learned that week. I haven't started 2nd year yet, but based on the model PBL I've watched and the practice PBL's I've gone through, I think they will be much more fun for learning the material than anything in the 1st year. From what the M3's have told me, 2nd year has fewer lectures and plenty of PBL's.
My classmates, including myself, are pretty chill and since we are P/F with no ranking system (quintile ranks for 3rd year with honors/high pass/pass), there literally is no pressure for intra-class competition. I found this hard to believe when I interviewed at the school, but our class as well as the class before us are very collaborative. The M3's have shared many study materials and our class has GoogleDocs for study guides, review books, First Aid etc. that we share and intend to share with the incoming M1's. You'll catch students playing pickup sports outside when its nice all the time, hiking Sleeping Giant, and making the best of med school with what free time we have. No one really seems all that stressed (not that plenty of us aren't stressed). The faculty are also excellent and very conversational. If you are the kind of student to hang out with your professors, you'll definitely love our school. I'm not sure if they'll keep the open door policy, but last year you could just walk in to most of their offices and shoot the breeze. Most of them also don't do research or only spend a fraction of their time doing research, so they welcome a chit chat with students anytime.
A research building is being worked on near the parking lot, but I'm not sure when it will be open (couple years?), so there is no research going on at the school itself. However, many students have found research elsewhere. Our clinical rotations 3rd year are also at various sites with St. Vincent's at Bridgeport being the main site, which is about 45 min. from campus. Those are probably my two major complaints and I would take that into consideration when choosing the school you attend.
Overall, I really enjoyed 1st year here and I didn't find it as daunting as I expected. I know a few students that chose our school over established schools and most of them said they felt it was a better fit particularly because of the students. I guarantee you'll like your classmates. The curriculum is well taught and you'll find your niche in terms of what's best for learning the material. From the few Step I scores I've heard from the M3's, it looks like their class has done well. Both their class, as well as mine, scored higher than the national average on NBME questions (60% of our exam questions, although that will probably increase).
One other thing you should consider is that the school's reputation will be determined by the residency placements of the classes before you. That has yet to be determined, but I'm hopeful the current M3's will place well. Oh and the school's focus on primary care is mostly marketing and you'll find that you can pursue whatever you desire.
I had a cycle with no interviews last year so I'm very excited. For those of you still waiting, it is early don't stress out!
. I regard myself as a talkative person, so hopefully I should be all right.
