Awesome, thanks for the detailed reply. How did you enjoy the first couple of years? Do you have much knowledge of the similarities and differences to other comparable med schools? What did you like/dislike about it?
How rigorous were first two years?
Do academic classes successfully train you for USMLE?
I'll take these two questions together since they're interrelated.
The blunt honest truth is that I
hated the preclinical years at UAB. They made me regret and really question my decision to go to medical school. It all boiled down to some serious problems with the curriculum, a ridiculous attendance policy, and module leaders that seemed to exercise little control over the intended lecturers. A lot of times it felt that our administrators were so keyed into not teaching to Step 1 that they did the exact opposite. I can't tell you how many times I had to sit through a verbal circle jerk on some PhD's pet project. And I say this as someone who appreciates research, even basic science research, and wants a career in academic medicine. I owe much my preclinical education to first aid, pathoma, wikipedia, and Youtube. I really didn't feel that well prepared for Step 1.
BUT, things are changing. It may be a little begrudgingly, but the administrators have started to acknowledge and work towards addressing the problems in the preclinical curriculum. Attendance is no longer mandatory. Half of the exams in a given module are NBME. Anatomy has instituted MS4 tutors to rotate through the room during dissections. We've also had a decent amount of turnover in our administrators, and some fresh blood has taken their places. Of specific note is Dr. Van Wagoner, who was recently promoted from his normal post as internal medicine clerkship director to assistant dean for students. He is one of the kindest people you'll ever meet, and he is widely known among students to be one of the biggest advocates for medical students at UAB. Overall, I feel like the current set-up, especially with taking so many NBME exams and lesser emphasis on in-house exams, is a much better way to prepare students for the boards. The classes behind mine are definitely in a much better position going into their dedicated Step 1 prep time than my class and the classes ahead of me.
As for the curriculum, we're hardcore systems based. You'll start off with Patients, Doctors, and Society (PDS), which is the only truly pass/fail grade you'll receive at UAB. It's a pain to wade through, but I give props to our administrators for instituting this two week class. It gives you a chance to get into a groove, make friends, and figure out how you're going to take notes and study during medical school. It's low incredibly low stress. You'll then move through "fundamentals" which goes through the more basic science topics like biochemistry, cell and molecular, micro, immunology, etc. After that you tackle each organ system. You cover everything: embryology, anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology during each organ module. During first year you cover: cardio, pulm, GI, and renal. Cardio and pulm are consistently well taught and heavily run by actual practicing clinicians. GI is difficult because the in-house exam is made up of "guess what I'm thinking" questions (not board style, as the directors like to claim). During second year you cover: musculoskeletal/derm/rheum, neurology, hematology, endocrinology, and reproduction. The msk and neuro modules were a disaster when I took them, largely due to the course directors for each module. Those people have since been replaced.
I feel like third and four year is where UAB really shines. We have some great educators on the wards. Though I'm undoubtedly biased, I feel like the best rotations are medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, and emergency medicine. I'm not into more surgically oriented specialties, and I feel like there's some malignancy in those departments. But I've also had friends who go through those rotations quite happily, so YMMV. The bottom line is that I absolutely, 100% felt prepared for Step 2 CK... and I killed it as a result. For fourth year, you get 12 weeks total of time off (not counting two additional weeks for Christmas break) to study for step 2 (CK and CS), residency interviews, and vacation, and the elective choices are awesome.
TLDR: Preclinicals sucked at UAB but are improving, the clinical years are awesome.
Edit: I forgot to mention that you'll have Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM) during your first and second years. This class guides your early clinical experiences with patients. Unfortunately I feel like a lot of what you get out of this class is based on who your clinical preceptor is. Some put in more effort than others. They've attempted to change this by hand selecting and paying ICM preceptors. I don't have an opinion on whether or not this worked in the long run. The current third years and below would probably have a more updated opinion based on the changes. I had a love-hate relationship with this class. I enjoyed getting out of the classroom to see actual patients, but the program directors of thise class seem to be in love with busy work and pointless projects that only look good on paper. I will say that this class and the associated OSCEs prepared me pretty well for Step 2 CS. I was better able to see the worth of this class only after completing it.