I really like where I'm at now. I think USC SoM gets overlooked, and I'll give you a completely straight answer about why I think it's a great school and you should consider coming here over the other schools in the state. The single greatest thing about USC SoM is its commitment to fostering a great learning community for students. Our professors LIVE to see their students succeed. This isn't something you'll find at many other schools. For example, the fail rate for the first anatomy test is usually 1/3 of the class. I'm pretty sure there are similar numbers at many schools. It's just a completely different work load compared to anything you've experienced before. For those students that scored a 75 or below on the first anatomy exam (passing is 70), they were immediately enrolled in an extra help program. In this program, the struggling students would meet with the anatomy prof in small groups at least weekly, usually more often. This was after work hours and on weekends, so the prof was taking her own free time to do this, simply because she was dedicated to helping students succeed. There was a similar program in other courses, like physiology. I'm in constant awe of the extra hoops faculty/staff jump though to help students succeed.
Another reason for considering USC SoM is our focus on primary care. I have no interest in pursuing a primary care career (I want to do academic Heme/Onc), but being surrounded by so many faculty and classmates who are focused on total well-being, instead of management of acute diseases, is a very refreshing background. I believe my education will give me a better background in preventative medicine than many other schools and will help me, even in a hyper-specialized area of medicine like Heme/Onc.
I like to give good with bad, just so you know what you're getting into. Things I think USC is weak on/needs to improve:
1 - our facilities aren't amazing. Greenville is new/shiny and MUSC also has some great facilities. This isn't really a problem, but we definitely don't get anyone that comes to our school because they were enraptured by the facilities. That said, the new Dean recently announced that they are looking to move and hope to break ground on a new facility nearer downtown soon (don't know the exact timeline).
2 - Research at USC isn't amazing. We definitely have research (both basic science and clinical), but there is very little transnational work being done, and the funding for most stuff is minimal. Given the competitive nature of many fields, like Neurosurgery and ENT, you're almost required to do research IN THOSE FIELDS in order to be competitive for a residency slot. Those opportunities are more difficult (but not impossible) to come by at USC compared to MUSC. The new Dean seems committed to seriously upping our research chops, which is great to hear. He appointed a new director of research who seems to have a good roadmap for how to accomplish this, but Rome wasn't built in a day.
