2016-2017 University of Wisconsin Application Thread

BU Medical Sciences
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1a2b3c4d5e said:
Good luck!
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How do you like the new curriculum? Do you like the integrated nature?

Also, what does a typical week look like for you? (i.e. when are you in lecture, anatomy lab, small group, clinical skills session, etc.?)

Thanks so much for answering our questions!
 
Orthosurg1 said:
How do you like the new curriculum? Do you like the integrated nature?

Also, what does a typical week look like for you? (i.e. when are you in lecture, anatomy lab, small group, clinical skills session, etc.?)

Thanks so much for answering our questions!
Click to expand...
I'm going to try to answer this as unbiased as possible. Keep in mind that I don't really have any other curriculum to compare to, and that we're the "guinea pig" class.

I think there are some strengths to the curriculum, and some weaknesses. I think a lot of the weaknesses have to do with sequencing. We just finished up embryology, which I think would've been really helpful to have at the very beginning. Sometimes we get the abnormal pathology before we've seen the normal pathology, which is really hard to understand. Or there have been a few times where we don't really have the information yet to figure out whatever case based session we're in, because the corresponding lecture is two days later. I also don't think this curriculum is very friendly for people who are hoping to lecture capture. There are a lot of required things or opportunities you'll lose points for not being at, or you need information from the lecture right before the medium group session in order to understand it. There is no course book, or textbook, or supplemental readings - so sometimes if you're looking to flesh out what we're learning a bit more you're at risk for finding information that isn't quite the same as what we're tested on. Some strengths is that this curriculum forces you to work with other people a lot, and the more you're talking with other people and explaining what you're learning, the better you understand things. I like having anatomy alongside whatever system we're focused on cause it really helps you to picture whatever you're learning. I like having normal and abnormal pathology together (provided we learn normal first). I'm hoping they'll fix some of the sequencing problems for your class, but they haven't really communicated much with us about what changes they'll make.

A typical week looks like this:
Monday - either morning or afternoon small group. Sometimes clinical skills afterward or preceptorship.
Tuesday - lecture/medium group from 1-5pm
Wednesday - lecture/medium group from 8-12
Thursday - small group in the morning or afternoon, potentially followed by clinical skills sessions/preceptorship. Half of us have anatomy dissections Thursdays (not every week)
Friday - lecture/medium group from 1-5pm. Half of us have anatomy dissections on Fridays (not every week)

I don't know if this is what your schedule will be like next year, though. We don't know ours yet either.
 
1a2b3c4d5e said:
I'm going to try to answer this as unbiased as possible. Keep in mind that I don't really have any other curriculum to compare to, and that we're the "guinea pig" class.

I think there are some strengths to the curriculum, and some weaknesses. I think a lot of the weaknesses have to do with sequencing. We just finished up embryology, which I think would've been really helpful to have at the very beginning. Sometimes we get the abnormal pathology before we've seen the normal pathology, which is really hard to understand. Or there have been a few times where we don't really have the information yet to figure out whatever case based session we're in, because the corresponding lecture is two days later. I also don't think this curriculum is very friendly for people who are hoping to lecture capture. There are a lot of required things or opportunities you'll lose points for not being at, or you need information from the lecture right before the medium group session in order to understand it. There is no course book, or textbook, or supplemental readings - so sometimes if you're looking to flesh out what we're learning a bit more you're at risk for finding information that isn't quite the same as what we're tested on. Some strengths is that this curriculum forces you to work with other people a lot, and the more you're talking with other people and explaining what you're learning, the better you understand things. I like having anatomy alongside whatever system we're focused on cause it really helps you to picture whatever you're learning. I like having normal and abnormal pathology together (provided we learn normal first). I'm hoping they'll fix some of the sequencing problems for your class, but they haven't really communicated much with us about what changes they'll make.

A typical week looks like this:
Monday - either morning or afternoon small group. Sometimes clinical skills afterward or preceptorship.
Tuesday - lecture/medium group from 1-5pm
Wednesday - lecture/medium group from 8-12
Thursday - small group in the morning or afternoon, potentially followed by clinical skills sessions/preceptorship. Half of us have anatomy dissections Thursdays (not every week)
Friday - lecture/medium group from 1-5pm. Half of us have anatomy dissections on Fridays (not every week)

I don't know if this is what your schedule will be like next year, though. We don't know ours yet either.
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Thanks for the insight. Do you think there's a lot of filler "busy work" in the curriculum? Also, I know you're not there yet, but I have heard there could be some issues with the clinical rotations since you guys will be starting rotations earlier, there will be overlap between M2, M3 and M4 students vying for the same spots. Have you heard anything about this and how the school might address it?
 
benegesserit4 said:
Thanks for the insight. Do you think there's a lot of filler "busy work" in the curriculum? Also, I know you're not there yet, but I have heard there could be some issues with the clinical rotations since you guys will be starting rotations earlier, there will be overlap between M2, M3 and M4 students vying for the same spots. Have you heard anything about this and how the school might address it?
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We've had a couple of projects that some might consider "busy work" but they're always group projects for the most part, and don't take up a lot of your time. You have to remember that we are a school of medicine AND public health. A lot of the public health stuff is in the form of group projects. We never have, like, papers or other busy work like that.

I've heard the same rumors about our clinical rotation scheduling. I've even heard it from doctors who are a part of the school. I know about as much as you do about that. The school isn't very forthcoming about our future schedules. I've heard that they're still figuring out the schedule of our first semester next year, so maybe they haven't gotten to second semester yet. Like I said, we're not really kept in the loop about this stuff.
 
1a2b3c4d5e said:
We've had a couple of projects that some might consider "busy work" but they're always group projects for the most part, and don't take up a lot of your time. You have to remember that we are a school of medicine AND public health. A lot of the public health stuff is in the form of group projects. We never have, like, papers or other busy work like that.

I've heard the same rumors about our clinical rotation scheduling. I've even heard it from doctors who are a part of the school. I know about as much as you do about that. The school isn't very forthcoming about our future schedules. I've heard that they're still figuring out the schedule of our first semester next year, so maybe they haven't gotten to second semester yet. Like I said, we're not really kept in the loop about this stuff.
Click to expand...

I know this is subjective, but would you go here again? What do you like about the program? I also wonder if the uncertainty of new curriculum and clinical rotations are big concerns are not....
Thanks for your help!!
 
1a2b3c4d5e said:
We've had a couple of projects that some might consider "busy work" but they're always group projects for the most part, and don't take up a lot of your time. You have to remember that we are a school of medicine AND public health. A lot of the public health stuff is in the form of group projects. We never have, like, papers or other busy work like that.

I've heard the same rumors about our clinical rotation scheduling. I've even heard it from doctors who are a part of the school. I know about as much as you do about that. The school isn't very forthcoming about our future schedules. I've heard that they're still figuring out the schedule of our first semester next year, so maybe they haven't gotten to second semester yet. Like I said, we're not really kept in the loop about this stuff.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your insight!
 
benegesserit4 said:
I know this is subjective, but would you go here again? What do you like about the program? I also wonder if the uncertainty of new curriculum and clinical rotations are big concerns are not....
Thanks for your help!!
Click to expand...

Hard to say. I think at any school you are going to have challenges that you have to deal with. Most schools are trending toward curriculum changes, and those show positive trends when it comes to board scores and stuff like that - it's just not really very fun being the guinea pig class. I, probably like most med students, am a person that likes to have a sense of what's going on and be able to plan for my future, so the uncertainty of the new curriculum and clinical rotations causes me stress. Does that mean they're actually going to be a problem in the future? I don't know. I will say that I wish the administration were more communicative with us about these kinds of things. If you've had the opportunity to interview multiple places and go to a couple second looks, I would go with your gut. What school felt like a good fit for you? Where could you really see yourself for four years?

Oh, and the thing I like most about this school is probably my classmates. It's overall a pretty good group of people. People are pretty collaborative and not (at least overtly) trying to screw each other over.
 
benegesserit4 said:
I know this is subjective, but would you go here again? What do you like about the program? I also wonder if the uncertainty of new curriculum and clinical rotations are big concerns are not....
Thanks for your help!!
Click to expand...
Yes, a lot of big changes are happening, and they're probably still figuring parts of it out (hence frustration among m1s). However, the core of our med school itself has not changed, such as the statewide campus for rotations and the fundamental concepts taught that give you the context for step 1. What they're doing isn't a new concept - many current schools are already on the 1.5 yr curriculum and serve as strong models on how to guide these changes.

Also, grass is always greener - you can fantasize and daydream all you want about if your experience would be different if some arbitrary variable were different, but at the end of the day, you never truly know. You are on the outside looking at something with the context of your current experiences. I would echo more of deciding based on how confident you feel that you will be happy, supported, and able to pursue your interests with mentors and peers who share similar values.

No matter what uncertainties come with change, med schools have been around for decades and have been through transformations before. Students still graduate and match at more or less the same rates no matter what you do. Half of that is internally driven anyway - if you absolutely want to go into a competitive field and do a specific scope of practice, the school you go to is only one variable. Getting the board scores and making good connections is still on you, and otherwise independent of your school's curriculum. There are people at top 10s who barely break 210 on step 1 and there are plenty of people at our school who are sitting at 260+.

Anyway, I am a student on the old curriculum as an M3, but I do sit on the curriculum committees that evaluate the new curriculum to make sure certain concepts and benchmarks are met. I have heard about the concerns but am overall excited to see where all of this will eventually go. I will say that even with the old curriculum, there were a couple hiccups with certain blocks that were less well organized than others, which was used to help build the current phases. Like I said, grass is always greener - as an old curriculum student with the context I do have, I was/am somewhat envious that a lot of what I felt was lacking in our training was covered in the first few months of their med school. Meanwhile, the students who are now coming in after will not know that what is now the norm for them was once something we fought very hard for just to even be included in our own coursework.




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Anyone know if there's a facebook group for the incoming class?
 
Has anyone else heard from the waitlist? Any word on approximately how many people will be accepted off the WL this year?
 
Friend was top 5 on the OOS waitlist and got called today. Sounds like they have to accept by mid-next week. Hope this helps, good luck everyone!
 
Current and/or incoming students: do you have any laptop recommendations? I was trying to look around on the website and couldn't find any recommended computers for students. That being said, I'm looking at the surface book
 
Incoming student. I'm probably gonna go for a Surface Book too. That detachable screen looks sick.

We did get linked to the Tech Store on one of the forms we were sent. All the machines on the site are "recommended". But looking at the minimum hardware specs, I'm pretty sure any modern day laptop with OSX 10.11/Windows 10 would work fine.
 
Bloohaze said:
Incoming student. I'm probably gonna go for a Surface Book too. That detachable screen looks sick.

We did get linked to the Tech Store on one of the forms we were sent. All the machines on the site are "recommended". But looking at the minimum hardware specs, I'm pretty sure any modern day laptop with OSX 10.11/Windows 10 would work fine.
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Thanks! I'm so pumped for the surface book, it looks awesome!
 
Orthosurg1 said:
Current and/or incoming students: do you have any laptop recommendations? I was trying to look around on the website and couldn't find any recommended computers for students. That being said, I'm looking at the surface book
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply. I'd say 2/3 of our class had a Macbook of some kind and a good number of the rest had Surface Books. It's just personal preference.
 
Glandzburg said:
Sorry for the late reply. I'd say 2/3 of our class had a Macbook of some kind and a good number of the rest had Surface Books. It's just personal preference.
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Thanks for the reply, much appreciated! I ended up going with the surface book 🙂
 
For admitted students, did anyone else encounter that for the required immunization form, they never had an HBV titer done as a child? If so, has anyone contacted the school about this? Thanks.
 
WillyWonka22 said:
For admitted students, did anyone else encounter that for the required immunization form, they never had an HBV titer done as a child? If so, has anyone contacted the school about this? Thanks.
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I don't believe most people get HepB titers done as part of childhood immunizations. I just went to my PCP and got a titer done at the lab.

Afterwards: I failed the titer (my last Hep B shot was 15 years ago). I went back to my PCP, got a booster HepB shot (I already had the needed 3 HepB immunizations). I waited for 6 weeks after the booster and then tested positive for immunity on the titer. If you are doing this right now, you might want to email the school if you don't pass the titer the first time (likely, sample size n=1), since the deadline to complete the form is July 1st IIRC, and the recommended time period to get the titer is 4-6 weeks after the vaccination series. Good luck!
 
WillyWonka22 said:
For admitted students, did anyone else encounter that for the required immunization form, they never had an HBV titer done as a child? If so, has anyone contacted the school about this? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Same thing happened to me as @Bloohaze ... I have to get the whole series over again because I was nonreactive. I told the school I would be late in turning in the completed HepB series proof and they made note of it in my file
 
Do you guys know when your white coat ceremony is yet? I'm thinking about surprising a friend of mine who has been admitted but don't want to ask him directly.
 
1putt said:
Do you guys know when your white coat ceremony is yet? I'm thinking about surprising a friend of mine who has been admitted but don't want to ask him directly.
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It's scheduled for Friday August 25th. I've heard they limit 5 guests per student for the ceremony so I'm not sure how it works if you are surprising them... There is a reception before it though!
 
sunnysunsun27 said:
It's scheduled for Friday August 25th. I've heard they limit 5 guests per student for the ceremony so I'm not sure how it works if you are surprising them... There is a reception before it though!
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thanks for the reply. I'm thinking I'll probably just show up afterwards with some of their family. gonna coordinate with them. is that the Friday of first week of class? or is that the next week
 
sunnysunsun27 said:
It's scheduled for Friday August 25th. I've heard they limit 5 guests per student for the ceremony so I'm not sure how it works if you are surprising them... There is a reception before it though!
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Ahh shucks, I hope that 5 person limit isn't true! I have a big family :/
 
1putt said:
thanks for the reply. I'm thinking I'll probably just show up afterwards with some of their family. gonna coordinate with them. is that the Friday of first week of class? or is that the next week
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Sure! It's the Friday of the first week of school (with the first day being Monday).
 
Hey kinda late to apply here but I thought I'd try.
Im a resident of Lindenhurst, IL which is like on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois. I read this school has a heavy instate preference, but do you guys think I would be treated like any other OOS applicant. My LM=68. Is it worth applying?

Thanks for any help!!
 
GrandTourer said:
Hey kinda late to apply here but I thought I'd try.
Im a resident of Lindenhurst, IL which is like on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois. I read this school has a heavy instate preference, but do you guys think I would be treated like any other OOS applicant. My LM=68. Is it worth applying?

Thanks for any help!!
Click to expand...
Wrong year bud 🙂
 
Hi everyone, I will be an incoming M1 this upcoming August and was wondering what kind of laptop you all used. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks in advance!
 
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