Ok I'm an idiot and can't figure out how to PM people on SDN. Can current USC students
@nylock10,
@Gibbward, & anyone else lurking answer a few questions for me?
1. Do you feel like there are opportunities to seek out mentors? Like for life/professionally, not just for research goals.
2. I’m confused about the curriculum…what exactly are MDLs? I'm confused by descriptions I've come across. What is Foundations of Medical Sciences - is that just like introductions to basic sciences before delving into systems-based?
3. Do you think the exams are written fairly? Also are they written to prepare you for Step 1 (I know some schools do that)?
4. Also could you speak more about the timeline with the required scholarly project?
5. Where do you think there’s room for improvement at your school/the program? What do you think they excel at?
6. Do you have any suggestions to read up on to better understand topics of healthcare/the future of medicine? I'm not the most educated person on these topics and don't want to sound like a joke if I get these types of questions.
1. There's a lot of opportunities in my experience. For example, groups of us are assigned to physicians who periodically meet with us one-on-one to check in. They're also available whenever for advice, guidance, shadowing, etc. We're also assigned physicians who proctor us when we visit the hospitals during MS1/2. Student interest groups can also get you connected with mentors. For example, the student group for the specialty I'm interested in matched me with a resident in that field. I also found an attending who offered to be a career/research mentor in that specialty/department just by asking around. So in short, I've had a lot of success with finding mentors. There's also administrative staff who offer career advising if that's more your thing.
2. One of our buildings has a bunch of rooms called MDLs. Each MDL is assigned to a group of ~24 students. Each of those students has a personal desk inside the MDL with their name on it. They can store stuff in them, study in the MDLs, decorate their desks, etc. MDLs are basically community groups for us to all study in, have small group-based discussion sessions, club meetings, etc.
Foundations of Medical Sciences is exactly that. We cover topics like biochemistry, genetics, immunology, microbiology, and so on. It prepares you for the rest of the systems-based curriculum starting second semester of MS1.
3. I think they're pretty fair. Every exam has an odd question or two but they're usually thrown out. I haven't taken Step 1 yet but our exams are all multiple choice, computer-based exams, and have clinical vignettes. (More so I'm just happy that our exams are entirely pass/fail).
4. During MS1 they just intend for you to get a feel for everything and explore ideas that might interest you. At the beginning of MS2 you formally identify your RSP mentor and work on a proposal. At MS3, you submit the research proposal. By MS3/4 you submit the actual final RSP project.
5. I'd probably pretty up the campus a bit but they're working on it. (I visited the main USC campus and was blown away by how nice it looked.) They're doing sidewalk construction now to match the main campus aesthetic a bit more which is nice. As for the program itself, it's so far so good. I genuinely don't have any major complaints so far. I've found a study system that works great for me and really enjoy school. At worst some of the lecturers need to redesign their slides but that's kind of expected everywhere.
6. I didn't specifically study that before interviewing here and I personally don't ask interviewees that unless they bring it up (but YMMV I guess). But I thought The Health Care Handbook was a good book and if you're interested you might want to check it out.
