A couple thoughts/my 2 cents as an OOS M4 entering the match/graduating this year..
1) No med school is perfect, and there are definitely students scattered across the spectrum – from the die-hard Badgers who will absolutely rank UW their #1 if they interview here for residency, to those who absolutely hated their experience here. The reasons are far more complex than can be teased out on an anonymous forum.
2) 25% of the class failing is 44 students out of a class of 176. That’s totally an exaggeration. In total, there ends up being maybe 1-10 each year (e.g. 5 from my class stayed behind the first year, 5 joined, then we lost another 7, then 15 joined between all the MPH/PHD/other students). Some students who “failed” ended up repeating a few classes, or splitting some part of their 4 years for a myriad of reasons. That’s still less than 10%. Also, grades/academic performance is one piece of the puzzle. In my class, quite a few were because they wanted to take time off to raise a baby. Some had some pretty significant family issues that came up (also affecting grades/performance – because hey, who can study when your mom passed away?). The school has tried to analyze data over the years to see if there are factors that could predict student success/difficulty in an attempt to intervene sooner – there’s really no clear correlation in GPA/MCAT prior to med school on success in med school because how much more complicated it is. The rest of your life doesn’t magically stop just because you’re in med school, even if the pace of the teaching/material doesn’t ever slow down. I somehow doubt that this is unique to our med school, and I don’t imagine many schools having a reason to advertise that. Our match rates are otherwise still consistently solid across all specialties.
3) Re Clerkship/Wards: I did half of my clerkships at UW and half at community hospitals/hospitals around Madison and in Milwaukee. You will run into residents and attendings/docs who are more enthusiastic/better at teaching/working with med students everywhere. In my own experience, I felt like my UW experiences (Did half of the entire Psych, Neuro, Surg, Peds clerkships at UW, half at other hospitals in Madison) were good, but there is far less “1:1” time given how much larger the teams are – instead of being the only med student with 1 attending, you are 1-3 med students with 1-3 residents with 1 attending + any other specialties who were consulted/involved in the care of the patient. That’s pretty typical given academic centers tend to house more complex patients in the first place.
By comparison, my community hospital patients were often more “bread and butter,” but I was also pretty much the only student on site, so I had direct patient care/face time with an attending or 1 senior resident SPECIFICALLY for teaching almost every day. My experiences in Milwaukee have been just as similar – I feel pretty comfortable being able to carry out the basic responsibilities of an M4, and have a pretty good handle of what to expect in residency (although who knows, I anticipate a huge learning curve regardless). A more concrete example may be at UW, I was basically retractor duty and sometimes sewed up teeny port holes in the OR because there were always residents with the attendings, but I had friends in LaCrosse who were often the only ones with the surgeons and were basically assisting in the OR, doing opening incisions, closing, and all-around much more involved in the OR.
4) I, myself, have a decent number of critiques on where I feel our school could still improve, and have been part of a bunch of direct meetings with administration because of it, and they have become much more open to acknowledging their own blind spots over the years. I think some of my classmates have been toxic, but for the most part, they make up the minority, and the administration and faculty folks I’ve met have been incredibly open to the feedback and casual conversation in passing (shy of maybe 1 or 2 buzzkills I avoid like the plaque).
5) Did I enjoy med school? Yes, but definitely a lot more after I survived the first two years and had more say in making sure my clinical experiences were exactly what I wanted them to be. Are there things I wish would’ve changed about medical school? Yes, like I’m sure everyone else at every other med school in the country does. Do I think I would be happier at one of my other choices? The grass is always greener on the other side, and it’s easy to say something when you’re on the outside, seeing only the traits that you feel your own experiences are lacking.
6) So what does all this back and forth nonsense/counter arguments mean? Not much. It’s 1 person’s 2 cents vs another’s 2 cents. You all, once you are medical students, are responsible for tailoring your own medical school education to what you want it to be. You can fly under the radar and do the basics you need to just get by. You can gun/sabotage your peers and make yourself public enemy #1. You can rally up a group to try to be part of system-wide change within the medical school. You can seek out specific mentors/providers on your clerkship who will offer the teaching/training that is specific to your own career interests. However, nobody is going to do it for you, especially if you don’t make it known to others who could help make your own goals a reality.
