Hey guys, Penn med student here. I felt I needed to chime in since there is a lot of confusion regarding the medical school, the new dean, etc. I am also using a "throwaway account" because frankly I don't feel comfortable with the administration reading my posts. The truth is that it's a mixed picture. Almost all the MS4's will tell you "this is not the same place as it was when I came here." That doesn't necessarily mean all the changes are bad. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why that is- perhaps it is because we fired a dean, hired a new dean, went pass/fail preclinical but raised pass to a 75, which increased the amount of people who fail. Perhaps it is the administration trying to shake things up and changing the rules. I know some MS3's are upset by the rule Dean Rose was enforcing where you had to take Step 1 at a certain time that she decided, when you were done with every single rotation. My understanding is as such- it was very common for people to not do a minor rotation like psych or emergency medicine due to illness, family emergency etc, and push it off to 4th year. It used to have no impact on their schooling- these rotations are not required for residency applications. So many MS3's had been studying for step 1 (which we take AFTER clinicals), were about to take it, and then were told they would not be able to. And due to the timing it totally messed up their ability to do away rotations, electives, etc. There was a certain amount of political dueling going on between the various deans, and ultimately one dean ended up changing the rules after the fact. There seems to be a lot of that going on lately, as the school is transitioning in a 'new direction,' whatever it may be.
I can speak to another thing that has been a source of frustration. Pass was raised to a 75, more people fail, and then the new dean made a new rule where failing 2 tests put you on 'academic watch,' which could convert into academic probation. So there is a lot of concern, and a lot of our Ms1's were surprised to get emails informing them they were now on academic watch. People are worried this will go on their permanent transcript and hurt their chances of residency applications.
There are a lot of political issues and a lot of changes going on right now, and the truth is, us students really don't know the half of what is going on. So I think a lot of the angst is just people feeling left in the dark. But I also want to address some of the excellent things about PSOM, that Michael so eloquently addressed in his post above.
-Many folks in the administration genuinely care about you and bend over backwards to help you
-They try not to penalize you for failing a test, and don't mark fail permanently on a transcript
-They are very good about allowing flexibility when it is needed during the core clerkships- if you have a sudden death in the family or get pneumonia, for example, no one is going to dock your grade for needing to be away for a few weeks
-They absolutely do listen to student feedback! I've never been to a place that sends out so many surveys. They want to know how you liked the lectures, the professors, the clerkship, the didactics, etc.
-The class is brilliant and diverse. Much more diverse than a lot of other schools I looked at, and that was a huge selling point for me. We also do a pretty good job of celebrating our diversity and have an awesome office of diversity and inclusion
I could go on. The point is, I think all the previous posters were correct- there are changes. People are unhappy. Some changes are bad. Some changes will probably be great. You need to make your decision based on the factors that are most important to you (for me it was location + diversity), and not based on other students opinions, or your parents, etc.
You can PM me for more info. Best of luck!