2021-2022 Medical College of Georgia

[soclocgroup8]

Does anyone know if we have a required color for scrubs for anatomy labs? Or can any plain/cheap pair of scrubs be used?

Any color/type of scrubs. Would recommend cheap scrubs bc they'll get gross.

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[logarithmic_speedometer]

Weird/specific question. Did anyone receive their background from MCG before they got off the WL?

I'm WL'd at MCG and I just got a background check to sign a consent form to have a police dept in Ga do the background check--as an OOS I thought it was strange. I was wondering if this would even make sense or if anyone else got a background check before the A?

 

[mochimallow7]

Do you guys think the WL is still moving? Just wondering if anyone heard back this week

 

[aurevoir0711]

For the people who chose the Athens campus, why did you do so? I'm currently in the Augusta campus but considering a switch as I am not a fan of the town of Augusta.

Athens is better location-wise and has a tighter community, which is usually a good thing. People are all friendly, including all your classmates and faculty members. However, the number of clinical opportunities, especially in the third and fourth years is pretty limited.

Augusta has more opportunities for research and clinical experiences, which is especially important if you are aiming for a competitive specialty. Athens always has people who match into competitive specialties such as derm, ortho, and neurosurg. However, more people match into those specialties from Augusta campus, probably due to larger student body + potentially better mentorship/opportunities.

 

[aurevoir0711]

Do you guys think the WL is still moving? Just wondering if anyone heard back this week

In my class, people got off the waitlist literally a week before class started. Chances are slim, but nothing is impossible.

 

[aurevoir0711]

Ok, I got an email saying that someone responded to my comment, but it is gone now. For those who might have seen it, I would like to add a few clarifications.

1. Athens has fewer clinical opportunities - This is generally true. You can move out to different clinical sites such as ones in Atlanta. Keep in mind that there are some sites in the cities that you probably have never heard of (These are surprisingly good, so always be open-minded). Yes, you can request to do electives at Augusta, but generally speaking, core rotations will not be done in Augusta unless Athens clinical sites run out of availability.

2. Athens has fewer research opportunities - This also is very true. You can do summer research after MS1. However, research opportunities in Athens is VERY LIMITED. This is why students reach out to people at different institutes/organizations to get their research projects. On the other hand, Augusta campus has faculties who devote time to research, making it much easier to land on a project. If there is not a project that interests you, faculties can usually connect you with other mentors who might have the project you are looking for. You can work on an awesome project in Athens campus, but you have to be willing to put your time into looking up various projects and networking.

3. Augusta has harder shelf exams - This is absolutely wrong. We all take the same shelf exams from NBME. Augusta students had a higher shelf exam failure rate because of recent curriculum changes (see below). However, there's a shelf exam retake policy, and many students were able to redeem themselves on the retake. I do not have the data on what the pass rate was after shelf exam retakes, but I am sure students worked really hard to get the grades they wanted.

4. About recent curriculum change - MCG has been trying to come up with a new curriculum that would facilitate the learning experience after Step 1 became pass/fail. Augusta campus curriculum recently changed to integrated 1.5 yrs for preclinical and 2.5 yrs for clinical. I am not sure if Athens curriculum will change to this model, but I have not heard anything from people (Current MS1 from Athens might be able to comment on this better). Also, there's a shelf exam retake policy, which might change after a few years. I have heard that Augusta is trying to move to PBL similar to the model in Athens, so keep this in mind as well.

 

[Doctrix8]

Was accepted off the waitlist today!! Athens campus!

 

[deleted1091157]

Ok, I got an email saying that someone responded to my comment, but it is gone now. For those who might have seen it, I would like to add a few clarifications.

1. Athens has fewer clinical opportunities - This is generally true. You can move out to different clinical sites such as ones in Atlanta. Keep in mind that there are some sites in the cities that you probably have never heard of (These are surprisingly good, so always be open-minded). Yes, you can request to do electives at Augusta, but generally speaking, core rotations will not be done in Augusta unless Athens clinical sites run out of availability.

2. Athens has fewer research opportunities - This also is very true. You can do summer research after MS1. However, research opportunities in Athens is VERY LIMITED. This is why students reach out to people at different institutes/organizations to get their research projects. On the other hand, Augusta campus has faculties who devote time to research, making it much easier to land on a project. If there is not a project that interests you, faculties can usually connect you with other mentors who might have the project you are looking for. You can work on an awesome project in Athens campus, but you have to be willing to put your time into looking up various projects and networking.

3. Augusta has harder shelf exams - This is absolutely wrong. We all take the same shelf exams from NBME. Augusta students had a higher shelf exam failure rate because of recent curriculum changes (see below). However, there's a shelf exam retake policy, and many students were able to redeem themselves on the retake. I do not have the data on what the pass rate was after shelf exam retakes, but I am sure students worked really hard to get the grades they wanted.

4. About recent curriculum change - MCG has been trying to come up with a new curriculum that would facilitate the learning experience after Step 1 became pass/fail. Augusta campus curriculum recently changed to integrated 1.5 yrs for preclinical and 2.5 yrs for clinical. I am not sure if Athens curriculum will change to this model, but I have not heard anything from people (Current MS1 from Athens might be able to comment on this better). Also, there's a shelf exam retake policy, which might change after a few years. I have heard that Augusta is trying to move to PBL similar to the model in Athens, so keep this in mind as well.

Yeah I’ve heard that the students at Augusta are failing shelf exams. Which, yes, are from the NBME and therefore the same across schools. With the Augusta students failing and not the Athens students, the Athens students have to retake them. Do you really want to rely on a retake possibility with a high fail rate…

The research point is moot. While there is fewer opportunities in Athens it doesn’t matter because you apply for summer research then get a mentor and continue to work on projects for the next few years. Also there are faculty that do research along with being able to get in on UGA projects. In the grand scheme of things the resources Augusta has isn’t comparable to going to a large academic hospital such as UCLA and developing a relationship with a PI and continuing to work with them for years. Then your name is attached to an impressive academic entity. It’s not uncommon to go to these large academic entities and get 4 projects in a summer then continue to get more projects, such as another 3 in the following year.

Now at Augusta they give you a research year if you wanna do something competitive. They give this year because the curriculum has become so accelerated you don’t have much time to give for dedicated research.

Also the clinical rotations thing isn’t true either. It’s a lottery system and you can definitely get rotations in Augusta regardless…

 

[aurevoir0711]

Yeah I’ve heard that the students at Augusta are failing shelf exams. Which, yes, are from the NBME and therefore the same across schools. With the Augusta students failing and not the Athens students, the Athens students have to retake them. Do you really want to rely on a retake possibility with a high fail rate…

The research point is moot. While there is fewer opportunities in Athens it doesn’t matter because you apply for summer research then get a mentor and continue to work on projects for the next few years. Also there are faculty that do research along with being able to get in on UGA projects. In the grand scheme of things the resources Augusta has isn’t comparable to going to a large academic hospital such as UCLA and developing a relationship with a PI and continuing to work with them for years. Then your name is attached to an impressive academic entity. It’s not uncommon to go to these large academic entities and get 4 projects in a summer then continue to get more projects, such as another 3 in the following year.

Now at Augusta they give you a research year if you wanna do something competitive. They give this year because the curriculum has become so accelerated you don’t have much time to give for dedicated research.

Also the clinical rotations thing isn’t true either. It’s a lottery system and you can definitely get rotations in Augusta regardless…

As of now, both Athens and Augusta students have to retake ALL 7 shelf exams at the end of clinical year. The reason why Athens students did not fail as much is because all of us took Step 1 before it was converted to pass/fail, so we studied really hard for this, giving us better working knowledge in the beginning. Whereas for Augusta students, they had to take Step 1 later due to curriculum change, so their knowledge was not as consolidated well in the beginning of clerkship year. However, Augusta students studied hard later on to do their catch up, and many of them were able to secure grades they wanted. With curriculum changes that are going on in Augusta, things could easily change in the future. Just keep in mind that curriculum in both Augusta and Athens are undergoing changes because of Step 1 becoming pass/fail.

About getting assigned to Augusta clerkship sites as an Athens student, this was very rare before the COVID pandemic. Since the pandemic, several clerkship sites have not been accepting students for various reasons, which is why more people are being sent to Augusta campus for certain rotations like obgyn. Plus, the increase in class size from 40 to 60 (our class is 40) has only magnified the chance of getting assigned to Augusta clerkship sites. Yes, it is a lottery system where most students end up in "undesirable" locations for one or two rotations, which usually is not a big deal.

For research, I said opportunities IN ATHENS is limited as in location-wise. You can reach out to different schools for bigger projects, but as far as what is offered IN ATHENS locally, the variety is not as great.

I don't think you understand the curriculum very well.