Can someone tell me about UVA's new first and second year curriculum?

[ausom]

I can't access the course schedule online because it's password protected.

I know it's P/F grading the first two years.

I've heard that the curriculum is more fast-paced now, which means students get to enter the clinic earlier? Is there any truth to these rumors? Are we covering the basic sciences in 1.5 years now?

I'm looking at the course schedule that was handed out to us on interview day, and it looks like we take all our exams in the course of a week...so last year, they took Anatomy on Monday 9/26, Biochem on 9/28, and Phys on 9/30. That sucks, but I'd rather know what I'm signing up for than be "surprised." What's the other system of scheduling called? Block? Is that where you only take one class at a time in a shorter period of time and get to just focus on studying for one exam? That's so much better.

Anyone have any insight into UVA's new curriculum? I'm just speculating on what I've heard here...

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ausom]

I can't access the course schedule online because it's password protected.

I know it's P/F grading the first two years.

I've heard that the curriculum is more fast-paced now, which means students get to enter the clinic earlier? Is there any truth to these rumors? Are we covering the basic sciences in 1.5 years now?

I'm looking at the course schedule that was handed out to us on interview day, and it looks like we take all our exams in the course of a week...so last year, they took Anatomy on Monday 9/26, Biochem on 9/28, and Phys on 9/30. That sucks, but I'd rather know what I'm signing up for than be "surprised." What's the other system of scheduling called? Block? Is that where you only take one class at a time in a shorter period of time and get to just focus on studying for one exam? That's so much better.

Anyone have any insight into UVA's new curriculum? I'm just speculating on what I've heard here...

bump. If no one on here knows, could you please move this thread to the allopathic forum? Thanks!

 

[aamartin81]

bump. If no one on here knows, could you please move this thread to the allopathic forum? Thanks!

The curriculum has been changed to 1.5 years. From what I understand, you finish a bit early in your second year, have a month or so to study for Step 1 and go straight into clinicals. The major benefit of the system appears to be a completely elective 4th year. While all schools allow electives, most have required rotations in the 4th year (again, from what I understand). It also sounds like during the first year, you have Anatomy lab and Pratice of Medicine courses one afternoon each a week (3 days are 8-12). As for testing, I like the idea of having tests all at once. If the testing in each class is independent, it seems as though you would never really have a break - always studying for a test. You may want to post any other questions here: http://www.mainlymozart.com/forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=16. It takes a few days for questions to get answered, but they're generally pretty helpful.

 

[MacGyver]

It also sounds like during the first year, you have Anatomy lab and Pratice of Medicine courses one afternoon each a week (3 days are 8-12).

Yeah, "practice of medicine" is probably one of those stupid ass feel good liberal indoctrinations where they teach you how to "feel your patients pain"

I'm sure they also spend time, billed at thousands of dollars per semester so that UVA students can be "nice" to patients.

what a freaking waste of time and money. I'm sick of med schools and their ******* liberal arts feelgood courses that have NOTHING to do with the science of medicine.

When one of you UVA guys takes this class, please ask your course director why its necessary to pay an MD thousands of dollars to teach you how to be "nice" to people when your momma can do the same thing for FREE.

 

[ausom]

The curriculum has been changed to 1.5 years. From what I understand, you finish a bit early in your second year, have a month or so to study for Step 1 and go straight into clinicals. The major benefit of the system appears to be a completely elective 4th year. While all schools allow electives, most have required rotations in the 4th year (again, from what I understand). It also sounds like during the first year, you have Anatomy lab and Pratice of Medicine courses one afternoon each a week (3 days are 8-12). As for testing, I like the idea of having tests all at once. If the testing in each class is independent, it seems as though you would never really have a break - always studying for a test. You may want to post any other questions here: http://www.mainlymozart.com/forum/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=16. It takes a few days for questions to get answered, but they're generally pretty helpful.

thanks for the link! I never got the chance to go to second-look, but I went to charlottesville last weekend and really fell in love with the place. I'm concerned about the curriculum changes though, as it seems to give the students a lot more stress. I think several people who are running for class office at UVA also mentioned that the new curriculum changes were very stressful. I mean, is having more elective time in the clinic really worth cramming in the basic sciences in 1.5 (or less) years?

I was primarily interested in UVA b/c I thought it would be more laidback than some of my other schools (Pitt). Do you think this might not be the case anymore?

 

[TennisTim]

I'm a M1 at UVA. The new curriculum isn't that bad. Some people complain about it but med school is hard so if you want to complain you can always find something. I actually thing UVA is a much less competitive academically than most med schools. Pass/fail plays a huge part in that. And the courseload has been manageable. If I put in 2-3 hours a day I'm fine. I doubt that will work next year though, second year is pretty brutal I hear.

Our class is great, everyone's friendly, we have great intramurals and overall I know I'm a lot less stressed than my friends at other med schools, especially Gtown.

Oh yeah the main reason for the curriculum shift was to give students earlier access to electives so that we have more time to decide what residency we want to do and can prepare to apply.

Macgyver - It's because of people like you that schools like UVA have classes like POM. Actually, POM is not a waste of money - it was my favorite class in addition to teaching how to do physicals, take histories, deal with ethical issues, and other liberal things that conservative doctors like yourself don't need to worry about because you get it from yo momma.

Ausom - I'd definitely recommend UVA. Don't know much about Pitt but it certainly is a good school, so good luck with your decision.

 

[Wahoos]

Hey, I graduated from UVA Med last year. The 1.5 yr basic science is a great idea, and I know my class really helped get that kick started. When I went through the basic science years in 2001 to 2003, it was still A, A-, B+, B, etc, and our class made the suggestion that pass/fail will help reduce competitve stress. UVA made it happen for the class of 2007 and beyond. Also another input we told Dean Garson was that thrid year finished in end of June, and you start 4th year in july. Residency apps starts in sept, and I can tell you that 2 months between july to sept is not enough to help you decide a speciality for the people who are still between different fields. Also, if you want to do Orthopedics, you would need to do one home rotation and 2 away rotation to be on good footing. Getting letters from away places is a pain in the butt, and if you rotation in sept/oct, it would be hard to get it in on time. By finishing the basic sciences in 1.5 yrs, probably means that you can start to schedule electives early, like in may/june, etc. This way, you will finish 3rd yr early, and now you can do your electives for 4th year early, get your apps/ letters of recs in on time for the residency process is a huge advantage if you are going into something competitive like Ortho. Also if you are undecided in your speciality, you can rotated through several rotations before july, which will help you make up your mind about things.

From experience, you can definitely fit basic science into 1.5 yrs. There are things/material that can be compressed, shortened, etc, and your clinical knowledge will not suffer. Alot of what you learn as a 1st and 2nd yr in medical school is useless as a clinician. You just need to learn it once, use it to pass the boards, then never see it again. The classes that will help you are path, pharm, some physio, practice of medicine at UVA is an excellent course..... it is not just touchy feeling class, in 2nd yr, the POM is all about working through cases and applying the things you learned in path/pharm/micro etc into real clinical situations. Taught by some brilliant professors. I had Dr. Miller as my POM mentor, who is a very well known neurology professor, if you ever heard of the Miller-dieker syndrome, he is the Miller. And he told us in POM one day the story behind discovering this particular disease when he was a chief resident, amazing. Anyways, I actually was surprised that UVA have changed their cirriculum to give the current students an early start into 4 th year. I wish this was the case when I went through... things would have been easier. I guess the one thing you know for sure is that UVA is very progressive and they do listen to students and make big changes, which is a great sign. You want a medical school that will listen and ultimately do the things that will improve the educational experience of their students. I have heard that Vanderbilt Medical school is this way as well.... from a friend.

 

[werd]

i'm an ms2 at uva right now... just confirming what others have said - the new cirriculum has the basic sciences ending in march of second year (i think - it's new for the current ms1's). there's little antagonism within the class due the the Pass/Fail system (we say "P=MD"), and i feel much less stressed than my friends at other med schools. it's a good school to go to... it's a med school that cares about its students and we do well above average on boards. it's not in the city but we have such a broad area that patients come from so we have just as large a patient population; when you're studying outside on a beautiful southern campus, it's like the best of both worlds.
downsides... well, the lead-up to boards still sucks (you gotta know what you gotta know), and the undergrads are preppy around here (at least compared to my college).