This information is for Temple Podiatry only.
Work assignments: Luckily no homework, because I notoriously don't do homework. So far it's all been quizzes and exams. Each week ranges from 0-3 quizzes or exams, so the time you have to prepare for each on varies a bit. We have a staggered schedule so that we rarely have two quizzes or exams on one day and our final exams are offset as well so we have time to study in between. We did have one group presentation in biochemistry, my group specifically presented on ethanol metabolism. But it was a gimme type situation and altogether each group member probably put in about 15 minutes of preparation and then our presentation was about 15 minutes or so. Those presentations were on topics we had already learned, it was really a type of review before the final. In histology lab we had one group presentation thing but that was actually prepared and presented all in one class period, so there wasn't any at home work to be done for it really. Occasionally we get worksheets for physiology that we can do at home and turn in the next week. Since physiology has a lot of equations these can be helpful. But they're entirely optional and count as extra credit on the following exam. So it's really been primarily quizzes and exams, with other assignments being very minimal.
Textbook situation: The only textbook you're really advised to buy is a Netter. But even then there are "dirty Netters" supplied for use in lab, so I never even bought a Netter. 99% of what the professors want you to know will be in their lectures or other course material, so textbooks are largely unnecessary. I can tell you that people torrent most of the books, but rarely use any of them. The one exception would be histology. The histology professor will put things directly from the book onto a quiz or exam, but she'll always tell you which exact parts of which exact pages to look up at least. Also, I'm not sure what the Temple library carries. I'm sure they do have copies of our textbooks, but I only go in there to print things so I couldn't say with 100% certainty. I can say that even if they do have them, you probably won't use them. My friends who have tried to straight read through textbook chapters rather than focus on what was in the lectures usually suffer the consequences.
Scrubs: Scrubs are required in lab and you need to get them yourself. The upperclassmen will sell you scrubs before the semester begins or you can buy them on your own. I had scrubs from my old job and those are what I use. Color or style doesn't matter. Though I haven't seen anyone with those pattern/print type female scrub tops.
Lab structure: There are learning objectives and questions with each lab. You're encouraged to do them beforehand but it's not mandatory. As long as you do them at some point before the next quiz or exam you're good. There isn't like a lab assignment to be turned in on the day of the lab though or anything like that. As far as how the dissections work, there are something like 18 tables. Each table has 1 cadaver and 5-6 students. The students are split into A group and B group. So one day A group will be in lab and B group is off for free study, the next time it reverses. So there aren't more than 3 people for each cadaver per dissection. This also means that for general anatomy you only get to do half of the dissections—there are 24 dissections. At the beginning of the semester you might wanna do more but as the semester drags on and they start piling more courses on you become very thankful that you only have to do half the dissections because they can be very time consuming. Also, I should say that if group A does a dissection one day, then the next lab day begins with a cross-teach where group A discusses the lab with group B and goes over everything before group B does their lab for that day. So you don't do every dissection, but you do learn every dissection. I should also say that the MD students and OT students split their body's vertically, so the MDs I believe also only do half of their dissections, but also only get half of their body, whereas since we're on our own campus we get to do everything bilaterally. In lower extremity anatomy there are more lower limbs to go around since there were two per body plus the dental students don't do lower extremity so we get all of theirs as well. Body's don't get put in refrigeration each day, we just spray them down to keep them moist and zip up their body bags. And you're expected to find certain things but you don't have to. But really if you don't you're only letting your group and the other group that share's your cadaver down. Luckily, there is freedom in when you can get it done. If it's a long lab or you have something the next day to study for you can make your lab quick, only find like half the ****, then come back on the weekend to finish.
Class schedule: So far we're all on the same schedule except for some labs like I described above. You will be automatically enrolled in the same courses as everyone else every semester.
Leniency: The people who have left so far left of their own volition. They weren't kicked out. Temple is very lenient. If you fail a course you can do a re-exam which is basically a cumulative exam for the course. If you pass the re-exam you pass the course, though the failure will still be on your transcript as well. If you fail a course and fail a re-exam you can retake the course over the Summer at Drexel. If you fail too many courses in a year they'll make you repeat the year. Overall, they're pretty lenient, much more so than some podiatry schools. However, they've recently said they're gonna start cracking down on people purposely failing so they can try to take an easier course over the Summer. Also the re-exams and course repeats and stuff are not a right necessarily, it's all at the discretion of the higher ups. It's just up to this point they've always approved them. Moving forward, if they actually get more strict, then they may be more selective.
