Hey everyone, preclinical student here. I know the discussion about which schools are "harder" than others has been perpetual and some will argue that it's pointless since curricula and certainly boards are standardized between schools. Despite the similarities between schools, I've been talking with some friends/peers in my class and we were just curious what students or alumni at other schools would think about the rigor at our school. I've heard from others here that our school is pretty difficult, but also that it's pretty forgiving, so I'd like to get a sense of grounding and see what you all think.
I know it's hard to get a complete perception without knowing the difficulty of our exams, but here are the objective policies:
-We have an accelerated 1.5 year preclinical curriculum that is true P/F
-Exam frequency varies significantly depending on the class/block, but they are typically every 2 weeks on average.
-For example, during our anatomy course, we had exam days every 2 weeks where we'd have two 2-3 hour written exams in the morning, and then an individual practical followed by a shorter group practical in the afternoon. We also had quizzes throughout. During our physio course, we had exams every two weeks typically. In our combined cell path/micro course, we would sometimes have weekly exams or two exams in the same week because the two courses were essentially stacked together to save time.
-We have other, "smaller" classes like clinical skills, health policy, anti-racism, ethics, biostats, etc. with either regular quizzes or final presentations/essays depending on the class.
-Lectures can run anywhere from 8-12 to 10-12, and they are optional with occasional exceptions. We have required attendance at all discussion groups which is usually about 3-4x a week.
-We must pass each exam; our scoring is not based on the entire course/block and the cutoff for a pass varies from a 60-70%.
-If you fail an exam, you are allowed one retake. We do not have remediation for entire classes (AFAIK), so failing a retake means that you would have to repeat the entire year again. Also, at least to my knowledge, there is not a blanket policy of having to repeat the year if you have to retake X exams or more.
-I have heard from older students that there is leniency to the "official" policy; if you are otherwise in good standing, they will work with you and usually allow you to have another retake if it's not excessive.
-During preclinicals, we have OSCEs every 2 weeks usually; however, most of them are not graded.
-I have not gotten to clinicals yet, but I know it's graded on a H/HP/P/F scale (for core rotations) based on a mix of evals and shelfs.
-We do have AOA.
-Attrition is low and the % of students who drop out for academic reasons or have to repeat a year is usually close to 0.
I know it's hard to get a complete perception without knowing the difficulty of our exams, but here are the objective policies:
-We have an accelerated 1.5 year preclinical curriculum that is true P/F
-Exam frequency varies significantly depending on the class/block, but they are typically every 2 weeks on average.
-For example, during our anatomy course, we had exam days every 2 weeks where we'd have two 2-3 hour written exams in the morning, and then an individual practical followed by a shorter group practical in the afternoon. We also had quizzes throughout. During our physio course, we had exams every two weeks typically. In our combined cell path/micro course, we would sometimes have weekly exams or two exams in the same week because the two courses were essentially stacked together to save time.
-We have other, "smaller" classes like clinical skills, health policy, anti-racism, ethics, biostats, etc. with either regular quizzes or final presentations/essays depending on the class.
-Lectures can run anywhere from 8-12 to 10-12, and they are optional with occasional exceptions. We have required attendance at all discussion groups which is usually about 3-4x a week.
-We must pass each exam; our scoring is not based on the entire course/block and the cutoff for a pass varies from a 60-70%.
-If you fail an exam, you are allowed one retake. We do not have remediation for entire classes (AFAIK), so failing a retake means that you would have to repeat the entire year again. Also, at least to my knowledge, there is not a blanket policy of having to repeat the year if you have to retake X exams or more.
-I have heard from older students that there is leniency to the "official" policy; if you are otherwise in good standing, they will work with you and usually allow you to have another retake if it's not excessive.
-During preclinicals, we have OSCEs every 2 weeks usually; however, most of them are not graded.
-I have not gotten to clinicals yet, but I know it's graded on a H/HP/P/F scale (for core rotations) based on a mix of evals and shelfs.
-We do have AOA.
-Attrition is low and the % of students who drop out for academic reasons or have to repeat a year is usually close to 0.
