Hey ohsocrafty22,
I am currently a 4th year medical student at UVA. When I was applying to medical school, I was accepted at both Emory and UVA (also U Michigan - I was a Michigan resident). In the end, I choose to come to UVA because I had a better feeling with the people and the place than the other 2 schools. Now looking back, I can tell you that I am very happy with this decision and would not change a thing. It is a great school and the atmosphere here at UVA is Awesome. People are very laid back/down to earth and I have made some very good friend from my class. That was probably the biggest reason why I decided on UVA. When I did my first 2 yrs of med school, it was still A, B, Cs and with +/- but our class was definitely not competitve at all. In fact, people would email notes, outlines, or anything helpful to each other in the class. Last year, the 2nd year students made a CD rom with many many helpful notes and outlines compliled over the last 4 years for the incoming 1st years. Also all of your notes will be printed out 2-3 days before the class, so you will not need to take notes in class. (you don't even need to come to class ....) The professors were all very into teaching and available after classes. Plus, every year, each class asks us what we can change to make it better, and the school takes our suggestions very seriously. Most of the classes now are much better structured than when I took it 3 years ago.
The pass/fail grading system is also a great change. If takes alot of pressure/stress away and people still do great. The 2nd year class averages for each of the exams were about the same as our class. (but we will have to see how their class do on the boards.... Our class's average was 228 with greater than 30% of my class scoring above 245) I think the cirriculum at UVA really helps you do well for Step I. (Both pathology and pharm have culmulative exam at the end of your 2nd year).
Yes, as a 3rd year, you do have about 4-5 months of away rotations....Good or bad. Good in that, the experience during those away rotations were the best out of all my rotations. I did general surgery at Salem VA (did many outpatient cases as the primary surgeon with my resident assisting me, saw patients in the ICU and floor, did the admit orders, wrote all the daily notes, I was pretty much the intern on the service). My family rotation was in a rural VA town and my doc let me see all of his patients by myself before he steped into the room, I presented them, came up with the management plans and wrote the script. (Of course he had to agree with my plan before I can write the script). The other 2 rotations were also very educational. So having these away rotations is a very valuable experience for UVA medical students. The only bad thing is that you are away for 4-5 months and if you have family, it might be hard. The school will also set you up with housing and pay you for the food as well.
C'ville is a great place to live, much outdoors activity to do, in fact, Kaplan just named UVA the "Fittest School" in American for 2005. The main gym is awesome, tons of weight equipements, and it is always packed with undergrads. There is a total of 4 gyms on campus. Also everyone runs outside and there are always pickup B ball and soccer..... The corner is nice to go out if you want to meet the Undergrads, Downtown is the professional scene. Lots of great restaurants in Cville.
Overall you can not beat the things that UVA will offer you!!! It has a huge reputation that will only get better in the future with our current Dean. When I was doing my interviews, a lot of people told me that UVA is a great school. Look at our Match list for this year, most of my friends in the class got their #1 choice. We send people to all the big named places in the country: Int. Med - UCSF, Harvard, Duke, U mich, NW, U Penn, Cornell, etc. ENT: Hopkins, Iowa, OHSC,.... Ortho: U Penn, UVA, UMass... Peds: CHOP (2), UCLA, Harvard,... Psych: Harvard, Dartmouth, U Penn,.... Urology: Cleveland Clinic........the list goes on.
I think you schould choose a school that you feel the best fit with and that you think you will be happy at. (both UVA and Emory are great schools) Don't look too much into the US News research rankings....reputation is overrated. A lot of people in my class have turned down places like Columbia, Harvard, U Penn, Duke, Wash U, etc to come to UVA. I was out of state and the school did very well with my finanical aid package..... I got a 16,000 grant each year, and most people out of State get something in grant. So the tution for me was exactly the same as my in state school (Michigan) and less than Emory.
You should seriously consider coming to UVA. Great place to live, great reputations, people are very nice, and you will get what you want in terms of residency. If you have any questions, drop me a PM.
Here is our match list for 2005
http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/handbook/residency/Match/05/index.cfm
