FIU vs DREXEL

[Baby Got Post-Bacc]

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FIU

Pros:
-Great Step 1 scores
-Prosected labs (I see this as a plus b/c it seems like a big time saver and a more efficient way to study)
-Beautiful campus and facilities and I mean it's MIAMI c'mon!
-Affiliated hospitals aren't too far
-Overall I had a great feeling from the campus and the students

Cons:
-Out of state tuition
-Regular grading system (doesn't bug me that much - to the best of my knowledge it seems like residency programs care more about step 1)
-People say traffic/ cost of living is high but I'm from California so I feel like it can't get much worse than over here...

DREXEL

Pros:
-More well established
-P/F grading system
-Cheaper tuition

Cons:
-New curriculum (its all online.. knowing me I think I'd rather have the option to attend lectures)
-Hospital rotation sites are given out by a raffle and some students wind up having to go super far and relocate
-Campus was definitely not as nice as FIU

Not sure if I'm missing something, but if anyone has any valuable input I would greatly appreciate it 😀

Edit: fixed my comment about drexel's curriculum

 

[libertyyne]

cheaper, pass fail, higher ranked.

 

[ciestar]

That regular grading system though...much more stressful than P/F.

As far as Drexel’s lottery system, it isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. Most people I know got all, or all but one, close to Philly. One five week rotation in Easton wouldn’t be the end of the world. (And they provide housing in these situations)

PS, you’d be the second class with new curriculum, not the first.

Idk what FIU’s step scores were for last year, but Drexel’s class of 2019 scored above the national average fwiw

 

[Exli]

Be aware that Miami’s hospitals are dealing with a bit of an overcrowding issue because FIU’s students, UM’s students, and a load of Carib students (the big influx) are all doing clinical years there.

 

[Baby Got Post-Bacc]

cheaper, pass fail, higher ranked.

How do you know how these two schools are ranked?

 

[Baby Got Post-Bacc]

That regular grading system though...much more stressful than P/F.

As far as Drexel’s lottery system, it isn’t as bad as people make it out to be. Most people I know got all, or all but one, close to Philly. One five week rotation in Easton wouldn’t be the end of the world. (And they provide housing in these situations)

PS, you’d be the second class with new curriculum, not the first.

Idk what FIU’s step scores were for last year, but Drexel’s class of 2019 scored above the national average fwiw

Do you know if Drexel ranks internally b/c then it would be kind of the same thing anyway right? Also, you're so right current first years are under the new curriculum I forgot I have been trying to find more info about step scores from drexel where did you see that they scored higher than the nat'l average?

 

[Baby Got Post-Bacc]

Be aware that Miami’s hospitals are dealing with a bit of an overcrowding issue because FIU’s students, UM’s students, and a load of Carib students (the big influx) are all doing clinical years there.

Is this that big of a concern? I've seen other posts saying that students from other programs rarely run into one another anyway

 

[libertyyne]

Step scores is an absurd thing to look at. Incoming mcat scores are varied, so is the quality of student. Plus that is not a standardized metric so schools can game the numbers.

Ranked according to usnews. Fiu is unranked.

 

[aymar]

Do you know if Drexel ranks internally b/c then it would be kind of the same thing anyway right?

I'm at a graded school and it is essentially the exact same thing. The exception would be if a school doesn't internally rank the preclinical years. The vast majority do, however. Can't comment on Drexel specifically so I defer to @ciestar

 

[ciestar]

Do you know if Drexel ranks internally b/c then it would be kind of the same thing anyway right? Also, you're so right current first years are under the new curriculum I forgot I have been trying to find more info about step scores from drexel where did you see that they scored higher than the nat'l average?

We do rank internally, but we’ve been told that only comes into play when it comes to AOA. Your pre-clinical ranking doesn’t show up on your dean’s letter. Clinical years matter a ton more and that is a traditional grading scale.

And I am a current student (ms2) so they presented that to us during a prep for boards/ms3 presentation. 98% pass rate.

 

[Lawpy]

Drexel is by far the better option and you should go there. Cheaper + pass/fail seal the deal. And ranked pass/fail is still far better than graded preclinicals.

 

[aymar]

And ranked pass/fail is still far better than graded preclinicals.

Why is that? My school does not report our grades, only our ranking. Just curious as to how that's different

 

[Lawpy]

Why is that? My school does not report our grades, only our ranking. Just curious as to how that's different

As long as grades are present, there will always be the stress of getting the highest grades in every preclinical block. This is true even for those wanting to get AOA to be competitive for certain residencies. I'd rather just focus on being the top % of students than worry about honoring every single preclinical block, even if said grades are not reported.

 

[Kingsmen2018]

Drexel

 

[Baby Got Post-Bacc]

Man I wish some of those people that voted FIU would give their insight!

 

[LOLERs]

Step scores is an absurd thing to look at. Incoming mcat scores are varied, so is the quality of student. Plus that is not a standardized metric so schools can game the numbers.

Ranked according to usnews. Fiu is unranked.

How are step scores absurd to look at? It reflects the quality of the education and the amount of preparation a med school gives for one of the most important exams we have.

 

[libertyyne]

How are step scores absurd to look at? It reflects the quality of the education and the amount of preparation a med school gives for one of the most important exams we have.

1. Step scores are directly correlated to MCAT scores and performance in preclinical courses.
2. Schools had varied means medians and distributions of MCAT scores.
3. Step score reporting is not standardized , so schools can game these numbers here are a few examples
a. Mean Step score
b. Median Step Score
C. Step score excluding failures
d. Step score for only people who sat for exam on x date
e. Step score excluding people who were held back
f. Step score for people who passed internal CBSE exam
g. Step score excluding 10th percentile of class
You get the idea. Comparing the step score of two different schools is absurd. Most schools fall within the predicted score based on incoming class's MCAT score. Even if the schools had the exact same incoming mcat score distribution, the schools can be reporting different metrics of the step score excluding different populations so it is never an apples to apples comparison.

 

[sss1219]

@Baby Got Post-Bacc I recommend you check out the 2016-17 FIU application thread, there was a current MS4 that shed some light on why their step scores are so high. Not sure how much truth was in it, but you will definitely want to read his/her posts before you make a decision.

 

[Baby Got Post-Bacc]

@Baby Got Post-Bacc I recommend you check out the 2016-17 FIU application thread, there was a current MS4 that shed some light on why their step scores are so high. Not sure how much truth was in it, but you will definitely want to read his/her posts before you make a decision.

I definitely know which post you're talking about and I reached out to several FIU students who all told me that flat out isn't true! Thank god b/c what that person was describing sounded like a nightmare! I also talked to someone that goes there that told me that the grades are not reported to residency programs, just details about your ranking wrt your peers. Which at this point would technically be the same thing as going to drexel, grading system wise. At least that's how I see so far.

 

[FIUStudent]

Before going to med school I also worried about the different methods of grading. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. Program directors know that grades are not standardized. So a pass from one school vs a “high pass” from another vs a 85 from yet another cant be compared. The easiest thing to do is look at your ranking (which is exactly what program directors do, do you think they scrutinize that pass you got in anatomy?) So you go to a P/F school? Awesome. But you’re ranked in the bottom quartile? Not so awesome. My opinion at this point in time is don’t sweat the way you are graded. Go in, study hard and do the best you can.

I really enjoyed my time at FIU. It’s not perfect and there were things we griped about, but I believe I got a great education (which is mostly up to you and how much work you put in). My class was very close, we always shared notes, helped each other out and were happy about each other’s successes.

On a side note, not really sure what that one poster is talking about with all those ways to manipulate step 1 scores. Lol. I think taking step 1 after third year is a boost, and aside from taking it after third year vs second year step 1 is literally the only standardized metric of med school. I know there was some talk in another thread about “holding people back” but I personally knew some of these students and the unfortunate fact is that they weren’t prepared for med school. If you are barely passing your preclinical years, do you really want to roll the dice and see what happens with step 1 (which according to the PD surveys is almost unanimously ranked as the most important factor)? Everyone wants to believe they will be the unicorn who barely passes class but then magically pulls a 240. It’s not impossible but extremely unlikely. If I were in that position I would much rather take extra time to get my studies together. Taking an extra year doesn’t look great, but failing step 1 is essentially a death sentence and barely passing will also severely limit your choices.