Hi. I was accepted to Georgetown this cycle and I emailed one of my tour guides (M1) and ask him about his thoughts about the school. Here's what I got:
1) What do you think of the current curriculum?
It's module based, where you're taking one science course at a time plus any of the doctoring courses that are in effect (The doctoring courses are where you learn physician communication skills, social cultural issues, etc). Because it's integrated, you learn a little embryology, anatomy, clinical correlates, physiology, and whatever else is relevant for the system you are currently studying for every single module. I think this is better than a course-based program (as Georgetown used to be 3 years ago), because it reinforces the concepts through continually revisiting and building on them (for example, embryology)... BUT if you never liked that subject in the first place, then you might not like having to keep returning to it. Just an example. It's very fast paced, but that's probably true of every medical school. One thing to be aware of is that the scheduling between the Doctoring and Science courses can get hectic at times, where you'll be a week out of a big Cardio test or something and will have to be studying for a Patient Behavior and Development Course, when you'd rather be focusing your attention on Cardiopulmonary.
The Doctoring curriculum sometimes gets neglected by students, but it really is true to Georgetown's mission of Cura Personalis should you take the effort to invest in it.
2) How are the lecturers?
Some are great, while others are not so great. The ones that weren't too great tended to try to cram too much information into a short lecture, while not telling you how to focus your studying efforts. There are both PhD's and MD's who do the lecturing. I personally loved the module director for GI (Dr. Suson Mulroney), thought the Renal director was good (Dr. Haramati), as was Dr. Crooke (for Molecular and Cellular Physiology) and Dr. Read (for Pulmonary). The only problem is that you have a TON of different lecturers for each module, so it's a mixed bag on what you think of them. A given module might have 10 different lecturers for example. I think for the most part they all really care about the students though, and they're definitely available should you need help or want to talk with them. Although the director for Anatomy tends to have the reputation of being an ass, during Gross Anatomy each room has several doctors in it to help out with the dissections. These docs are all VERY helpful and care about getting you to learn it (Dr. Uren, Dr. Desseso, Dr. Azzam, etc).
3) Since its based on a grading scale, do you feel any competition
among your classmates?
Not competitive in the bad way, but there is "pressure" in the sense that everyone is trying really hard to do well, and so you feel the heat to place well against the class curve. But unless you're set on having to get that H (reserved for 10% of the class), then it's not a big deal. And for the record, P and LP both show up as P on your transcript. Classmates commonly share study guides and pass around various other study aides. I think my class is generally very supportive of each other.
4) How long are you usually in class?
It's highly variable, but those days I'm in it from 9-12, followed by anatomy from 1-4 generally are compensated by other days where I'm in it for an hour or two.
5) Do you feel the class size is too big since it includes both med
students and SMPers?
This was something I had thought about too before coming, but 195 medical students is definitely NOT too big. The SMP's don't take every course with you, and for those where they do, they're just other heads in the lecture hall and aren't competing against you. Nor are they even intermingling with the medical school much in the social scene either (some do). Either way, i feel like I know pretty much all my class at the acquaintance level, and then I'm friends with a good chunk of the class as well. It depends on how much you invest in the class.
6) The syllabus recommends several books for each module. Do you ever
need to buy them or read them? Can you do fine on the test based on
the ppts and lecture notes?
It varies ---(sorry, it seems like I'm saying this a lot) -- I could tell you which texts are FOR SURE purchases you'll need to make and which aren't, but you will need to buy some text while others are not needed. The syllabus tends to be very inclusive though.
7) Do you need a car? I heard there is no parking near the med school?
If you are the type of person who is used to having a car, then I'd say YES. Third year you have to have a car. If you come here, hopefully you'll find a house close enough to the medical school to walk, but a car could be used for shopping, getting around to other places, and so on. You could always bum a ride off a friend or roommate, but it's up to you if you want to be dependent on that. There isn't parking at the school, so people either walk to it or bus, or rent an expensive parking spot near the school should they end up living too far away (not necessary to live far away though). Find a house in Burleith, Gtown, or Foxhall area and your fine.
8) Are you happy? If you had the choice, would you pick Georgetown again?
I'm sure I talked about how much I loved DC and Georgetown on the tour and I still do. DC is a wonderful city to live in, and you couldn't live in a nicer part of it than Georgetown. Georgetown is challenging, but it prepares you well for residency. It is a city, so you have to be ok with that way of life... but it's a quaint big city, nothing too intimidating. The curriculum is dynamic and changing, and the administration really does listen to the students when it comes to making those changes. So hopefully OUR class criticizes it enough so they make the needed changes for YOUR class,... you get the picture. I wouldn't choose your medical school based on any ONE factor about the curriculum or faculty or something, but honestly try to envision yourself at any one of your acceptances for the next 4 years, and see if it fits your personality and lifestyle. I think that matters most.
I was deciding on Gtown and UVM, and I think I prefer UVM as it will suit me more. I hope this post helps!
