From
http://www.amsa.org/resource/cardev/medsurveyresults.cfm
Below are the results for Boston University School of Medicine. As of January 6, 2003, 16 surveys have been completed for this school.
For each question, students were asked to rate their schools according to the following scale:
5=Excellent
4=Above Average
3=Average
2=Fair
1=Poor
Average values are shown for each question, and student comments are listed at the bottom of the page. Also, please realize that students were allowed to leave some questions blank. Therefore, "N/A" is used to indicate that there are no responses for that particular question. The standard deviation is shown in parentheses only for those questions for which there was more than one response.
Atmosphere Boston
Learning environment (for this question only: 1=competitive, 5=cooperative student body) 3.3 (1.2)
Opportunities to get involved in extracurricular activities and level of student involvement 4.6 (0.7)
Geography
Boston
Safety of the campus 2.6 (0.9)
Enjoyment of the area 3.9 (1.2)
Supportive Environment for:
Boston
Careers in primary care 3.8 (1.1)
Underrepresented ethnic minorities 3.1 (1.5)
Lesbian, gay, and bisexual students 3.4 (1.4)
Students with disabilities 2.6 (1.2)
Married students 3.8 (1.1)
Academics (Years 1 & 2):
Boston
Quality of teaching in years 1 and 2 3.3 (1.2)
Adequacy of curriculum in preparing you for USMLE Step 1 3.4 (1.3)
Hours per week in lectures for students in traditional curriculum (actual hours, not rated according to scale above) 27.7 (10.4)
Opportunities for patient interaction in the year 1 and 2 curriculum 3.7 (1.1)
Academics (Years 3 & 4):
Boston
Quality of teaching in years 3 and 4 4.5 (0.7)
Amount of responsibility given to students for patient care 4.5 (0.7)
Overall assessment of the clinical training at your school 4.6 (0.7)
Facilities
Boston
Adequacy of computer labs 3.4 (1.4)
Adequacy of libraries 2.7 (1.4)
Adequacy of study space 2.8 (1.3)
Administration
Boston
Helpfulness of administration, i.e. Dean of Students 3.2 (1.5)
Financial aid counseling 2.7 (1.5)
Administration's support/encouragement of student organizations 3.8 (1.3)
Student involvement in administrative decisions, i.e. admissions, curriculum, etc. 3.3 (1.2)
Opportunities
Boston
For research 4.2 (1.0)
To receive career guidance and mentoring 3.4 (1.2)
For experience with underserved populations 4.8 (0.4)
Overall satisfaction
Boston
Provide an overall rating of your school 3.9 (1.1)
Open Questions
What do you like best about your school?
* Boston University School of Medicine being in Boston
* being in boston
* It's located in Boston
* The clinical training in 3rd and 4th year are really very good. Also, in the first 2 years, I had a lot of exposure to patients that made the first 2 years more bearable.
* Amazing 3rd/4th year clinical experience Diversity of patient population in regards to disease and socio-econ status of patients.
* Although the facilities are poor (computers, library, general medical campus) the clinical training is amazing and if you excel, you can pick any residency you want. The school has a great reputation when it comes to residency selection.
* lots of student involvement in community activities
* Inner City setting, w/ great patient population to learn from. underserved, minority/immigrant patients. young inhospital pop. Great departments so options to go into any specialty is there.
* I feel that the clinical training I have received has been excellent, and I was very well-prepared for the USMLE I and II with minimal additional studying
What do you like least about your school?
Boston University School of Medicine
* the competitive atmosphere
* Administration, Expenses
* still honor/pass/no pass many students except from courses if they come through a boston ba/md or ma programs.
* The curriculum - not everybody takes the same course load yet everybody is graded on the same scale!
* The first 2 years. The lectures were not very helpful-- 80%+ were Slide presentations with the lecturer reading from them. Not a great teaching method, despite our gripes.
* COST
* Again, facilities are terrible, but will hopefully improve due to major complaints. As with most private schools, the cost is high but BU does little to help those who come from families above the poverty level. Expect $150K-$200K of debt.
* lots of red-tape
* Tuition is insane. You will have a mortgage by the end of med-school and won't have a house to show for it. Pt. exposure first two yrs is minimal but it's made up for during 3rd yr.
* The tuition
Please share any other thoughts you may have about your school.
Boston University School of Medicine
* Run like a business
* expensive, but a good school
* Don't come unless this is the only school that accepts you.
* Boston is a great city to learn medicine. The residents here are very smart, so my training as a 3rd and 4th year makes it ever so much more valuable. I think it's important to have great residents, because as a medical student, you spend most of your time with them, not the attendings (at least here at BU). If you needed help with something trivial and don't want to ask the attending since they're busy, the residents are right there for you.
* Why don't you collaborate with the AAMC study?! It's their Graduate Questionaire? They get more specific and I feel that if you two collaborated (from both the student's and school's side) EVERYBODY would benefit!
* GREAT CLINICAL YEARS VERY GOOD TEACHING
* With all that said, it is an amazing school when it comes to clinical preparedness.