How long are you guys in class?

[NewAgeDO]

I just wanted to get an idea where COMP stands in terms of in class hours. We finally got our class schedule and it seems pretty intense. For a typical day, COMP first year students are in class from 8:00-4:50 on a daily basis. There are some days where we get out before then, but typically we're in there 'til 5. During the 1st semester we'll be taking a total of 34.5 units broken down into the following classes:
Biochemistry (no lab) 4.5
Embryology 1.0
Medical Genetics 1.0
Gross Anatomy 12.5
Histology 2.0
Microbiology 5.0
Pathology 2.5
Pharmacology 2.5
Physiology 1.5
OP & P 2.0

This schedule represents the 1st semester after the few changes made by the professors to decrease the total number of units the students will be undergoing. Last year's class had even more units to take.

How does your school fair, and in your opinion, how much time in class is too long?
I know other schools approach differently. What's your take?

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[muonwhiz]

AZCOM's schedule is similar to yours. Each Monday the time from 7 to 11 am is blocked out for exams. The remainder of the time for class and labs is 8 to 5 on Monday through Friday. I don't know whether this time is excessive or just right yet, we start in 2 weeks! I figure that most medical school class schedules for the first year are pretty much the same.

 

[ckent]

I go to U Maryland and we have lectures (2hrs) and small groups (2hrs) 8 am-12 pm every day. Once a week we have PBL 1-3pm, and we have PD in the afternoon, sometimes we have an additional small group too. We are usually done by 3 though. Once in a while instead of the additional small groups, we might have an additional lecture, and I fall asleep after 2 hours of lecture. I like our school's curriculum, it keeps the hours spent in the lecture hall to a minimum.

 

[oceana]

34.5 units.. I cant imagine. I'm a first year at Touro COM and we have 23 units this semester. We are in class 30 hrs a week. Monday is our longest day from 8-5, Tues-Thursday were out around 3 and Friday at noon. Which works out great. I think TUCOM does a good job balancing out the lecture hours with lab courses.
Semseter Unit Breakdown:
Anatamy 5 units
Biochem 1
Basic Science Foundations 8
Intro Clin Med 2
OMM 3
Phys Diag 2
Preventative Med/Public Health 2

...TOURO ROCKS!!

 

[muonwhiz]

Does anyone know how to convert these units to semester hours? It would be interesting to know. At AZCOM we are given the number of actual hours, but not credit hours per year. I would be interested in knowing how many semester hours will be obtained to get the degree.

 

[Doctor Wyldstyle]

I don't know if what they list for credit hours always translates the same for everyone into class hours. We don't go by credit hours, but they are listed as a reference because some scholarship recipients need to list how many units they are taking to the scholarship distributor. Anyways, here it goes for Saint Louis U Med, it's not so bad now..knock on wood but it's accelerating:

"Phase 1 (Year 1)

Units Credit Hours

Fundamentals of Biomedical Sciences (FBS) 29
Human Anatomy 8
Cell Biology 4
Metabolism 5
Microbes and Host Responses 4
Molecular Biology and Genetics 4
Principles of Pharmacology 3
Introduction to Pathology 1

Patient, Physician and Society I 8

Health Information Resources 1

Electives 1

Total credits in semester hours 39"

wyldstyle2000

 

[NewAgeDO]

Thanks for your responses guys. ShellBelle, in regards to your question, I'm not so sure how those units convert, but it seems that although some schools have xx.x units, it does not necessarily mean they will be in class that long per week. I believe Wyldstyle has a total of 39 units, but St. Louis's approach is different in that they have less in class time to allow them to study outside of class (which I would prefer to a certain extent). I'm sure as the semester rolls along, we can all elaborate on our curriculums. I personally believe being in class 35-40 hrs a week is way too much, and does not give us ample time to study all the material before the next lecture. Next semester is going to be worse because we will have another 35-37 units, making a total of 70+ units for the first year. I think Touro has just the right amount of in-class hours. ShellBelle mentions 30 hours, and that's just enough time to be productive in class and still allow adequate time for out-of-class studying. However, I think WesternU will definitely prepare us if not over prepare us for our third and fourth years. Hope the year goes well with you all.

Update: Actually, because our Histology professor has allowed us to view the histo slides via the school's website, we have the option of finishing class early on some days. We just have to make sure we view the slides at a later time. That's good news for me....yeah, more time to study

 

[NewAgeDO]

Just wanted to share w/ you guys the other extreme side of class lecture time posted by another student. I guess there are +'s and
-'s for having more/less lectures per day.

hi there
i am currently entering my 4th yr of medical school. i am studying at manchester university in the uk. Our course follows problem based learning completely from the 1st yr. we have very few lectures, about 3 a wk. at first i found it very difficult to cope with as there was little guidance or teaching. it is entirely up to the student to research all of the information. withina semester i gradually learned to like the course and appreciated having to learn off your own back. now that i am in clinical i am used to learning by myself as oppose to relying on lectures. you do need a lot of motivation, it prevents cramming in of lecture notes before exams. the downfall are that there are times when you would appreciate some guidance such as how much depth you need to know for a particular topic, so a think a combination of pbl and lecture would provide optimum results. i do hope this info asproved to be of some use.
good luck and take care
shaheena [email protected]
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4th YR MEDICAL STUDENT
ENGLAND