Jalby said:
Did you read the USC v. UCSD thread?? Heck, the guy who was defending UCSD said he doesn't like it there and basically said a lot of the rumors are true.
I don't know where this USC v. UCSD thread is.... how old is it?
However, here are a list of things I wish I had looked into before entering UCSD SOM (which can be applied to any medical school you're interested in).
1) How supportive is the Office of Student Affairs? How knowledgable are all of the advisors? How accessible is the Dean of Student Affairs? How accessible are the advisors?
2) What kind of tutorial program do they have? Get the details. Do they have tutorial assistance for all classes or just some classes?
3) What is the school's policy on postpoing exams due to family illness, death, or personal loss?
4) Do you learn the best in lecture? or on your own?
I would argue that UCSD is more of a learn on your own or with friends kind of school. The lecturers vary from excellent to embarrassingly poor.
Also ask if professors are accountable for their student "ratings." Don't just ask if they get evaluated.
All schools evaluate their professors and classes.
But ask if the ratings of the professors and classes are posted publicly. This will indicate if the professors are REALLY accountable for their teaching.
5) Also, really consider how much "integration" the first two years of the curriculum has. In other words..... how many professors teach 1 course. Believe me you don't want (if you attend lecture) to be sitting through 20-some odd different professor's lectures with different lecture styles.
Ask current students if there are sections for discussion of clinically relevant cases? or even just sections for review of the material? At UCSD they like to make it sound like there are both lectures and group sections.
The group sections are scarce for most classes.
6) Ask yourself if you would prefer for more student resources on campus and pay more (ie. a private institution) or fewer, dwindling resources on campus (ie. california public institution).
Personally, if I had to pick a med school all over again, I would have gone with the private schools that I got into.... even though they are more expensive, and/or out of state.
Unfortunately, Univeristy of California (I can only talk from the perspective of UCSD), has experienced huge budget cuts. This means that there are fewer monies for supportive services like (student psych services, student health care, student tutorial services, etc).
Consider this carefully.
That's all for now.
With regard to my general impression of UCSD. Well, there are some amazing faculty (clinical and basic science), but the presentation of the curriculum for the first two years is out dated. Most schools are trending towards making all course material (syllabi) on-line with on-line tests and self-assessment exams... to help prepare their students for the USMLE's which are now on-line (or on the computer).
Consider this.
