I'm a second year student at TCOM, and while I haven't done my core clinical rotations yet, I can tell you that from my experience, most of what the above poster wrote is unfounded. I'm also a class officer, which sometimes involves working with our alumni affairs department, and most alumni are more than happy to do things for the students. We recently had a specialty round table dinner, and alumni who had pursued a variety of fields came and shared their experiences with us so that we could begin to make career choices. Earlier in the spring, they had a murder-mystery dinner for the alumni, and my class held a silent auction in conjunction with it so that we could raise money for our class and for charity, and their support was overwhelming. I've gone to alumni reunions, and the friendship and support of the school always inspire me. I've contacted alumni to come and speak at club meetings, and they've been surprisingly willing to take time out of their schedules, or show up on campus on their day off. That sounds like a very supportive body of alumni to me.
As for the curriculum, I appreciate the time for self-study. I don't learn much in lecture, and neither do most other people. It's a passive way to learn. It takes a great deal of time to sit down and learn the vast amount of material required in the first two years. I feel fortunate to go to a school that doesn't force its students to sit through hours and hours of lecture. They give us the opportunity to learn in the most effective ways possible--through self-study and interactive sessions with the faculty. We have a great deal of support in doing self-study, from incredibly accessible faculty (who sometimes give us their pager number or home phone number) to a variety of published resources like textbooks and journals to a concise packet of notes that contain essential information. I have no complaints there. I actually wish more of med school were self-study.
While I can't directly address the complaints about the clinical rotations because I don't have any experience there, I can tell you that many of the professors that run our courses now will be our attendings next year when we start rotations, and I'm really looking forward to that. In most cases, a slightly lower volume of patients means that there's more time to learn if you take advantage of it. And at TCOM, instead of being the 3rd year medical student in line behind the 4th year students, the interns, the residents, the fellows, and finally the attending, you often have one-on-one contact with the attending. Again, an incredible resource if you know how to take advantage of it and learn as much as you can.
After almost two years of medical school, I can tell you that your education is what you make of it. If you sit back and wait for people to fill your head with information, it won't happen. If you go on clinical rotations and expect things to perfectly match your expectations, you might be disappointed. A great deal of what I have learned is because I took the time and made the effort myself, and I think my clinical rotations will follow the same trend. What I based my medical school choice on were two things: I was comfortable with the "feel" of the school and I also wanted to be an osteopathic physician. I believe I made an excellent choice.
Any further questions or comments are certainly welcome.
