i went...
we had an overview of the school and a thorough intro to the curriculum including a problem based learning session and description of the new organ based block scheduling.
the welcome address (which i missed the first 15 minutes of) was about ucla, the new hospital that's being built, how ucla's hospital is ranked the best west of the mississippi (?), top 10 reasons to come to ucla, faculty reputation, etc.
the curriculum is going to be divided into blocks for next year, first block being an overview of basic science, second being respiratory, third or fourth being neuro/psych, etc... each block will focus on an organ system and includes pharm, physio, histology, etc. instead of separating these subjects as done traditionally. there will be a max of 10 hours of lecture per week (2 each day), 2 pbl sessions/week, plus tues, weds, thurs there are labs (2-3hours?) and a doctoring course (which we also sat in on that day). i'm not sure how student schedules are now but this means more free time to do independent study. if anyone has sat in on a pbl session, you probably have a good idea of how the session is structured and how students are assigned to research a specific aspect of the case being addressed.
we had a nice luncheon at the student lounge and listened to a few students talk about their experiences in the residency match, sat in on a doctoring sessions where a volunteer interviewed a patient (actor). then there were tables set up with first years to answer questions about the student organization they represented.
i got the feeling at my interview as well as at second look day that the faculty try to stay very in tune with student needs, they are willing to make changes when student opinion indicates need for change, etc. overall the day made me more excited about starting school in the fall. 😀
what did y'all think?
