hey dirtybob,
one of the 4th years on the adcom called me a few days ago asking if I had any questions about ucla. of course I took the opportunity to ask him about the new curriculum...here's what he said:
There will be 24 hours of "contact time" per week, meaning there will be 24 hours that's been scheduled, either in lecture, seminars, small groups, or labs. There will be 2 hrs of lecture per day, 10 hrs total for the week. The rest of the time will come mainly from seminars and small groups. Small groups will have about 8 people, and seminars will have more.
The new curriculum is now organ-based, similar to what ucsf and usc has. There will be three 8 week blocks (all done during 1st year) and then one 14 week block on the nervous system (7 weeks done 1st year and 7 weeks done during 2nd year). I'm sure most people know what the organ-based curriculum is like...but in case some who don't...it's basically you spend an entire block on a particular system (eg. cardio) and learn everything related to the heart (anatomy, pharmacology, physiology, etc.). The theory is that its easier to learn this way instead of just looking at the anatmoy of the heart your first semester, and then learning the pharmacology related to it during your second year.
There will also be a class called "doctoring" which emphasis on clinical stuff, ethics, etc.
Classes are pass/fail, with a possibility of students receiving a letter of distinction. But getting that distinction is very subjective and not based on test scores. It's based on overall impression of the student by the faculty.
Random info I found out: Recruitment weekend is 4/12/2003...everyone gets 30% of their financial need in grants...new hospital will open anytime between 2005 and 2007 (no one is sure yet).
I think that's all he told me...I'll add more if I find out more about the curriculum.
good luck!