LECOM PBL vs. DSP vs. LDP

[handslikehouses]

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Are current/past students from LECOM able to tell me the differences between the different pathways at LECOM? I have an upcoming interview at Erie, and I'm so confused. I apologize if this has been asked before, but I've searched SDN and found similar threads but most seem to be outdated (other than 2 from the past 2-3 years). Basically, what are the benefits of each curriculum, and which would allow the most time to study/absorb the material throughout the week?

From what I gather, PBL seems to be the best path to take to give yourself adequate time to study for Boards, but I am unsure if it's the path for me, as I am probably a better learner using powerpoints. Furthermore, I tend not to be the strongest reader, but most people I've seen do enjoy PBL.

LDP seems to be the more "traditional" med school approach but would class attendance be required or could I just listen to the lectures at home?

Still totally confused on DSP. Seems sort of like PBL from what I gather...

Thanks a bunch!

 

[deleted564680]

LDP = standard medical school lectures, traditional curriculum, guided learning.

DSP = 2 year independent study board prep

PBL = 2 year 5-10% group and 90-95% individual study board prep

 

[MusicDOc124]

Pathways:

PBL - PBL is at every campus - meet with a group up to 3x per week and go through cases, and select readings from the texts to be tested on with your group - this adds up to a lot of reading, but I know people who are slow readers who manage quite well. *PBL reading is blind - read and learning everything.

LDP - definitely the traditional path, and you'll get powerpoints. And to answer your questions, yes class attendance is required, and no you can't just listen to lectures from home - especially because they're not recorded for it to be done. *You get objectives with the powerpoints to guide learning, I believe.

DSP - to my best knowledge, it mimics the LDP pathway, but mostly on your own. I don't know if you can go to the lectures (you can ask at the interview if that's a possibility). You have weekly or bi-weekly meetings with a group/advisor to go over certain things I believe. *You get objectives as a guide for learning from those meetings, I believe, and maybe the powerpoints from the LDP pathway??



"Still totally confused on DSP. Seems sort of like PBL from what I gather..."

You don't have the same group-type work, not sure if you'd do case presentations, and you do not to case studies, your studies are a little more guided a believe.


Also, PBL is at every campus, but LDP and DSP are only at Erie. Interviewing at Erie also opens the door to Seton Hill campus, which is PBL only. If you end up interviewing at Bradenton - that's PBL only as well, but don't have a choice of other campuses from that interview alone, just as such that Erie and Seton Hill interviews cannot choose Bradenton.

Hope that helps.

 

[handslikehouses]

Thanks for the replies! I like the concept of PBL in that you are given case studies and need to "think" like a physician through readings. I was wondering if anyone knows how much reading is required, say per week? I admit I am a slow reader and dislike the "blind" aspect.

LDP seems like the path most undergrad premed students undergo but I also worry that HAVING to attend class while recording/relistening to lectures would completely take up all my time in med school. I have friends that are in med schools that don't require class attendance, so they just stay home and review lectures. But even with that, they are often complaining that they don't have much free time outside of studying.

Also to clarify, I am not looking for the "easy" path but rather one that will allow me to excel with learning the material for boards. Thank you all for replying!

Pathways:

PBL - PBL is at every campus - meet with a group up to 3x per week and go through cases, and select readings from the texts to be tested on with your group - this adds up to a lot of reading, but I know people who are slow readers who manage quite well. *PBL reading is blind - read and learning everything.

LDP - definitely the traditional path, and you'll get powerpoints. And to answer your questions, yes class attendance is required, and no you can't just listen to lectures from home - especially because they're not recorded for it to be done. *You get objectives with the powerpoints to guide learning, I believe.

DSP - to my best knowledge, it mimics the LDP pathway, but mostly on your own. I don't know if you can go to the lectures (you can ask at the interview if that's a possibility). You have weekly or bi-weekly meetings with a group/advisor to go over certain things I believe. *You get objectives as a guide for learning from those meetings, I believe, and maybe the powerpoints from the LDP pathway??



"Still totally confused on DSP. Seems sort of like PBL from what I gather..."

You don't have the same group-type work, not sure if you'd do case presentations, and you do not to case studies, your studies are a little more guided a believe.


Also, PBL is at every campus, but LDP and DSP are only at Erie. Interviewing at Erie also opens the door to Seton Hill campus, which is PBL only. If you end up interviewing at Bradenton - that's PBL only as well, but don't have a choice of other campuses from that interview alone, just as such that Erie and Seton Hill interviews cannot choose Bradenton.

Hope that helps.

I will definitely ask about the DSP path more during my interview! This path sounds like the best path for me if you are given powerpoints and the time outside of traditional lectures to learn the material. I do like the guided aspect a lot more than just being thrown in blind with PBL.

 

[MusicDOc124]

Thanks for the replies! I like the concept of PBL in that you are given case studies and need to "think" like a physician through readings. I was wondering if anyone knows how much reading is required, say per week? I admit I am a slow reader and dislike the "blind" aspect.

LDP seems like the path most undergrad premed students undergo but I also worry that HAVING to attend class while recording/relistening to lectures would completely take up all my time in med school. I have friends that are in med schools that don't require class attendance, so they just stay home and review lectures. But even with that, they are often complaining that they don't have much free time outside of studying.

Also to clarify, I am not looking for the "easy" path but rather one that will allow me to excel with learning the material for boards. Thank you all for replying!




I will definitely ask about the DSP path more during my interview! This path sounds like the best path for me if you are given powerpoints and the time outside of traditional lectures to learn the material. I do like the guided aspect a lot more than just being thrown in blind with PBL.

The general consensus APPEARS to be that PBL gets the lowest grades compared to DSP and LDP, but does better on boards. This is very generalized, and passed to me by word of mouth from 3rd and 4th years from their experience.

With that said, a friend of mine who was DSP rocked the hell out of her boards, but she'd have rocked them no matter the pathway she was in!

If you have any more specific questions, feel free to message me and I'd be glad to get into a little more detail.

 

[hallowmann]

Over the course of a semester (~5 mos), you have 3 exams in PBL and you are responsible for 700-800 pages of reading for each exam. That comes out to about 100 pages per week, but if we're being realistic, most people read through the material 2-3 times before the exam, so that's more like 250 pages of med school textbooks per week. You gradually work up to that number through first year though, so in the beginning its much less, but you also have Anatomy, Histo, embryo, etc.

Keep in mind that this is PBL reading only. It does not include reading and studying that must be done for OPP or the clinical skills course or any other small courses during the semester. You're going to be studying 6-8 hrs per day in PBL, and even more the 1-2wks before exams. The best part though is the flexibility of choosing when to study, but you have to be independently motivated to make sure you don't fall behind.

The general consensus APPEARS to be that PBL gets the lowest grades compared to DSP and LDP, but does better on boards. This is very generalized, and passed to me by word of mouth from 3rd and 4th years from their experience...

This is generally accurate given the experience of my class.

 

[handslikehouses]

Over the course of a semester (~5 mos), you have 3 exams in PBL and you are responsible for 700-800 pages of reading for each exam. That comes out to about 100 pages per week, but if we're being realistic, most people read through the material 2-3 times before the exam, so that's more like 250 pages of med school textbooks per week. You gradually work up to that number through first year though, so in the beginning its much less, but you also have Anatomy, Histo, embryo, etc.

Keep in mind that this is PBL reading only. It does not include reading and studying that must be done for OPP or the clinical skills course or any other small courses during the semester. You're going to be studying 6-8 hrs per day in PBL, and even more the 1-2wks before exams. The best part though is the flexibility of choosing when to study, but you have to be independently motivated to make sure you don't fall behind.



This is generally accurate given the experience of my class.

Wow, thanks so much for your input! 250pgs/week does sound quite overwhelming...the reason being that I never really touched a science textbook during undergrad but rather with my molecular bio (my major) lectures, all the students would record and relisten. The only science reading I've ever done was from scientific journals (for a few classes, so barely tbh) and MCAT books lol. Would you say most people who enter PBL have strong-ish reading skills carried on from undergrad?

Also, I'm assuming when you say studying 6-8hrs/day, thats for the PBL material only right? Not including OPP, clinical skills, other courses, etc. Otherwise, I would think 6-8hrs/day total on overall med school content is pretty manageable!

 

[MusicDOc124]

Wow, thanks so much for your input! 250pgs/week does sound quite overwhelming...the reason being that I never really touched a science textbook during undergrad but rather with my molecular bio (my major) lectures, all the students would record and relisten. The only science reading I've ever done was from scientific journals (for a few classes, so barely tbh) and MCAT books lol. Would you say most people who enter PBL have strong-ish reading skills carried on from undergrad?

Also, I'm assuming when you say studying 6-8hrs/day, thats for the PBL material only right? Not including OPP, clinical skills, other courses, etc. Otherwise, I would think 6-8hrs/day total on overall med school content is pretty manageable!

I didn't touch a textbook in undergrad that I can even remember.

6-8 hours is usually just PBL for me, or more.. like 8-12 hours a day if I'm up earlier. I substituted some of those hours for other courses as needed.

 

[deleted245139]

It sounds overwhelming, but really works. You find your pacing but it takes a very steep early learning curve. Once you get the hang of it, its great! I went out every weekend more or less w my isp and ldp friends, and did well.

 

[DoReMiFaSo]

Would you say most people who enter PBL have strong-ish reading skills carried on from undergrad?

It varies soooo much. Some people read like the wind, some read like a snail, others somewhere in between. Not much correlation b/w reading speed and grades from what I've seen. Some people think they can't do pbl but end up loving it. Others thought they are a great fit in the beginning and later find out that they lack the needed discipline.

So if anything, try asking yourself, "would I prefer scheduling most part of my day on my own and stick to the plan, or have someone else tell me where to go and what to do?"

 

[ortnakas]

It varies soooo much. Some people read like the wind, some read like a snail, others somewhere in between. Not much correlation b/w reading speed and grades from what I've seen. Some people think they can't do pbl but end up loving it. Others thought they are a great fit in the beginning and later find out that they lack the needed discipline.

So if anything, try asking yourself, "would I prefer scheduling most part of my day on my own and stick to the plan, or have someone else tell me where to go and what to do?"

Agree 100%. I'm a fast reader but needed a few passes through the material to get it down; the friend I shared notes with was the exact opposite, and we ended up with the same grades.

PBL is choose-your-own-adventure learning. I really enjoyed it, but I can understand if people need or want a more guided approach.

 

[MusicDOc124]

Something to keep in mind, its difficult to cram for PBL if you have a habit of such. Questions come from the book, and can be fairly random at times. You have no real guide, powerpoints (few, depending), or objectives to fill in gaps. You either read it or didn't. There is enough time to read it if you ensure there is time. You just have to have some good self-discipline and be self-motivated.