Medical Schools Starting Online this Fall due to COVID-19

[themrwhatevs1]

I wanted to have a central thread where we discuss this issue, as I have seen it mentioned on various threads but not in its own dedicated thread.

Do people think medical schools will start online this Fall? Will this be different for incoming MS1s who are doing preclinical stuff vs MS3s/MS4s who will be in the wards?

Perhaps this can also serve as a central thread to record which schools are moving online-only as we get closer to the Fall.

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[efle]

MS1-2 could easily be moved online.

For MS3-4 I think they'd try to do a lot of other mitigation strategies before just going to online modules. Like having online for ER or critical care, but keeping people on the wards for general core clerkships and just not have involvement in care of COVID positive patients.

 

[Schwifty]

It’s still undecided at my school if fall for preclinical will be online or not, but I think it’s going to depend on where your school is located to some extent, like a school in a big city vs rural area

 

[Ho0v-man]

Preclinical 100% online is the stuff of dreams. My school had mandatory crap almost every day. If that all gets skipped, you could cut out like a semester lol.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Here’s a question I’ve been thinking about - if a medical school ends up going 100% online for fall 2020, will non-local incoming medical students still be expected to relocate to the area? I can’t think of any reason why it would be strictly necessary, but maybe there’s something I’m not considering.

 

[deleted1009574]

Here’s a question I’ve been thinking about - if a medical school ends up going 100% online for fall 2020, will non-local incoming medical students still be expected to relocate to the area? I can’t think of any reason why it would be strictly necessary, but maybe there’s something I’m not considering.

This is also something I've been wondering about! No word yet regarding a decision to have online classes for fall, but my school requires me to move to the opposite coast. With many housing agreements being year-long contracts, I am a bit worried I could be spending half of the year at home and not in the apartments.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

This is also something I've been wondering about! No word yet regarding a decision to have online classes for fall, but my school requires me to move to the opposite coast. With many housing agreements being year-long contracts, I am a bit worried I could be spending half of the year at home and not in the apartments.

I am fully preparing myself for the final decision of online vs. in-person curriculum to be made like, two weeks before orientation. I can especially see a late decision like this happening at state schools, though you would think the private schools that recruit tons of OOS students will be a little more sensitive to those students’ needs and make these calls early on. Hopefully your school falls in the latter category.

 

[Ho0v-man]

This is also something I've been wondering about! No word yet regarding a decision to have online classes for fall, but my school requires me to move to the opposite coast. With many housing agreements being year-long contracts, I am a bit worried I could be spending half of the year at home and not in the apartments.

I am fully preparing myself for the final decision of online vs. in-person curriculum to be made like, two weeks before orientation. I can especially see a late decision like this happening at state schools, though you would think the private schools that recruit tons of OOS students will be a little more sensitive to those students’ needs and make these calls early on. Hopefully your school falls in the latter category.

I promise your schools don’t care what’s convenient for you. You’ll probably need to move bc once they decide to lift these restrictions they’re going to be cramming all mandatory stuff down your throats ASAP.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

I promise your schools don’t care what’s convenient for you. You’ll probably need to move bc once they decide to lift these restrictions they’re going to be cramming all mandatory stuff down your throats ASAP.

Very good points, and well supported by my experiences with medical school administrations over these past 12 months.

 

[Mass Effect]

Here’s a question I’ve been thinking about - if a medical school ends up going 100% online for fall 2020, will non-local incoming medical students still be expected to relocate to the area? I can’t think of any reason why it would be strictly necessary, but maybe there’s something I’m not considering.

Yeah, you're not considering what happens when things return to normal. Unless you're able to move in a day, I wouldn't chance it. No one's going to understand that you need a couple of weeks to get your **** together, load a U-Haul, and hightail it to wherever your med school is just so you can spend another few days couch surfing as you look for an apartment. Better to just go, get settled, learn the area, and be on standby to return to class.

 

[themrwhatevs1]

This is also something I've been wondering about! No word yet regarding a decision to have online classes for fall, but my school requires me to move to the opposite coast. With many housing agreements being year-long contracts, I am a bit worried I could be spending half of the year at home and not in the apartments.

I am an incoming MS1 as well, and will have to move to the opposite coast too. I personally am holding off on finding an apartment and signing a lease until I am certain that school will start in person in the Fall. If it is online, I will probably just live with my parents lol. Not the ideal scenario but not sure if its worth the rent money to live alone in a new area and not be able to do much until the stay at home orders lift. The other downside is that if school does start in person in the Fall, I'll have to scramble to find an apartment. The good locations are getting taken quickly...

 

[TwistedTea]

In the meantime nurse practitioner schools change none

 

[samac]

I am an incoming MS1 as well, and will have to move to the opposite coast too. I personally am holding off on finding an apartment and signing a lease until I am certain that school will start in person in the Fall. If it is online, I will probably just live with my parents lol. Not the ideal scenario but not sure if its worth the rent money to live alone in a new area and not be able to do much until the stay at home orders lift. The other downside is that if school does start in person in the Fall, I'll have to scramble to find an apartment. The good locations are getting taken quickly...

I get your thought process and I’d probably have the same one but I would be shocked if they didn’t have some in person portion they kept and just moved the clinical classes all online. I highly suspect there will still be osces and other things you have to do.

 

[diene_daily]

I feel like a lot of schools are still working out the logistics, but I can see it being more things having the option of being done/viewed online seeing how these past few weeks have shown it is capable to distribute a lot of material online and not in person. Small group learning sessions will likely still be possible (and honestly probably the most important, like it's hard to learn to do a physical exam or interview a patient online lol). For incoming M1s I'd personally wait to start on the apartment finding/relocation for more official news as things slowly start to open, but I think there is a good chance you'll have some in-person things

 

[Rekt]

Online clinicals would be detrimental. It would also add ammunition for all the noctor midlevels to say they're equivalent.

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

One the one hand having all non-realtime non-mandatory (recorded) lectures would be a dream but missing labs would not.

 

[ciestar]

I get your thought process and I’d probably have the same one but I would be shocked if they didn’t have some in person portion they kept and just moved the clinical classes all online. I highly suspect there will still be osces and other things you have to do.

My school has alluded to this if it comes to it.

 

[ciestar]

Online clinicals would be detrimental. It would also add ammunition for all the noctor midlevels to say they're equivalent.

I just did an online sub-i. It was a lot of review that might be helpful for residency, but, it wasn’t a clerkship.

 

[You shall know the Truth]

Online clinicals would be detrimental. It would also add ammunition for all the noctor midlevels to say they're equivalent.

Online Clinicals are awful

 

[justaperson274939135]

Bumping this because I found out a couple weeks ago that my fall is entirely online and honestly I'm very nervous.

Are you in an area with a high number of cases right now?