I am pleased to see that there is a thread concerning NU medical schools. (UNMC, and CU). I am currently at UNMC, and yes it is true that we have a new building but that is about all we have. The rest here is poor. If you want an accurate and fair picture of UNMC then keep on reading. This place is cut-throat. There is strong competition among students and very little camaraderie. After the first year everyone is in their groups/cliques and no real communication among groups and that is due of the grading system. This follows well through your clinical years.
On several occasions just to pass an exam you needed 80%. For undergrad this would be a walk in the park, but when slides and pages are removed from the library by other students it becomes difficult to remain competitive. The interaction with professors is close to non-existent. Of course, during the interview process, we tell you how easily it is to meet with profs. and how they always have time for their medical students. Well, half the time we didn't even know the name of our Profs. I constantly hear and see that my friends at other medical schools (Northwestern, NYMC, Ohio state, SLU) how great their class is, especially the teamwork among students and the approachability towards the profs and clinicians. I had the chance to attend other schools, I choose UNMC because of ONE reason, and that was money. UNMC is fairly cheap, I take out roughly $30000 a year in loans and that covers almost everything. If I had gone to another medical school, my loans would be more, roughly $10000-15000, however it would be worth it. Being a third year I have also seen the clinical setting at UNMC. Many of my rotations I decided to complete elsewhere, the reason for such action is that some of the rotations are poorly organized and that many of the Physicians DO NOT take the time to educate and help the students in the clinical setting. (This is not the Docs. Fault, it is the setup of the rotations and the sub-par clinical education and its directors). I visited medical schools on both coasts and their way of treating students and educating them was top notch and proved how UNMC practically neglects its students. These are harsh words, but it is the reality. When returning I had learned far more than any other student for the same rotation. It was a pleasure to share this knowledge with my fellow students at UNMC, however the word SHARING at UNMC is fictional. For anyone wanting to go to medical school make sure you know where you are going, find out not from websites, and recruiters but from us, students who know the truth. I am more then happy to answer any questions concerning med-school, classes, gpas, mcats and the whole jazz!
Concerning GPAs and MCATs, means crap in medical school. One of our top students had below the average on the MCAT and got one of the higher USMLE step one scores.