Shorty43 said:
Yeah it totally does answer my question. Thanks for the extrended reply. Sometimes, rambles give more perspective then concise replies.
So one other question. I'm also trying to figure out what type of curriculum would be best for me. Would you mind shedding some more light on your experiences with the Pitt curriculum? I know all the details about PBL, class time, etc having already interviewed, so need to rehash the basics... I was just hoping for a more personal take on it. Thanks in advance!
the new curriculum, huh? the first thing i have to say is that it will be different for you than for us. this is the first year we are using this curriculum, and it seems to be evolving a little as it is given to us. my classmates and i are the guinnea pigs for this, and a lot of imput from us is being sought (we have four curriculum committee reps, and have had 2 or 3 town hall style meetings with the head of the cur. committee). for Co2009, they'll have revamped some things based on our comments, so things should go more smoothly. some people complain about aspects of the curric. more than others, but i think its the same at most other schools. i'm interested in educational methods/policy, so for me it's a cool experiment.
as to the acceleration- they combined some classes, and just compressed others. we did anatomy in 2 weeks less than the ms2's. alot of material comes fast, and you have to be responsible to keep up. at the same time it is HARD to fail a class (we are H, P, F for basic science/organ systems). also, we start organ sys in march, MS2's started in august 2nd year. i like the fact that we are starting all of our clinical courses much earlier too. we did patient interviewing and physical exams on standardized patients last semester, and i head out to see my first patient on the wards next tuesday. i'm in a peds office come april.
pbl is in two sessions. i like the first one alot because it integrates things we've learned (as do the workshops, tutorials, and other small group work we do). follow-up session where students present isn't as interesting, but it allows you to develop your skills combing through the literature and teaching other students. note that we are much more than pbl in our small group curr.
teaching quality- anatomy and i think genetics were tought very well. cell phys was hit and miss, as was fuel metabolism. this is in terms of basic lectures. all these clinical correlation lectures they do where they bring in patients were top notch, and i have yet to have a non-stellar small group facilitator. i have found a few people who i'd look to as possible mentors just from random allocation of facilitators among groups, so from that sampling, at least 90% of them must be great (p value=0.023). we had a biostat course too.
i like block curriculum, let's you focus, although you have three concurrent non-basic science courses going on. we had ethics, law and professionalism (one course)- the law lecturer, meisel, was amazing to listen to. biostatistics was well-taught too, although some people skipped because it was pretty basic and they had it before.
i'm still mulling over the scholarly project. i have alot of research xp, and so initially asked why it was necessary for me, but they're pitching it now as more of a continuing education thing to span your 4 yrs in one way or another. you can do cool stuff outside of research too- one guy is doing a documentary in india or thereabouts this summer.
oh, and access to mentors/faculty/labs is easy as anything. they all seem to want to work with you!
ask again if you need other specifics. there'll be a brand new children's hospital for you too if it finishes on schedule. and don't base your decision on the sim lab- its cool but we hardly use it as far as i can tell. i think its for trauma elective.
lion
as for pitt, i didn't even get an interview so i'm a little sour at this point. 
this process is very random.
