Well, I guess the answer to this is to make sure that if you are looking for a school that offers PBL, you would really want to research and see how dedicated the SOM is to this curriculum.
I, myself, are looking for schools that are 100% PBL. BTW, 100% doesn't mean there are no lectures at all, but it is to supplement areas that may require this more direct approach.
I'm actually appreciative of a lot of the negatives on this site about PBL...by knowing what SOMs you are going to, I can see that your point where PBL might be the worse curriculum choice. It just makes me look more intently to those schools that are really enthused about it.
BTW, there is a lot of independent study with PBL and while yes, you will need to go to meet with your group a few times a week, I think that it keeps you in step.