Rank your schools - post interview

[NewNameForGoogleBot]

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If you have already interviewed, feel free to rank the schools you have attended and are hoping for acceptances from Dec. 1st.

For me:

1. UNC - I'm a resident, want to practice in NC so this makes sense. Also it's dirt cheap ~$8000 per year. The school is incredible - almost everything is new - clinic, pre-clinic, classrooms, and they are still renovating. Faculty are as good as it gets and the clinical traning is hard to beat. Students love the school. Chapel Hill IS the southern part of heaven.

2. Ohio State - Very nice school, older facilities but a relatively new clinic. Faculty seem great and the students are happy. Columbus is nice and I love college football. Since I'm married I can get in-state tuition my first year ($16000).

3. VCU - Richmond is an OK place to live. I liked OSU just a tad better and the price tag at VCU is $29000. The interview process is a little frustrating and there is alot of down time. They have great clinics and have lots of plans to renovate the school, but it seemed like these changes were several years off. They take the boards after 1st year.

 

[Zurich5]

1. Southern Illinois University: I like the small class size, clinic is modest but efficient and clean, and SIU consistently ranks very high on the NBDE?s. Area surrounding the campus is a bit rurally ?underdeveloped,? but they pride themselves on producing GP?s and are very good at it. In state so tuition would be a lot less expensive.


1. Indiana University: Enjoyed Indianapolis, and like the downtown aspect of the school. Clinics were solid and I liked seeing all of the specialty programs in one building. PBL seems very worthwhile, but I?m still not sold on the concept. Price is a bit expensive, since I?m out of state, but it?s not as expensive as some private east coast schools

Will be a tough call between those two schools, given the luxury.

Also receiving votes:

4. Creighton
5. Case

 

[Zurich5]

Also, I'm sure jaap wouldn't mind either: feel free to email anyone who has intervied at a school and post yours too. It'll be a big help before going to interviews for everyone.

 

[NewNameForGoogleBot]

no one else?

 

[grettlin2]

Temple:
Strong clinic school. A lot of patient pool - I mean amazing!
Solid program. Environment is not good, but most students do not live in downtown. Enjoy the interview. No campus and only one major building.

USC:
California sunshine. Sky high tuition and living cost, $75,000/year X 4!!! PBL curricum and not sure how to make sure every group studies as depth as others. Good clinic program, too. "Unrealistic" interview process.

Columbia:
Solid biomedical study and training in D 1 & 2. Students are very satisfied with the schools. Friendly faculity and good research opportunities. Saw many many patients there. 97% of graduate study post-graduate or AGED program.

Indiana:
Very beautiful campus and friendly people! Emphasize on clinic and also, many research projects are under processing in medical school and dental school. PBL curricum. 2nd is the most difficult year according to the students. Have better chance to apply post-graduate if one graduates from there.

Could anyone post the school like Boston, Nova, Pitt, and Tufts?

 

[arns51]

Tufts:
Very honest and open interview, will answer any questions without skirting around anything. Students seemed very happy, large class size (around 150 I believe). Nice facilities, located in Boston, obviously a great city, right near china town. High tution and cost of living.

 

[grettlin2]

Hi arns51. What do you think if I ask will i get the acceptance letter on 12/1? Will they give you a hint or something to let you know? Is it possible?

 

[dr_benj]

1- Minnesota, Excellent program, nice facilities, not too bad of a price for out of staters, good patient pool, nice city. Pre clinical lab not the greatest, cold but no colder than where I live now.

2- Indiana, good school, nice staff, facilites a little old. PBL good or bad? Overall, would be very happy to attend here.

3- Case Western, Sweet facilites all state of the art. Program seems good, nice faculty. Questionalbe city, COST.

4- Louisville, will update next week after my interview.

I think this thread will be very beneficial for people making decisions. Lets get some more posts!

 

[arns51]

Originally posted by grettlin2
Hi arns51. What do you think if I ask will i get the acceptance letter on 12/1? Will they give you a hint or something to let you know? Is it possible?

Thats hard to say. It probably depends who you ask, but I bet they would just tell you that they accept 85% percent of the people they interview, so your chances are good.

Also, I bet the percentage of people they accept who interview before 12/1 is much higher than 85%, and the percentage of people they accept who interview after 12/1 is lower, to average it out at 85. So if you interviewd before 12/1 you should have a really good chance.

 

[pixies_fan]

Originally posted by dr_benj
1- Minnesota, Excellent program, nice facilities, not too bad of a price for out of staters, good patient pool, nice city. Pre clinical lab not the greatest, cold but no colder than where I live now.

The tuition, fees, books & supplies was $43,575 for out of staters for the 2003/2004 class. Am I missing something...I think that is a lot compared to some other schools.

 

[aphistis]

Originally posted by dr_benj
2- Indiana, good school, nice staff, facilites a little old. PBL good or bad? Overall, would be very happy to attend here.

The verdict for PBL depends on how completely you look at it. If all you pay attention to are the sessions (which can get tedious), you might not like it so much. But if your group is willing to have a little fun with it, it can be enjoyable. My favorite part of PBL, of course, is that the PBL portions of our exams are 100% easy money 😀

 

[dr_benj]

Thanks for the insight Bill....PBL kind of scares me, but it sounds like its not so bad.

 

[Zurich5]

Originally posted by aphistis
The verdict for PBL depends on how completely you look at it. If all you pay attention to are the sessions (which can get tedious), you might not like it so much. But if your group is willing to have a little fun with it, it can be enjoyable. My favorite part of PBL, of course, is that the PBL portions of our exams are 100% easy money 😀

Bill,

Can you comment on the pbl assessment/grading methods, and how much of that plays into your gpa/class rank?

 

[aphistis]

Absolutely. PBL stuff is actually graded twice. The first part is the PBL course material, which typically extends and builds upon the concurrent lecture material. A small majority of each biweekly exam is multiple-choice format, with a significant minority coming from the PBL format (typically a few multiple-choice questions, plus 6-10 half- to full-page essay prompts, presented as "answer one of the two questions," or "two out of three/four," etc.). The flexibility in the PBL essays compensates for variations in the way each group approaches the case. As I said, PBL typically provides a significant boost to my grade compared to the multiple-choice questions.

The second portion is assessment of PBL itself. This happens three times your first year (I think), and if you pass the first few consecutively, you don't ever have to mess with it again. The exercises are called triple-jump examinations, and they function just like a normal PBL case, just condensed for the sake of time. You'll spend 20 minutes at the beginning (step 1), exploring the case, formulating learning issues (research questions), and going through the whole schtick. Then, you get two hours to research your issues and assemble a presentation (step 2). After the time expires, you meet again with the examiner and spend 20 minutes presenting your research and assessing your performance throughout the entire examination. You're graded as you go, and the end result is a simple pass/fail grade. If you fail, you get to keep trying until you pass, and they'll help you shore up your weak spots. These TJE's, in conjunction with assessments from your PBL group tutors (which rotate every couple months), form your final PBL grade. This, too, is a simple pass/fail, and there are enough intervention fail-safes in effect through the course of PBL exposure that I don't think anybody fails PBL courses.

Hope this helps a little!

 

[predentchick]

Grettlin... love the SNL reference! That was a good one....

 

[predentchick]

whoops, it was actually zurich5.