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Recorded Lectures...
- Thread starter WhereMyLiberalsAt
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I always went to lectures in college (because they were not recorded), and I went to lectures for the first few weeks in med school because I thought I would do better if I went. A few weeks in, I started to just watch lectures online and WOW, it made a HUGE difference. My grades improved a lot. In med school the one thing that we don't have is a lot of time. When you watch the lectures online, you can watch them at double speed if you wanted to. That saves a lot of time. Also, when I went to lecture (especially if I didn't preview the material before) I would get lost..and the rest of the time spent in class was pretty much a waste of time because I had no idea what was going on. When I watch the lectures online, if I don't understand something I can pause, google it, and then continue with the lecture (but actually know what's going on). It's also really nice for professors that talk really slow (you can speed them up), or talk really fast (you can pause and write notes without missing anything they said). One of my professors talks fast and he likes to test on stuff he talked about, and in class you can hear people typing furiously on their laptops, but sometime you'll still miss stuff. So even if you do go to class, it's nice to have that as a back up so you can do back and watch the things you missed in class. Now that things are picking up and getting really busy, I rarely go to class and really count on those recorded lectures. For me personally, it's always nice to have a choice! Not sure if you have kids but I know people in my class with kids really enjoy having the recorded lectures for just in case their kid gets sick or something. This can definitely apply for other types of family or personal emergencies or illnesses.
Haha I do know what you mean. For each of the schools I applied to I had to hunt down those specific details. I know the LECOMs are infamous for their dress code and strict rules (no food and drinks anywhere except for in the cafeteria, etc). I think CUSOM also has a dress code? Could be wrong about that. I don't know much about the other schools but at RVU-CO, we have:
-no mandatory attendance (except for labs)
-everything is recorded (except for some CIS (for some professors) where they present a lot of test like questions and have students answer with iClickers)
- dress code is 8am-5pm, Monday-Thursday. It's pretty much you can't wear sweatpants and shorts and flip flops. Jeans, shirts without weird logos, sandals, dresses, etc are all fine (I normally wear jeans and a shirt anyways, so it's never been a problem). Just don't look like a slob and it'll be okay. Also shorts and t-shirt for OPP lab (sports bra for girls), but I think this is the case for every DO school for OPP class. You can come in Pjs if you want on weekends, or change into them after 5 pm lol. If you're in a study room all day you can pretty much wear whatever since no one is going to see you anyways. I see a lot of people walking around in shorts after OPP lab and its fine too.
-School is open 24/7. even on holidays I think. So you can come and use the study rooms, etc. Library is open until midnight.
- we have 6-8 weeks off for boards, I think. (I'm only a first year, so haven't started to worry about boards yet). but we do have a 100% pass rate and 2nd highest score (2 points less than 1st place) for board scores.
- we are required to take the USMLE and COMLEX, and we get prepared for both (great for upcoming merger)
- no hot food in cafeteria (but have 5 microwaves and 4 refrigerators), and food/snacks for sale (frozen dinners, burritos, drinks, snacks, etc) and tables, coffee maker, etc. heard we might get a hot cafeteria with the new PA program that's going to start soon-ish, but not sure (many students don't stay for the whole day and some students only come for labs, so it's not a big demand)
- do not have a gym (but every apartment complex by school does, and 99% of them have pools too)
- Parker=suburbs of Denver. So very safe and have pretty good schools. But close enough to denver to go partying on the weekends. Close to skiing/snowboarding (1-2 hours drive). Close to outdoor activities (it's Colorado, so pretty much everywhere haha)
- have free tutoring available, have weekly/test reviews from 2nd year tutors. Have fellows (3-4 yrs) to help us for OPP and anatomy/dissections on top of 2nd year tutors and professors
I found it to be helpful to check out the school specific threads on SDN to get an idea of what the students thought of the school. There's also a thread where students rank their school based on pros and cons.
hope this helps!
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Limited experience but I know CUSOM and ACOM have recorded lecture, but conversely both require 80% attendance. I know people who go to these schools who say the pay attention for most of it, but if they were unable to preview the material the night before or if they get lost they just put earbuds in and study other material (with the plans of returning to that lecture online).
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Thanks. You'd think that if they offer recorded lectures, then they'd make the attendance voluntary. It's such a waste of time to sit in a class for 6-8 hours going by the pace of the professor.
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The importance of having recorded lectures really depends upon your learning style. If you're the type of student who likes going to class and needs to hear things firsthand, then the recordings aren't so important.
But for other students, class time is a waste of time, and they do better with recordings.
As a Faculty member, I can tell you that your time is important, and you, as an adult learner, are the best judge of what works for you.
But for other students, class time is a waste of time, and they do better with recordings.
As a Faculty member, I can tell you that your time is important, and you, as an adult learner, are the best judge of what works for you.
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WesternU (CA & OR) -
Mandatory: Labs (OMM, anatomy), the rare high-profile/celebrity guest lecturer (low turnout = no return lecture), the 4 hour weekly clinical skills class, inter-professional education (basically every other week, 2 hour meeting)
Recorded lectures: Uploaded 1-4 hours after lecture and you are given access to all of the recordings of the previous year if you burn to learn.
Unenforced "dress code". Though I have never seen sweats on campus. I think I'd get more crap for wearing my Hillary for Prison shirt though...
4-6 weeks for boards. Several low-stakes cumulative exams on ALL of your previously covered material to prevent you from executing a complete brain dump.
Free Kaplan subscription for USMLE prep and ~4K question QBank. Moderately active Osmosis community and highly active Anki group.
Enough commuters from across Los Angeles to know that most of the class is crazy. Living a few miles away in Claremont to the north or Chino Hills to the south is the best for sanity. For people who want better options to collaborate, befriend classmates, or know that they're going to struggle hard, on-campus might be better.
The inter-professional community: Like most non-homogeneous clusters of people, there are pros and cons to having dental, optometry, graduate nursing, pharmD, etc. students nearby. Sometimes uh... appendage-measuring contests ensue. For the most part, people try to represent their professions well and allow others to speak more during our occasional pow-wows. Sometimes, us DOs legitimately look like buttholes ("My usual role on a team is the executive!" -during discussion about teamwork... duh...). Other times, the veterinarian might be on a soap box because of their business experience and more autonomous/broad role in animal healthcare. To me, this aspect of WesternU is extremely interesting because of how unpredictable people are. I would not be surprised if some of the faculty facilitators bring the proverbial popcorn because of how funny these meetings are. Generally, we just discuss ethics and learn a bit about scope of practice a few hours per week.
Food: Uh... plenty of macronutrient variety here.
Class culture: Uh... generally fitness-oriented, slightly alcoholic, legitimately friendly group. No noted gunnery-sabotage yet (ie. no OneDrive/DropBox craziness). Most of the class studies a lot. Lots of "med school is hard" memes on FaceBook. Some "Come on guys, think positive!" responses to those (from people who don't understand that it's a game -_-). Very few anti-tryharders. Big class allows you to stand out or blend in and disappear as much as you want.
Final rating: 8/8
Mandatory: Labs (OMM, anatomy), the rare high-profile/celebrity guest lecturer (low turnout = no return lecture), the 4 hour weekly clinical skills class, inter-professional education (basically every other week, 2 hour meeting)
Recorded lectures: Uploaded 1-4 hours after lecture and you are given access to all of the recordings of the previous year if you burn to learn.
Unenforced "dress code". Though I have never seen sweats on campus. I think I'd get more crap for wearing my Hillary for Prison shirt though...
4-6 weeks for boards. Several low-stakes cumulative exams on ALL of your previously covered material to prevent you from executing a complete brain dump.
Free Kaplan subscription for USMLE prep and ~4K question QBank. Moderately active Osmosis community and highly active Anki group.
Enough commuters from across Los Angeles to know that most of the class is crazy. Living a few miles away in Claremont to the north or Chino Hills to the south is the best for sanity. For people who want better options to collaborate, befriend classmates, or know that they're going to struggle hard, on-campus might be better.
The inter-professional community: Like most non-homogeneous clusters of people, there are pros and cons to having dental, optometry, graduate nursing, pharmD, etc. students nearby. Sometimes uh... appendage-measuring contests ensue. For the most part, people try to represent their professions well and allow others to speak more during our occasional pow-wows. Sometimes, us DOs legitimately look like buttholes ("My usual role on a team is the executive!" -during discussion about teamwork... duh...). Other times, the veterinarian might be on a soap box because of their business experience and more autonomous/broad role in animal healthcare. To me, this aspect of WesternU is extremely interesting because of how unpredictable people are. I would not be surprised if some of the faculty facilitators bring the proverbial popcorn because of how funny these meetings are. Generally, we just discuss ethics and learn a bit about scope of practice a few hours per week.
Food: Uh... plenty of macronutrient variety here.
Class culture: Uh... generally fitness-oriented, slightly alcoholic, legitimately friendly group. No noted gunnery-sabotage yet (ie. no OneDrive/DropBox craziness). Most of the class studies a lot. Lots of "med school is hard" memes on FaceBook. Some "Come on guys, think positive!" responses to those (from people who don't understand that it's a game -_-). Very few anti-tryharders. Big class allows you to stand out or blend in and disappear as much as you want.
Final rating: 8/8
