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IS there anyone out there who attends any of these schools? What do you think of them? What are the +/-s??
Rochester, Wayne, Ohio State and MSUCHM
- Thread starter autumnchai
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I'm a MS4 at MSU-CHM now and I've enjoyed pretty much most of my experience and was very happy with the quality of education I've received. I'd be happy to answer any specific questions you have although they have changed the 1st year curriculum for the better and we are a PBL school which I really loved but I'm the kind of person who studies alone mostly and doesn't mind a lot of reading. I did extremely well on both Step exams and I think I have an excellent shot at getting one of my top five choices for residency (Trying to go into Radiology) and the people here are usually very kind and understanding.
Our first two years are here in East Lansing then the clinical years are in either Marquette (you match to these spots when you apply to Med School), Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing (You need to have some reason why you need to stay i.e. spouse has a job in area), Flint and then Saginaw. I'm in Lansing and the clinical years seemed to prepare me very well.
Our class size is around 105 plus or minus a few people and during the 1st year you take most of your core classes with the students from MSU-COM (the DO school) so the class size is actually around 230 for the big lectures but only for the first year, the second is all small group, few lectures, study on your own PBL type stuff.
One negative I have to say about our clinical years is that during the 3rd year, they don't include any electives and currently our 3rd year goes till the end of August so September is the first time you have a chance to take an elective in say Radiology or any other specialty that you're interested in which doesn't give you a lot of time. They are in the process of changing this though and although not official people who started this year should have at least a month or maybe two for electives during their 3rd year to explore some specialty interests.
The administration is pretty open to our complaints and suggestions. The other students are all very good people and this is one of the reasons I came to this school, I felt good being here when I interviewed and I did have a choice in my medical school.
Any other questions feel free to ask. Good luck in choosing.
Our first two years are here in East Lansing then the clinical years are in either Marquette (you match to these spots when you apply to Med School), Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing (You need to have some reason why you need to stay i.e. spouse has a job in area), Flint and then Saginaw. I'm in Lansing and the clinical years seemed to prepare me very well.
Our class size is around 105 plus or minus a few people and during the 1st year you take most of your core classes with the students from MSU-COM (the DO school) so the class size is actually around 230 for the big lectures but only for the first year, the second is all small group, few lectures, study on your own PBL type stuff.
One negative I have to say about our clinical years is that during the 3rd year, they don't include any electives and currently our 3rd year goes till the end of August so September is the first time you have a chance to take an elective in say Radiology or any other specialty that you're interested in which doesn't give you a lot of time. They are in the process of changing this though and although not official people who started this year should have at least a month or maybe two for electives during their 3rd year to explore some specialty interests.
The administration is pretty open to our complaints and suggestions. The other students are all very good people and this is one of the reasons I came to this school, I felt good being here when I interviewed and I did have a choice in my medical school.
Any other questions feel free to ask. Good luck in choosing.
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I'm an MS1 at WSU, starting classes again tomorrow after winter break.
I can't imagine a more 'traditional' curriculum than ours and I personally perform my best under this kind of system. I enjoyed my first semester as much as one can enjoy perhaps the busiest studying of my life. But I did indeed find some time to make some new friends and keep occasional contact with old ones (on post-exam weekends.)
I guess the most common thing I get asked about WSU is if the size bothers me (~250/class.) It really doesn't, although I went to a large undergraduate university and 250 is large step down from that.
I'd say the biggest minus is that some of the staff you have to deal with are somewhat less than helpful and reliable, but with some exceptions I've enjoyed most of the faculty.
I can't imagine a more 'traditional' curriculum than ours and I personally perform my best under this kind of system. I enjoyed my first semester as much as one can enjoy perhaps the busiest studying of my life. But I did indeed find some time to make some new friends and keep occasional contact with old ones (on post-exam weekends.)
I guess the most common thing I get asked about WSU is if the size bothers me (~250/class.) It really doesn't, although I went to a large undergraduate university and 250 is large step down from that.
I'd say the biggest minus is that some of the staff you have to deal with are somewhat less than helpful and reliable, but with some exceptions I've enjoyed most of the faculty.
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I'm a 4th year at Wayne State, so here's my take on some of the +/-:
Positives:
-Large class size means that you will almost certainly find a place to fit in.
-Lots of different activities (we are rumored to have the most different student groups of any med school)
-Excellent clinical training - we are the ONLY school in Detroit, which means that 1. we go to ALL of the teaching hospitals around here and 2. we don't have to share pathology.
-WSU grads are well respected (also true of the other schools you're looking at), especially in the Midwest. I'm applying in OB and every program says that they love Wayne grads.
-Cheaper than the other schools.
-Administration who does listen (although not always act) to us. I can see improvements from my class to the MS1 class in terms of course arrangements, many of those changes were suggested by students.
Neutral aspects (ie some may like this, some may not):
-1st 2 years are traditional lecture style, but they are trying to increase the clinical relevance (ie, in 1st year there is an Intro to the Patient course)
-BIG class size.
Negatives:
-Metro Detroit. I hate it. (but to be fair, others love it) But I'm also from a small town and I dislike big cities in general.
-Constantly switching hospitals in the clinical years. I think I've been to 10 different ones, which means relearning things like where are the bathrooms, what forms are unique, etc.
Hope this helps.
Kristi
Positives:
-Large class size means that you will almost certainly find a place to fit in.
-Lots of different activities (we are rumored to have the most different student groups of any med school)
-Excellent clinical training - we are the ONLY school in Detroit, which means that 1. we go to ALL of the teaching hospitals around here and 2. we don't have to share pathology.
-WSU grads are well respected (also true of the other schools you're looking at), especially in the Midwest. I'm applying in OB and every program says that they love Wayne grads.
-Cheaper than the other schools.
-Administration who does listen (although not always act) to us. I can see improvements from my class to the MS1 class in terms of course arrangements, many of those changes were suggested by students.
Neutral aspects (ie some may like this, some may not):
-1st 2 years are traditional lecture style, but they are trying to increase the clinical relevance (ie, in 1st year there is an Intro to the Patient course)
-BIG class size.
Negatives:
-Metro Detroit. I hate it. (but to be fair, others love it) But I'm also from a small town and I dislike big cities in general.
-Constantly switching hospitals in the clinical years. I think I've been to 10 different ones, which means relearning things like where are the bathrooms, what forms are unique, etc.
Hope this helps.
Kristi
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hi there
i'm a first year here at ohio state. coming from california, my experience out here so far has turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. quite honestly, i didn't think i would enjoy, as much as i have, the transition to coming to school in the midwest. but i have to say now i am very happy i decided to come to OSU -- it has turned out to be a great situation for me. for the most part, my decision to study via our PBL pathway, the great people i have met, the flexibility in my schedule, and the clinical opportunities afforded to me are the main reasons why i would advocate OSU.
also, like the other posts i'll list some +/-
positives:
-great student body
-great clinical opportunities: OSU medical center, riverside methodist hospital, grant hospital, children's hospital, etc. (including the option of doing your 3rd year at cleveland clinic)
-3 different learning pathways: 1) lecture (which is currently being reconstructed to include some PBL stuff for next years class, ~90 students from a class of 210), 2) independent-study (ISP, ~80/210), and 3) PBL (exactly 35/210)
-lots opportunity to do research if you are interested in academic medicine, etc.
-graduates are trained very well for highly competitive specialties and for primary care
-our new dean: apparently he's very well respected and is expected to make a dramatic impact on the school
neutral:
-the segregation of the class into it's 3 pathways after gross anatomy during the first year: i am fortunate to have made friends in all pathways so it's not a problem for me, though if that wasn't the case, i would rarely see most of my other classmates since all our schedules are completely different
negative:
-only 3 months of elective time allocated for rotations
well, that's it for me, please let me know if you have any other questions
good luck,
harry
i'm a first year here at ohio state. coming from california, my experience out here so far has turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. quite honestly, i didn't think i would enjoy, as much as i have, the transition to coming to school in the midwest. but i have to say now i am very happy i decided to come to OSU -- it has turned out to be a great situation for me. for the most part, my decision to study via our PBL pathway, the great people i have met, the flexibility in my schedule, and the clinical opportunities afforded to me are the main reasons why i would advocate OSU.
also, like the other posts i'll list some +/-
positives:
-great student body
-great clinical opportunities: OSU medical center, riverside methodist hospital, grant hospital, children's hospital, etc. (including the option of doing your 3rd year at cleveland clinic)
-3 different learning pathways: 1) lecture (which is currently being reconstructed to include some PBL stuff for next years class, ~90 students from a class of 210), 2) independent-study (ISP, ~80/210), and 3) PBL (exactly 35/210)
-lots opportunity to do research if you are interested in academic medicine, etc.
-graduates are trained very well for highly competitive specialties and for primary care
-our new dean: apparently he's very well respected and is expected to make a dramatic impact on the school
neutral:
-the segregation of the class into it's 3 pathways after gross anatomy during the first year: i am fortunate to have made friends in all pathways so it's not a problem for me, though if that wasn't the case, i would rarely see most of my other classmates since all our schedules are completely different
negative:
-only 3 months of elective time allocated for rotations
well, that's it for me, please let me know if you have any other questions
good luck,
harry
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Anyone from Rochester out there???
Also for Wayne students, are you able to make decent friends despite the giant class size? Are you ever in smaller groups for labs, etc??
Thanks for all of the replies!
Also for Wayne students, are you able to make decent friends despite the giant class size? Are you ever in smaller groups for labs, etc??
Thanks for all of the replies!
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Very easy to make friends. There are lots of social events, clubs to join, etc.
And there are small groups. At Wayne, they're called MD labs (multi-discipline), you're in the same MD lab for the 2 years, these folks are your gross partners, you learn to draw blood on each other, stuff like that. The same 25 people. And you actually spend a fair amount of time in them.
Kristi
And there are small groups. At Wayne, they're called MD labs (multi-discipline), you're in the same MD lab for the 2 years, these folks are your gross partners, you learn to draw blood on each other, stuff like that. The same 25 people. And you actually spend a fair amount of time in them.
Kristi
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I go to OSU, and agree with most of the previous points about OSU, except the negative one- we get four weeks during third year that we have a range of choices that will probably be expanded even more. 4th year has 11 months: 4 requirements that you have a wide range to choose from: a sub-I, chronic care, making the chief complaint, and sub-I; 4 electives, and 3 months vacation (I don't know of any school that gets more than this). It's a great school, terrific people, and everyone is willing to bend over backwards to help you. Everyone I know is really happy here. You have tons of options, clinically and research-wise. The only negative I can think of is parking (which is a problem at most places, and it should get better next year b/c they're building a new garage). Good luck!
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sunflower, regarding my previous post about OSU, i stand corrected. thanks for the clarification.
harry
harry
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sunflower and salsadoc,
I appreciate you taking the time to give info about OSU. I'll most likely be joining you there in August. I get more and more excited at the prospect of attending OSU as time goes on. The current students I have met are very nice and friendly and very enthusiastic and happy about attending OSU. (including the 2 of you )
I appreciate you taking the time to give info about OSU. I'll most likely be joining you there in August. I get more and more excited at the prospect of attending OSU as time goes on. The current students I have met are very nice and friendly and very enthusiastic and happy about attending OSU. (including the 2 of you
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I can't comment on the other schools, because I don't know anything about them, but I can tell you about Rochester. Simply put, I can't imagine a better place to go to medical school.
Rochester's curriculum is fantastic. We have visiting faulty come just to copy it! It is fully integrated. Accordingly, we don't have anatomy, histology and physiology, we have Human Structure and Function. I guess this is the same as the organ system approach. But here's the cool part. It's integrated clinically, so we learn the portions of the physical exam along with the basic science. It helps a lot in putting everything in context. Our patient contact starts in January of the first year. This is not a shadowing experience, it is actual doctor stuff. First year, we did history, physical exams and preventative medicine counselling (too early to do diagnosis or treatment). In second year, however, we do virtually everything in our clinical placements: history, exam, diagnosis, treatment plan, basic procedures.
In addition to all this, we also have problem based learning. This takes up about six hours a week. Most of us really like the PBLs and we learn a great deal in that environment.
The faculty is very committed to student learning. After each block they solicit student opinion in order to improve the course. Unlike some other places, the actually use the student input rather than just ask.
Finally, and in my opinion most important, the Rochester students are among the happiest medical students you will find. We love our curriculum and are not overworked. I know I made the right choice.
Ed
Rochester's curriculum is fantastic. We have visiting faulty come just to copy it! It is fully integrated. Accordingly, we don't have anatomy, histology and physiology, we have Human Structure and Function. I guess this is the same as the organ system approach. But here's the cool part. It's integrated clinically, so we learn the portions of the physical exam along with the basic science. It helps a lot in putting everything in context. Our patient contact starts in January of the first year. This is not a shadowing experience, it is actual doctor stuff. First year, we did history, physical exams and preventative medicine counselling (too early to do diagnosis or treatment). In second year, however, we do virtually everything in our clinical placements: history, exam, diagnosis, treatment plan, basic procedures.
In addition to all this, we also have problem based learning. This takes up about six hours a week. Most of us really like the PBLs and we learn a great deal in that environment.
The faculty is very committed to student learning. After each block they solicit student opinion in order to improve the course. Unlike some other places, the actually use the student input rather than just ask.
Finally, and in my opinion most important, the Rochester students are among the happiest medical students you will find. We love our curriculum and are not overworked. I know I made the right choice.
Ed
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i have no stake in this whatsoever as a buffalo student, but i'll tell ya this, rochester is a nice town. personally, not for me, though. U of R is a little too, well, I picked the right new york school for me.
but i will sing some praises about wayne. . .
i did get in there and it was my 2nd choice, but i would have loved it. their interivews -- fair. their application -- creative. look, if you go to wayne there is more opportunity for an ambitious student than at other schools. you can get exposed to whatever you want there. if you want your education more spoon fed (i sort of went that route) then U of R is fine (i don't know about OSU).
Do I regret not going to Wayne? No, i think i picked the right school for me and that's what it comes down to. pick the right school for you. wayne will offer what you want if you choose to chase after it. detriot? well, it scared me compaired to denver to be honest, but who cares, i would have commuted and when people back home said, "how is detriot?" I would have had to answer, "well, the hospitals are huge and the bars where the med students drink seem nice." basically, you could go to a school in timbucktu and you would say the same for med school.
anyway, go wayne. i hope to work with one of those ambitious wayne types some day.
but i will sing some praises about wayne. . .
i did get in there and it was my 2nd choice, but i would have loved it. their interivews -- fair. their application -- creative. look, if you go to wayne there is more opportunity for an ambitious student than at other schools. you can get exposed to whatever you want there. if you want your education more spoon fed (i sort of went that route) then U of R is fine (i don't know about OSU).
Do I regret not going to Wayne? No, i think i picked the right school for me and that's what it comes down to. pick the right school for you. wayne will offer what you want if you choose to chase after it. detriot? well, it scared me compaired to denver to be honest, but who cares, i would have commuted and when people back home said, "how is detriot?" I would have had to answer, "well, the hospitals are huge and the bars where the med students drink seem nice." basically, you could go to a school in timbucktu and you would say the same for med school.
anyway, go wayne. i hope to work with one of those ambitious wayne types some day.
