Ahh. Current KCUMB is doing some variant of the dubin curriculum (same as RVU) right now, although the 4th years I meet on the interview trail tell me that KCUMB might not stick with it. It's an intense curriculum.
Dr. Dubin was here for the past 2ish years and he had two faculty come from RVU who essentially helped run this curriculum. Dr. Dubin is no longer there but the two faculty are and so far, they have stuck with the curriculum for now.
So I understand KCU has a higher average board score, but should I be concerned about the previous posts complaining about the stress level of the program? Now I don't know if it is actually true, but I heard there was a number of people having mental breakdowns this year (maybe that is normal for Med school? I really don't know).
If anybody knows what the main differences between the schools are, specifically about the difficulty of the curriculum, average "happiness" level of the students, or which city provides a more entertaining atmosphere, I'd love your input.
Do students at either school find that they have more time to do stuff they enjoy more than the other?
The stress is there because there is some sort of exam almost every week from the time you start to the end of the semester. Whether it is a competency, a quiz, an midterm, or a standardized patient interview there's something there. First years have anatomy and a more front loaded OS than second year.
Second year is essentially having to memorize all of Big Robbina. Using Pathoma or just First Aid for path review will result in doing poorly on the exams. Additionally, they also squeeze path into two week intervals, so if you can imagine memorizing all GI path in two weeks and having to memorize every table, every caption under an image, every detail about the subtypes of lesions and cancers in Big Robbins that's where the stress comes from. Yes there are students who have had to seek psychological counseling and yes, the curriculum can take a toll on your mental and emotional well being but it's just so hard to say that type of stuff is exclusive to one medical school at all.
RVU has a similar curriculum but I am sure it's been well modified since Dr Dubin left. I am sure the intensity is still there but is it to the level of KCU? Hard to say. Are students happier at RVU? Very subjective and can't really give a firm yes or no. My KCU class and the class below us are very happy and we enjoy Kansas City a lot. It has a pretty cool hipster vibe to it and the night life here is awesome.
