Anyone else have experience with Mercer Med? Specifically Savannah campus?
Do a search for some of my threads - I am a 2011 Mercer grad doing my residency in Orthopaedic Surgery. Feel free to PM me with any specific questions.
As a disclaimer, I'm extremely biased, but with that said I think I'm pretty sure I can be honest about what Mercer can and can't do for you. By the time you make it to the med school level you'll realize that a school has to fit you and you have to fit it. It's really not a "one size fits all" like college.
Three negatives about Mercer:
1. Mercer is very expensive
2. With it being a newer school (first class started in 1982) the name recognition outside of the SE isn't there. However, this is becoming less of an issue for two main reasons. First, our graduates continue to do so well that we match in every specialty all over the country. Thus, our name is getting out. Second, to meet the country's growing need for doctors, new schools are opening all the time. Thus, all residency programs are having to become familiar with schools they haven't heard of.
3. The first two years are very non-traditional (PBL, small group setting, lots of self-study) and if you don't fit in and adapt you will be miserable (common complaint I heard: "why should I pay $60k a year to teach myself medicine?")
Other than that I have only positives about the school. I think we're better trained and more clinically prepared for residency than students from any other Georgia school. Here's why I say that:
-the first time pass rate for USMLE Step 1 approaches 100%...the class above mine had a 100% pass rate. In my class, I think we had one person fail but they passed when they re-took it. What really makes that impressive is the fact that the average stats for the entering student are lower than other GA med schools. That means between the day you start and the day you take Step 1, Mercer's system not only helps you succeed, but helps you excel.
-If you attend the Macon or Savannah campuses you work at a Level 1 trauma center with ample volume. However, unlike other med schools there are fewer med students (60 in Macon, 40 in Savannah) so you get more personalized experience. AND there are fewer residents than at many other Level 1 trauma centers so you are truly expected to become part of the team. This translates into much more clinical exposure. When I did 4th year elective rotations I met med students from all over - many weren't even required to take call as a 3rd year much less do anything meaningful. They were just expected to stand in the corner with their mouth closed and observe. At Mercer, you can do as much as you're willing to do - by the time I finished my THIRD year I had delivered 5 babies, done multiple circumcisions, bone marrow biopsies, started central lines, paracentesis, aspirations/injection of joints, reduced ankle fx/dislocations, reduced hip dislocations, and felt more comfortable suturing than a lot of interns. On our OB rotations, we ran the indigent clinic and the residents staffed it. That meant it was us and a nurse in the room with the patient and we were responsible for pelvic exams, pap smears, prenatal work-up etc. On our internal medicine clerkship, we were treated as the intern - we pre-rounded on patients and presented our own patients to the attendings.
I could go on and on but that should give you enough to get started.
Other things to consider: we are a VERY tight-knit group, both amongst ourselves and with our professors. The Macon campus students have access to the Mercer undergrad facilities (the med school is on-campus) - that means the University Center complete with weight room, indoor jogging track, indoor pool, multiple restaurants, etc.
Let me know if you have other questions.
