traditional vs intergrated curriculum

[ank21]

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What are the pros and cons of an integrated vs. a traditional curriculum. Does one lead to a better STEP 1 score? Is one at a disadvantage if they end up at a school that still uses the traditional curriculum, even though most med schools are now heading towards the integrated curriculum? What is the biggest difference between these two? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[OMG I'm going to be an MD]

1. Every medical school has to met certain academic standards; therefore you're going to eventually get the same info no matter which curriculum the school you decided on adapts.
2. I think the most attractive part of an integrated curriculum is early exposure to patients and potentially more clinical experience. I wrote potentially because no matter how great a curriculum is, what you get out of it is directly proportional to your efforts.
3. Step 1 is a self study exams, so as long as you dedicate sufficient time preparing for it, you should be fine.
4. Most of the integrated curriculum I've looked at give the students more control over their schedule, including when they take the step 1 (e.g. one of the school's I was accepted to gives about 12 weeks to figure out the best time for you)
Again, step 1 is mostly a self study exam, I wouldn't worry too much if my only acceptance was at a school with a curriculum I don't prefer.

 

[Mansamusa]

I definitely think integrated is better.

1) Reduces redundant material (many school shorten the curriculum so that 2nd year ends in Jan or Feb)
2) Softens the more tedious subjects and makes everything seem more relevant (ie. Rather than just memorizing biochemical pathways and different drugs, during renal you'll learn the biochem, physio, diseases, drugs, clinical exams, and biochem related to the renal system). Traditional curriculums have you learn biochem and normal physio separately and then the next year relearn the physio and then learn diseases and pharm. Anatomy is usually done in one block with traditional as well
3) I'm excited to learn medicine and I feel like it would be a drag to not learn the clinical, patho, and drug stuff until 2nd yr
4) if the curriculum is shortened, you have more time for electives, sub-is, and aways (aka. Specialty exploration and networking) before applying for residency

(Almost all curriculums have some degree of integration. Vertical integration is learning the clinical exams along side physio and horizontal integration is having biochem, pharm, physio, etc. at the same time or something like that)

 

[Goro]

I have yet to see any data that one is better than the other for Board scores, but students seem to like Integrated curriculums more.

What are the pros and cons of an integrated vs. a traditional curriculum. Does one lead to a better STEP 1 score? Is one at a disadvantage if they end up at a school that still uses the traditional curriculum, even though most med schools are now heading towards the integrated curriculum? What is the biggest difference between these two? Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Crayola227]

I think it partly depends on your learning style

I prefer "one thing at a time," so I wouldn't have liked doing renal and learning the anatomy, pharmacology, pathophys, etc at the same time like that, those curriculums feel like a mash up to me

seems like the integrated curriculums are more likely to have these giant mega-exams that only come around every 3 months (like finals in college) but remember medical school is WAY more dense than any given 3 months in undergrad

OTOH, the biweekly mega-exams can feel like "finals week every other week!" (as one pre-med person I counseled once told me)

in any case, integrated vs block, and frequency of exam schedule, are technically independent variables at any school, and my advice is to consider what you think you know about your learning style to pick

 

[Mansamusa]

I think it partly depends on your learning style

I prefer "one thing at a time," so I wouldn't have liked doing renal and learning the anatomy, pharmacology, pathophys, etc at the same time like that, those curriculums feel like a mash up to me

seems like the integrated curriculums are more likely to have these giant mega-exams that only come around every 3 months (like finals in college) but remember medical school is WAY more dense than any given 3 months in undergrad

OTOH, the biweekly mega-exams can feel like "finals week every other week!" (as one pre-med person I counseled once told me)

in any case, integrated vs block, and frequency of exam schedule, are technically independent variables at any school, and my advice is to consider what you think you know about your learning style to pick

What do you think is a good exam schedule?

The school I will be going to I think has a good system. It has the integrated, 1.5 yr pre-clinical curriculum. P/F with no internal ranking for pre-clinicals. There is a test at the end of each week that doesn't count towards the final grade, is in the style that the finals will be in, and is only for students to track their progress. Then the last week of the unit has 4-5 different types of exams on 4 different days- like a finals week (I went to a quarter system school, so it's actually exactly the structure and timeline I'm used to)

 

[Crayola227]

this sorta scares me

it will be important that you take those weekly tests as seriously as if they counted for your grade or you could get woefully behind

that "finals week" that you describe - that's the sort that scares me

I went traditional block with every other week mega exam, but that mega exam was only on 2 weeks worth of material ("only".... lol)

having come from quarter system I preferred block, and people from semester systems seemed to take better to the integrated curriculums that had more infrequent but higher stakes testing

you'll do what you gotta do, regardless

for the other poster, I should have mentioned that one "equalizer" that can help you apples to apples compare the effectiveness of different curriculums is to look at USMLE step 1 first time pass rates and score averages