Don't think that at BU the material is "not geared toward the boards." All material in medical school should be geared to the boards, which cover just the most important basics. I was disappointed with the basic science curriculum at BU because some courses had a different professor every couple of days and many of the powerpoints were outdated, or poorly prepared, and VERY repititious but often missing major points on certain illnesses. I learned the most by reading textbooks written by professional experts in their fields such as ICU by Menino, etc . . . I would have done better academically if I had stayed home and read the authoritative textsbooks. Before attending BU I preferred a State school over any private school, because state schools appear to be more regulated and have better standards. BU's ranking is based more on research funding on parts of the campus far separated from where you will study. The infrastructure of the med school itself is very poor (however the offices of many administrators are well appointed), the med library at BU is the worst library I have ever seen in my life, no joke, and i've been in alot of libraries. It is claustrophobic, small area per floor, and no quiet areas to study. Most of this wouldn't matter, but after studying hard in college and looking forward to a positive medical school experience I found most of the attendings, especially ob/gyn and internal medicine, to be condescending to the students. BU advertises alot of community and International Health work, but from my experience tend to talk down to students. Back-stabbing at BU from students may be low, but many attendings "gossip" about medical students and this may result in poor treatment during the clinical years when attending can get away with abuse and make written comments about students that boarder on libel, the office of student affairs quietly edits some of the more choice written comments to be put in the dean's letter out of fear of lawsuits, but sometimes not. . . If you are well connected, i.e. went to the seven year program, or can stroke the attendings and dean's egos in the proper manner then you might be able to navigate life at BU, . . . often times non-seven year program i.e. traditional four year students are viewed as outsiders, I know, I felt like I was talked to like an outsider by attendings in various clerkship and in administration from day one. Don't worry about being distracted at UF, this depends if you can find a quiet place to study, the area around BU where alot of students live is VERY noisy as there are alot of undergrads that drink alot and party alot . . . I really liked taking care of patients in boston, but the attendings and the culture is very put-offish "Boston is cold in more way than one" UF is very prestigious to get into, i.e. they have high gpas and mcats, and you will really need sunny weather and a beach (a real beach, not a sand bar like in boston!) between periods of heavy studying, by all means, GO TO UF, YOU EARNED IT!
