On the whole, I'm very pleased with SOM and my experiences there. I felt that the first two years were very strong, with a pretty high proportion of good and absolutely kick-ass lecturers. The administration makes a big deal about caring for the students and, more often than not, follows through on it. Also (and this meant a lot to me when I was interviewing), the students seemed happy and genuinely friendly. Most classes seem to bond after a semester or so. Not that we're all one big, happy, fuzzy family or anything... but it makes what could be a hellish experience very tolerable.
I don't have many complaints about the school... or, rather, I do- but few that are important enough for me to remember after bitching half-heartedly about them. More vacation time would be nice- only two weeks off in third year and four weeks off in fourth year (that being a _very_ recent improvement up from two weeks). Also, we have no electives in our third year, and we may be limited in the amout of rotations we can do outside of our system. (Not sure about that, so don't quote me. I'll no doubt figure it out when it comes time to schedule my rotations... which should be any day now.) However, even if that is the case, we have several hospitals in South Jersey, and at least one affiliate in Jersey City. I know several people who are planning on doing as much of their fourth year in North Jersey as humanly possible.
It's a good school. I'm definitely happy I came here.
If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.
Bests,
Paige
