This is wat I found about block system of USN on their thread.....Discouraging
USN is demanding, USN requires the students to stay focused and to have the best resources possible. After all, USN is a year around school with very limited breaks throughout the year. Therefore, its very easy to burn out here. Therefore, students require the best academic resources necessary to move on. You would assume that USN has the best professors, after all they are charging each student $40,000 a year, and there are about 400 students enrolled (whether as a p1/p2/p3), but they do not. Instead they hire some of the worst faculty on this planet, and the faculty that are good end up leaving or getting fired. Most of them are new graduates, who teach because they dont have any other choice, as a practicing pharmacist couldnt hold down a job, or who like to hear the word doctor in front of their name, or they just want another title to put in their emails. We have faculty that intentionally leave out information on the slides, only to show up on the exam. Now I usually wouldnt have a problem with this in a traditional school, but USN isnt tradition by any means. We have no books, we cant just look up information, and you have to pass with a 90% (with exceptions) on all your exams. If you dont pass with a 90% on three exams, you are on probation, miss the 90% mark on 5 exams, USN will tell you to pack your bags and thank you for your $40,000 dollar donation. Anyhow, back on topic, some of the faculty will intentionally leave out things, or intentionally not stress important topics so wed miss them on the exam. Then they will tell you after the exam, what you actually needed to know. There are no review sessions; there is nothing to prepare you for your exam but some old tests written by professors who are most likely not working at USN anymore.
Another problem at USN is the level of difficulty separating the p1 and p2 year and the block system. The p1 is easy mainly because its review of undergraduate material, but its material that is suppose to prepare you for your p2 year, because during your p2 year there are no reviews of systems. Now, because its a block system, you can be learning about cardiology during your p2 year, but you are expected to draw back to information you learned a year ago in some obscure chart during your p1 year. Well, at least you would expect your current professor to tell you to go back and review the material, but he/she wont tell you to do so mainly because your current professor didnt teach your first block, and doesnt know what was taught to you. However, what you learned a year ago during your p1 year is fair game on your exam as a p2, even though you had no idea it was going to be on the test (remember USN is paperless, no books, nothing). Since we are talking about exams, lets continue with exams.
USN utilizes a pass/no pass scoring on all exams. In order to pass, you have to pass with a 90% (6 points) individual, but you can gain 3 bonus points with team points (so total is 9 points, you can usually miss). If you fail the first time (no pass), you can retake a harder version of the test in 2 days, but can only miss a total of 6 points (no team points are allowed). If you fail this, you end up in summer school. IF you have 3 summer remediation, you are on probation, if you miss 5, you are kicked out. This is really stressful. You have over 20 to 25 major assessments each year and you have to score a 90% on all of them. You are allowed to challenge questions after an exam to get the questions thrown out, but the professors dont have to listen to you, let alone throw any questions out and this depends on their mood lately. If you challenge them, the professors are more likely to degrade you in front of the class, calling you stupid, idiotic, or whatever adjective they feel is necessary to deflect the question. So what do you do, if you cant challenge a question? Is there an appeals process?
Hopefully my experience will help the applicants make a more informed decision about USN, and hopefully, the p1/p2's who are reading this will know what to expect in the days/years ahead of them. Good luck
