Hi there rcheech7,
Congrats for your acceptances to four schools! You must have a great resume and interview well. Best wishes for a bright future.
You mentioned that they are both great schools. They both indeed turn out great physicians. My advice is to select the school that permits you to most enjoy your free time. Proximity to family and geographical activities (ie; mountainous desert or the coast of Maine, cities / culture etc) are something to consider strongly.
I am a first year student at UNECOM. And to 70equalsDO, yes I am a part of the SGA. Wether or not the following equates to damage control, I'll leave that up to the reader. And unlike so many others, my screen name isn't some catchy anonymous jumble of letters and numbers. My screen name blatantly ID's me. Make of that what you will.
In a previous life (before medical school) I was a well experienced paramedic with civilian and military experience, involved in practice, teaching, and research. Part of the teaching involved the teaching of ACLS, PALS, and a few other things to brand new residents during orientation to a well respected New England university's residency programs, who's residents came from a wide selection of private, public, and Ivy league schools. Short story is that the Harvard kids weren't necessarily the brightest. Moral of the story = you get out what you put in.
That being said, I don't share the same opinion as 70equalsDO, though I share some of the same frustrations. I think that the professors are great, and that the school does want every student to succeed - in class, on the boards, in rotations, and beyond. The faculty and administration are proud of the fact that UNECOM students consistently beat national averages on COMLEX and are deemed well prepared for rotations.
My opinion is that there are communication issues here, and that they are frustrating, but are not the end of the world. Communication is also in the eye of the beholder. Personally, I schedule my life around the UNE graduate calendar for my holiday plans, not what the week to week class listing is. The reason is that this calendar is put out well in advance every year, and is the the guide the COM uses to schedule classes. The way I see it, any time not listed in the published university calendar as holiday is specifically meant for study. Any extra time off is a bonus.
Should the admin be listening more? Tough point to argue either way, though I think that there is room for improvement. In the military (I'm still active in it), I am a senior non commissioned officer (NCO) responsible for the training, mentoring, and welfare of a 36 man infantry platoon, which also includes the professional development of 11 junior NCO's and one junior commissioned officer. If I were to bend and sway to everything that the men wanted to do, wether it be relaxing the training, living standards, etc, it would turn into the inmates running the asylum. Not always the best choice. On the other side, if I hear a complaint repeatedly or increasing in volume, I take the time to reassess wether or not the plan I've laid out is meeting expectations of what is to be accomplished, being carried out correctly, or is inappropriate for the situation. If the plan is good, then I take the complaining it to mean that I've not communicated the importance of the plan to the men in a manner in which they best receive it. Effective communication is a constant work in progress and depends on who is putting the message out, who is receiving it, and what the content/ intent is. Like medical education, communication is a lifelong learning process.
To that extent, 70equalsDO (you might want a different screen name that is indicative of higher aspirations) is right in that I will state that the curriculum is in a state of flux. Admins are up front about it too. So far this semester our class has had reasonable success in working with the faculty in addressing our concerns. Admittedly, some have been more receptive to others, but I think that you'll find that any and every where.
Sorry for the length, I had intended to make this short. Let me say again that both are good schools, and both will have their mishaps along the way. Keeping a broad view of things will help you to keep some perspective of things - this isn't undergrad anymore. This is tough, and it's not just a tougher undergrad way of doing things. UNECOM is not for everyone, but for me and many of my classmates it is the place for us.
Feel free to PM me with questions. It may take a day or two to get back to you, as block week is next week, and there is a lot of studying to be done.
-SMC
p.s. 70=DO, feel free to stop me in the hallway if you'd like to further discuss anything I've written.
