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I wanted to know from the people who attend the school, how the curriculum is, and if they like the school. Also can you get a residency, such as Internal Medicine after you graduate?
Uniformed Services University
- Thread starter hrtsurgeon2b
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I'll throw out what I know and what I believe to be true, given that I have been accepted for next year's entering class and am currently a military officer.
I know several now-, and former-students and can say almost without exception that they very much enjoy the school and feel they are getting a great education. For the most part classes and meetings are mandatory since they're paying you to be there. However in-lecture time isn't that much and there's plenty of time for studying. I'd say an average MS1 week is one or two full days (0730-1600) and the rest maybe just mornings or a lab in the afternoon. There are some military-type training classes and meetings but not so much as to be a nuisance.
The curriculum is largely traditional with some clinical exposure and military-specific (tropical medicine, combat casualty, etc) stuff thrown in. Their Step 1 and Step 2 scores are well above the national mean.
The question about an IM residency is a little complicated. Depending on the service you may have to complete PGY-1 then serve as general medical officer for a year or two before competing for a residency (this is mostly a Navy thing, the Army and Air Force are doing away with GMO's as I understand). However, it is possible, even in the Navy to go straight through residency after graduation depending on needs of the service, your grades, AOA, USMLE scores, your experience, etc.
Having said all that, I would encourage you to contact the school and ask some questions and even contact some of the faculty/staff. They may be willing to give your email to a student that will answer your questions better.
Hope this helps.
Spang
I know several now-, and former-students and can say almost without exception that they very much enjoy the school and feel they are getting a great education. For the most part classes and meetings are mandatory since they're paying you to be there. However in-lecture time isn't that much and there's plenty of time for studying. I'd say an average MS1 week is one or two full days (0730-1600) and the rest maybe just mornings or a lab in the afternoon. There are some military-type training classes and meetings but not so much as to be a nuisance.
The curriculum is largely traditional with some clinical exposure and military-specific (tropical medicine, combat casualty, etc) stuff thrown in. Their Step 1 and Step 2 scores are well above the national mean.
The question about an IM residency is a little complicated. Depending on the service you may have to complete PGY-1 then serve as general medical officer for a year or two before competing for a residency (this is mostly a Navy thing, the Army and Air Force are doing away with GMO's as I understand). However, it is possible, even in the Navy to go straight through residency after graduation depending on needs of the service, your grades, AOA, USMLE scores, your experience, etc.
Having said all that, I would encourage you to contact the school and ask some questions and even contact some of the faculty/staff. They may be willing to give your email to a student that will answer your questions better.
Hope this helps.
Spang
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First of all congrats Spang on your acceptance. I am a first year student here at USU and the students here very much enjoy the school. As Spang said the curriculum is traditional with histo/gross anatomy and biochem being the main fall courses while head and neck and neuro anatomy and medical physiology taking up the bulk of the time in the spring. There are other classes but those mentioned are them main emphisis.
As far as classes go I will disagree with what Spang said, the school is remarkably lax on class attendance, the only classes that are manditory are labs, small group discussions and an occasional military function. The philosophy is that if you learn better on your own then knock yourself out and stay home and study. The reason for making Labs and Small groups manditory is because if people didn't show up to these the whole group will suffer.
As far as getting a IM residency out of school, this should be no problem as it is one of the least competitive specialties. As Spang pointed out the Navy requires most of their docs to do a tour as a GMO after completing internship and then after the GMO tour do their residency. Most of the Navy people don't seem to mind this much and infact look forward to serving as a ships doc somewhere, or being a dive or flight surgeon. After completing the two year GMO tour you would go do a residency. The army and Air Force don't have this requirement and most people go directly into residency out of school. And again, getting a IM residency should be fairly easy...Just once question...If you are a hrtsurgeon2b why would you want to do an IM residency?? Just curious. Anyway, I'll be happy to answer any other questions you might have. Good luck.
As far as classes go I will disagree with what Spang said, the school is remarkably lax on class attendance, the only classes that are manditory are labs, small group discussions and an occasional military function. The philosophy is that if you learn better on your own then knock yourself out and stay home and study. The reason for making Labs and Small groups manditory is because if people didn't show up to these the whole group will suffer.
As far as getting a IM residency out of school, this should be no problem as it is one of the least competitive specialties. As Spang pointed out the Navy requires most of their docs to do a tour as a GMO after completing internship and then after the GMO tour do their residency. Most of the Navy people don't seem to mind this much and infact look forward to serving as a ships doc somewhere, or being a dive or flight surgeon. After completing the two year GMO tour you would go do a residency. The army and Air Force don't have this requirement and most people go directly into residency out of school. And again, getting a IM residency should be fairly easy...Just once question...If you are a hrtsurgeon2b why would you want to do an IM residency?? Just curious. Anyway, I'll be happy to answer any other questions you might have. Good luck.
