University of Oklahoma -- everyone welcome -- Part 4

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PreMedMommy said:
My thoughts exactly!
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Oops, I was thinking it was three weeks, too. Certainly seemed like it was three weeks last year - but, then again, I believe finals were over several days earlier (I'd have to check last year's calendar, and I'm far too tired). But, by next April, you guys will have had 3 weeks off to our 2, since we don't get Spring Break. If you look at the MS-III/IV calendar, it's a long lonely stretch from January to June, when we get 2 weeks before getting thrown-in head-first again July 1.

Next July 1 - one more year - yay! I know, I know, there's residency... but: a) that's a real job, and b) despite my klutziness and ignorance, I won't feel that people are doing me a favor when they address me as doctor...

Assuming I pass psych, which is getting doubtful as my headache grows.
 
Non-TradTulsa said:
If you look at the MS-III/IV calendar, it's a long lonely stretch from January to June, when we get 2 weeks before getting thrown-in head-first again July 1.
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Or you could schedule it like me and have every month be vacation-like. 😛

July - Radiology
August - Radiology
September - ER and Dermatology (Derm was by far my worst "class" this year from an enjoyment standpoint)
October - Anatomy with O'Don (TA'ing for 3 hours a day, three days a week is pretty sweet)
November - Peds radiology
December - Directed Pharm readings and vacation

Even the spring isn't going to be too bad.

January - Advanced anatomy
February - Rural medicine
March - Clinical Pathology and Ophthalmology Selective
April - Ambulatory
May - Vacation... Graduation!
 
Amxcvbcv said:
Or you could schedule it like me and have every month be vacation-like. 😛
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That's a pretty nice sounding schedule. 1 year and 6 months and I'll be there. That's not so long...

Stupid Robbins qbook 😡. Going through the endocrine, I'm like hey I know this stuff! Then I grade it and miss ~20 questions out of 47. Awesome. No wonder I suck at IHI - it seems like I consistently feel like I know the material and am answering questions correctly... but I'm not. I hate school 🙁.
 
I missed a lot in the qbook as well for endocrine stuff. A few of them, like the pineal tumor we never discussed. Also, they make a few leaps in logic that I was unfamiliar with. Of course lung carcinoma can metastasize to the adrenals... everyone knows that! I pretty much looked at that question bass ackwards assuming that something metastasized from adrenals.

Anyway, I feel like I know that endocrine stuff pretty well, and I missed a bunch. I made a 79% on the web path for endocrine, and I actually felt I should have known every answer. Might give it a shot.
 
SoonerGeek said:
I missed a lot in the qbook as well for endocrine stuff. A few of them, like the pineal tumor we never discussed. Also, they make a few leaps in logic that I was unfamiliar with. Of course lung carcinoma can metastasize to the adrenals... everyone knows that! I pretty much looked at that question bass ackwards assuming that something metastasized from adrenals.

Anyway, I feel like I know that endocrine stuff pretty well, and I missed a bunch. I made a 79% on the web path for endocrine, and I actually felt I should have known every answer. Might give it a shot.
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I looked at it like the lung cancer was functional and caused adrenal hypertrophy. There was also a lot of genetic mutation related questions in the book that I don't remember discussing. After going through why my answers were incorrect & what the correct answers were & why, I feel a little better. My thoughts were close, but I just forgot about a few things (like neuroblastomas & pheochromocytomas) and forgot the differences between the thyroid cancers.

Unfortunately, I've spent a far greater amount of time working on endocrine to the expense of rheumatology. I think I'll run through endocrine webpath as quick as I can then it's on to rheumatology for the remainder of the night. Maybe I'll look at the bone/soft tissue section in my last 30 minutes of studying 🙄.

Ugh... I'm going to have to do the webpath later b/c as I'm slowly & distractedly working through them, I skip over key words like "purpura" or translate papillary appearance to have really meant follicular. Stupid brain.
 
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SoonerGeek said:
Anyway, I feel like I know that endocrine stuff pretty well, and I missed a bunch. I made a 79% on the web path for endocrine, and I actually felt I should have known every answer. Might give it a shot.
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After only getting halfway through with about a 60% the first time, I just finished going back over the endocrine on webpath with a 93%. 😎 Unfortunately, that is only 1/2 the material. So I'm going to get a 50 on the exam. 🙁 I at least know 13 questions that will be complete guesses (5 from bone/soft tissue and the 8 pictures). 😱
 
2 weeks of sweet freedom is just hours away! Good luck, guys!
 
Doctor Bagel said:
Good luck!

For some reason, I have some false memory about getting 3 weeks off in basic sciences. I'd love 3 weeks off right now, but I won't complain about getting 2.
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You don't have a false memory - we had three weeks off last year. They cut us down to two this year. Supposedly we started a week later, but it didn't really seem like it. Besides, I'd rather start a week earlier & get 3 blessed, needed weeks off between semesters.

IHI.... man... I don't WTF to do for that class. I am not sure if I should aim for any better than passing. There were only a handful of questions I had no clue on (the bones & autoantibodies mostly). Everything else I had a good concept of the questions and answers. Yet it just doesn't seem to matter. I like what we are learning in IHI but those tests are ridiculous. Or I'm an idiot.

Why in the gosh darn mother effing world does blackboard have to be on the fritz when I'm trying to find out my dang mmi grade??? Argh.....

I'm not as cranky as I seem. I really didn't expect anything better in IHI than what I got b/c it doesn't matter how much I try in that class, I come far, far short of my goal. I'm just disappointed and ready to move on to third year.
 
Jwax said:
IHI.... man... I don't WTF to do for that class. I am not sure if I should aim for any better than passing. There were only a handful of questions I had no clue on (the bones & autoantibodies mostly). Everything else I had a good concept of the questions and answers. Yet it just doesn't seem to matter. I like what we are learning in IHI but those tests are ridiculous. Or I'm an idiot.
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F*** IHI. I felt like I knew that stuff SO well. Every question I was the least bit unsure about (a lot of them), I missed, plus more.

Whatever.
 
FINISHED.
Now, for some holiday cheer....

Fu-fu-fu-fu... u-u-u-U!

Oh, wait... that was for the people who made me take the psych shelf. Let's try again, shall we?

Fa-la-la-la... la-la-la-LA!

That's better. Happy Holidays!!!!

 
So I ran across this video today, and I thought soonereng might get a kick out of it.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvDbVFB2iUE[/YOUTUBE]
 
Non-TradTulsa said:
FINISHED.
Now, for some holiday cheer....

Fu-fu-fu-fu... u-u-u-U!

Oh, wait... that was for the people who made me take the psych shelf. Let's try again, shall we?

Fa-la-la-la... la-la-la-LA!

That's better. Happy Holidays!!!!
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that test really did blow. congrats on being finished.
 
shortitalian said:
F*** IHI. I felt like I knew that stuff SO well. Every question I was the least bit unsure about (a lot of them), I missed, plus more.

Whatever.
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If you had issues with it, then I feel about a bazillion times better. It was so frustrating... for the last two IHI tests I've walked out thinking hey, that wasn't too bad. And then I'm very, very wrong. I think I'm going to have to start making flashcards based and have them memorized by the end of each week if I'm going to not kill my already mediocre gpa from this class. I'm not every sure if I memorize every freaking thing if that will matter. It seems like his questions are "read my mind" q's. Obviously, I am not so good at that.

I went to bed last night at 5am and slept til about 9pm today. Wow.
 
shortitalian said:
F*** IHI. I felt like I knew that stuff SO well.
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Yeah, when I am doing well on webpath and robbins qbook and then am like...was this even covered, it makes me think that the test isn't testing the right stuff.

Anyway, I am now returning to my method from last year of learning for the boards and hoping that the grades follow. It worked for last year.

I'm sick of OU's preclinical yr tests, especially ones that include any lectures/questions from Mary Zoe. She really isn't my favorite. I actually like endocrinology though.

They should just let us study for Step 1 if we choose to forgo the pre clinical yrs and assign grades based on that. I'd be cool with that process.
 
So I was taking a break from working on my continuing education stuff for my PE license and noticed that the Pharm grades are up. Looks like they bonused 3 and one was a miskey.

Editing to add that I'm filling in for Bagel in the talking to myself on the thread department. 😉
 
I concur with the idea that studying primarily for boards is a better method. Not to say that you should be limiting yourself to review-type materials, but that you should not lose heart or focus over something like IHI q's. If you are making first-pass 90's on webpath or robbin's or whatever path q source you want, but coming up short on IHI, don't lose any sleep. It will all be okay in a few months. Except for neuro and the strange oral section at the end, I didn't touch the syllabus in the spring, and was happy. Did I learn too much for the course? Prolly. Did I miss things at the same time, covered in class but not in supplemental material? Certainly. Were my high IHI scores made on tests that were other peoples' low ones? You bet.

And finally, am I STILL waiting for data correlating OU GPA, in particular IHI grade, to board performance? But of course...

Despite the fact people will argue the purpose of IHI is not to teach step I, I think we all know path is the most represented section. So it would stand to reason success in one should indicate success in another.
 
Mr. Freeze said:
And finally, am I STILL waiting for data correlating OU GPA, in particular IHI grade, to board performance? But of course...

Despite the fact people will argue the purpose of IHI is not to teach step I, I think we all know path is the most represented section. So it would stand to reason success in one should indicate success in another.
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Honestly I don't get why there's any rational point to not make the purpose of basic sciences to teach to Step 1. We've all admitted that the structure and extensive amount of arguably pointless information packed in to basic sciences is not really necessary to make us competent doctors. Why not at least help us do well on a test that is the largest determining factor in where we match?

The basic science curriculum at OU is failing its students. There's no reason why our board passage rates should be what they are -- schools with identical or even lower entrance states do much better than us. Hopefully they're really working on fixing it. Personally, I realized last year that I had to separate myself from the formal curriculum to get what I needed for Step 1.
 
Doctor Bagel said:
I realized last year that I had to separate myself from the formal curriculum to get what I needed for Step 1.
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How did you (and Freeze) go about this? It is very difficult for me to break with the tradition of lecture being used to focus study efforts.
 
Well she did it by being a genius.

I did it by coming to terms with the fact that not everything that is lectured on is important, nor is everything that is important lectured on. In fact, are you still going to be getting lectures out in private practice? Not likely if you don't live near an academic center, but that doesn't preclude you from learning on your own. Now, I didn't stop using the syllabus for any grand board prep rationale; I stopped because I had dug myself into a ****hole by thinking I was being TAUGHT what I needed to know to do well. I resigned myself to likely overshooting the volume of stuff we needed to know and hoping that I learned at least 70% of what JH thought was important.

I overheard this explanation for why our class let down the arms race of ever-increasing board passage rates: The admin has increased the class size, and has done so from the bottom. I was too tired to respond.
 
Mr. Freeze said:
I overheard this explanation for why our class let down the arms race of ever-increasing board passage rates: The admin has increased the class size, and has done so from the bottom. I was too tired to respond.
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Well, then it doesn't bode well for the classes following you guys, cuz I think we're even larger so they must have really been scraping the bottom of the barrel. 🙄


I'm not saying I'm going to start doing bad in IHI so that I can study for boards. I'm just not going to try and study to rock Holliman's tests any more. In fact, I did so well on the first two, I can probably half-***** my way through and still pull an A out, but I'm not freaking memorizing his syllabus anymore. That's rediculous. I'll memorize Goljan and BRS and spend more time on actually learning pharm instead of just cramming it.
 
Mr. Freeze said:
I understood everything you said until this came out. 😕 😉
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5 days out from the last pharm test and I honestly could name you about 10-15 out of the 130 drugs for last block, much less tell you what class they are...and I squeaked an A out on that test. I have a feeling that it's not like anatomy where it doesn't really matter if you remember all the names of that crap for boards. I just want less of a hole to start with for Step 1 than that.

Plus you told me that micro pharm is actually important for the real world.
 
soonereng said:
Plus you told me that micro pharm is actually important for the real world.
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I don't know about the real world, but you'll at least be asked q's about bugs n' drugs in academia.

But by important I meant: "helps you know what page of Sanford to turn to"
 
Just had to post a pic of my little girl with her new ear rings. She is so proud of them.

n819308910_1095941_5193.jpg
 
DMBFan61 said:
that test really did blow. congrats on being finished.
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*snort* that test was one of the easiest of my med school career. Oh the joys of having taken your first psych class almost 10 years before that SHELF. Oh, and you know, wanting to go into psych for most of your life.
 
Nonsense - that was a difficult test. Part of the problem, I think, is that there is so much subtlety (not to mention room for opinion) in psych that it's very difficult to reduce a clinical vignette to multiple-choice answers. Even with obvious hints.

IMHO, if you want to serve your education in pharmacology, take the extra time to start learning some of the brand names now. Unless a drug's been generic for at least 20 years, nobody but medical students ever use the chemical name. This can be rather distressing to spend all that time learning 1,000 drugs and then learning that nobody even knows what you're talking about. Seriously, though, I still think that there are perhaps a couple of hundred drugs used in everyday practice. We would be much better off to spend a lot more time learning the top 200 extremely well and spending less time on the bottom 800. Once you understand a class of drug and how it works, there is no point in learning 8-10 examples when you will only ever see 1 or 2 used in the real world. The curriculum also needs to kept more up-to-date. Several of the drugs we learned aren't even on the market anymore (and I'm not talking about the ones that were advertised in class as off-the-market).

So, what was our board pass rate, anyway?
 
step 1?

Don't know about the current year. But OU has this odd bimodal thing going on where we have more 99s than you'd expect, but we also have more failures than average. *shrug*
 
masterofmonkeys said:
step 1?

Don't know about the current year. But OU has this odd bimodal thing going on where we have more 99s than you'd expect, but we also have more failures than average. *shrug*
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OU 2009, or everyone else too?

I think we had at least 10 first-time no-go's, and 3-4 that weren't able to pass on their mulligan. I don't know if that includes Tulsa or not. You guys are kinda on an island. I can't imagine pouring my heart into something for that long and then finding out you have to take it again.

Now that I think about it, one of our peeps that failed the first (don't know about second. You can go all third-year and not see someone even if they passed) was one the most ardent class-goers, front row, note-taking people in class. FWIW...
 
Non-TradTulsa said:
IMHO, if you want to serve your education in pharmacology, take the extra time to start learning some of the brand names now. Unless a drug's been generic for at least 20 years, nobody but medical students ever use the chemical name. This can be rather distressing to spend all that time learning 1,000 drugs and then learning that nobody even knows what you're talking about. Seriously, though, I still think that there are perhaps a couple of hundred drugs used in everyday practice. We would be much better off to spend a lot more time learning the top 200 extremely well and spending less time on the bottom 800. Once you understand a class of drug and how it works, there is no point in learning 8-10 examples when you will only ever see 1 or 2 used in the real world. The curriculum also needs to kept more up-to-date. Several of the drugs we learned aren't even on the market anymore (and I'm not talking about the ones that were advertised in class as off-the-market).
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When I followed around the cardiologist shortly after we finished our cardiac unit, I found out I didn't know any of the drugs he was using unless he gave me the other name. He told me that he had memorized both names in med school, so I did that starting this last block of pharm. I skipped a few since I had never heard the common name before, but things like Versed and Ativan seemed worth knowing both names. My least fave thing about pharm is learning an extensive amount of detail about drugs that are no longer used. I think that is the epitomy of all things wrong with our medical school education.

I would be beyond devastated if I failed the boards. I don't know someone picks themself back up after that.
 
Mr. Freeze said:
I think we had at least 10 first-time no-go's, and 3-4 that weren't able to pass on their mulligan. I don't know if that includes Tulsa or not. You guys are kinda on an island. I can't imagine pouring my heart into something for that long and then finding out you have to take it again.
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I heard stories about 2 or 3 in Tulsa who didn't pass on the first attempt and I assume the stories are true since when you disappear from a rotation and there is no death notice in the newspaper - it's a fairly safe bet that particular student didn't pass (also, it's more than a tell-tale sign when you ask where John/Jane Doe is and all the instructors and administrative people on the rotation want to change the subject without answering the question). I personally don't think that a single failure should equal life-long embarrassment but you seem to enter this suspended animation existence - not dead, but a name-not-to-be-mentioned status.

We had 1 student who apparently failed the second attempt. My heart really goes out to that student - although I think that student re-took the exam without taking sufficient study time off. Three failures and you're done - dismissed from school and, even if you weren't dismissed, you'd be ineligible for licensure in a lot of states, including Oklahoma. I can't imagine being under that kind of pressure when sitting the for the exam the third time - your future, two years out of your life and nearly $100K in debt to prove it - everything's on the line. Just a tad bit of pressure.

I know I've said this before - but I'll tell my MS-II friends what I did not realize at the time I took Step I. Don't fail. A failure is not the end of your life by any means - but, when I looked at Internal Medicine residencies that I would consider at least "top half" programs, a large majority of them didn't care about your step score as long as it was above 80 - but they did specify "no step failures." I didn't realize when I wrote the exam that a failure will close some doors for you. Don't freak out over that - but do plenty of questions and make sure you feel comfortable that you're going to pass before you sit - if not, take some extra time. Heck, I rescheduled my exam twice and wound up with less than a week to move from OKC back to Tulsa.
 
Mr. Freeze said:
I don't know if that includes Tulsa or not. You guys are kinda on an island.
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We are in a valley at the beginning of the Ozark foothills, actually - that's why we don't have the bloody wind that you guys do - one of the things about OKC that I do not miss.

I'll give ya credit, Freeze - you haven't forgotten your Tulsa buds - in fact, nobody on SDN has.
Seriously, though, the fact that you never hear about us is, IMHO, an attitude problem in OKC. Messages are constantly sent to "COM2010-ALL" as if we didn't even exist. I have made a small hobby for myself of sending nastygrams back to your class officers which say, "you know, it would be nice if you would mention Tulsa and whether this affects us or not before you send this to everyone." But, I think it's made us Tulsa folks pull together as a disparaged minority. Since there's only 30 of us, it's kinda like one large mod.
 
soonereng said:
IHI grades are up on BB. Looks like we got 4 questions back.
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Not enough, IMHO. That exam sucked. My overall grade in IHI makes me want to pound my head against the wall. It makes me worry for the boards since it is the most represented subject. 🙁

Non-TradTulsa said:
... I didn't realize when I wrote the exam that a failure will close some doors for you. Don't freak out over that...
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😱 :scared: Thanks for that.

I think I'm going to have to become somewhat of a recluse for the next 6 months. I'm not excited about it. This is why Christmas break should be three weeks.
 
Jwax said:
Not enough, IMHO. That exam sucked. My overall grade in IHI makes me want to pound my head against the wall. It makes me worry for the boards since it is the most represented subject.
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Does your blackboard grade reflect getting the four questions back? Mine doesn't....
 
soonereng said:
Yep, still my lowest grade in that class.
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My grade also shows the 4 questions back. Sadly, not my lowest score. This one was just a tad bit higher than the last. I hate that probably the only internal medicine specialty I'd be interested in (cardiology) was my worst block of exams ever.

In case you all wander off for some holiday fun, Merry Christmas or happy holidays (depending on what you celebrate; I guess Hanukkah kicked of Sunday). I just bought a big jug of rum to add to my jug of egg nog. :highfive: Yum.
 
Non-TradTulsa said:
We are in a valley at the beginning of the Ozark foothills, actually - that's why we don't have the bloody wind that you guys do - one of the things about OKC that I do not miss.

I'll give ya credit, Freeze - you haven't forgotten your Tulsa buds - in fact, nobody on SDN has.
Seriously, though, the fact that you never hear about us is, IMHO, an attitude problem in OKC. Messages are constantly sent to "COM2010-ALL" as if we didn't even exist. I have made a small hobby for myself of sending nastygrams back to your class officers which say, "you know, it would be nice if you would mention Tulsa and whether this affects us or not before you send this to everyone." But, I think it's made us Tulsa folks pull together as a disparaged minority. Since there's only 30 of us, it's kinda like one large mod.
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I hate you tulsa. Virtually my entire social group went to Tulsa. I, did not. Sigh. I actually had to make friends with other Indians, just to have people to talk to.
 
Non-TradTulsa said:
So, what was our board pass rate, anyway?
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Good question. I think it's weird that no one told our class how well (or not) we did. I remember them giving us the info for the 2009 folks at the start of 2nd year, and supposedly the 2011 folks heard something like 90% for our passage rate.

Wow, that response from the admin is a little rude. My understanding is that our board passage rates have been below average (even if increasing) for several years, so it's not like they get a complete pass. And these "bottom of the barrel" peeps had stats that would have made them a shoe-in for admissions in the 90s, when apparently OU did much better on Step 1 on average.
 
I'd like to know more about the pass rates for Step 1 at OU. Is this 90% number out there consistent with other public schools? And what about that 10% (that don't pass) do they just take it again?

Perhaps someone could clarify for those of us considering OU...
 
Doctor Bagel said:
Wow, that response from the admin is a little rude. My understanding is that our board passage rates have been below average (even if increasing) for several years, so it's not like they get a complete pass. And these "bottom of the barrel" peeps had stats that would have made them a shoe-in for admissions in the 90s, when apparently OU did much better on Step 1 on average.
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If you didn't read the hippo discussion boards from 2005-2007, you likely missed the relatively large thesis I wrote on this subject.

I think our board passage rates have far more to do with the fact that our teachers are out of touch with what medical students need to know and are expected to know. In some cases, they don't teach the stuff in the first place, and in others, they don't emphasize the things that need to be emphasized. They add insult to injury by forcing our attention on nitpicky little details that add nothing to our ability to gain a solid backing in relevant basic science knowledge while ignoring the things that matter.

They follow this up with some of the worst question writing the world has ever known. The USMLE, while tough, is designed not to obfuscate. Syntactic and grammatical confusion is expressly avoided by their question writers. They believe in testing our actual knowledge and not our ability to reason through logic puzzles. Many schools offer question writing seminars for their professors, teaching them the basics of how to write a question that effectively tests our knowledge. OU does not. And in fact goes out of its way to avoid this in many areas.

You can be tough, relevant, and straightforward, challenging your students and willing them to do their best. Or you can be nitpicky and bitchy, leaving students wondering what hit them and demoralized that they never got a chance to show what they know.

Oh, and, since the rest of SDN has ruffled my feathers and put me on the defensive with their ad hominem attacks and sophomoric logic, I started making these comments and trying to find someone who woudl do anything about the dismal state of teaching and testing (especially in the 2nd year) in earnest after making a 98 on a Holliman test.
 
masterofmonkeys said:
If you didn't read the hippo discussion boards from 2005-2007, you likely missed the relatively large thesis I wrote on this subject.

I think our board passage rates have far more to do with the fact that our teachers are out of touch with what medical students need to know and are expected to know. In some cases, they don't teach the stuff in the first place, and in others, they don't emphasize the things that need to be emphasized. They add insult to injury by forcing our attention on nitpicky little details that add nothing to our ability to gain a solid backing in relevant basic science knowledge while ignoring the things that matter.

They follow this up with some of the worst question writing the world has ever known. The USMLE, while tough, is designed not to obfuscate. Syntactic and grammatical confusion is expressly avoided by their question writers. They believe in testing our actual knowledge and not our ability to reason through logic puzzles. Many schools offer question writing seminars for their professors, teaching them the basics of how to write a question that effectively tests our knowledge. OU does not. And in fact goes out of its way to avoid this in many areas.

You can be tough, relevant, and straightforward, challenging your students and willing them to do their best. Or you can be nitpicky and bitchy, leaving students wondering what hit them and demoralized that they never got a chance to show what they know.

Oh, and, since the rest of SDN has ruffled my feathers and put me on the defensive with their ad hominem attacks and sophomoric logic, I started making these comments and trying to find someone who woudl do anything about the dismal state of teaching and testing (especially in the 2nd year) in earnest after making a 98 on a Holliman test.
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ahhh yes, OU basic sciences....I cannot understand why a university would allow teaching to fall into this "screw the students" philosophy. I have friends at other med schools, and while difficult, their 1st and 2nd year experience was not nearly as malignant from a testing standpoint. Oh well, to those in the 1st and 2nd year, grit your teeth...youll be out of the jungle soon and on to better things...and those f*ckers will be left behind with nothing better to do but torture new meds students....oh and karma is certainly a b!tch, so they'll get whats coming to them.
 
Gentlemen, ladies, it's Christmas! We should be a little nicer. Actually, I'm not really prepared to riot about OUCOM's basic sciences - I think most of us are self-learners and do a pretty good job of learning the material on our own. My own problem, however, was that I never had time to learn what I wanted to because I was so buried in nit-picky details.

The absolute worst question-writer had to be whats-his-face in histology. If he didn't give so many questions back, I would have had a real problem with him. His use of language when asking questions was often so imprecise that you had to make your best guess as to what he wanted and pray.

I think OU's Step 1 pass rate was fantastic when OkieNotes were current and board-review lectures were being given - which, of course, was prompted by a previously-falling pass rate. Everything that goes around comes around. I just wonder if they know what they're doing with the new curriculum.... we shall see, I suppose.

But, for the newbies... before you go into paroxysms of worry over Step 1 pass rates - just remember, whether OU's fail rate is 3% or 5% or 10% is only relevant if you're in the bottom 10% - everybody else passed, many quite handily. OUCOM is a perfectly competent mid-tier allopathic school... some professors are great, a few aren't - but a lot depends on how much work you put in on studying - and whether or not you have the sense to occasionally look at a Step 1 review book to get a feel for what part of your education is weak, and what part is too detailed. I would think long and hard about paying private or OOS tuition because another school's board pass rate is 2% higher. Me, well-- I have to think twice about complaining about the quality of lectures when I never went to class my entire second year.

Happy holidays to all!
 
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