UQ-Ochsner 2016

[nybgrus]

Yea I am not sure why I thought a 215 was so many % correct, but I feel like still not knowing that by now has revealed my lack my of preparation

That makes much more sense, with the average being more in line with %correct on regular med school exam.

I think subconsciously I have been trying to set myself up for the worst possible outcome so that whatever ends up happening is better than what I make myself believe is going to happen.

Take this as a gentle lesson to spend less time arguing about what you think is definitely the case and more time actively trying to find out if it is. Every single time I write anything, whenever I come across a specific fact (unless I have referenced it so many times that I am superbly confident, and even then I sometimes double check), I actually look it up. I'm more interested in being right at the end of a conversation than I am about asserting my correctness at the beginning. It just so happens that these topics are ones with which I am extremely well acquainted. I can assure everyone that I did not develop, implement, and then manage and hand off the entire USMLE preparatory framework for the UQ-O students by being minimally informed and making stuff up. I did not manage to get UQ to spend the reasonably significant amount of money on QBanks and tutorials because 25 points above min pass is a "really good" score or because it can reasonably be postponed until after M3 year.

Your last sentence shows some self insight and introspection. Keep it up. Play this game to win, not to not lose. Don't set yourself up for the worst and be happy with anything, go for the jugular and set yourself up to the best you possibly can. That may not be a 240 or 250. And it will involve many more factors than just your raw brain power and abilities. But the way to make yourself happy at the end of the day is not to be so dismal that anything seems better than what you thought, but to be able to genuinely look back and say that your score was quite literally the best you could have possibly achieved given all the circumstances and be sincerely and deservedly proud of that.

This test is very doable. Honestly. And it is honestly very doable before M3 year as a UQ-O. Do not fear the test. But you must respect the test for what it is and not what you wish it were or even what it actually should be. You must know and understand the test itself and the process for residency application inside and out to maximize your chances, something vital for anyone but absolutely critical for an IMG already at an unfair (yes, I said it unfair) disadvantage. Nobody will spoon feed you everything you need. You must take initiative yourself and find ways to get the information you need. This is a crucial skill for success in our field.

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[Ryomagoku]

Hey guys,

When calculating gpa, how should I go about the retake classes? AMCAS way of calculating or AACOMAS way?

If I have about 2.8 gpa with 32 meat, do I have a chance at this school?

 

[deleted158872]

Hey guys,

When calculating gpa, how should I go about the retake classes? AMCAS way of calculating or AACOMAS way?

If I have about 2.8 gpa with 32 meat, do I have a chance at this school?

Your MCAT is very competitive.
for gpa, they require a "B average".
you don't know until you apply. i'd say go ahead, apply and see.
this cycle is already closed, though.

 

[pcat24]

hi all,

I recently got admitted to university of queensland medical school. i am very scared, and do not know if i should start studying medicine or decline this offer. my MCAT score was 24, yah pretty crap, but my undergraduate GPA in psychology was alright, and i did pretty well in pre-requisite biology and chemistry courses. However, I also studied doctor of pharmacy. I struggled with Doctor of pharmacy, failed biochemistry, pharmokinetic, pharmacodynamic, endocrinology and cardiology! yes, I know awesome! our passing cut of was 60%. I dropped out of pharmacy school and decided to pursue law. in all fairness, law is much easier and i know I will graduate from law if i complete my degree. i am in my second year of a two years accelerated law program. should i be insane enough to leave my law program and start medicine? do you guys think i can handle medicine or I will drop out? please respond asap as i need to accept my offer from queensland if i really want it. thanks

 

[akinetopsia]

Only you can know what you can handle. It does sound like you're a bit of a professional student. You did "alright" in undergrad, and pre-requisite pre-medical courses, but didn't do too well in pharmacy school, so you went into law school. What drove you to pursue medicine again? If you are unsure about it, maybe it's better to think on it, finish your law degree, and reapply if you still have that medical school itch.

 

[babs4077]

Just got an acceptance email-so surprised considering I sounded like a blithering idiot throughout my interview.

That sticker shock, though! I'm taking the rest of the week to consider just how much debt is worth this degree....

 

[UncomfortablyNumb]

Just got an acceptance email-so surprised considering I sounded like a blithering idiot throughout my interview.

That sticker shock, though! I'm taking the rest of the week to consider just how much debt is worth this degree....

CONGRATS! I think it was a general consensus that we were admitted despite the interview, not because of it. I think everyone goes through the sticker shock and the only thing I can say is, I can't see myself doing anything else. The worst case scenario is living in poverty for a while, and, well, I've already been there, so... it's only up from here! I think everyone is counting on the 10-year forgiveness scheme paired with the income based repayment plan. With that, it's all pretty manageable. If you scroll back a couple pages there's a break down of how nybgus is fairing after residency. He breaks down his payments.

That being said, I've yet to encounter an adult who thought the incredibly daunting number (to me!) wouldn't be possible to pay off relatively quickly. I just about dry heave every time I think about it, but my older professional friends just kinda laugh at me. Perspective I suppose.

 

[mcat_taker]

Do you know what clinical school is the best one to select? Princess Alexandra? Royal Brisbane? Etc.

@nybgrus

 

[babs4077]

CONGRATS! I think it was a general consensus that we were admitted despite the interview, not because of it. I think everyone goes through the sticker shock and the only thing I can say is, I can't see myself doing anything else. The worst case scenario is living in poverty for a while, and, well, I've already been there, so... it's only up from here! I think everyone is counting on the 10-year forgiveness scheme paired with the income based repayment plan. With that, it's all pretty manageable. If you scroll back a couple pages there's a break down of how nybgus is fairing after residency. He breaks down his payments.

That being said, I've yet to encounter an adult who thought the incredibly daunting number (to me!) wouldn't be possible to pay off relatively quickly. I just about dry heave every time I think about it, but my older professional friends just kinda laugh at me. Perspective I suppose.

The dry heaves. OH the dry heaves. 65k a year just in tuition?

I can't see myself doing anything else, either. What weighs so heavily on my mind is not only the compounding interest, but hedging my financial future on potentials-that IBR and the 10yr plan remain favorable, that we match into specialties that pay enough to make ends meet.... I've been following nybgus's posts pretty closely and they've been so helpful. It's really just my mind trying to wrap itself around the amount of debt for an overseas degree (which is an entirely separate argument, but I wouldn't have applied if I wasn't 100% ok with this option!).

And I thought getting in was the hard part

 

[deleted718115]

CONGRATS! I think it was a general consensus that we were admitted despite the interview, not because of it.

I don't think so. People are terrible evaluators of their own interviews anyway.

 

[UncomfortablyNumb]

The dry heaves. OH the dry heaves. 65k a year just in tuition?

I can't see myself doing anything else, either. What weighs so heavily on my mind is not only the compounding interest, but hedging my financial future on potentials-that IBR and the 10yr plan remain favorable, that we match into specialties that pay enough to make ends meet.... I've been following nybgus's posts pretty closely and they've been so helpful. It's really just my mind trying to wrap itself around the amount of debt for an overseas degree (which is an entirely separate argument, but I wouldn't have applied if I wasn't 100% ok with this option!).

And I thought getting in was the hard part

Yeah, I posted the calculations a while back when deciding if it was really something I wanted to do. I thought I might be able to pay the annual interest payment until it came out to be $5k, $15k, $20k, $25k.... nope. I went so far as to extrapolate out the next 10 years of interest and repayments through a projected income during residency and the first couple years of a specialty.... I'm not sure I posted that insanity for the people but it was a decent enough exercise for me to make the decision and forget about it. I now try to actively suppress the issue.

 

[Enkolo]

Do you know what clinical school is the best one to select? Princess Alexandra? Royal Brisbane? Etc.

@nybgrus

The biggest difference between the clinical schools is location. Other than that it doesn't really matter. RBH had slightly smaller clinical groups this past year for my year 2 (4-5 vs 6 at PA). I would recommend just choosing the one closer to the suburb you plan on living in or if you aren't here yet then take the clinical school location into account when you're finding a place.

Also in year 1 you only go to the hospital once a week (unless it was changed for MD) and year 2 you go 3-4 times a week depending on your schedule.

 

[Drexon]

Hey everyone!

I hope there are some alumns from the UQ-Ochsner cohort to help answer my questions

I haven't noticed any discussion about away rotations with the UQ-Ochsner program. I know that many MD/DO students use VSAS to apply for away rotations, but that option is not available for international students. However, there are alternatives to VSAS for international med students ( as denoted on the AAMC website ). Does anyone here from the UQ-Ochsner alumni cohort have experience with away rotations using methods like the EEC?

I know that doing an externship will help increase the chances of matching (making connections, getting first hand experience) to that institution. But given that a majority of schools use VSAS and don't offer externship opportunities to international med students, how did you guys work around this system (or do you know of how your friends/colleagues) to find get matched to places that you've never done an externship at.

Thanks in advance!

 

[babs4077]

Yeah, I posted the calculations a while back when deciding if it was really something I wanted to do. I thought I might be able to pay the annual interest payment until it came out to be $5k, $15k, $20k, $25k.... nope. I went so far as to extrapolate out the next 10 years of interest and repayments through a projected income during residency and the first couple years of a specialty.... I'm not sure I posted that insanity for the people but it was a decent enough exercise for me to make the decision and forget about it. I now try to actively suppress the issue.

You did-I used that as the basis for my own worst-case-financial outcome projection and I've decided that I'm not ready to take the risk quite yet....I'm waiting on US schools. Even if I don't get in this cycle, I have next year.

Thanks, uncomfortablynumb, for helping me reason through the incredibly strange mix of terror and exhilaration that comes with a med school acceptance!

 

[Medstart108]

hi all,

I recently got admitted to university of queensland medical school. i am very scared, and do not know if i should start studying medicine or decline this offer. my MCAT score was 24, yah pretty crap, but my undergraduate GPA in psychology was alright, and i did pretty well in pre-requisite biology and chemistry courses. However, I also studied doctor of pharmacy. I struggled with Doctor of pharmacy, failed biochemistry, pharmokinetic, pharmacodynamic, endocrinology and cardiology! yes, I know awesome! our passing cut of was 60%. I dropped out of pharmacy school and decided to pursue law. in all fairness, law is much easier and i know I will graduate from law if i complete my degree. i am in my second year of a two years accelerated law program. should i be insane enough to leave my law program and start medicine? do you guys think i can handle medicine or I will drop out? please respond asap as i need to accept my offer from queensland if i really want it. thanks

If I recall you are studying law in the UK as an international student. I know the UK system better than most and law is going to be a lot easier than medicine. In the UK, law isn't as competitive as it is in Canada and law is an undergraduate degree there, on a difficulty scale it is no harder than any other BA or BSc you would study.

What concerns me is that you struggled with pharm school in Canada, because in my opinion that is more relevant to how you might do medicine than law in the UK would be. I expect you to be able to complete the coursework but.. my biggest concern is that you won't be able to get a job after graduation, if you got into a medical school in North America, I would say full steam ahead but because of the serious risk of being jobless unless you are a top Australian grad, I am not sure if you will succeed. The unfortunate thing with Australian schools is that they don't work like NA schools. In NA, if they accept you they will do their best to make sure you graduate, but in Australia, just because they offer you doesn't mean they believe you will succeed in their program let alone finding a residency position in Canada or the US. Its going to seem hard to turn down an "offer to study medicine", but keep in mind this is not an offer with a job guarantee, it really is just an offer to let you study medicine and that is something you should not feel pressured to take.

While finding a job in Canada as a British law grad is a huge struggle, I think putting yourself in 300k more debt and 4 more years of your life for a similar struggle in finding a job is a bit too much of a risk. This could seriously ruin the rest of your life if not done well. My guess is going to be you could be nearing 30 by the end of all this with nothing more than a MD that you can't use and potentially half a million of debt that you can't pay off.

 

[deleted718115]

how challenging is UQ curriculum? do you think it is more or less rigorous than US curriculum? do you feel like "drinking from a fire hose"?

 

[sean80439]

how challenging is UQ curriculum? do you think it is more or less rigorous than US curriculum? do you feel like "drinking from a fire hose"?

UQ's comment about material - 'We stress breadth over depth'.
Example UQ final exam question - 'Name every gene in the human genome.'

 

[deleted718115]

UQ's comment about material - 'We stress breadth over depth'.
Example UQ final exam question - 'Name every gene in the human genome.'

lol. Are you serious?

 

[sean80439]

lol. Are you serious?

A bit of hyperbole, but yeah they do ask some very specific questions after stressing breadth over depth. It gets annoying.

 

[Lucrezia]

^so true ahahahahaha

But aside from that - I'm an Australian student at UQ who has just finished second year (end of pre-clinical - yay!) and to be honest, the curriculum is as hard or as easy as you make it. If you want to do super well and get straight 7s (the highest grade in our system) then yes, it's pretty hard. This is partly because the sheer volume of content you need to know to get that grade is so huge (standard med school thing regardless of where you go), and partly because UQ doesn't 'teach' you especially well / don't make it very clear what they want you to know.

Also the exams are often badly written + difficulty / depth level of said exams are often unpredictable, so it's hard to tailor your study methods for the exam - they also provide pretty poor practice material for the exams (not enough questions + the questions they do provide rarely reflect the actual difficulty of the exam). But I mean, that's only a problem for people who obsess over whether they got a 6 or a 7 in UQ exams. I don't (I like to think I know better haha). But yeah, it is VERY easy to score at least 70% on most things without a lot of effort. If you can't pass UQ pre-clinical, unless you have some valid extraneous circumstances, then you have no business being in medical school. Any medical school.

NB - the above complaints I have listed may be an issue at most medical schools, I have no idea, I've only been to this one

 

[deleted718115]

How many students failed out this year?

 

[n27s]

Hey guys, I was accepted into the program last week and sent my deposit the next day, but mededpath got back to me and said spots filled up already and I'm on a wait list pending any attrition. I was surprised considering I sent my deposit the next day but I guess in hindsight I should have sent it same day. Has anyone had this experience in past years? Does MEP send out extra acceptances bc they are projecting attrition? I'm not sure if I should be hopeful of a spot opening up or look forward to next year's cohort.

 

[UncomfortablyNumb]

When I spoke with them a while back, they told me they expect roughly 10% attrition per class. I think our class is 120, so 12 spots. Unfortunately they didn't specify if that usually happens before or after kids move. Someone dropping out during orientation isn't going to help you. And all schools send out extra acceptances, I think 3 seats to every 1 is the usual ratio for a semi-competitive school. I think it was UC Davis that gave me that number. Anyway, I bet the ochsner program does much higher.

 

[Lucrezia]

How many students failed out this year?

We won't know that until the results come out which isn't for a couple of weeks. I think after last year (first year) there were 10-20 who failed and are now repeating? Presumably the numbers will be similar this year?

 

[mcat_taker]

Hey guys, I was accepted into the program last week and sent my deposit the next day, but mededpath got back to me and said spots filled up already and I'm on a wait list pending any attrition. I was surprised considering I sent my deposit the next day but I guess in hindsight I should have sent it same day. Has anyone had this experience in past years? Does MEP send out extra acceptances bc they are projecting attrition? I'm not sure if I should be hopeful of a spot opening up or look forward to next year's cohort.

@n27s Ahh thats terrible. What day did they give you an offer? I got an offer on Thursday the 12th, sent in my deposit and paperwork the next day on the 13th and received an email from mededpath that my file was complete and sent to UQ for processing. They told me it takes a few weeks to issue the COE so I won't rest easy until I get it. I'm assuming I should be safe because mededpath said my file was sent to UQ and to expect a COE, but what happened to you is terrifying I'm glad I didn't wait.

I mean the offers that they sent last week were offers due to attrition. People who had paid their deposits earlier must have dropped out due to getting offers elsewhere, i.e. U.S. schools. Not sure if there's gonna be any more rounds of acceptances because technically the class filled in september and the offers sent last week were only due to attrition.

 

[n27s]

@n27s Ahh thats terrible. What day did they give you an offer? I got an offer on Thursday the 12th, sent in my deposit and paperwork the next day on the 13th and received an email from mededpath that my file was complete and sent to UQ for processing. They told me it takes a few weeks to issue the COE so I won't rest easy until I get it. I'm assuming I should be safe because mededpath said my file was sent to UQ and to expect a COE, but what happened to you is terrifying I'm glad I didn't wait.

I mean the offers that they sent last week were offers due to attrition. People who had paid their deposits earlier must have dropped out due to getting offers elsewhere, i.e. U.S. schools. Not sure if there's gonna be any more rounds of acceptances because technically the class filled in september and the offers sent last week were only due to attrition.

I got the offer Thursday 11/12 and sent the deposit Friday 11/13 also so I'm guessing it's a matter of hours! Yeah it sucks bc I thought I was being quick sending it the next day. They said they will hold my deposit and paper work in case any more students drop but that spots were full again.

 

[mcat_taker]

I got the offer Thursday 11/12 and sent the deposit Friday 11/13 also so I'm guessing it's a matter of hours! Yeah it sucks bc I thought I was being quick sending it the next day. They said they will hold my deposit and paper work in case any more students drop but that spots were full again.

what time did you send in the deposit and paperwork? Did you wire transfer the money?

I'm assuming it's mededpath that would tell us if the class was full right? I should be safe if I got an email saying they sent my file to UQ for processing and to expect a COE within a few weeks?

 

[n27s]

what time did you send in the deposit and paperwork? Did you wire transfer the money?

I'm assuming it's mededpath that would tell us if the class was full right? I should be safe if I got an email saying they sent my file to UQ for processing and to expect a COE within a few weeks?

Yeah I'm sure you're finebecause my email was different, it said spots are full again and I would be notified as soon as more spots became available, pending further attrition. I sent it Friday evening after work and yes I wire transferred the money. In my position, it's really only a matter of IF any more students decide not to attend this year after all.

 

[mcat_taker]

Yeah I'm sure you're finebecause my email was different, it said spots are full again and I would be notified as soon as more spots became available, pending further attrition. I sent it Friday evening after work and yes I wire transferred the money. In my position, it's really only a matter of IF any more students decide not to attend this year after all.

Ok yea, I had everything sent by 12:30 pm or so on Friday so that probably made the difference in not waiting until after business hours.

Unlucky. But just like people dropped out for last week's offers, people may drop out again in the next month or so. You never know.

 

[bobiest]

The UQ-Ochsner program will start in Feb 2016. Could anyone please give some advice on the best way of finding an apartment and/or roommates near the St Lucia campus of UQ? Specifically, advices considering the following factors will be appreciated:

- The apartment needs to be within walking siatance to the St Lucia campue, or near a bus stop for taking buses to go to school, and how much is the bus ticket?
- Usually how much is a reasonable rental cost for a single room, and shared room? What is a reasonable estimate on costs of internet, electricity, water or other utilities?
- What is the estimated food cost if cooking our own meals? Is it a feasible idea to cook our own means at all while attending school in order to save money?
- Is there a way to find roommates before actually arriving at UQ St Lucia campus?
- Is it advisable to use a real estate agent in the St Lucia campus area to help find an apartment, and what will be the reasonable range of agent fees, or is there any website for existing UQ students looking for roommates?
- What to bring when traveling to UQ from the US/Canada? The purpose is to save money by not having to buy everything in Australia.

 

[smectutor]

try the facebook groups, there should be separate groups for both US and Canada cohorts.

 

[deleted718115]

The UQ-Ochsner program will start in Feb 2016. Could anyone please give some advice on the best way of finding an apartment and/or roommates near the St Lucia campus of UQ? Specifically, advices considering the following factors will be appreciated:

- The apartment needs to be within walking siatance to the St Lucia campue, or near a bus stop for taking buses to go to school, and how much is the bus ticket?
- Usually how much is a reasonable rental cost for a single room, and shared room? What is a reasonable estimate on costs of internet, electricity, water or other utilities?
- What is the estimated food cost if cooking our own meals? Is it a feasible idea to cook our own means at all while attending school in order to save money?
- Is there a way to find roommates before actually arriving at UQ St Lucia campus?
- Is it advisable to use a real estate agent in the St Lucia campus area to help find an apartment, and what will be the reasonable range of agent fees, or is there any website for existing UQ students looking for roommates?
- What to bring when traveling to UQ from the US/Canada? The purpose is to save money by not having to buy everything in Australia.

Join the Ochsner FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/840685356010597

For housing:
http://www.gumtree.com.au/
https://uqrentals.com.au/

 

[sean80439]

Living in St Lucia is extremely expensive. You will pay a huge premium for nothing other than a slightly shorter commute. I live in Bowen Hills right next to RBWH, and I am quite happy. I take a train and a quick bus across the river, and I am at campus in ~ 40min. Off the top of my head, good places to live that are near campus - Taringa, Toowong, CBD, Indooroopilly, Dutton Park, South Bank. You can live near PA or RBWH as well since both have buses that go to campus from either location. I would avoid Kangaroo Point - there is no good public transportation from there, it is a bit of a dead zone. Just take a look at the train stops. Basically every train either goes through Park Road or Toowong. From there it is a quick bus trip to Chancellors or UQ Lakes. As far as your living arrangements, it is completely dependent on HOW you want to live. If you want to live alone, with others, in a college, will all depend on what you will spend. Bear in mind that most places down here don't have a fridge/washingmachine/microwave included (white goods), so you have to buy that. If you want to be frugal, you can probably rent < 100AUD/week. I think most people spend ~200-250/week.

 

[pre med 2014]

Living close to the 66 bus line is a good idea as the 66 goes through to PA, RBWH and St Lucia. This is convenient since you won't ever have to take 2 busses or a bus and a train to get to campus or clinical, which saves a lot of time.

 

[bobiest]

Thanks to all for the info about the living and apartment search around UQ St Lucia campus! It's very helpful!

 

[UncomfortablyNumb]

Midterms over.... that was... unexpected.

I felt the questions were all over the place. Very little clinical reasoning and a lot of "did you catch that one sentence in lecture 4 weeks ago and the third line of the 49th slide of Cardio 4?" Yes, there were some painfully easy ones but i didn't feel like it actually assessed my knowledge of the topics. Most exams are written to verify that the content taught was absorbed and there's a working knowledge of concepts. This was just... not.

I guess there are some people talking to administration about it. Hopefully the final will be better and I hope you all passed.

P.S. WTF is reading time?? Why do i need ten minutes to read my exam without taking it?? I was so confused

 

[mcat_taker]

Midterms over.... that was... unexpected.

I felt the questions were all over the place. Very little clinical reasoning and a lot of "did you catch that one sentence in lecture 4 weeks ago and the third line of the 49th slide of Cardio 4?" Yes, there were some painfully easy ones but i didn't feel like it actually assessed my knowledge of the topics. Most exams are written to verify that the content taught was absorbed and there's a working knowledge of concepts. This was just... not.

I guess there are some people talking to administration about it. Hopefully the final will be better and I hope you all passed.

P.S. WTF is reading time?? Why do i need ten minutes to read my exam without taking it?? I was so confused

Reading time was so dumb, I was so confused during reading time and kinda just sat their paralyzed not knowing what to do lol. I wish they just gave us that time for our exam. I felt there was a lot of immunology tested considering we only had 2 weeks of it. Cardio seemed fine but considering how many lectures we had on it there should have been more. To be honest I spent so much time fighting through the immuno questions I almost ran out of time at the end on stuff I did know (most of the cardio). Whatever its good to know what to expect going forward.

 

[fghtffyrdmns]

Reading time was so dumb, I was so confused during reading time and kinda just sat their paralyzed not knowing what to do lol. I wish they just gave us that time for our exam. I felt there was a lot of immunology tested considering we only had 2 weeks of it. Cardio seemed fine but considering how many lectures we had on it there should have been more. To be honest I spent so much time fighting through the immuno questions I almost ran out of time at the end on stuff I did know (most of the cardio). Whatever its good to know what to expect going forward.

I know this has been beaten to death but, now that you've had your midterms - what was your study approach?
Did you go to campus often or did you mostly listen to the lecture recordings from home?

 

[pre med 2014]

^if I could go back in time I would have prepared for the exams listening to whatever USMLE videos you're using for your prep (whether it be DIT, Kaplan or usmle Rx) to cover the whole of whatever organ systems are on the exam. So for cardio instead of listening to UQ lectures do instead usmle cardio pharm, cardio physio, cardio path and cardio anatomy and that should cover enough of your bases to at least pass UQ exams while building base for usmle

That being said everything is easier in hindsight... my biggest fear was ignoring UQ material and thus bombing/failing the tests, but after having done the whole round of usmle videos now I am wishing I used them to study for UQ exams starting as early as 1st year. Leaving 2nd year mainly to memorize first aid and run through qbanks

Take my advice for what it's worth from someone that learns the hard way


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[pitman]

Whatever its good to know what to expect going forward.

Hahahaha. If past years are anything to go by...just when you think you know what to expect on exams, they will throw you with their randomness. Each year there would be complaints about over- or under-examining of subjects, and the next year the emphasis would change (probably independent of the complaints).

It doesn't end, ever. It actually gets worse in clinical years (for those staying on), when it's hit or miss with dept heads in charge of their own arbitrary exam questions. Then again for RMO assessments, when you're at the whim of your term supervisors, who are not only human but potentially twisted mofos. One might think that surely by the time you take national fellowship exams, like for ACRRM, testing would be standardized to reflect what you might reasonably be able to guess should be known in your field. Nope. There will be exhorbitant emphasis on, say, registrar-level anaesthetics knowledge, or the most obscure concepts like the bureaucratic guidelines for meeting major and minor criteria for a dx of acute rheumatic fever in at-risk vs. low-risk populations in order to get government surveillance (which any normal person would simply look up as needed).

 

[mcat_taker]

Hahahaha. If past years are anything to go by...just when you think you know what to expect on exams, they will throw you with their randomness. Each year there would be complaints about over- or under-examining of subjects, and the next year the emphasis would change (probably independent of the complaints).

It doesn't end, ever. It actually gets worse in clinical years (for those staying on), when it's hit or miss with dept heads in charge of their own arbitrary exam questions. Then again for RMO assessments, when you're at the whim of your term supervisors, who are not only human but potentially twisted mofos. One might think that surely by the time you take national fellowship exams, like for ACRRM, testing would be standardized to reflect what you might reasonably be able to guess should be known in your field. Nope. There will be exhorbitant emphasis on, say, registrar-level anaesthetics knowledge, or the most obscure concepts like the bureaucratic guidelines for meeting major and minor criteria for a dx of acute rheumatic fever in at-risk vs. low-risk populations in order to get government surveillance (which any normal person would simply look up as needed).

Haha, major and minor criteria for dx of acute rheumatic fever??...you must mean the jones criteria! For whatever reason yes they decided to teach that to us first semester. And yes some things never change, there's still plenty of complaints about the first exam and what was and wasn't tested. I think as an ochsner, it is difficult balancing what you need to know for UQ exams and what you need to know for the USMLE which is substantially more in depth which has caused a number of people in my cohort to get a little up in arms over how to be studying appropriately. No complaints so far, love it here.

 

[sean80439]

You guys are lucky that you are the 2nd year going through. You were actually taught immunology.

 

[UncomfortablyNumb]

You guys are lucky that you are the 2nd year going through. You were actually taught immunology.

.... and boy were we tested on it!

 

[sean80439]

.... and boy were we tested on it!

Yeah, so were we, that was the problem.

 

[Firkin]

I'm resurrecting this to ask a specific question. I haven't been able to find historical data on this. How much did tuition go up each year? The next entering class enters at $67,500 just for tuition, for the first year