I think they're trying to scare us stupid right now, or that's the impression at least some of us are getting from pre-matric. But then again, in a war zone, you do a lot of bonding with your fellow soldiers...er, med students, so that's a plus, at least.
Overall, we're getting a lot of exposure in the program...to what, is debatable. Unlike the real UTMB curriculum, where you get ONE class at a time, the prematrics get an 8am-5pm schedule stuffed with multiple courses (gross anatomy, molecules cells and tissues, pathobio, microanatomy, neurosciences). I feel like I haven't been this exhausted in forever, and a few of us have resorted to frappuccinos and oatmeal cream pies to dull the pain. It makes me doubly glad I don't go to UTH or UTSW, where multiple course cramming is the norm.
On an exciting note, we got to meet our bodies and start digging round for anatomic features on the second day. Although so far I think I'd have better luck with a metal detector on the beach than a scalpel in my "tank." Believe me, you get a little daunted when, after *30 minutes of searching* for the axillary artery, you find something odd and the Pathologist in charge answers "Beats the hell out of me" when you ask what it is.
But hey, it is true what they say about "your first cut," and it was interesting to see some actual path features (like breast cancer, a pacemaker, etc). Furthermore, we are learning what doesn't work in terms of prepping for gross lab (hint - find the items in your anatomy atlas/ dissector, THEN go to lab, cuz they don't tell you when you get there).
I'm pretty impressed with the PBL program so far - I think cuz you rarely have a "wrong" answer and you get to interact with other students instead of sitting in class listening to the prof read bedtime stories (aka, lectures). In these problem based learning groups, you get presented with more and more slices of a case study and you keep on throwing out ideas and looking up stuff.
Living at PHI CHI has its ups and downs (yeah, it looks old, but it's affordable, and your neighbors might give you hundreds of dollars of free books like mine did
). It's definitely not for everyone (one girl called home in hysterics when she first saw her room), but all the residents I've met have been cool and I've already started planning the painting/ furniture schemes I want to do in the future.
Overall, I'm glad that I can acclimate myself to UTMB *now* instead right at the beginning of the semester. We're all excited to finally be "official" med students (we got our id badges today), and I'm pretty confident that the UTMB C/O 2009 is going to be an eclectic and supportive bunch.
We did gleam some pearls of wisdom from upper classmen:
- Ask around for free/ cheap books, get Lippincott's Biochem, High Yield Embryo, BRS Path, a used copy of first aid, etc.
- Printing is free in the student life building
- The Walmart is scary no matter *what* time of day you go there
- Buy the scribes (notes) from last year, study them, take notes on them, read your notes after class, and treat med school like a job (ie, go to class 8-12, study 12-5).
Hope that gives you a rough estimate. Enjoy your summer!
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