Which schools have minimal or no PBL?

why? PBL kicks ass over trad learning, do you want to know what schools not to apply to?

 

ucsd

 

I wouldn't worry about it, I attend the University of New Mexico which has a real strong PBL program in and out of the medical school. From how I understand it the small group work is only part of the formula, there is alot of time spent as individual study addressing learning issues. Basically, each school has a different form of PBL and you should be wary of making a judgement based on your undergrad experience. Also the small group format is designed to mimic the working atmosphere of a training physician so it only makes for stronger residents who know how to work with each other and attendings, so maybe if it doesn't suit you now it would suit you to go to a PBL school so it won't be so much of an adjustment when you start your residency. I mean if harvard, cornell, cclm, and other big name schools think it is a valuable learning method, it can't hurt right.

 

i have a good friend who is a 4th year now at UCSD...while they do have quite a bit of lecture...i hear they do have a class that is similar to PBL.

i am not sure if there are any schools in the nation that absolutely positively do not have an ounce of PBL. even the ones that claim they are not PBL have some form of it in their curriculum.

a lot of people claim to not like it. while i am not the biggest fan of it myself...i do think it offers a glimpse into the real world of healthcare. in my mind...the medicine floors in particular...each patient really is a giant PBL case. i think people(premeds in particular) need to learn that medicine(and each and every specialty within it) is a team sport. so actually...the way most schools run PBL is a more academic version of what you will be doing for the rest of your life in a sense. while yes...it is probably more efficient to learn factoids for the board exams on your own...for the sake of your patients, you WILL need to work with other members of the healthcare team to solve problems.

just my thoughts as a 4th year counting down the days to the match.

 

Med school curriculli evolve, generally after seeing other schools have success with other modes. A school locked in tradition in the face of other places having success with things like PBL, increased clinical exposure, built in research electives, decreased lecture hours, subject vs systems approaches, etc, is possibly a school you might not want to go to. So while PBL may not be your cup of tea, "traditional" is probably not always the virtue you make it out to be.