Megan Lerner really needs to learn to be more professional.
As bitter as you are, it's never appropriate to call out someones name in this manner on a website as public as this.
I can't believe the Physiology Program lets those TAs (students like us but a semester ahead) craft the quizzes.
Pretty weak point for me to make here but I'll make it anyway, but those TAs are actually a year ahead. You can't enter the program halfway through the year. And even if they are *only* a year ahead, they are quite competent in the opinions of most people in our program and are willing to help you.
They make it harder than the previous year so they could eliminate the competition.
Competition for what? Those TAs are mostly not even applying the same cycle as you. Do they have some evil deal going on with people in our cycle to sabotage us? Are they actually students in our class that are in disguise as TAs?? I guess the mystery continues???
The program can really throw your grades in the sewer because those TAs are absolutely incompetent.
The quizzes are not hard at all and even if they are, they're only worth 10% of your grade. ALSO, an 85% is a considered an A so even if you LITERALLY get zeros on every single quiz, you are more than capable of getting an A if you study. Also, are you expecting to rely SOLELY on the TAs to do well on exams? You have a textbook, you're given lecture slides online, and you can rewatch lectures online to your heart's content literally at any time you want to. If you're expecting to be just spoon fed knowledge throughout your whole career in medicine, then I have some shocking news for you: you're gonna have to put in work yourself, sorry to say.
The program directors arranged a "Retreat" at some Water Park Resort and created a panel for TAs to answer questions about getting into medical schools.
If you thought we went all the way to a resort just to listen to a single panel, then you sorely missed out on the whole point of the retreat. The retreat wasn't a "How to get into medical school" retreat. It was a retreat for the whole Department of Physiology and Biophysics and to give the researchers/PhD candidates a chance to showcase their research and generally see what's going on on the rest of our floor outside our lecture hall doors. The panel was literally less than an hour out of the whole time we were there, soooo I'm not sure what you were doing the rest of the time?? And what's so wrong about having a retreat at a resort? Is that some kind of big no-no for a medical school department?
Here's a thought, if I wanted to know more about getting into medical school, I'd rather ask someone who actually got into one, instead of some postbach student that happens to be one semester ahead.
Here's a thought, have you realized that these second years and TAs are already getting medical school interviews and such? Meanwhile, you're not and you're sitting online here and ranting about the program? And even if you do want to hold that viewpoint, do you realize that they're not your sole source of advice here? You're literally sitting inside the CWRU School of Medicine for lectures, have unrestricted access to the building and all it's offices, and are being taught by faculty that love their job and are more than willing to talk to you about any concerns you have about getting into medical school.
Not worth the high tuition tag. $30,000+ a semester (including room and board), no thank you.
I don't know where you got those figures, but you're severely over-exaggerating. I'd really like to think you are some privileged child of rich parents that somehow manages to rack up $30,000+ in expenses per semester, but I'll give you the benefit of a doubt.
If you do this program, don't expect to leave in one year.
If you're trying to just rush through the program in a single year, you're again missing the point (seems like a common theme here for you) of why they recommend 2 years. You're sitting in a Top 25 medical school, with research centers that make groundbreaking work all the time, with 3 top tier hospitals sitting within a few miles of you that you can shadow/volunteer at (in case you don't know them yet for some reason, it's University Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, and Metro Health). There's myriads of volunteering and research opportunities sitting right in front of you and yet you want to ignore all that and just buy the prestige of a CWRU SOM degree and get out of here in the minimum possible time. I mean, if you want to do that, then go ahead and be my guest. But also to answer Naomi's question above, the faculty are NOT forcing you to stay 2 years. And the department website clearly states that most people take 2 years to complete the program, so why are you acting surprised now?
It easily stretched into 2 years, that could easily cost you $120,000+.
If you're scared of an exaggerated $120,000+ price tag, I'm not sure what to tell you to assuage your fears about the eventual cost of going to medical school.
Is it worth it? I think not.
Hmm, it's the end of semester, our last block exam is in 4 days, it's an exam (written by professors, to clarify for others) so it's worth a big chunk of your grade, and you're venting about the program using baseless points. I wonder why?... To anyone else reading this person's rant, let those factors sink in for a moment before you think about accepting the possible validity of the points he/she makes. To you, DoctoringwithV, good luck on that last exam, buddy - sounds like you need it.