I just got accepted a few weeks ago. I'm still trying to decide between Drexel and EVMS but I'm a Philly native so I think I'm going to go with Drexel. I'm definitely a PIL person - small groups help me learn much more easily than lectures. Are any current students from PIL able to give a rough idea of what your "average day" is like?
I have attended small classes all my life. Even when I attended a large public school in NYC, my classes were relative small, let alone college. So, on that point, PIL was an easy fit for me.
small group: 9am-12pm
For 3 days of the week (M, W, F), you have mandatory small groups session that starts from 9am ends at noon. Your day starts with a case that describes a patient scenario, and sometimes you have actors. For instance, patient X comes with this and that. Then, you along your group members generate a hypothesis appropriate to the patient clinical presentation. In the medical lingual, they refer to it as differential diagnosis (DDx). Then, you read some more and based on the patient history and/or physical findings, you re-rank the hypothesis. You discuss the case some more and concept map the case as well. Depending on the group's preferences, you can either generate learning issues throughout or at the end of the session. Learning issues are questions that you want answers for. At the end of the sessions, each of the group members is assigned a learning issue that s/he is responsible to research and present to the group on the next session. Then, small group is adjourned.
Lunch: 12-1pm -->self-explanatory
Resource session: 1pm to 3pm and this can vary
So, based on the case discussed in the morning, you have "lectures" that address many questions that you may have about the case, which makes your life easier when researching the assigned learning issue.
For Tuesday and Thursday:
It is a combination of lunch and resource session. Class on these days usually starts from 9am and ends at 3pm.
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There you have it, my friend! I have been accepted to several medical schools and despite Drexel is quite expensive, I feel lucky that I have chosen this school. Based on what I have heard, Drexel does a good job preparing students for the board and PIL students in particular have done extremely well on their residency match this year.