Can someone tell me more about the curriculum. I know that it is organ based. Is it mostly traditional? PBL? How much time do you spend in class? Also, do you feel like the exams every four weeks are more stressful than exams more often? Would you consider the type of curriculum as very important to choosing a med school?
I swear I tried to use the search function! Of course it led me to this thread and then I started to read each page and then thought... this is nuts.
The curriculum is, as Ashers said, pretty traditional. YOu have a class in biochem, anatomy, and development, blah blah blah. each class covers it's own material pretty independently. There's a little crossover between anatomy and development as to covering the same systems at the same time, but that's about it. I wouldn't call it organ based.
As for exams, having them every four weeks is a big dilemma for me. I haven't figured out what I prefer yet, and i'm almost done with second year. On one hand, having them all at once every four weeks is nice because you can sorta adjust your life around exams and have a weekend or two off. on the other hand, you have 2 weeks around exam time where your life completely changes, you become a hermit, stop shaving your armpits, and have absolutely no life. It honestly feels like final exams EVERY SINGLE TIME. But then when it's over, it's over. You don't have to catch up on other classes you were having during the week of the other test because all of the classes had tests.
Every now and then our tests get broken up second year...which is nice because personally I can space out my studying more...a week of studying for pathology, take the test, then a week to study for pharm. As opposed to studying mostly pathology for a Monday test, then trying to cram pharm in after the pathology test for a Tuesday test. The downside to having tests spaced out is it feels like you're studying FOREVER.
As for time spent in class....pretty much all morning. First year you have class from 8:20am until noon, then in the afternoons you'll have anatomy labs or other things going on like visits to your mentor. Second semester is a bit lighter as you have more free afternoons thanks to not having anatomy lab. Second year is class all morning with occasional afternoon lectures but largely you have small group discussions, labs, or clinical exam sessions. I did my first pelvic exam on Friday!
Hope that helps. Personally I prefer the traditional curriculum. All this newfangled stuff is all too flashy for me. Just freaking tell me what I need to know and I'll have it memorized for the exam. Unless I think it's useless, then I won't bother.
As for PBL. Waste of time. Luckily it's a pretty minor and forgettable component of first year.
