Is anyone worried that all three medical school courses, physiology biochemistry and micro, are taken in the same semester(s)? I understand that means that medical schools will see all your medical school course grades earlier in the cycle; but it may also mean lower grades. I assume then that the SMP workload will be exactly what the medical students endure in that time.
Does anyone have insight into what the Fall and Winter schedule/workload will be like? From what I can tell, classes and exams are staggered such that you will not necessarily take classes for a course in consecutive weeks. How has this been different from a more traditional course schedule in terms of difficulty, learning, your opinion?
And last question: if you matriculate at U of Cincinnati's medical school after the program, did they offer the option of opting out of the classes you had taken during the SMP?
The point of taking them at the same time, like the med students, is to prove to adcoms that you can succeed with that sort of workload. So your grades shouldn't be lower!
Work hard, manage your time correctly, use the endless resources that are provided for you, and you can do well in all of 3 of them. The med students also have gross anatomy and CFMP (clinical skills class), so they have a little bit tougher workload, but believe me, you'll have your hands full with those other 3.
There is a set class schedule, but it's not like in undergrad...meaning you won't have the same schedule week to week. One week you can have 1 micro lab, 4 physio lectures, and 2 biochem, then next week you can have 4 biochem, 3 physio, 2 labs, etc...you get the picture. We had classes and labs as early as 8am or going to as late as 4pm...each day was different. The first set of exams this year (there are 4 blocks) were spread out nicely but still within a week; other blocks they were closer together. Block 3 was by far the toughest...it ends right before winter break. I'm not sure what the schedule will be like next year...you will get it in August. But exams will be within the same week generally, which is nice in some ways (think of it as a finals week from undergrad...except you have 4 of them, haha), but obviously requires a lot of time management and prioritizing.
It is a lot tougher than undergrad, as well it should be. Some weeks have less lectures and labs than other weeks, so that's nice...those are weeks you can study up and review previous material, whereas undergrad you had the same schedule every week. But not even the favorable (in my opinion) scheduling makes up for the vast amount of material you have to master, and that alone made this entire experience difficult. Exam time is very stressful and there will be plenty of late night study sessions with your fellow masters students (which i have to say helped us bond a little better, so again...there's always some good to take out of every experience here). Make no mistake (and you will hear this over and over, and probably still won't heed the warning, but here goes...): you cannot procrastinate, fall behind, or expect to cram a few days before each exam. You will not succeed in this program, nor in med school, doing that. So those days are far behind you in undergrad. Help each other out...you're not competing against each other...the med classes are not "curved."
Lastly, as far as I know the school won't give you credit for the classes you took there if you matriculate the next year...that might change, but I have no idea. As of now, they don't and either way you'd have to pay the whole year's tuition anyway, so might as well re-take them, rock the classes and get honors (since you've had the material before), and help out your fellow students. Plus, you get the advantage of extra review for USMLE step 1. Good luck...feel free to ask anymore questions or PM me...there are a handful of current students in the program who check this forum like me
