Most go through the SOAP,
SOAP is a brutal process to go through.
(i suppose that's obvious). for a couple of ones that had to, it was a tragedy to hear about it (as in they had high step scores, great LORs etc etc). generally yea it was due to lack of strategic application (having no back up when they applied for something competitive). Ochsner was supportive, to it's credit, in helping to fax a lot of last minute info everywhere to get them through.
As jb271 said, a lot of things are predictable.
you know how you're going to do with your step scores, and there's ways you can plan for what's to come.
Adding to what pitman said:
former students may be a little more likely to stay longterm after having lived in LA two years longer than non-LA residents, but by that argument the subset of the subset of 7 per year who end up staying would be vastly outnumbered by those they could poach from Tulane and LSU (where students were in LA for at least 4 years) for residency.
uQO was set up post-Katrina, when Ochsner was expanding.
filling the void left by hospitals that were unable to recover.
at the time there was a need for more doctors. it was blocked by tulane and lsu from creating it's own school, hence having to partner overseas. so it's a bit more than just an enterprise to get money.
some of the UQ trad students also match at Ochsner each year (generally the ones who had Ochsner rotations in the past or Ochsner spouses..would never underestimate the power of relationships or how frequently medcest occurs), seeing as not all UQO grads choose to stay Ochsner for residency either.
I doubt it. We were told it was mandatory no pass no progress, but then emails flew around at the end of the year stating that if you weren't scoring a pass on practice tests to email them and they would figure something out. They used to let people take the first rotation off - I think 30-35 students did for my year - and let you study more. Then a few weeks ago an email went out stating that you had until the end of Y3 to take the exam.
that's about right - so far.
every year for the last god knows how many they try to make the steps a requirement and then they tell everyone they changed the requirements for that particular year. then they back track and tell the year after they're changing things. i suppose one of these years it will actually happen.
it's okay to be behind one rotation, considering that graduating on time is December under UQ/Australia. being one rotation behind means you still get to start in july.
they may start to discourage that (harder anyway), becuase if you end up failing a rotation once you start 3rd year and end up 2 rotations behind, you won't be able to start residency on time in july. and hence, you won't be able to participate in the match right after "grad', but have to wait the following year. it has happened that UQO students fall behind (but are still passing) to that degree, and there's been much angst directed at the school, because they are forced to take a year off between grad and residency.
I know no one anticipates not taking the step 1 on time.
sh** happens though. like no one planning to fail rotations - but rotations so different to what you think you know about medical school as pre-clinical year. they can very unpredictable. live exams are much more subjective.
I just don't like your implications that somehow your class is any dumber than any other class that came before you. It isn't- I know plenty of people just like you with 30+ MCATs. No idea what the average MCAT is, but there is a difference between that and the bare minimum they want you to have to apply. And I wouldn't worry so much about what other people know after 6 weeks. There are no prereqs so people come here with all kinds of backgrounds, some need to do a lot more catching up.
I can't tell what anyone's implications are anymore in this particular conversation.
however, I take it there's an underlying concern over school or personal reputation based on a mcat minimum cut off haha. I could be wrong and oversimplifying.
Also, dumb, shady people have great MCAT scores too. (Lol not sure just raising the MCAT cut off changes much either - but i don't think that's what was implied. I would go a step farther and say there should be pre-reqs, but the school has a bottomline it has to meet).
This is becoming quite an interesting conversation. I agree with the points made that in time it will only my get harder. I just cringe when I hear "what's a base pair"?
I can say I agree with cringing too...
but also probably for different reasons.
It's not so cute anymore working with people (whether arts or science background as undergrads - doesn't matter) who still can't keep up by residency and there's really sick patients they have to manage.
you can be behind (we're all kinda sh%$ when we first start as interns by the way) but there's eventually a line that's crossed. kudos to those who realize they're behind and are doing something about it (most of us are paranoid about whether we're doing a good job), but some remain oblivious and fail to see any need to improve. apart from doubling or tripling the work load of people around you, if you fall into that category (there is nothing worse than having to work 3-4hrs overtime simply because the other prsn on the team is a douche or none of us can trust them to look after their patients), it's also dangerous. this isn't like any other professional degree. there's a great deal of trust and responsibility involved.
Anyway, difficult balance that schools face. student welfare.
economics. industrial interests for hospitals too who would like quality or at least safe & efficient graduates. public health safety.
