Workload/class attendance at these schools?

[jellybean13]

I was just wondering if anyone can comment on the class attendance policy at NYCOM
CCOM
TouroNYCOM
PCOM
UMDNJ
AND those of you who go there can you comment on how much you study/how busy you are day-to-day?

Any info from current med students would be greatly appreciated! I already did a search but can't find anything specific to what I am looking for.

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[SmokD]

Touro-NY

The school requires 70% attendance, which is kept track of by fingerprint scanners. The school has openly said however, that they will overlook attendance if you are doing well in school. That said, I've never heard of this requirement being enforced. There is no way I have 70% attendance, and I know many other students who don't have it. Take it for what it is. On a side note, lab attendance has a 90% requirement and that is enforced.

Furthermore, at Touro-NY you're only in class 3 and a half days days a week. Mondays are reserved as your test day, and if you don't have a test you have the day off. On Fridays, class ends sometime between 12pm and 1pm as it is a Jewish school.

And in regards to workload, I'm pretty sure this doesn't change much from school to school. Be ready to put in 12 hours a day regardless of where you go.

 

[DocEspana]

tourCOM. There is an attendance policy. technically its 70% attendance and 100% to labs. It has never, and likely, will never be enforced. The 2013 class only shows up when we feel like it and for lectures that bring the most to the table. while a few classes have quizzes at the start of class occasionally to get us to show up, theyre not obtrusively frequent and they dont mind that lots of people leave after the quiz if the lecture isnt fitting with their study plans.

the first years did anger one old fashioned cranky doc by never showing up to his lass, so they have some stupid attendance taken in class thing going on with that one class. but its not clear if the attendance being taken is actually *doing* anything or just annoying for the sake of getting back for not attending. no one will ever say we dont have petty docs on staff, but one class for only one year aside, we have never had any issues or enforcement of our attendance policy despite the attendance for any given class being totally random and varying from 135 to about 5 (for behavioral medicine, which is tested out of the book, taught weakly at that, and is at 8AM. so it never stood a chance).

 

[chet]

I just finished up the second quarter of first year, so I can only comment on what I have done to this point.

The only required attendance is for Gross, OMM, and clinical skills lab, both of those combined account for about 12 hrs/week first and second quarter. It is fully possible to not attend any other classes and do well. That said, our attendance varies from class to class depending on the lecturer, some more than others like to throw in info that will show up on tests and is not in our notes.

The workload in general is fairly intense. If you do decide to go to classes you will be in school from 8 - 4/5 most days. We have a lot of tests, so there always seems to be one just around the corner to study for. There is a lot of mixed feelings about the amount of testing done at our school, it tends to stress a lot of people out. Personally, I think it guards against procrastination, instead of holding off for a huge final, we kind of just set a steady pace throughout the quarter.

 

[christina30]

At NYCOM there's an attendance policy for lectures and labs. It's enforced for labs (you're only allowed to miss one lab each block), but not really for lectures. They don't check attendance & there are a number of people who don't come to class, they just stream lectures from home.

There's also a PBL curriculum if you prefer that kind of learning environment (no lectures required, except for the Introductory block, which you take as part of the lecture based curriculum.)

 

[brucecanbeatyou]

It's pretty funny to me that various schools have different requirements for lecture attendance, but every DO school (that I'm aware of) requires attendance at OMM.

 

[katarina90]

Touro-NY

The school requires 70% attendance, which is kept track of by fingerprint scanners. The school has openly said however, that they will overlook attendance if you are doing well in school. That said, I've never heard of this requirement being enforced. There is no way I have 70% attendance, and I know many other students who don't have it. Take it for what it is. On a side note, lab attendance has a 90% requirement and that is enforced.

Furthermore, at Touro-NY you're only in class 3 and a half days days a week. Mondays are reserved as your test day, and if you don't have a test you have the day off. On Fridays, class ends sometime between 12pm and 1pm as it is a Jewish school.

And in regards to workload, I'm pretty sure this doesn't change much from school to school. Be ready to put in 12 hours a day regardless of where you go.

Fingerprint scanners? Wow. Can you elaborate? They scan you when you come to class, or do you have to scan to get into the door?

I go to Touro NV. No fingerprint scanners here, but we have badges. Also no mandatory attendance anymore, with the exception of labs and OMM skills lectures.

 

[SmokD]

Fingerprint scanners? Wow. Can you elaborate? They scan you when you come to class, or do you have to scan to get into the door?

I go to Touro NV. No fingerprint scanners here, but we have badges. Also no mandatory attendance anymore, with the exception of labs and OMM skills lectures.

Sure, you flash your ID to security to enter the building. Scanners are located outside lecture halls and the labs. You scan to "sign in". Its not like you fingerprint scan to open doors or anything James Bondish. I should also note that it is not required of you to provide your biometric data. If you refuse to give them this information they will provide you with a unique password you punch in at the scanners.

 

[snurpy]

Sure, you flash your ID to security to enter the building. Scanners are located outside lecture halls and the labs. You scan to "sign in". Its not like you fingerprint scan to open doors or anything James Bondish. I should also note that it is not required of you to provide your biometric data. If you refuse to give them this information they will provide you with a unique password you punch in at the scanners.

It's the retina scan detects if you've been lying about going to class and you get the Letter in your file. No one knows what this Letter is, but it can't be good.

 

[DocEspana]

Sure, you flash your ID to security to enter the building. Scanners are located outside lecture halls and the labs. You scan to "sign in". Its not like you fingerprint scan to open doors or anything James Bondish. I should also note that it is not required of you to provide your biometric data. If you refuse to give them this information they will provide you with a unique password you punch in at the scanners.

yea, the fingerprint scanners are really not a big deal in the least. about 90% of the students just register their fingerprint and go about signing in regularly for a month or two before most people stop caring. 10% dont ever register and they just enter their school id instead on a keypad. Its like clocking in and out at a job, and thats literally all you do. sign in and (if anyone actually ever remembers..) sign out.

whats funny is snurpy is actually onto something too. once in a while our attendance drops rapidly for some unit and we all get an e-mail that the school takes attendance 'totally seriously' (please read that mockingly). So everyone signs in and out appropriately for a few days and no one ever gets in trouble even when a handful of students effectively come to class only 1 day a week.

i dont know how those guys keep up, but they pretty much only show up for lab days.

 

[hocapoca]

For UMDNJ, the official policy said you suppose to show up for lectures and labs . However, its up to the Professor to reinforce it. OMM, small groups, and certain class take attendance with sign in sheets. Most classes don't really care as long as you show up and take the test ...

 

[TeamZissou]

I just finished up the second quarter of first year, so I can only comment on what I have done to this point.

The only required attendance is for Gross, OMM, and clinical skills lab, both of those combined account for about 12 hrs/week first and second quarter. It is fully possible to not attend any other classes and do well. That said, our attendance varies from class to class depending on the lecturer, some more than others like to throw in info that will show up on tests and is not in our notes.

The workload in general is fairly intense. If you do decide to go to classes you will be in school from 8 - 4/5 most days. We have a lot of tests, so there always seems to be one just around the corner to study for. There is a lot of mixed feelings about the amount of testing done at our school, it tends to stress a lot of people out. Personally, I think it guards against procrastination, instead of holding off for a huge final, we kind of just set a steady pace throughout the quarter.

+1

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