So I am a student in KC MO looking at midwest schools and I came across an interesting statistic about MU students USMLE scores when they switched to a new case study based teaching style. At first the student scores were below average and then progressively increased over time. My first choice for med school is Carle Il. MD program with an engineering approach to learning targeted at teaching and inventing the future of medicine but I am concerned that they are new and the teaching style has not really been tested or refined yet and do you think this alternative learning approach could lead to inadequate preparation for the USMLE? -Love the podcast Dr. Gray keep up the great work!
Sounds like an interesting way to learn. Bottom line is try to figure out how you learn best and find a school whose style matches that. There are lots of schools that still do a traditional lecture based curriculum that feeds you information. Others are purely case based and put a lot of the onus on the student to learn the expected material at a depth adequate enough to take the boards. There is a huge spectrum in between the two as well.
If you’re interested in the school, it being a new concept shouldn’t dissuade you from at least applying and visiting the school to see what it’s really about. The school is accredited, so in theory, the LCME thinks that their set up is effective at teaching the right type of student all of the knowledge needed to earn an MD.
The boards test a lot of information, often times in a stem that has some bearing on clinical practice. Rote learning the material doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll recognize the correct situation in which to apply it or can figure out how to answer a question that seems obscure or seems to have multiple correct answers. In that sense, their teaching style may actually be more beneficial for board prep, which, in the end, counts for a lot. That being said, there are a lot of commercially available question books/banks that can help those who learn lecture-style figure out how to apply that content.