I am unable to sleep and thought I would post here to get some perspective from fellow med students and people who have managed to make it through to the other side. I don’t post often but I am an almost daily visitor and I appreciate all of the advice I have received here in the past.
My question/problem has to do with my school’s administration. Right now my school is undergoing a curriculum change. As a five year student, I am stuck in between the old curriculum and the new curriculum and so far the result has been disheartening. So far the administration has:
-neglected to inform us that school was starting a week earlier than had last been reported (this one is particularly bad because I have a three year old who needs day care)
-failed to provide us with a class schedule…just a verbal “be in class from 8-10:00”
-didn’t inform us of a class we are supposed to be attending. they just let it be known via word of mouth and so we have all missed the first week of class.
-told us we will be repeating histology and possibly our first year PD class
The big thing with all of these events is that I feel that I have no voice at my school. I know that transferring is not an option and it just seems like as students we have no input and that as administrators they have no respect for our lives outside of school. How I am supposed to do well in my classes and on my boards if I am not even informed what my classes are and when I am suppose to show up for school? What are my rights as a student? I am paying over $30,000 in a tuition but it seems like as a student I am the last person that the administration is thinking about. Is this normal for med schools? Has anyone else had experiences like this?
I would love an feedback/ideas/encouragement on how to deal with this lack of organization on my schools part and how to stay focused on learning the material, and doing well on my steps. I am just feeling very discourgaged and frustrated right now.
Hi there,
It sounds like you have some legitimate concerns. First, I would address them through your student class leaders. If you point out a problem, then you should also have two solutions for the problem such as a listserve for the class so the everyone knows what is happening. My class started a class webpage that could be checked daily for schedule changes.
Second, the school administration is not obligated to be concerned about your life outside class. Their concerns go only as far as providing a curriculum that is LCME accredited. It would be nice for them to have assistance for things like childcare but they have no obligations here. This is one of the downsides to being a non-traditional medical student. You have a life where the traditionals generally do not.
Re-taking physical diagnosis and histology is not a bad idea in the long run. You really cannot have too much exposure to these classes. When you are sitting in front of that computer taking USMLE Step I, you may find that your school actually did you a favor.
Again as far as having a voice, you do not and should not have a voice in matters of the curriculum. You may have student leaders who may serve on the curriculum committee but you do not have the experience that will enable you to deal with curriculum matters. I listened to my classmates bitterly complain about our curriculum and what we did and did not have to learn. In the end, it’s all important and those little details got me into a very competitive residency program.
Your job as a student is to be pro-active about your learning and to learn the material as thoroughly as possible. If your school is not following the LCME guidelines (you can get them from your Dean of Academic Affairs) then you need to find another school. Otherwise, you have invested your $30,000 in this school and you have purchased the experience of those who provide the curriculum for you.
Speak to your student council and speak to your faculty advisor. These are people who should be able to articulate your views to the administration. Will it be frustrating? At times, yes but in the end, as you are sitting on the wards or in front of that computer, you may find yourself thanking your administration for your curriculum.
All good things come with challenges. If you are not challanged, you won’t grow. With change comes the opportunity to test yourself.
Natalie 
Thanks Natalie.I know I need to just calm down and wait to see what happens and keep walking forward.There is nothing that I can do about it and it may very well be better than the old curriculum. That is certainly the goal of the school, to raise USMLE scores and provide a better curriculum. At times I just get frustrated with the lack of communication. I don’t expect the school to take into consideration my life outside of school but I guess I did expect them to provide me with a schedule so that I could better manage my responsibilites outside of school. Maybe that is asking too much during a time of transition like this.
There are about 20 of us in this situation and we are going to speak with our Dean of Academic Affairs this week to try and get some of our concerns addressed. I am glad to hear that histology will be a good class to retake.
Thanks again!
Jessica
Good luck, Jessica! I think Natalie’s suggestion of offering a couple of practical solutions to the problem is a good one–suggesting a listserve, a calendar, a Web page that you can all check as soon as the information is known is great. When you make a reasonable suggestion of how to solve a problem, it’s harder to say no.
If the administration agrees to some mechanism to keep you all updated, ask very nicely who will be responsible for making those announcements. Assigning someone to be responsible gives you someone to call with questions and gets administration to think through the process between making these new decisions and getting the information out to the students. I find in computer and technology work that that’s the most-neglected part of any change process–remembering who needs to know what, and when, and getting them that information. I make that mistake myself from time to time.
Jessica-
I too think that what your class needs is some way to communicate with each other – it will not only let everyone know what’s going on, it will help you all bond as a group. Those students with child care issues might find someone to help them, and those who attended the week of classes that you missed can email out their notes to those of you who didn’t make it. Also, I agree that you all need leadership. If there is no SGA you all need to start one ASAP – you get more respect from the administration and you can be more effective when you have a class president who can stay in touch on behalf of the class. My school elects its officers before leaving for the summer, and we also have a “Big Sib” program to make first year students feel welcome. I’m sorry I rambled on so long --best of luck!!
-Sara
I do not understand…you mean they never gave you a schedule of your classes so you know when and where they meet? that is kind of strange. I am talking only from my perspective but we received our schedule about a month prior to classes starting and it is also online.
Yep.They have not given us a schedule for our classes. In fact, they never even sent out a start date notice. I found out through a friend that we were starting on July 19th and e-mailed the school to confirm. We were given a time to be in class and then last week they added two more classes that we were never informed about so we missed the first week of the classes.
Last year, my first year, we did get a schedule on the first day of school that had all of our classes but this year, because of the new curriculum, we do not have a schedule yet. It is a situation that is unique to my Freshman II class because we have completed part of the old curriculum freshman year and we were supposed to complete the rest of the freshman year this year, our FRII year. However, the new curriculum is very different and so they are trying to work out how to have us complete what we need without repeating everything. Right now it looks like I will wind up repeating every class I took last year except Gross Anatomy (this means Histo, Neuro, PD and eventually Behavioral will be repeated twice). So, that seems to be the way things are going. I will get an official schedule on Aug.9th.
The listserve idea is a very good one. I am going to talk with our computer person about adding my class to the main computer bulletin board. I am feeling better now that I have an idea about what is going on and where the curriculum is heading. Hopefully things will go smoothly from here on out. 
Unbelievable!! Inexcusable!!!
(Just validating your rant!)
How incredibly unprofessional and decidedly discourteous.
Wmkayak
Man that is screwed up. I disagree with having to repeat Histo as being worthwhile. I do use the Gartner for normals right now in Pathology, but I would never want to go back and take it. I am so excited to be learning abnormal and putting it all together that doing a first year class over again AND PAYING DOUBLE FOR IT, would put a nail in my coffin.
Hate to disagree, but the only thing I can find repeatable would be PD. If you have to do behavioral twice, they may need to reserve a ward room just for you. 
Well, if this kind of thing happened to my class, someone would probably start a petition. You laugh, but we’ve done it. Anyway, I think it’s inexcusable. It ridiculous to make you repeat ANYTHING, much less histology! I can only imagine your frustration.
My school is pretty good about setting a schedule and sticking to it. We also have a listserv where they can email the whole class at once. I thought that was pretty standard. We have mailboxes too. If they don’t have any trouble getting your tuition bill to you, why so much trouble finding you to give information?
I can understand why you’re pissed. Totally justified. I think you guys need to make a stink. That way, you might keep it from happening again. Perhaps you could suggest that students be included on the curriculum committee, or that you have focus groups to give input on what works/doesn’t work with the current system. It’s hard to be the one who stands up and says “this sucks”, but sometimes it has to be done.
Pam
I do think the 20 of you in the FRII class are going to need to stick together and continue to harass the administration to make sure you are kept informed. Unfortunately, as you’ve recognized, you’re a small group that is, in a sense, “neither fish nor fowl,” and they’ve simply forgotten that you’re there. When someone said, “Hey what about the FRII’s?” another person said, “D-oh!” slapped his head and quickly thought of a patchwork solution that, as you’ve found, is not a very good one.
You guys are the ones who care the most. Your meeting with administrators will help… but then be prepared to have at least one representative from your group hanging out in the Dean’s office for the whole year, making sure that you’re kept in the loop.
I no longer feel like I had nearly so much reason for the bitter complaining I did in school about ineffective communication! Good luck to you and your colleagues.
Mary
Quote:
Yep.They have not given us a schedule for our classes. In fact, they never even sent out a start date notice. I found out through a friend that we were starting on July 19th and e-mailed the school to confirm. We were given a time to be in class and then last week they added two more classes that we were never informed about so we missed the first week of the classes.
Last year, my first year, we did get a schedule on the first day of school that had all of our classes but this year, because of the new curriculum, we do not have a schedule yet. It is a situation that is unique to my Freshman II class because we have completed part of the old curriculum freshman year and we were supposed to complete the rest of the freshman year this year, our FRII year. However, the new curriculum is very different and so they are trying to work out how to have us complete what we need without repeating everything. Right now it looks like I will wind up repeating every class I took last year except Gross Anatomy (this means Histo, Neuro, PD and eventually Behavioral will be repeated twice). So, that seems to be the way things are going. I will get an official schedule on Aug.9th.
The listserve idea is a very good one. I am going to talk with our computer person about adding my class to the main computer bulletin board. I am feeling better now that I have an idea about what is going on and where the curriculum is heading. Hopefully things will go smoothly from here on out.
Hi there,
I think that you will find that while repeating some of your coursework may see frustrating at this point, when you are sitting there reading the 245-250 on your USMLE Step I score report, you will be happy that you did have a second chance at some of this material. Everytime you look at something, you gain more insight that may be helpful to your patients in the long run.
I hope the listserve works out for your class and that you get back to the business of learning. Remember, as this may be the second time that you are seeing some of this material, you may need to put in less time grinding through things. This may free up more time to spend with your little one.
You never know how things are going to work out and sometimes they are not as you planned them but they work out better in the long run. Hang in there and keep plugging away. The time passes pretty fast and soon you will seeing patients and having fun. I am sure that you will not regret the repeated material because it will be repeated in a different way.
I went into medical school with an almost Ph.D in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Biochemistry turned out to be a very easy Honors for me and I could spend hours working on Gross Anatomy and Honor there too. It would have been nice to skip Biochemistry but in the long run, I reaped the benefits and blew out USMLE. Hang in there and keep positive, as you are. It will come back in spades and it takes so much less energy than attempting to fight battles with your administration.
Natalie