I have a new Epi advisor. My old one is no longer head of the PhD in Epi program, and now I have this new dude. He is not a clinician, has never been to med school. He is a former sociologist.
My first conversation with him 5 months ago consisted of him telling me that he felt medical school was too short.
TOO SHORT. 4 YEARS IS TOO SHORT?!?!?*
I have this sinking feeling he feels the same way about the Epi PhD program, since the requirements for graduation are not quite what I remember them being when I applied 4 years ago. Now I have 20 required classes, 7 of which are electives. As of now there is no overlap whatsoever between the med school curriculum and the Epi PhD.
And you take 3 classes at a time.
At that rate, I will never graduate.
Never.
At any rate, I'm meeting with the combined degree office today to share some of these concerns.... we'll see if anything comes of it.
*At some point in the near future, I will write something on why I think that med school should actually be 3 years. It revolves around the fact that 4th year of medical school is consumed by 4 months of interviewing for residency and 2 months post match, and the rest is spent doing as little as possible in preparation for intern year. But that is a post for a later time.
12 Pearls of Wisdom:
Gotta love how people who have never been to medical school can weigh in on it. Not saying that you have to have done something to be able to talk about it (am not a member of the "men can't be obstetricians brigade"), BUT.
Hope the issues get sorted though. Bad supervisor = muy bad.
twenty!!!! required!!!! classes!!!! for your phd!!!!
!!!!!!!! wtf!!!!!!
How long will twenty classes take you to complete your PHD? I was just wondering... Will it take longer than the 3 years you were anticipating?
Anon, Do the math. We do get to take summer classes too, however.
I never really planned on 3 years, FYI. I was shooting for 4.
I´m a doctor in Brazil, and in my country med school is 6 years. I think it´s good and enough. Four years is too little time to learn. That´s why the residency lasts so many years in the US.
Thayse,
Let me guess, you do 6 years combined of undergrad and med school, as is what happens in most countries other than the US.
Let's just go over what I have done: 4 years undergrad, 1+ post-bac, 4 years med school.
Which equals.... 9 years.
9>6 last I heard. Then we have residency AFTER all of that.
So.... 4 years med school = too long.
Yeah,but here we don´t have this "undergrad" college that ypu have in US, we go from high school to med school. And it´s 6 years of only medical stuff. You just have 4 years of medical stuff, that´s what I was saying. You´ve done others different things before the medical school. So, 6>4, and yes, just 4 years it´s too short.
You do have a point there - the medical curriculum could be shortened to 3 years without too much fuss, and those who want to do fourth year rotations (for LORs or interest) could pay for each one separately, instead of a lump sum tuition amount.
Match would happen on the same time scale as before, and MSs would still start residency the same as they do know - a year after they finish 3rd year.
It would be too difficult to try and fit travelling for interviews and other Match related jazz into third year - clearkships and shelfs are plenty enough to deal with. Which is why I sugggested taking just the whole year off, and paying for the few 4th year rotations you want to do one by one - it's cheaper that way.
Thayse,
Not to put too fine a point on it, but WTF do you think people in college do over here?
You're completely discounting the fact that in order to even GET IN to medical school, one is required to take pre-med classes, do scientific research, to go. When do you take cell biology? Well, I took that during my post-bac, but normally that's taken during undergrad. Organic Chem? Same. Physics? Same. Etc.
It's not like you non-USers spend all 6 years of med school -- or even 4 of them -- in the clinics.
I've encountered a surprising amount of self-centeredness in medical education, so this doesn't surprise me.
Isn't if funny how people get a little bit of power and they choose to wield it OVER people rather than SERVE them?
As a podcaster/med student advocate I TRY to tell people what to expect BEFORE they get there. Interested in being interviewed over the phone for my podcast? We could discuss this and attract more people to your blog...
Best wishes in your education.
Daniel Williams, MD
It's a little late for this post, but: I have decided I agree with you, mostly because I have my first shift tomorrow and I don't remember the last time I saw a real live patient. So: Gah, and yes.
There is one school experimenting with the three year curriculum. The way they get around the 4th year interview thing is that you can only go into Family Medicine, and only with one of their affiliated hospitals. The advantage is that you finish earlier and with less debt.
Also, I loved 4th year, but from a medical education perspective 50% was a waste, so I entirely agree with you. I spent the last 3 months finishing my MPH coursework, which was nice, but everyone else was finding BS rotations.
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