Guest jacksonchan85 Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 hey moo! thx for the pm on sdn... anyhow needed an opinion on something...kinda similar to something somebody posted before... i know most med schools require the 2 semesters of inorganic/general/phys chem thing is I do have 2 complete semesters of phy/gen chem, except only one has a lab component; my school does not offer any 2nd year gen/phys chem components that had a lab component....so there's really nothing I could do about it.. do you think this would be ok for US schools? Can i just count the 1st course i did which had a lab component as 2 credit hours..thanks.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted December 16, 2003 Report Share Posted December 16, 2003 I would take an upper division chem course. I had the same problem with bio, but I just took a couple upper division courses and most schools seem to be fine with it. I would contact each school specifically though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kellyl20 Posted January 9, 2004 Report Share Posted January 9, 2004 Hi Moo: Would you pls share with us how you would go about determining which American med schools have good reputatutions? What data/rankings did you looked at? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted January 9, 2004 Report Share Posted January 9, 2004 Most American schools are of sufficient quality. The schools to stay away from are Howard and Meharry (two traditionally "black" colleges, which have been cited in various disciplinary studies). Other schools in the past which have been known to be "bad" are Drexel (which is OK now I think) and Finch (continues to have a bad reputation but it'll get you to where you want to go if you can get past their ridiculous tuition for the mediocre education). If you peruse the forums at sdn (forums.studentdoctor.net) you will find various opinions on different schools. US News publishes rankings yearly that pre-meds like to pay attention to. Osteopathic schools are OK in general but be aware that they tend to not have the funding and that the clinical education may be subpar due to rotations often at community hospitals, where the case loads are often not as good as MD hospitals. Also, practicing in Canada after may be a problem but you should be able to obtain a US residency from a DO school if you do well on the boards. Keep in mind the tuition is usually cheaper for DO schools as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kellyl20 Posted January 21, 2004 Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 Hi Moo: When do the US med students take the USMLE? after 2 years of med or later? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted January 21, 2004 Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 Step I is usually taken after 2nd year. I'll be taking mine in mid-June, then starting rotations June 28. Step II is taken right before or after you graduate. Step III is taken sometime after your first year of residency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kellyl20 Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 Thank you Moo! Heard that the USMLE step 1 consists of questions on abnormalities, abnormal biochemical pathway etc. Can you pls comment on this? In the US, are you taught abnormal findings, and biochemical pathways then as part of your first 2 years of medicine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 Yes, we are taught abnormalities, if by that you mean pathological states, pathophys, etc. (Everything we learn is the same as in a Canadian school except maybe some differences in epidemiology statistics) Biochem is a small part of the exam. The big three to study for are path, micro, and pharm. Everything else, even anatomy is minor. And contrary to what most people on this board say, Step I is actually pretty clinically oriented. Seventy five percent of the questions are in the form of a clinical vignette. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 I would add Physiology to the Big 3 listed above. As well as Behavioral Sciences. Unlike Anatomy, Embryology, and Histology, which is so under-represented that you could conceivably blow off entirely, and still not have it dramatically affect your final exam mark, the same cannot be said for either Physiology or Behavioral Sciences. There is quite a bit of both Physio and BS on the actual exam, although this will obviously vary a bit between examinees. Having written both Step 1 and Step 2, I can safely say that Step 2 is very clinically based, in terms of the fact that the vignettes are clinical scenarios, upon which you are then asked a clinical question. On the other hand, while the Step 1 question is couched within a clinical vignette, the question itself is very much basic-science oriented. ie: A hypertensive type 2 diabetic is placed on ramipril. In which organ does the drug exert its effects? For that reason, it'd be very easy to take Step 1 without having spent any time on the wards. You would not want to try that with Step 2. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 Hey Ian, how big is Behavioral Science on step I? is it mostly psychiatric illnesses or does it include all the "fluff" stuff as well? We are taking the behavioral science course right now (minus the psychiatric stuff) and I gotta say most of my class isn't taking it very seriously and my school mustn't be either, since our TEXTBOOK is the High Yield Behavioral Science. It's included in our afternoon curriculum and we essentially only have five weeks of it, 3 hours a week, so that's like only 15 hours total. It seems like the only reason they included it in the curriculum was because of the boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted January 23, 2004 Report Share Posted January 23, 2004 High Yield by Fadem is what you need. You can expect psychiatric diseases, but the other stuff is also fairly important. That being clinical dr-pt interview scenarios, and your verbal responses as the "doctor". Fadem is pretty good for this (the best I'd seen), because there's a whole chapter devoted to what you should say. Pretty lame that they attempt to mark you on this; and equally as lame that you need to read a book to figure out the best answer (many are common sense, but not all). Also know stats (not tough). You will have to manipulate numbers to figure out sensitivity/specificity/PPV/NPV, and probably interpret some epidemiological data. Know things like the most common types of ca for both men and women, and the most common causes of mortality for men and women, and in the different age brackets. Make sure you know all the Behavioral stuff covered in First Aid, such as the sleep stages. If you know the stats, some common epi stuff as far as disease/mortality incidence and prevalence for men and women, psych diseases, and read through those verbal responses covered in HY Fadem (ie. read Fadem, and especially know any Behavioural Sciences covered in First Aid), you'll probably rock the Behavioural Sciences questions in Step 1. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kellyl20 Posted January 27, 2004 Report Share Posted January 27, 2004 Thanks to Moo and Ian for their usual helpful and prompt comments/information. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kellyl20 Posted January 30, 2004 Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 Hi Moo: Does a canadian med student have to have written the USMLE at least the first step before one can apply for residency down the states? Or does one have to have written all of the 3 exams first? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted January 30, 2004 Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 I think only the first step. Of course you will eventually need to take all three, with the second right before you graduate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 You need Step 1 as your score on it is a key differentiator between residency applicants. Step 2 can be taken any time during med school (usually sometime in Med 4), and Step 3 traditionally isn't done until you are in, or completed your first year of residency. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kellyl20 Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 Thanks to Moo and Ian again. Ian: Were you taught abnormalities and pathways during your first 2 yrs @UBC or were these picked up on your own by studying the above mentioned books? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted January 31, 2004 Report Share Posted January 31, 2004 I think that the USMLE Step 1 tests you on a lot of irrelevant minutiae that simply isn't clinically relevant. Canadian med schools are accredited by the LCME, just like all US allopathic schools, which means that the curriculums all have to meet the same basic standards and educational content (otherwise the MD degree wouldn't really be universal). With that said, there is a greater clinical focus at UBC, and I suspect in Canadian schools in general compared with many of the more traditional US schools which still have 2 years of straight lectures in a subject-based curriculum (as opposed to PBL or PBL/lecture hybrid programs in Canada that use organ or systems-based curriculums). The bottom line is that everyone uses the same prep material anyways, so your score is dependent mainly on your effort level in studying, your work habits throughout the first two years of medical school (you could try cramming for this exam, but it would probably kill you in the process), and whether you have any affinity for memorizing large quantities of useless trivia. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kellyl20 Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 Is this test similar to the Mcat that you can take it over again if you are not happy with your score the first time? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest moo Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 No, you can only take it once, unless you failed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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