FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions, 2009-2010
BU School of Medicine (BUSM)
- What is “special” about BUSM?
- What is the typical BUSM student like?
- What is the atmosphere like for students?
- What are the faculty like?
- What kind of curriculum do we have?
- How well do BUSM students do on national exams and in the Internship Match (NRMP)?
- Are there opportunities for electives outside the BUSM system? What about international electives?
- Are there opportunities for students to participate in research?
- What career options are open to graduates of BUSM?
- What is it like to be a student in Boston?
- What kind of advising, mentoring, and support is available for students at BUSM?
- Why is BUSM so expensive and what is being done about it?
- Do I need a car at BUSM?
- What extracurricular activities are there at BUSM?
- What are some negative features of BUSM?
1. What is “special” about BUSM?
- There are several aspects of our school and our medical campus that are unusual, if not unique. Among them are the following:
- A very strong research environment. We are among the leading research institutions in health care in the U.S. This research effort is very wide-ranging, addressing an unusually diverse range of issues including wet-bench basic science, public health and clinical epidemiology, translational research, and a special focus on health disparities.
- Early introduction of patient contact for students. Students begin their clinical work during the first week of the 1st year curriculum.
- A diverse faculty and student body. Our diversity is a reflection of our mission as an inner-city medical center, our commitment to diversity as an essential element in teaching cultural competence for physicians, and our special curricular tracks and combined degree programs. Our students and faculty bring to the campus a wide array of backgrounds, previous life experiences, and professional goals.
- Very strong clinical training for medical students. The clinical experience is based in core training at Boston Medical Center and includes both ambulatory and inpatient work. Each student has an experience in supervised decision-making responsibility at a level commensurate with his/her own knowledge and skills. All students do some of their core training and some of their advanced clinical training off-campus, assuring that all receive a broad-based and varied experience.
- The breadth and depth of the clinical training at BUSM. We are the only one of the 3 medical schools in Boston to have a Department of Family Medicine, and BUSM also has large programs in primary care within the departments of Medicine and Pediatrics. These exist alongside some of the most respected emergency medicine, tertiary care, and subspecialty programs in the US.
- The unifying theme of the BUSM experience is that Medicine and the health sciences exist in a larger social context. Students learn to care for, and to care about people wholly unlike themselves. This imperative for cultural competence is a uniquely challenging and rewarding aspect of our programs and is reflected in both preclinical and clinical work.
- Unusually strong bond among students and between faculty and students. Academies of Advisors bring together students and their mentors in a personal and professional relationship that builds over time, beginning during the Introductory Module that occupies the first several weeks of the medical school curriculum.
2. What is the typical BUSM student like?
- One of the most important aspects of the BUSM experience is the diversity of students, faculty, institutions, patients, and communities we serve. Our students are all exceptionally well qualified academically, and they all bring important nonacademic contributions to the school community. Many of our students have majored outside the biological sciences and have pursued a variety of personal and professional activities. The current first year class was drawn from a pool of almost 11,000 applicants, coming by way of six pathways to the MD degree. The group includes graduates of 89 undergraduate institutions, representing 37 U.S. states and territories, and 22 countries of origin. They range in age from 19 to 35.
- In addition to BUSM, our medical campus also includes the School of Public Health, the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine, the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences, the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center (named for a BUSM alumnus, the first African American psychiatrist in America and a member of BUSM faculty for more than 30 years), the Boston Public Health Commission, The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and of course our principal teaching hospital, Boston Medical Center. In aggregate the campus hosts approximately 3000 students and 800 post-graduate trainees in 70 disciplines, representing virtually every specialty in contemporary health care.
- BUSM has the distinction of having more pathways to the MD degree than any other medical school in the US. In addition to the traditional 4-year MD program, we support an alternative curriculum, whereby a student may spread one or more of the four years over two years, a Seven-year program (BA/MD), an early selection program (EMSSP), two modular undergraduate/MD programs (MMEDIC, ENGMEDIC), as well as a number of combined degree programs (MD/PhD, MD/MPH, MD/MBA). There is no “typical” BUSM student, and we all come to this community expecting to give something of ourselves in exchange for the special challenges and rewards we find in this eclectic environment.
3. What is the atmosphere like for students?
- Students are at BUSM because they have chosen to be here. They are very capable, motivated, and invested in the work we do together. Students describe themselves as being collegial and cohesive. There are numerous examples of academic collaboration and shared social activities. The multiple pathways enumerated above give rise to a very diverse student body, with variable course loads during the first year. Students with smaller course loads have opportunities to participate in research, serve as tutors or prosectors, and engage in a variety of academic enrichment programs. Dr. Phyllis Carr, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, and the staff of the Office of Student Affairs, are very committed to providing a supportive and flexible environment. Through programs for advising and mentoring, career counseling, tutoring, and through cooperation with the student government (SCOMSA), a broad foundation is built to enhance the personal and professional growth of our students. The Office for Enrichment Programs under the leadership of Drs. Suzanne Sarfaty and Sharon Levine in Academic Affairs, provides guidance and logistical support for students across a broad range of academic, clinical, and service opportunities that span the entire four year experience.
4. What are the faculty like?
- Once again, given the many clinical, educational, and research programs on the BU Medical Campus, it is no surprise that the faculty are similarly diverse. The rapid growth of our programs over the last 10 years has supported the growth of a faculty with strengths both among the most senior and experienced scholars as well as among the youngest clinicians, investigators, and teachers.
- Faculty at BUSM are particularly known for their accessibility and their commitment to the success of every student. Graduates who pursue their post-graduate clinical training elsewhere regularly report that the clinical faculty they worked with at BUSM are “the best anywhere.”
5. What kind of curriculum do we have and what changes do we anticipate in the next few years?
- BUSM is proud of its curriculum and the process by which it is reviewed and updated on an ongoing basis by the Medical Education Committee, whose membership includes faculty and students, and its subcommittees. The academic program has been, for a number of years, a hybrid of a traditional, lecture-based program and a small group, problem-based seminar approach. During the 2007-2009 academic years, the foundational curriculum of our first two years has been reformed, with changes aimed at increased vertical and horizontal integration, improving the flow of information, and decreasing classroom time in order to provide more time for independent study and clinical correlation. Starting the academic year several weeks earlier than in the past allows us to decompress the fall semester while strengthening the content. In addition, there is typically no more than two hours of lecture each day; small group discussions, laboratory exercises and problem based seminars have been expanded and are supported by new technology. A minimum of two afternoons each week is devoted to structured and unstructured independent learning. The present changes put more clinical experience in the first two years of the program.
- The first year of BUSM begins in early August with Orientation events and coursework organized around the evaluation of medical literature, enhanced coverage of biomedical ethics, and exploration of key concepts in professionalism. These issues, in addition to normal human social development, are continued and expanded upon through the first semester in the Human Behavior in Medicine course. The first year of the basic science curriculum largely focuses on normal structure and function, beginning with Gross Anatomy and Biochemistry/Cell Biology in the early fall, followed by an integrated Neurosciences course, that is followed by an organ-system based integration of histology, physiology, immunology, and genetics.
- The second year focuses on the study of the pathophysiology of disease within an integrated organ-systems-based curriculum that includes modules of Infectious Diseases, Cardiovascular, Pulmonary, Renal, Gastrointestinal, Dermatology, Endocrinology/Nutrition/Reproduction, Rheumatology, Neurology/Psychiatry, and concludes with a new Oncology/Hematology module. This year-long Diagnosis and Therapy (DRx) course integrates topics in Microbiology, Pathology and Pharmacology, and Clinical Medicine in lecture and small-group, case-based sessions taught by basic science and clinical faculty. Topics in Health Law and Healthcare Management Systems are also covered throughout the course by faculty from the School of Public Health and the Health Law Institute.
- Clinical experiences begin very early in the first year with Introduction to Clinical Medicine. These introductory sessions utilize small groups for teaching physical examination and interviewing skills. In addition students are paired with clinical faculty in community and hospital settings to observe and practice skills in a real clinical setting. In year 2 students continue to strengthen and expand their clinical skills in hospital and outpatient settings and in the Clinical Skills and Simulation Center with computer-supported simulations and standardized patients
- The Integrated Problems course of years 1 and 2 provides faculty-facilitated small groups in which students learn analytical and problem-solving skills through case-based topics that parallel those being presented in the ongoing coursework.
- The third year is comprised largely of the core clinical clerkships. The fourth year includes a small number of required advanced clinical experiences and a larger number of clinical electives. Fourth year students design their own curriculum in consultation with their specialty-specific advisors, working within flexible guidelines established by the faculty. One of the most powerful experiences of the clinical years is the rotation on the Boston University Geriatrics Service, during which students provide supervised clinical services to home-bound elders in the neighborhoods of Boston. This is the oldest home care program in the US and generations of BUSM alumni share the experience of having made house calls in this remarkable course.
- The clinical training at BUSM is based primarily at Boston Medical Center (BMC), our principal teaching hospital. BMC is a large, full service institution, providing primary, secondary, and tertiary care in more than 70 specialties. It’s Emergency and Trauma Center is the region’s busiest. During the year 2007, BMC provided approximately 30,000 hospital admissions, 127,000 emergency department visits, 22,000 ambulatory surgical procedures, 986,000 ambulatory patient care visits, and 195,000 interpreter interactions. The institution serves a diverse population of patients from the City of Boston, as well as a large number of referrals from outside the city. During their clinical training, students become members of clinical teams practicing in all areas, representing all disciplines, and see an extraordinary range of patients, disorders, and challenges. BUSM has been known, for many decades, as a preeminent school for clinical training, reflecting the depth and breadth of the clinical practice, in addition to the well-defined and structured role for students in the care of patients. Standardized patient exercises are utilized throughout the 4 years of the medical school, in order to supplement live patient experience with structured clinical skills training.
6. How well do BUSM students do on national exams and in the Internship Match (NRMP)?
- In recent years, the pass rate among first-time takers at BUSM has been 92-95%, and rising steadily. In 2007 the pass rate reached 99%, with the BUSM mean score well above the national average. There are Board Review sessions with faculty prior to USMLE I and USMLE II. At the end of the 3rd year all students complete a practice Clinical Skills Assessment modeled after the USMLE II clinical skills exam.
- In each of the last several years we have conducted a survey of our graduating students who participated in the match. By their own report, 85% matched to one of their top 4 choices, and 92% were satisfied or very satisfied with the results of the Match. Each year, a number of graduating BUSM students (15-25 per year) choose to pursue their internship and residency within the BU system. Considering the national reputation of many of our post-graduate training programs, this speaks well both for the students and the training programs.
- BU students have, for many years, been considered among the strongest candidates for the most competitive post-graduate training programs. The scope of clinical training at BUSM is widely recognized as outstanding preparation for a rigorous internship and residency.
7. Are there opportunities for electives outside the BUSM system? What about international electives?
- Most of the 4th year of the curriculum is elective clinical time and students have broad flexibility in choosing rotations outside the BU system. In addition, Dr. Suzanne Sarfaty, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs and Director of the Office for Enrichment Programs, has responsibility for our international elective program, assisting students in securing electives all over the world. This program is considered a national model, has been replicated at other schools, and there is no cap on the number of students who can participate. Limited funding is available to defer part of the cost of international electives for some students.
8. Are there opportunities for students to participate in research?
- BUSM is a very large research institution, with an unusually broad and diverse research agenda. Students have opportunities to participate in many areas, and significant numbers of students do so. There is a summer research stipend program, providing financial support for students doing 6-8 week research electives during the summer between their 1st and 2nd year.
9. What career options are open to graduates of BUSM?
- The broad-based, rigorous education at BUSM supports career aspirations in virtually any clinical or health sciences discipline. Over a period of many decades, BUSM alumni have taken on leadership positions in research, clinical practice, academics, and public service. A significant number of our graduates pursue careers in academic medicine, as investigators and educators, while many others move into full time clinical careers. The culture of public service at BUSM is reflected in the career choices of many of our graduates.
10. What is it like to be a student in Boston?
- There are very few places that can match Boston as a place to study medicine. Boston is home to 3 medical schools, 10 major teaching hospitals, and the largest concentration of biomedical science industries in the US, along with several schools of public health, and a number of large research institutions. BUSM students have opportunities to attend academic and social events at other institutions and during the clinical years BUSM students frequently work with students, interns, residents, and faculty from other schools.
- Boston is a relatively small city, but hosts over 250,000 full time students during the academic year. There are scores of educational, cultural, and recreational opportunities in and around Boston. There is good public transportation in the city and although housing is expensive, there are a number of options that students can consider, both on-campus and in the neighborhoods of the city. Boston is a diverse, fun, student-friendly city!
11. What kind of advising, mentoring, and support is available for students at BUSM?
- Advising is organized within a structure of 6 Academies of Advisors. Each entering student joins an academy and is assigned a peer student advisor and a faculty advisor from the group. Academy-based activities are organized to facilitate the development of strong personal and professional relationships among the students and faculty in the academy, and students meet regularly with their advisor and any other faculty they may choose to approach. In addition, specialty-specific advisors are chosen by students as they begin to refine their career goals during the clinical clerkships of the 3rd year. Dr. Phyllis Carr, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, along with the assistant deans in her office, is responsible for ensuring that each student has appropriate guidance and support. Dr. Jonathan Woodson, Associate Dean for Students, Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, is an active clinician as well as a leader in our effort to develop a physician work force reflective of our diverse society. Academic tutoring and support is available for any interested student and numerous members of the faculty in the School of Medicine, School of Public Health, and the Division of Graduate Medical Sciences, mentor students with research interests.
- Perhaps more important than the formal programs, is the fact that our faculty are extremely accessible. Both in the basic sciences, as well as in the clinical disciplines, faculty at BUSM share a deep commitment to our students and to their success as medical students and physicians. Individual faculty demonstrate this commitment in many ways, including their willingness to advise and mentor students throughout their tenure on our campus.
12. Why is BUSM so expensive and what is being done about it?
- BUSM is in the group of private, non-profit medical schools in the US that do not receive any public funding to support their educational programs. This group of schools has no obligation to discriminate among applicants on the basis of geography of residence, and therefore have the opportunity to select a very diverse student body. Unfortunately, this also means that the cost of each student’s education must be covered by institutional funds, with no supplement from local, state, or federal governments. At the national level, it is estimated that tuition currently covers only 35%-50% of the cost of educating an individual student. The picture at BUSM is no different, and the school makes up the gap through research grants, training grants, institutional funds, endowment income, and gifts of various types. Although our medical school shares a campus with the hospital, the school of public health, the dental school, and several other institutions, the finances and budgets of these programs are all entirely separate.
- The Dean and Board of Trustees have declared that tuition support and scholarship aid are the highest fund raising priorities at BUSM and a major effort is underway to increase the institutional funds available to help students and families cover the cost of a BUSM education. Approximately 80% of BUSM students receive some financial support, and scholarships account for a rising proportion of that aid.
- The Office of Student Financial Services (OSFS), under the leadership of Kathy Stavropoulos, is charged with ensuring that every student at BUSM is able to graduate with a manageable educational debt. Through the use of need-based scholarships and loans, the professional staff of the OSFS assists each individual student in assembling a financing package that works for him or her. Students may apply for National Health Service Corps funds, military service scholarships, and other noninstitutional resources in order to minimize their educational debt. In addition, the OSFS has a very active off-campus housing program to assist students in locating appropriate and affordable places to live. As an institution we are concerned with the cost of medical education and are working vigorously to help students reduce the amount of debt they accumulate during the course of their studies.
13. Do I need a car at BUSM?
- Parking is limited and expensive in Boston; nowhere is this more of an issue than on the BUSM campus. While many students find it to be convenient to have a car for travel to clinical placements, even in the first 2 years, some students choose to avoid the trouble and expense of owning a car in Boston. Public transportation very good and most off-campus sites for training during the first 2 years are readily accessible. It is common for students to car-pool for these occasional off-campus sessions and the school provides stipends to cover these costs during the first 2 years. The clinical training during the 3rd and 4th years takes students somewhat further afield and while some students manage without a car, many find it more convenient to have one. Parking for 3rd and 4th year students is more readily available on-campus, especially when they are on a campus-based clinical assignment.
14. What extracurricular activities are there at BUSM?
- The extracurricular activities and student organizations on campus are as varied as our student body, and approximately 85% of our students participate in one or more of them. A very abbreviated list of popular organizations and activities includes the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), The Student National Medical Association (SNMA), The Hispanic Health Outreach Leadership Association (HHOLA), The Outreach Van Project (providing basic medical care for homeless people in Boston), The Anna Bissonnette House Project (caring for frail elders), the Sharewood Project (providing primary and preventive health care services to underserved communities), The Boston Area Health Education Center (paid and volunteer health-related activities in the community), The Center for International Health, The Creative Arts Society, Student Committee on Medical School Affairs (SCOMSA, the student government), The Primary Care Society, Medical Students for Choice, The Family Medicine Interest Group, Domestic Violence Awareness Project, International Health Organization, and the Pediatric Education and Development Society, and WHORL (literary and arts magazine).
15. What are some negative features of BUSM?
- The most important negative feature of BUSM is, without doubt, the cost. The cost of attendance is high, as is the cost of living. As outlined above, the faculty, the administration, and the Alumni Association are working hard to bring down the cost and the debt assumed by students, but this is a slow process. Current and past students who have made a thoughtful decision about coming to BUSM, weighing the cost against the strength of the experience and the career-long return on the investment, generally conclude that BUSM was the right choice for them.
- The multiple pathways described above (#2) produce a varied and interesting faculty and student body which contribute a great deal to the experience of a BUSM education. This diversity in educational background, however, also leads to a variable course load during the first year and, in the past, some students felt that the Honors/Pass/Fail grading system encouraged unnecessary competitiveness. In the fall of 2003 a revised grading system, with a strict Pass/Fail model was implemented for the first year curriculum and in 2007 this was extended to include the second year as well. This change appears to have eliminated the problem of course-load inequity during the first year.
- There are many extracurricular activities at BUSM and Boston is a very lively city. Students are at risk for over committing themselves and may encounter difficulty in maintaining focus on their academic work.
- Parking is limited and expensive, both on-campus and in the residential neighborhoods of Boston.
