currentregrets Posted October 19, 2016 Share Posted October 19, 2016 I'm a current PA student at UC Davis. I have a word of caution. UCD doesn't have the program they claim. While it's true the good PAs come out of it, that is a result of a remarkable publicity campaign that attracts good students. The program currently is disjointed, disorganized, and anything that goes wrong is because "this is grad school and it's just hard." That's a serious cop out. When 21 people out of 83 fail a test so the program decides to include the take-home pre-test in the score so it looks like only 5 people failed, there's a big problem with the teaching. I have a number of concrete examples to support my current statements. If you come here, come because you only have class 4 days a week, the weather is good, or you just really like california. Don't come because you expect a cutting edge program that lets you use lots of technology because they don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acrendo Posted October 22, 2016 Share Posted October 22, 2016 holy shit any other examples? i was heavily considering going for ucdavis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caliphysassist Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 holy shit any other examples? i was heavily considering going for ucdavis Acrendo, I'm a 1st year PA student at UC Davis and I apologize for my classmate's post for scaring you, that was not a professional way to vent out their frustrations with the program. In response, many of my peers have posted on the "2016-2017 Application Cycle" forum/blog as you will see this anonymous post by one our classmates stirred up quite a lot of commotion and posted in 3 different forums. If you go to the 2016-2017 application thread you will find many posts that shed a better light than 1 person's negativity out of 81 students in our class. Wishing you the best in your journey to PA school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsman89 Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 Lets get to the point. Is it true that 21 out of 83 failed a test? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KTB004 Posted October 23, 2016 Share Posted October 23, 2016 I'm a current PA student at UC Davis. I have a word of caution. UCD doesn't have the program they claim. While it's true the good PAs come out of it, that is a result of a remarkable publicity campaign that attracts good students. The program currently is disjointed, disorganized, and anything that goes wrong is because "this is grad school and it's just hard." That's a serious cop out. When 21 people out of 83 fail a test so the program decides to include the take-home pre-test in the score so it looks like only 5 people failed, there's a big problem with the teaching. I have a number of concrete examples to support my current statements. If you come here, come because you only have class 4 days a week, the weather is good, or you just really like california. Don't come because you expect a cutting edge program that lets you use lots of technology because they don't. If 21 of 83 students failed a test and the school made adjustments to pass more students, what is the issue? It sounds like the school realized there was an issue and made adjustments so the students did not suffer academically. It sounds like you disapprove of how the school handled this one test. How would you have liked the school to handle this? We are talking about one test correct? If this is an ongoing trend that is another story. I wouldn't be having regrets based on this one assesment of your class. I took 36 exams in my first quarter alone. What are your concrete examples "I have a number of concrete examples to support my current statements.' ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrePAgyrl Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 I'm a current PA student at UC Davis. I have a word of caution. UCD doesn't have the program they claim. While it's true the good PAs come out of it, that is a result of a remarkable publicity campaign that attracts good students. The program currently is disjointed, disorganized, and anything that goes wrong is because "this is grad school and it's just hard." That's a serious cop out. When 21 people out of 83 fail a test so the program decides to include the take-home pre-test in the score so it looks like only 5 people failed, there's a big problem with the teaching. I have a number of concrete examples to support my current statements. If you come here, come because you only have class 4 days a week, the weather is good, or you just really like california. Don't come because you expect a cutting edge program that lets you use lots of technology because they don't. What is going on over there? I was looking forward to this program and it's positive PANCE pass rates and so forth.... seeing this bothers me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almost_a_PA Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Lets get to the point. Is it true that 21 out of 83 failed a test? I am a current 2nd year student and from I hear that is true. I am not going to speak on the school's behalf and I don't know what adjustments were done for this cohort. If it is true then it looks like the school saw a deficiency made an adjustment to ensure students held their spot and were not negatively impacted academically. I can tell you form experience now that I am in clinical year the school has prepared us for our rotations. The faculty here work very hard for the students and will make adjustments when they can. I do not pretend to know the logistic of how to run a PA program but I do know the faculty respond to student feedback and make adjustments. I think what this person is missing is that as PA's in training we are expected to learn as much as med students learn in two-years compressed into one. I have friends that have graduated from various other programs who have had the same complaints I hear about our program. This program is what you make it and what you learn is up to you. The program does it's best to present what we need to know and we as students have to take responsibility for that information and learn it in any way we can. This isn't undergrad anymore, the information isn't going to be spoon fed to you in small doses. This isn't a Master's degree in business or a Master's degree in public health. This is advanced medicine and there is a ton of information that comes at you fast. I agree some I would even say many of the lectures seemed a bit unorganized, but I didn't use that as a cop out for not passing an exam. I know what I am supposed to learn and I took what I could from lecture, books, youtube, other students, faculty, and any other resource I could to ensure I learned. I took responsibility for my own education. I have my frustrations with this program, but it is one thing to just complain or be a steward of change for future students and cohorts so they can have it better than I did. Every year this program gets better and I truly believe it will be one of the top programs in the nation. I as a second year have tried my best to help the 1st-year students navigate the transition into this program. If any first-year student is struggling they also have us a resource. We've already survived first year and all of the things they are complaining about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almost_a_PA Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 What is going on over there? I was looking forward to this program and it's positive PANCE pass rates and so forth.... seeing this bothers me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I am a current 2nd-year student in clinical rotations and I assure you this student is not representative of their cohort or my cohort. I can honestly tell you that as a second-year in clinical rotations the program has prepared me for my clinical experience. We all have our frustrations with the program and honestly you can find students in every program that will complain. I have friends that have graduated from various programs and they had some of the same complaints and frustrations as I did. At some point in PA school a student will realize that much of your education is on you. The school provides an outline through lectures and recommended books, but how you learn the information is entirely up to you. There are plenty of resources here to help any student succeed. Faculty, 2nd-year students, med students, optional talks/lectures/seminars, etc...It seems like this student would rather complain rather than find solutions to their learning deficiencies. The faculty at this school work hard for us students that I can say with 100% confidence. Especially our clinical rotations team. This is a good school and a good program. It's not perfect and it's going through some changes and of course with changes come some bumps in the road. Please don't let the rant of one student scare you from our program. For every student that complains I can find you two that will say the opposite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WINO Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I'm a current PA student at UC Davis. I have a word of caution. UCD doesn't have the program they claim. While it's true the good PAs come out of it, that is a result of a remarkable publicity campaign that attracts good students. The program currently is disjointed, disorganized, and anything that goes wrong is because "this is grad school and it's just hard." That's a serious cop out. When 21 people out of 83 fail a test so the program decides to include the take-home pre-test in the score so it looks like only 5 people failed, there's a big problem with the teaching. I have a number of concrete examples to support my current statements. If you come here, come because you only have class 4 days a week, the weather is good, or you just really like california. Don't come because you expect a cutting edge program that lets you use lots of technology because they don't. I'd like to hear how the program is disorganized, as this is something to consider, especially when tuition for this program pushes 116K. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almost_a_PA Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I'm a current PA student at UC Davis. I have a word of caution. UCD doesn't have the program they claim. While it's true the good PAs come out of it, that is a result of a remarkable publicity campaign that attracts good students. The program currently is disjointed, disorganized, and anything that goes wrong is because "this is grad school and it's just hard." That's a serious cop out. When 21 people out of 83 fail a test so the program decides to include the take-home pre-test in the score so it looks like only 5 people failed, there's a big problem with the teaching. I have a number of concrete examples to support my current statements. If you come here, come because you only have class 4 days a week, the weather is good, or you just really like california. Don't come because you expect a cutting edge program that lets you use lots of technology because they don't. Nobody is keeping you here. If you are unhappy drop the from the program and take your negativity elsewhere because an attitude like this can spread through your cohort and will make everyone miserable. People start to only focus on the negative instead of the many positives here at UC Davis. 75% of your class passed that exam and most are doing well. The school made an adjustment for you and most likely will make adjustments for the next cohort to make it better. I agree with you that sometimes the lectures seem unorganized and yes, we don't get enough time in the SIM lab. So the question is what are you gonna do about it? Complain that everything sucks or come up with a solution? Spend some extra time in the library to work through information you don't understand. Maybe ask a 2nd-year student or faculty, or a med student for help. Why don't you talk to the 75% of the class that is doing well and ask how they are studying or preparing for exams? I've spent many long days in that library and at Med Ed trying to make sense of what was just presented to me. I've asked if I could rent out rooms on my own time in the SIM clinic on the second floor of Med Ed to simulate a clinical environment to practice assessments. I volunteered at the student run clinics to force myself into a clinical environment so I could learn there from med students and physicians. It took a little extra dedication and time, well no it took a whole lot of dedication and extra time but I took responsibility and took charge of my education here at Davis and anyone can do that too. It is what you make it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Almost_a_PA Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I'd like to hear how the program is disorganized, as this is something to consider, especially when tuition for this program pushes 116K. The lectures given don't necessarily represent the test you will take at the end of a module/block. However, it does present to you information you need to know and serves as a guide. The objectives also seem disconnected from the exams as well. This is how it seems and feels unorganized. However with that being said it is us as students to be responsible for that information. Many cohorts before this one figured out how to take the exams here and I can honestly tell you as a second-year student on clinical rotations the school has done an adequate job in preparing me for my clinical year. Information here comes in high volume and at high speed. There is an adjustment process when transitioning from undergrad to here. Even if you have graduated from a Master's program before, advanced medicine is a different kind of beast. As PA students we are expected to learn as much as medical students learn in 2-years compressed into one. I think any program would find that challenging. I have friends that have graduated from other programs and I can tell you people are going to complain no matter which program they are in. It is what you make it. As far as the SIM lab and technology go, that's true. We barely get to use that stuff becasue it is owned by the School of Medicine. However, the School of Nursing has recognized that problem and has invested in it's own building where the PA and NP students will have their own space with their own SIM lab. This building is scheduled to be completed the summer of 2017. I have only seen improvement in this program since I've started and I can assure you it's only going to get better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator rev ronin Posted October 28, 2016 Administrator Share Posted October 28, 2016 I have friends that have graduated from other programs and I can tell you people are going to complain no matter which program they are in. This is true. If you finished PA school without once hating life, regretting your choice, and/or feeling like quitting and giving up... you've probably been through a special forces course previously. :-) PA school is a brutal, grueling process that is beyond anything else most people have ever done before. Not physically, of course, but mentally and emotionally. Not to pick on anyone, but when I see people planning on having kids or getting married during PA school I just shake my head... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsman89 Posted October 29, 2016 Share Posted October 29, 2016 Nobody is keeping you here. If you are unhappy drop the from the program and take your negativity elsewhere because an attitude like this can spread through your cohort and will make everyone miserable. People start to only focus on the negative instead of the many positives here at UC Davis. 75% of your class passed that exam and most are doing well. The school made an adjustment for you and most likely will make adjustments for the next cohort to make it better. I agree with you that sometimes the lectures seem unorganized and yes, we don't get enough time in the SIM lab. So the question is what are you gonna do about it? Complain that everything sucks or come up with a solution? Spend some extra time in the library to work through information you don't understand. Maybe ask a 2nd-year student or faculty, or a med student for help. Why don't you talk to the 75% of the class that is doing well and ask how they are studying or preparing for exams? I've spent many long days in that library and at Med Ed trying to make sense of what was just presented to me. I've asked if I could rent out rooms on my own time in the SIM clinic on the second floor of Med Ed to simulate a clinical environment to practice assessments. I volunteered at the student run clinics to force myself into a clinical environment so I could learn there from med students and physicians. It took a little extra dedication and time, well no it took a whole lot of dedication and extra time but I took responsibility and took charge of my education here at Davis and anyone can do that too. It is what you make it. The lectures given don't necessarily represent the test you will take at the end of a module/block. However, it does present to you information you need to know and serves as a guide. The objectives also seem disconnected from the exams as well. This is how it seems and feels unorganized. However with that being said it is us as students to be responsible for that information. Many cohorts before this one figured out how to take the exams here and I can honestly tell you as a second-year student on clinical rotations the school has done an adequate job in preparing me for my clinical year. Information here comes in high volume and at high speed. There is an adjustment process when transitioning from undergrad to here. Even if you have graduated from a Master's program before, advanced medicine is a different kind of beast. As PA students we are expected to learn as much as medical students learn in 2-years compressed into one. I think any program would find that challenging. I have friends that have graduated from other programs and I can tell you people are going to complain no matter which program they are in. It is what you make it. As far as the SIM lab and technology go, that's true. We barely get to use that stuff becasue it is owned by the School of Medicine. However, the School of Nursing has recognized that problem and has invested in it's own building where the PA and NP students will have their own space with their own SIM lab. This building is scheduled to be completed the summer of 2017. I have only seen improvement in this program since I've started and I can assure you it's only going to get better. *outsider looking in* Listen, everyone agrees that PA school is hard, a lot harder than undergrad, and probably a lot more rigorous than anything they have yet to handle. But man, the two above quotes left a bad taste in my mouth. I for sure would not apply to this school and for over 100,000! Yikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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