new medex applicants

[newmedexgrad]

hey everyone, 

I have some hesitancy posting this because I know it's not what people want to hear. You may have seen postings similar to this from other students/grads of the program in other forums, but I just wanted to make sure everyone applying now is aware of a few things with this program. I graduated in August and my classmates and I felt unsupported from the beginning of our didactic year. We had poor instruction, consistent faculty turnover, and it worsened during clinical year. I'm trying not to come across as angry here but the lack of education and general dismissal of students' needs during my time at medex continues to infuriate me. I know of a situation during clinical year when a student was basically denied an advisor during disciplinary proceedings- the majority of our true advisors had quit and the director of the program, Terry Scott, became our "advisor," in name only. When we graduated we knew one person out of the faculty sitting on that stage. This is not how I imagined my PA school experience and it seriously saddens me that this is how it went. Last thing, the PANCE scores this year are pretty bad. Huge drop- I believe Seattle campus is mid 80s, Spokane 70s, Kona 40s. Not certain about Tacoma or Ankorage, but these aren't that surprising given the education we received. 

I just want to encourage anyone who has other interviews to take them, and to seriously think about what each school is going to offer you and how you're going to be supported as a student. It's so important. I think someone said this previously but if you've accepted, I do hope this is improving for incoming students. Try your best to connect with faculty from the get-go (even if they leave) and support each other as much as you can. 

[MilitarytoPA]

2 hours ago, newmedexgrad said:

hey everyone, 

I have some hesitancy posting this because I know it's not what people want to hear. You may have seen postings similar to this from other students/grads of the program in other forums, but I just wanted to make sure everyone applying now is aware of a few things with this program. I graduated in August and my classmates and I felt unsupported from the beginning of our didactic year. We had poor instruction, consistent faculty turnover, and it worsened during clinical year. I'm trying not to come across as angry here but the lack of education and general dismissal of students' needs during my time at medex continues to infuriate me. I know of a situation during clinical year when a student was basically denied an advisor during disciplinary proceedings- the majority of our true advisors had quit and the director of the program, Terry Scott, became our "advisor," in name only. When we graduated we knew one person out of the faculty sitting on that stage. This is not how I imagined my PA school experience and it seriously saddens me that this is how it went. Last thing, the PANCE scores this year are pretty bad. Huge drop- I believe Seattle campus is mid 80s, Spokane 70s, Kona 40s. Not certain about Tacoma or Ankorage, but these aren't that surprising given the education we received. 

I just want to encourage anyone who has other interviews to take them, and to seriously think about what each school is going to offer you and how you're going to be supported as a student. It's so important. I think someone said this previously but if you've accepted, I do hope this is improving for incoming students. Try your best to connect with faculty from the get-go (even if they leave) and support each other as much as you can. 

Sorry to hear you had a horrible experience. The Kona rates were in the 80s even prior to this years test. I know Anchorage had some issues with staff turn over and had horrible support several year ago where Seattle staff had to come up and teach. I've heard horror stories about clinical year as well and saw the frustrations of a MEDEX grad myself. 

I made Anchorage my second and am glad I was accepted to another program after reading this and stay strong and good luck with the PANCE if you haven't taken it yet!

[AmandaL]

I know autocorrect tried to help you on the spelling of anchorage… come on

[cmcnamara]

During my interview someone actually brought this general idea up of the complaints of turnover and some other issues. My interviewer said there was a lot of complications during COVID which they have worked hard to fix. During student interview a similar question was asked and the first and second years seemed to indicate no real complaints, besides that their anatomy class had to be reworked a bit, but that it was handled pretty quickly.

But I also understand that might be due to survivorship bias. Someone who had a poor experience is likely not to come to the interview event for qna. 

I also talked with a current first year student at Anchorage campus who basically said their biggest complaint was sometimes they would get their schedule or some new info at almost the last second. They said as long as you're flexible it is 100% worth it, especially if you plan on staying near the area.

So I get the feeling they got messed up pretty bad during COVID, but a lot of schools apparently did, too. I know of another school that apparently is going into pretty hard damage control to keep from going into probation for its covid school years.

 

Any thoughts on that? I'm not saying all that to invalidate you, cause I do think that class had a rough time. I also admit I might be biased here because I've been aiming to move back to Alaska and this is the only PA program in Alaska so I might be subconsciously looking to defend it.

[moose1]

Letter penned by a fellow classmate- and from talking with students in clinicals currently it does not appear to have improved at all in the last year. FYI for people applying this year. 

 

"Hello, recent MEDEX graduate from the Anchorage campus.

I can't speak for all campuses, but my experience at the ANC campus was deeply disappointing. The program's leadership fell short, leading to a subpar educational experience.

Midway through our didactic year, our primary instructor was unexpectedly terminated. Their replacement was not only an ineffective educator but also lacked a fundamental understanding of medical concepts. This individual struggled to interpret X-rays, ECGs, basic labs, and other essential medical topics. Additionally, another instructor was a recent graduate.

Our class repeatedly advocated for MEDEX to improve the quality of education. However, their responses were inadequate, including reliance on Zoom classes and occasional instructors from the lower 48 states. These measures did not meet the standards of a program committed to providing a comprehensive education. Many of our classes were taught through outdated videos filmed during the pandemic by instructors who had left or been terminated. These videos were often low-quality and lacked proper editing.

During our clinical year, many of us were placed in urgent care settings for family practice. Recently, the program lost a significant number of clinical sites, including ER placements. Moreover, none of us had a true behavioral medicine/psychiatry rotation. My rotation was in urgent care, while others completed theirs in pain management, urgent care, family practice, or through a Telehealth .

MEDEX provided minimal support throughout the program. Emails from the school often went unanswered, ARC-PA-required support was lacking, none of us ever had required advisors, and tutoring was either non-existent or offered in large, impersonal groups. The Anatomy and Physiology curriculum has been revised three times in three years, and students are now taught using Osmosis.Faculty treated us with a lack of respect, disregarding our time and the value of our experiences.

I strongly recommend considering other programs before choosing MEDEX. If MEDEX is your only option, be aware that the education and experience may not be comparable to a top-tier program.

Best of luck in your journey."

[EMEDPA]

I can't speak to the anchorage program. I precept student for Medex in the ER(mostly Seattle students) and they all seem fairly happy with their program(as happy as anyone can be in PA school working long hours and paying for the privilege)

[cmcnamara]

26 minutes ago, EMEDPA said:

I can't speak to the anchorage program. I precept student for Medex in the ER(mostly Seattle students) and they all seem fairly happy with their program(as happy as anyone can be in PA school working long hours and paying for the privilege)

I'm currently running through the didactic year at Anchorage. There are some troubles, but nothing that's been like "we are set up to fail" sorta deal. Like we might have a program to take a report from a nurse and be told next to nothing about it which feels silly... But at the same time it isn't something showing up on a grade so at worst, was just an aside not contributing to our education. 

I feel like I am learning what I need to learn, and for important stuff it's been going through ok (Stuff that's going to be on PANCE, etc), it's been pretty smooth. But I also have heard of some complaints about the tutoring and some other stuff which I'm not involved with. 

 

[moose1]

Update- As of Friday MEDEX was placed on accreditation probation by ARC-PA. This is GREAT news because hopefully they will start listening to feedback and make improvement students have been pushing for. 

 

https://familymedicine.uw.edu/medex/pa-program/accreditation/medex-accreditation-probation-status-faq/

https://familymedicine.uw.edu/medex/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/MEDEX-Message-to-Program-Applicants-published.pdf

Edited November 14, 2024 by moose1

[cmcnamara]

48 minutes ago, moose1 said:

Update- As of Friday MEDEX was placed on academic probation by ARC-PA. This is GREAT news because hopefully they will start listening to feedback and make improvement students have been pushing for. 

I'm having trouble finding that online. Can you link it?

[Joeymittens]

1 hour ago, cmcnamara said:

I'm having trouble finding that online. Can you link it?

It’s probably not out yet. This is coming from current students at MEDEX. In the spirit of transparency, I can confirm this is true.