As we have started the new year and will be heading into spring time (which will be here faster than we know it), a lot of pre-meds and medical student hopefuls are getting interviews and doing their research on prospective schools they would like to attend. Initially, I wasn’t planning on doing a post like this, but thank you to whomever posted my blog on the Student Doctor Forum. Turns out this is something ya’ll look at a bit when deciding on a school!
KCU is mostly broken up into system blocks. This means that each set block/subject will be for an “x” amount of weeks before being completely finished and you move on to the next. There are also a couple of longitudinal courses that last the whole semester long. These courses don’t always have something required to do every week, but many weeks will have some sort of learning event that you need to be a part of. There are also additional optional learning events you can partake in as well.
The order that I list them (in the block sections) is the order we had our courses.
Without further ado, here is how my schedule was last semester as a first year and what is expected for the remainder of my second semester.
First Semester: Longitudinal Courses
Longitudinal courses will have lectures, quizzes, labs, and competencies all woven in throughout random times in the semester. There are a few days off from your regular block schedule for you to study and focus on your midterms for PCM and OS and again for your finals. During our renal block, we had about a week and a few days for these longitudinal courses to have their final exams and add in any last-minute competencies and labs that didn’t get done during the rest of the semester. The medical informatics and bioethics classes had quizzes but no actual tests.
– Medical Informatics 1
Credits: 0.5
– Bioethics 1
Credits: 1
– Principals of Clinical Medicine 1 (PCM)
Credits: 3
– Osteopathic Skills 1 (OS)
Credits: 2.5
I have a post for what PCM is linked here as well.
First Semester: Block Courses
First up: was Biochemistry. It was called Molecular Mechanisms because it also encompassed molecular biology, some genetics, and some histology. It was very similar to the COB biochemistry and part of molecular biology course of their master’s program; but without going too heavily in-depth on some of the science and with more medically stuff. If you want more information on my experiences during this block or an example weekly schedule from this block, check out “My First Block of Medical School: Biochem”.
Length: 3 weeks
Credits: 3.5
Next was our Musculoskeletal unit. This was the first super intense course for me given the length and amount of material. Not to mention we had an anatomy lab component to this. This incorporated histology, physiology, a lot of anatomy, embryology, some pharmacology, etc. Most second years told us this would be our hardest block of the semester. Check out my “First half of MSK” or my “Second half of MSK” posts on this block!
Length: 6 weeks
Credits: 5
Following this was our Immunology block. This was titled Host Defense Mechanisms. Most of it was condensed and very similar to their master’s program immunology information. Again, it was just condensed. There may have been a histology section but there really wasn’t a ton of additional subjects in this course. To check out more on this block specifically, click “Immunology Block” post.
Length: 3 weeks
Credits: 2.5
Following this we jumped straight into Cardiopulmonary. This was a really intense block given the amount of material we had to know in a short amount of time. But it was a lot more clinically relevant. Being able to add in more clinical skills that we’ve learned in this course made it easier to digest for me. Also included were a ton of physiology, some anatomy, some histology, some biochemistry, embryology, and some pharmacology. We had a small anatomy lab component. Check out the “Cardiopulmonary” post for this block.
Length: 5 weeks
Credits: 4.5
The last block we had was Renal. I hated this block. If you want more on my dislike/struggles check out “Medical School: Renal Block” post. This block also had a ton of physiology, some anatomy, some embryology, an immunology lecture, and a little bit of histology. This was definitely my personal hardest block to get through.
Length: 3 weeks
Credits: 2.5
Second Semester: Longitudinal Courses
– Medical Informatics 2
Credits: 0.5
– Basic introduction to research
Credits: 1
– Osteopathic Skills 2
Credits: 2
– Principals of Clinical Medicine 2
Credits: 3
– Art, Observation, & Medicine
Credits: 0.5
Second Semester: Block Courses
First up was GI. As I’m writing this, I’m in the middle of this block. This is consisting of anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, embryology, histology, genetics, immunology, and pharmacology. There is a larger anatomy lab component to this course as you also include renal (as we didn’t do it in our renal course) and part of endocrine/reproduction (our next block).
Length: 3 weeks
Credits: 3
The next block will be Endocrine/Reproduction. I’m sure there will be many components that make up this block as well and I know we have anatomy lab.
Length: 4 weeks
Credits: 4.5
Next up will be Neuroscience. This will be a long and intense block from what the second years tell me. There will be anatomy lab and I know from previously digging that there will be 3 total tests (the most we’ve had in one block).
Length: 5 weeks
Credits: 5.5
Our last block of the spring semester is MOD, or Mechanisms of Disease. This is to incorporate most of what we learned in first year and start prepping us for second year. I have no idea how that block is going to go or how it is run yet. Will let you know more later!
Length: 7 weeks
Credits: 5
And there you have it! As of right now a lot of my second semester courses I don’t have corresponding blog posts about… obviously because I haven’t taken them yet. But this is the general order, how long each block is, and how many credits each course is. I hope this helps with all of you pre-meds and future physicians out there!
Good luck on interview season guys.
