All about the distinctive program at UWSOM and how to get accepted [Show Summary]

Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz, Associate Dean for Admissions at UWSOM gives an in-depth look at the top ranking program, highlighting adaptations that have been made as a result of the pandemic and outlining each step of the University of Washington’s admissions process. 

Interview with University of Washington School of Medicine’s Dean of Admissions, Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz [Show Notes]

Welcome to the 451st episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for tuning in. Are you ready to apply to your dream medical schools? Are you competitive at your target programs? Accepted's med school admissions calculator can get you a quick reality check, just go to accepted.com/medquiz, complete the quiz, and you'll not only get an assessment, but tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance, plus it's all free. 

Our guest today is Dr. LeeAnna Muzquiz, UWSOM's Associate Dean for Admissions. Dr. Muzquiz graduated from UWSOM in 2000 and received a Native American Center of Excellence certificate for successful completion of the Indian Health Pathway at UW. She did her residency at the Seattle Indian Health Board Clinic through the Swedish Family Medicine Residency Program in Seattle and was chief president from 2002 to 2003. She has tribal citizenship with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the CSKT, in Montana. She worked as a family physician with a CSKT since 2003, and in 2011 became the medical director for CSKT Tribal Health. She's also taught medical students and physician assistant students for UWSOM for the past 12 years. She assumed the role of Associate Dean in 2018 after serving as Assistant Dean for approximately one year. 

Can you give an overview of UW’s curriculum focusing on the more distinctive elements? [2:32]

It's a fairly complex starter. We had a curriculum revision in 2015 where we really embraced the idea of clinical experiences early and often, incorporating that into a block style of curriculum taught over three different phases. We have our first phase, which is our foundation phase, which is mostly the basic sciences incorporated into a clinical experience way of presenting material. students get the opportunity to really learn basic science through some traditional lecture format and small group work, but are also assigned to do early clinical experiences with a primary care practicum and link to some mentorship early, as well as learning their clinical skills right at the outset of the start of medical school. Then they're able to take the basic science knowledge and the pathophysiology and apply that to patient care and see it in action, in real life. It really helps set that foundational knowledge. That lasts for roughly 18 to 24 months, because we're starting our year earlier actually coming up for the class entering in 2022. That lasts for the first part of medical school, and then the second phase is our clerkship phase, which is where folks do the traditional clerkships required. It's essentially the third year of clerkships, where it's the foundational family medicine, OB-GYN, surgery, internal medicine, psychiatry, etc. The final phase is the explore and focus phase. That's where we do our elective rotations. So there's a little bit more flexibility.