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and Faculty Profiles > Darcy
Moschenross
Meet Darcy...
 Class:
2010
Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Undergrad: University of Rochester
Major: Microbiology
Program: M.D./Ph.D.
While I was applying to M.D./Ph.D. programs, I
looked for programs that were Medical Scientist Training
Programs, meaning that they were NIH funded. UConn was one of
those programs. As I began to delve a little deeper into the
components of the UConn program, I was encouraged by what I saw.
I liked the size of the school; the systems based education, and
emphasis of balance. Rather than being encouraged to compete for
the best grades with fellow classmates, I can focus on doing the
best I can without forgetting who I am. I still get to run, hang
out with friends, and keep up with school without worrying about
my class rank or what anyone else got on a test. You can
continue to cultivate your personality, which can sometimes get
pushed to the background when you are focusing on school too
intently. Learning how to balance all of these things in your
life is an invaluable skill for anyone, but especially for a
clinician, whose time can be quickly eaten up.
“Rather than being encouraged to
compete for the best grades with fellow classmates,
I can focus on doing the best I can without
forgetting who I am.”
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As well as a sense of balance, I feel that UConn
Medical School is small enough that you feel a sense of
community and you never feel like you are only a number. Faculty
is always willing to help you, whatever the problem. Sometimes
you wish they didn’t know your name so that professor won’t call
on you in class, but the good always out weighs the bad. You get
know all of your classmates without being forced to get
acquainted through awkward social gatherings. I didn’t realize
how much I missed that feeling of community until I started
here. I went to a very small high school with a graduating class
of 30, and I felt so comfortable there that the transition back
to a smaller sized school like UConn was effortless.
Just as size and balance drew me towards this
school, the systems based education really appealed to me. It
allows you to conceptualize what you are learning, because you
get to see from every angle and permutation. You no longer have
to compartmentalize your learning into distinct categories of
biochemistry, histology, pathology; you get to bring all of
those aspects together at once while learning about the heart,
for example. Things begin to make sense and you can make
connections between fields of study without having to search
through your memory bank for that random fact about cardiac
smooth muscle you learned while studying muscle histology three
months before. The faculty works very hard on making this
curriculum and continues to improve it. They ask for, and
receive, input from the students and take those suggestions into
account when they change things for the next year.
UConn has helped me get through the first two
years of medical school without a scratch on me and my
experience has only reinforced all of the things I like about
the school. I am now in my first year of my Ph.D. and I am
enjoying learning in a new way, but also looking forward to the
last two years of medical school. |
