Issue 1: “Well Mr. Gilbertson, it sure is easy to hide behind the cloak of anonymity yourself. It's funny that you criticize everyone for having a lack of credentials or being emotional.”
Answer: I am not hiding behind the cloak of anonymity. My name and e-mail address are complete published and available through the webite. I do not hide my responses and I do not curb my intent.
Issue 2: “You have to admit Mr. Gilbertson the timing of your blog is a little suspect. It is the end of March. The time when rejection letters go out, and now all of the sudden you are upset about the qualifications of the admissions committee?”
Answer: This blog has nothing to do with rejection letters. As I have stated I am not an applicant, just a citizen watchdog. A number of extremely well-qualified individuals and applicants that were rejected from the USD School of Medicine came to me and I reviewed their credentials. Comparing “their” credentials with the available information of the “admitted” students it seems that there is something suspect about the process. As a journalist, I began to investigate this issue. In the course of my investigation a lot of interesting data points became apparent. The lack of qualifications of this committee and the faculty of USD School of Medicne glowed like a beacon for lost ships. These issues need to be brought to the attention of the Citizen of South Dakota. The USD is OWNED by the Citizens of South Dakota and its programs should reflect the greater interest of SD.
Issue 3: “You seem to be the only person upset by this issue - although you've stated many are but have only posted comments about those who disagree. Why are you bringing this up now?”
Answer: A compendium of supporters will be available shortly. We have to be careful not to violate the 1974 Federal Data Privacy Act of all students. Also, there is a pending lawsuit coming at the State of South Dakota and the Regents of the University of South Dakota.
As to you question … “why now”. It is time that the citizens take back our country. We have a President that preaches governmental transparency. Without transparency there is NO ACCOUNTABILITY and there is a greater chance of corruption. The members of the USD School of Medicine need to be held responsible for their decisions. If they are qualified to make “these” decisions, then they should have no fears of retaliation for their decisions.
Issue 4: Mr. Gilbertson, you make all of these great claims and yet you yourself never substantiate your claims with your credentials or pubmed publications (the supposed hallmark of a good educator). Why is that?
Answer: An investigative journalist does just that, investigates. We find facts and we report them. We are on a mission to bring to light issues that the public might find of interest. In the course of our reporting and investigation we hope to make positive change and that our audience is enlightened by our studies.
The facts are still undisputed. The majority of the USD School of Medicine Admissions Committee faculty are just not qualified to make the decisions they are charged with. A majority of these individuals has never studied medicine. A majority of the PhD committee members earned their diplomas in non-medical school departments. A majority of the admissions committee members do not have a publication track record to indicate their suitability to sit in judgment of applicants.
Issue 5; What background do you possess that will allow us to look past the time coincidence into the real meat of what you are really saying? What is your degree? What is your biology/medical background? Where are your pubmed publication cited? It seems as though you demand these things from your critics, yet do not state any of your CV yourself.
Answer: As a journalist I am simply pointing out the obvious facts of the case. You want to turn this into a me versus them argument. A good prosecutor does not take a case personally, we just defend the law’s.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, anyone is welcome to post their academic credentials. If you would prefer, you can e-mail them to me with a standard student data confidentiality release authorization. Take the challenge and I will gladly post my academic achievements. In the end, I will certainly humble most (if not all).
As for me, personally, one my academic experiences include a top-five biomedical research institute (where I graduated Summa Cum Laude).
Issue 6: As for not being emotionally charged. This blog drips emotion. What kind of answer is "Right back at you!"? How does this portray a reasonable and logical argument? To many readers including myself, this blog just seems like a large batch of sour grapes. Obviously this is just a subjective statement based on opinion. But again, your motives and timing do seem rather suspect.
Answer: These are just responses and there is no anger or personal emotion wrapped up in the responses. I am just pointing out the facts and in many cases clarifying unfounded (and in many cases) and absolutely incorrect statements.
My posts have been nothing short of lucid arguments. Obviously, I have lit a fire on this issue. Clearly, you are a member of the admissions committee or a faculty member at USD and you are taking this blog as a personal attack either upon yourself or your colleagues. Instead of defending the action and blindly looking onto your own reflection, take a moment and analyze the situation. Look at the credentials of the individuals I have pointed out, and question the obvious. In the end, once you remove your emotion and “loyalty,” I think you will come to the same conclusions as the originators of this blog. We are not just one person writing this blog.
Issue 7: Lastly, I have a short argument for you. If the admissions committee is so under-qualified to select students to finish medical school (according to your hallmark standard of pubmed publications) why is it that a majority of medical students graduate?
Answer: Regardless of the medical school, most students do graduate. Medical schools invest so much time and money into each admitted student that they cannot afford to have students drop-out of the program. In many cases (most), students who fail a course are allowed to re-take the course. The institution will provide tutors and extra measures for students not making the grade. Most medical schools do not provide an A-F grading schema, but administer a High Pass, Pass, No Pass system.
Issue 8: Moreover, why did so many MS4's these last few years match into competitive specialties at top universities across the US? Places like Mayo, U of Texas, Dartmouth, and Michigan State, in specialties like ANES, DERM, NeuoSurg, ENT, and Radi
Answer: Please qualify your sources. In fact, you make a critical flaw in your argument and you have mis-understood the mission of the USD Schoolof Medicine … to educate primary care physicians that will predominantly serve the citizen of South Dakota. Recently, I was provided a copy (which I will post shortly) of the USD School of Medicine’s Secondary Application and there are a number of specific questions on this application inquiring about a students motives to serve as a primary care/rural medicine physician. Your argument, if true, that some many USD student further specialize in the areas of medicine that you quote, just further points to the admissions committee and the University’s failure to follow the South Dakota Legislatures guidelines on the specific mission of the school.
Of course, I will investigate your claims at each institution that you name and will report back how many USD MDs achieved residencies at each institution.
To understand what is comprised of a primary care physician see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_care_physician
Issue 9: It would seem to me if the admissions committee is not qualified to pick students, than the competitiveness of the school at a national level would suffer. Yet it has excelled. Why is that?
Answer: I am unaware of this statistic that you have quoted … please provide a national ranking of the USD School of Medicine … and in what areas of medical practice it has achieved this recognition. According to US News and World Report (2008), the USD School of Medicine overall ranks #105 out of 123 surveyed medical schools.
Issue 10: Good day Mr. Gilbertson, I hope this blog helps you sleep at night.
Answer: please use your own name and ID from now on. By the way, I sleep great at night! :>)
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Oh Mr. Gilbertson,
ReplyDeleteCalling me a coward is not very professional of you. Again I think this proves a couple of my points. First off, that having "my name and e-mail address [which] are complete, published, and available through the website," does not make me any less anonymous. In fact, having you say nothing about yourself is quite frustrating. I guess the old adage is true 'what comes around goes around.' Second, this is an emotionally charged blog. Who makes personal attacks on anonymous posters if he/she is calm, collected, and reasonable as you so claim?
Ok now on to my comment.
About Issue 1: You still hide behind a cloak of anonymity. Your motives are still in question, and you haven't done anything to change that.
About Issue 2: This issue really "has nothing to do with rejection letters?" I'm not sure if I buy what you are trying to sell Mr. Gilbertson. Why bring up this issue now? What sparked it? I just ask so we can clarify your motivation. You now claim to be a journalist. That's funny Mr. Gilbertson. After a short google search I have not been able to find any of your writings. I am going to put that claim into the lie category until proven otherwise.
About Issue 3: Yes, we've heard about the 'supporters' before. Still no concrete evidence, just a claim. Also, I think you are just taking the words of the president to fit your unique scenario about being upset by the admissions committee. If you were truly worried about state accountability, you would not have narrowed in on the medical school admissions committee. Now Mr. Gilbertson, please be honest, would you be so kind as to tell us the REAL reason you are upset? I would bet not.
About Issue 4: Really Mr. Gilbertson, an 'investigative journalist' who has no articles cited online? What other claims are you going to make before you collapse under a pile of lies?
About Issue 5: So, in short you're saying you have no background in medical school policies, the medical world, or biology. Sounds like you are not qualified to give an opinion on the matter. You mention an academic experience at a top-five biomedical research institute (no name given), then dodge whether it was in science or journalism.
About Issue 6: Back to the emotionally charged issue. Calling people a coward, yet hiding in anonymity your self? "Lighting a fire" on the issue at 3 AM? These acts point towards emotion Mr. Gilbertson not reasonable. As a seasoned investigative journalist, one would think that you would be able to notice that in your writing. Also, I am flattered that you think I am one of the highly qualified individuals on the admissions board.
About Issue 7: You obviously do not know how the Sanford SOM works. Again showing that you probably do not have the knowledge to be 'lighting a fire' on this issue.
About Issue 8: No Mr. Gilbertson there is no critical flaw in my argument. The argument was that the students graduating from the Sanford SOM are very competitive at a national level as shown by their match statistics. I said nothing about the amount of students going into primary care, or coming back to South Dakota after residency. Those stats are available if you choose to find them. Once you do find them, you'll clearly see that they support the fact that the administrators are doing a wonderful job upholding the mission of the school. I find it rather odd that an 'investigative journalist' did not do his homework before writing all of this.
About Issue 9: I did not quote a statistic, and that is why you are unaware of it. Mr. Gilbertson, please don't take my comments out of context. I was stating that the competitiveness of the school, as shown by match statistics has excelled at a national level. As an investigative journalist, how come you have not found the over arching problem with the US News and World Report ratings? Seems as though you only use the statistics that support your argument while leaving others out. If you are truly about enlightening the South Dakota public, maybe you might want to start by putting in all of the facts. That shouldn't be difficult for a journalist.
About Issue 10: Again, I am only as anonymous as you. No credentials, no articles, no biography? This should leave South Dakotans suspect of your motives.
Good day Mr. Gibertson. I look forward to your next post.