Philadelphia COM - Philadelphia (PCOM) Discussion Thread 2012 - 2013

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I am applying here. I am hoping for an early interview so I don't have to worry for a whole year.....

Originally Posted by WorldChanger36

I am applying here. I am hoping for an early interview so I don't have to worry for a whole year.....

Same, they're probably my number one choice. I love the location!

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

Same, they're probably my number one choice. I love the location!

The location is quite nice and it would be great to get out of north Florida. Any current students out there that care to share some PCOM experience and some pitfalls to avoid?

does this school have an instate/regional preference?

Originally Posted by angldrps

does this school have an instate/regional preference?

Some say yes, some say no....Haven't read anything fromt these two sources confirming this...but know knows, adcoms feel free to chime in!

AACOM: http://www.aacom.org/resources/books...13cib-PCOM.pdf

PCOM Catalog: http://www.pcom.edu/Academic_Program...nt_CATALOG.pdf

Originally Posted by angldrps

does this school have an instate/regional preference?

Not from what I have seen. Had two friends from my part of the world got accepted to PCOM. Neither went there one went to NOVA and the other UF. meh... Most DO schools like this one are private so they may have a small amount of regional preference and the majority of applicants will be from the region but for the most part as long as you can explain why PCOM you will do ok.

AACOMAS submited today (6/6)

Landing gear up .... Good luck everyone

AACOMAS verified 6/7/2012.

"academic advisor, dean or department chair from the undergraduate degree-granting institution
(Please note that this is the only required letter, however, we will accept additional letters from other sources)."

Any previous applicants have any insight to this requirment for PCOM? My college has a few thousand people and I don't think I ever met the dean, how am I supposed to ask for a letter?

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

"academic advisor, dean or department chair from the undergraduate degree-granting institution
(Please note that this is the only required letter, however, we will accept additional letters from other sources)."

Any previous applicants have any insight to this requirment for PCOM? My college has a few thousand people and I don't think I ever met the dean, how am I supposed to ask for a letter?

They go on to say this

"Applicants are required to submit a letter of recommendation from the premedical committee or premedical advisor of the undergraduate college that grants or will grant a bachelor's degree, regardless of your academic major, course of study or graduation. If that is not possible, a letter from your academic advisor or Dean of the same institution may substitute. Another letter of recommendation, preferably from an osteopathic physician, is strongly suggested but is not required. "

So as long as I have a committee letter I'm okay?

Nevermind, I negelected the part that said from one of the following sources. Excuse my ignorance, just woke up (I really sleep in when I don't have work).

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

Nevermind, I negelected the part that said from one of the following sources. Excuse my ignorance, just woke up (I really sleep in when I don't have work).

Keep in mind letters from Deans and department heads are not that hard to get. They give more of a review of history letter so if you sent up a time to go see them and ask they will understand.

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

"academic advisor, dean or department chair from the undergraduate degree-granting institution
(Please note that this is the only required letter, however, we will accept additional letters from other sources)."

Any previous applicants have any insight to this requirment for PCOM? My college has a few thousand people and I don't think I ever met the dean, how am I supposed to ask for a letter?

FYI.. I met a PCOM representative at a meet and greet last fall, she told me that some schools don't do committee letters, like mine ( florida state) and in that case a letter packet can be used instead.

LOR question: It doesn't say on the schools website that letters have to be sent via a specific method and my school is giving me a hard time about submitting letters via Interfolio so do you think they would let me send the "dean's letter" directly to them from the school?

Originally Posted by guydudcl371

LOR question: It doesn't say on the schools website that letters have to be sent via a specific method and my school is giving me a hard time about submitting letters via Interfolio so do you think they would let me send the "dean's letter" directly to them from the school?

As long as it's sent from the school and sealed I doubt it would be a problem..

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

As long as it's sent from the school and sealed I doubt it would be a problem..

+1

AACOMAS application released to school 6/14/2012 .

Does anyone know the actual cost of attendance here (i.e., tuition plus all other fees and living expenses for the year)? I can't find anything other than a worksheet on their website and in their catalog. All of the other schools on my list have a pdf or part of their website that reports the cost of attendance, some even breaking it down by "on campus, off campus, parents, thrifty" qualifiers. This will definitely factor into my decision when it comes time to choose from multiple acceptances, should I get that lucky. ;-)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

guydud - i just gave my assistant dean an envelope that was already stamped and addressed and she sent it out to them. so as long as it has the signature i would assume it would not be an issue

deutsch - from what i gathered it seems to be around about $65k with tuition, liviing expenses, etc...but that is pretty rough to say the least

Does anybody know what the clinicals are like at PCOM? Any OMS-3 or OMS-4 that would like to put in some input?

Originally Posted by WorldChanger36

Does anybody know what the clinicals are like at PCOM? Any OMS-3 or OMS-4 that would like to put in some input?

You have to be more specific.

Originally Posted by Bacchus

You have to be more specific.

I am just interested in what was experienced, what was good what was not so good in general. Were the clinical all ready set up or did you have to hunt for them? Where are the clinical located? Just general information really nothing to detailed...

There is a lottery system to determine what order your rotations will be in (12 different orders). Your group then does a rank list amongst itself (21-22 people) and your clinicals are decided that way. You can stay in Philadelphia both 3rd and 4th year if you do well at the lottery and rank list. You will have to do a rural rotation fourth year. It can be as close as 30 mins away up to 4 hours away.

Originally Posted by Bacchus

There is a lottery system to determine what order your rotations will be in (12 different orders). Your group then does a rank list amongst itself (21-22 people) and your clinicals are decided that way. You can stay in Philadelphia both 3rd and 4th year if you do well at the lottery and rank list. You will have to do a rural rotation fourth year. It can be as close as 30 mins away up to 4 hours away.

Interesting... so it is up to the luck of the draw...

For the order, yes, but I got for the most part my top 1-3 choices for each rotation site.

Originally Posted by WorldChanger36

Interesting... so it is up to the luck of the draw...

It must be the same for most of the DO and Caribbean schools. I don't recall exactly but heard about the same from others, too.

Originally Posted by Bacchus

For the order, yes, but I got for the most part my top 1-3 choices for each rotation site.

Well that works out.

Originally Posted by Bacchus

There is a lottery system to determine what order your rotations will be in (12 different orders). Your group then does a rank list amongst itself (21-22 people) and your clinicals are decided that way. You can stay in Philadelphia both 3rd and 4th year if you do well at the lottery and rank list. You will have to do a rural rotation fourth year. It can be as close as 30 mins away up to 4 hours away.

Could you elaborate on what the groups are?

Originally Posted by Bacchus

There is a lottery system to determine what order your rotations will be in (12 different orders). Your group then does a rank list amongst itself (21-22 people) and your clinicals are decided that way. You can stay in Philadelphia both 3rd and 4th year if you do well at the lottery and rank list. You will have to do a rural rotation fourth year. It can be as close as 30 mins away up to 4 hours away.

Are there exceptions for students with kids/families?

Originally Posted by member147

. . .
deutsch - from what i gathered it seems to be around about $65k with tuition, liviing expenses, etc...but that is pretty rough to say the least

Thanks. Wow, that's much lower than all of the other programs, undercut only by TCOM (Texas). Can any current students verify this rough estimate?

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

Could you elaborate on what the groups are?

Everyone does 2 months of surgery, IM, IM selective (subspecialty), cardiology, FM/OMM, FM, Peds, Psych, OB/GYN, elective and Advanced Clinical Skills/Radiology. There is a set order, with each group starting on a different rotation. There are 12 groups.

Originally Posted by Tribeca

Are there exceptions for students with kids/families?

No. But you could commute to every rotation for the most part. Rural rotations fourth year are far away for the most part, but there are a few close ones.

Originally Posted by Bacchus

Everyone does 2 months of surgery, IM, IM selective (subspecialty), cardiology, FM/OMM, FM, Peds, Psych, OB/GYN, elective and Advanced Clinical Skills/Radiology. There is a set order, with each group starting on a different rotation. There are 12 groups.

Ohhh, okay. Thanks, I thought you meant that during the first two years of didactic, students were grouped into learning communities or something, which I didn't read anywhere in the curriculum outline or catalog.

Originally Posted by Deutsch Arzt

Thanks. Wow, that's much lower than all of the other programs, undercut only by TCOM (Texas). Can any current students verify this rough estimate?

no problem. but that is also how much you are capped out at when it comes to financial aid from the government, so i think that also holds some weight on that estimate as well.

Originally Posted by member147

no problem. but that is also how much you are capped out at when it comes to financial aid from the government, so i think that also holds some weight on that estimate as well.

I know. I wish the other programs kept that $224k cap in mind. I have about $80k in private loans and $21k in federal loans from undergrad. I simply can't afford the $300k+ cost of attendance at some of these schools.

Anyone get the secondary yet?

Originally Posted by MedPR

Anyone get the secondary yet?

Negative, my primary still hasn't been downloaded yet. I'm still "Sorry could not find file at tis time."

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

Negative, my primary still hasn't been downloaded yet. I'm still "Sorry could not find file at tis time."

Dont worry about that it seems like a server issue

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

Negative, my primary still hasn't been downloaded yet. I'm still "Sorry could not find file at tis time."

Originally Posted by WorldChanger36

Dont worry about that it seems like a server issue

Yea same here. I didn't know that meant the school hadn't gotten it yet.

Originally Posted by MedPR

Yea same here. I didn't know that meant the school hadn't gotten it yet.

It may not but I read on some thread that your completed application will be available for you to view/download after the schools have downloaded it.

mdny said he called last week and they said schools will begin downloading Wednesday. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=922521

Also, these were in the handbook:
"Once your application has been verified and released, you will be able to view your calculated GPA through the status check link available after logging onto the application service. The release date is the date the application is made available for your chosen schools to download your application. Some schools take a few days to download files from AACOMAS."

"A copy of your verified Application and the Applicant Profile is released to your designated colleges. Once an application has been processed, applicants may continue to view their applications online."

Originally Posted by Night Hawk

It may not but I read on some thread that your completed application will be available for you to view/download after the schools have downloaded it.

mdny said he called last week and they said schools will begin downloading Wednesday. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=922521

Also, these were in the handbook:
"Once your application has been verified and released, you will be able to view your calculated GPA through the status check link available after logging onto the application service. The release date is the date the application is made available for your chosen schools to download your application. Some schools take a few days to download files from AACOMAS."

"A copy of your verified Application and the Applicant Profile is released to your designated colleges. Once an application has been processed, applicants may continue to view their applications online."

ahaha i called today to confirm as well.
they told me the error message we're getting was a test run that by this friday, we should be able to see the actual thing.

gluck guys

Originally Posted by mdny

ahaha i called today to confirm as well.
they told me the error message we're getting was a test run that by this friday, we should be able to see the actual thing.

gluck guys

Ah, gotcha! Thanks for the update!

Originally Posted by mdny

ahaha i called today to confirm as well.
they told me the error message we're getting was a test run that by this friday, we should be able to see the actual thing.

gluck guys

Nice feedback, thanks
Gluck to y'al..

Hey everyone, I know this was discussed previously but I just wanted to make sure. Is a letter from the pre-health committee/advisor required? Because I've known a few people who've gotten interviews without having a letter from their committee or the academic dean...

Originally Posted by playaodamonth

Hey everyone, I know this was discussed previously but I just wanted to make sure. Is a letter from the pre-health committee/advisor required? Because I've known a few people who've gotten interviews without having a letter from their committee or the academic dean...

The best way to know is to email and ask PCOM. Then post your results back up here.

Does anyone know what PCOM's average stats for acceptance and matriculated students were last year?

sgpa 3.4 mcat 27

Originally Posted by DrRichand1

sgpa 3.4 mcat 27

What does it mean? Anything below 27 mcat wasn't accepted?

Originally Posted by aspDO

What does it mean? Anything below 27 mcat wasn't accepted?

3.4 and a MCAT 27 is the average of accepted applicants acording to drrichand1

Originally Posted by WorldChanger36

3.4 and a MCAT 27 is the average of accepted applicants acording to drrichand1

That is the average for matriculating students, the average for applying students is likely lower. Keep in mind, this is an average, so for every student with a 29 there was a student with a 25.


Anyone going to the open house in July? What are you wearing? Would a suit be appropriate?