A.T. Still University Kirksville (KCOM) Discussion Thread 2012 - 2013

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Originally Posted by rcheech7

I think my group was told ~2/3 of the class is married.

I Don't know if that's right. I'm going to be in that other 1/3 of it, so it didn't really impact my decision.

That's A LOT. Are there any current non-married/with family students that could comment? I'd almost feel out of place!

Students on my tour told me KCOM has provided excellent spousal support.

I know I'm still testing the waters at Nova next month but if I do end up in Kirksville I will be very happy, weather aside.

Originally Posted by MedPR

Yea I guess. I just wanted to find out if this was typical of KCOM.

I would get in touch with admissions and just let them know what happened. Its super unprofessional from the other applicant to pull that. Maybe admissions can explain what happened or it may alert them to something they need to fix in their system.

Originally Posted by DrMeows

Thanks for the response! I'm glad it was a good fit for your family. Unfortunately, that's not my situation. Are a lot of KCOM students married with families does anyone know?

Nah, its maybe 50%. It just seems like a lot of students are married because the SAA is such a prominent organization on campus. Trust me, there are plenty of single or dating someone not in Kirksville students.

Originally Posted by dani042

Nah, its maybe 50%. It just seems like a lot of students are married because the SAA is such a prominent organization on campus. Trust me, there are plenty of single or dating someone not in Kirksville students.

Thanks for sharing am i just being naive - is that a typical percentage of married people in a class? Obviously i know people are going to be married and some will have children lol and that's fine, i guess I'm just worried of that dominating a med school class because that's not the point i'm at in my life. Would you say KCOM attracts more because of the family-friendly town and organization on campus?

To be honest, I don't understand how the percentage of married students matters one way or the other. Then again, I'm not planning on dating classmates either...

Originally Posted by toxicwombat

To be honest, I don't understand how the percentage of married students matters one way or the other. Then again, I'm not planning on dating classmates either...

I'm not either, I'm in a relationship. It really doesn't matter all that much, I was just asking out of pure curiosity. In undergrad and grad school i never really was surrounded by classmates with children (i guess i was more interested in this than someone being married - i didn't mean to make it sound like i was on the hunt LOL), and I am interested in what my potential friend group would be at school. Not really a factor in a decision, I'm honestly just curious lol

Originally Posted by DrMeows

Not really a factor in a decision, I'm honestly just curious lol

A few pages back I was also curious about the same thing. I also decided it didn't really matter, KCOM is a great school and I didn't want to turn them down just because there are a lot of married students.

Originally Posted by DrMeows

I'm not either, I'm in a relationship. It really doesn't matter all that much, I was just asking out of pure curiosity. In undergrad and grad school i never really was surrounded by classmates with children (i guess i was more interested in this than someone being married - i didn't mean to make it sound like i was on the hunt LOL), and I am interested in what my potential friend group would be at school. Not really a factor in a decision, I'm honestly just curious lol

I understand. And yeah I had those same thoughts myself

Originally Posted by toxicwombat

To be honest, I don't understand how the percentage of married students matters one way or the other. Then again, I'm not planning on dating classmates either...

Ha ha but its funny when you do!

Originally Posted by rcheech7

I think my group was told ~2/3 of the class is married.

I Don't know if that's right. I'm going to be in that other 1/3 of it, so it didn't really impact my decision.

I'm not sure if that's 100% accurate. There is alot of married people but there has got to be more than a mere third of the class that's single.

Hello all, posting for the first time in this forum. I'm interviewing on 1/24. OOS, never been to Kirksville. Excited to see what this school has to offer!

Originally Posted by victorypolka

Hello all, posting for the first time in this forum. I'm interviewing on 1/24. OOS, never been to Kirksville. Excited to see what this school has to offer!

Good luck! I'll be there on 1/28

Hi ! I interviewed 12/6. It's a really small town. I flew in a plane with 5 ppl including the pilot and co pilot! it was amazing! The school had no food court O: ! 2 faculty interviews for me and 1 interview with admission person. Just the regular questions. One faculty showed me his research lab and we talked about hunting. It was pretty chilled and easy-breezy.
Got accepted via phone call about a week later. So they were pretty fast with their decision. Now I have the hard choice of deciding between AT Still vs. DMU... uuughh >.<

if u guys have questions feel free to pm me =]

Hi all!

I am trying to decide b/t kcom and rvu...please share why you are choosing kcom to help with my choice.

thx!

Originally Posted by Doctor du

Hi all!

I am trying to decide b/t kcom and rvu...please share why you are choosing kcom to help with my choice.

thx!

Actually I think a few people in this thread have already discussed this topic. But IMO I think that it largely depends what you are after. For example, if you want the best school possible, then KCOM. But I might be biased. lol
Anyways, what are you looking for in a school?

Originally Posted by karate134

Actually I think a few people in this thread have already discussed this topic. But IMO I think that it largely depends what you are after. For example, if you want the best school possible, then KCOM. But I might be biased. lol
Anyways, what are you looking for in a school?

i apologize if this has been discussed previously, i only skimmed through the pages. I have a wife and kids so fam life is big...i feel that OMM is important but not forefront... my biggest hang up is the curriculum...pls correct me if Im wrong, KCOM has a system base 1:3 model were the first year is course work and starting the 2nd year is clinicals. where as rvu has a 2: 2 model, also system based with the 2nd year being a repeat of the first as reinforcement and the 3rd year you start clinicals

i hope that made sense.... btw im not planning on specialization.

Originally Posted by Doctor du

i apologize if this has been discussed previously, i only skimmed through the pages. I have a wife and kids so fam life is big...i feel that OMM is important but not forefront... my biggest hang up is the curriculum...pls correct me if Im wrong, KCOM has a system base 1:3 model were the first year is course work and starting the 2nd year is clinicals. where as rvu has a 2: 2 model, also system based with the 2nd year being a repeat of the first as reinforcement and the 3rd year you start clinicals

i hope that made sense.... btw im not planning on specialization.

You are mixing KCOM's clinicals with SOMA's, the two campuses are extremely different.

KCOM does a 2:2. SOMA does a 1:3

Originally Posted by Doctor du

i apologize if this has been discussed previously, i only skimmed through the pages. I have a wife and kids so fam life is big...i feel that OMM is important but not forefront... my biggest hang up is the curriculum...pls correct me if Im wrong, KCOM has a system base 1:3 model were the first year is course work and starting the 2nd year is clinicals. where as rvu has a 2: 2 model, also system based with the 2nd year being a repeat of the first as reinforcement and the 3rd year you start clinicals

i hope that made sense.... btw im not planning on specialization.

Well KCOM has alot of married students (many with kids).
As someone had said already, KCOM is 2:2.
If that's your biggest hang up, then that's resolved.
I'm a big believer that while some schools are "better" than others, it's more of a factor of how the student takes their education. If you believe this as well, it frees you to seek things that are important to you that's less academically related, such as that family environment your mentioned.
While I can't speak for rvu (though I haven't heard good things: but that's just hearsay), I can at least tell you what I think of KCOM.
I find that the faculty really does care about the students. While many schools seek to really promote their image, KCOM seems to be more worried about promoting their students.
Academically I think they are just as good as any other out there. As far as research goes, there really isn't any here (but does any one have time for real research?)
KCOM has one of the better OMM programs; although I find a "club" outside of school to be much more informative. Honestly I'd recome to this school just to study under this mentor. If you end up coming here (or anyone reading this), I'll tell you more about this.
Hmm, let's see.
Dukum Inn's hamburgers are worth coming to KCOM for. Just saying. Throw in one vodka and tonic and the hamburger with shuffle board and you got an awesome day.

____

Originally Posted by MedPR

I canceled my interview before receiving a reminder email. Plus, the person that wrote the email seems cocky. It says (paraphrasing) "Hey everyone that interviewed with me. I got accepted, but I don't think I want to go. Did any of you get accepted? If not, you can have my spot"

I received the mass e-mail too. Here is the exact message that we received WITHOUT paraphrasing:

"Happy Holidays! It was great meeting all of you in Kirksville. I was sitting here wondering how everyone's medical school endeavors were going? I just returned home, and was thinking of all the people that I met along the way. Please keep me updated if you have time. I can't remember names too well, so if you drop me a line, please jog my memory on who you are. I wish everyone well, and Happy Holidays!!!"

I don't detect any cockiness or acceptance status in the e-mail. We all bonded during our interviews, so we all just want to keep in touch. The interviews had a very supportive atmosphere, so I wasn't surprised to receive it. In medical field, we are encouraged to network and build connections in order to provide the best care possible to our patients. And ATSU did exactly that in the interview format that they provided. Good luck in med school... try not to paraphrase anymore.

Accepted! I'm so excited!!!!

Originally Posted by StudentofMed

I received the mass e-mail too. Here is the exact message that we received WITHOUT paraphrasing:

"Happy Holidays! It was great meeting all of you in Kirksville. I was sitting here wondering how everyone's medical school endeavors were going? I just returned home, and was thinking of all the people that I met along the way. Please keep me updated if you have time. I can't remember names too well, so if you drop me a line, please jog my memory on who you are. I wish everyone well, and Happy Holidays!!!"

I don't detect any cockiness or acceptance status in the e-mail. We all bonded during our interviews, so we all just want to keep in touch. The interviews had a very supportive atmosphere, so I wasn't surprised to receive it. In medical field, we are encouraged to network and build connections in order to provide the best care possible to our patients. And ATSU did exactly that in the interview format that they provided. Good luck in med school... try not to paraphrase anymore.

Are you 100% positive you two are even talking about the same email? His paraphrased email and the email you copied and pasted don't even seem to be talking about the same thing...

Originally Posted by StudentofMed

I received the mass e-mail too. Here is the exact message that we received WITHOUT paraphrasing:

"Happy Holidays! It was great meeting all of you in Kirksville. I was sitting here wondering how everyone's medical school endeavors were going? I just returned home, and was thinking of all the people that I met along the way. Please keep me updated if you have time. I can't remember names too well, so if you drop me a line, please jog my memory on who you are. I wish everyone well, and Happy Holidays!!!"

I don't detect any cockiness or acceptance status in the e-mail. We all bonded during our interviews, so we all just want to keep in touch. The interviews had a very supportive atmosphere, so I wasn't surprised to receive it. In medical field, we are encouraged to network and build connections in order to provide the best care possible to our patients. And ATSU did exactly that in the interview format that they provided. Good luck in med school... try not to paraphrase anymore.

Received this e-mail too... exactly as stated above. No ego or bragging in my opinion. I replied to the person, and the he/she didn't mention whether he/she got accepted. So I assumed he/she didn't. Not sure what all that fuss is about... I enjoyed meeting everyone and am happy to stay connected. And if your e-mail doesn't have your full name in it (as it shouldn't... ICS101), then anonymity is kept.

And if it matters, I'm going to ATSU, and I'm not married!!

Originally Posted by DrMeows

Are you 100% positive you two are even talking about the same email? His paraphrased email and the email you copied and pasted don't even seem to be talking about the same thing...

Originally Posted by MedPR

The emails I've received were sent to about 10 other people and the original writer said something like "had a great time meeting you all at the interview"...

I have a serious problem with KCOM giving out my email.

MedPR posted the comments the same day that I received the mass e-mail, with about the same number that he stated receiving it. He started out summarizing the e-mail accurately "had a great time meeting you all at the interview"... MedPR was referring to the email that we received. No question. Just maybe took a few liberties of his own later on in his postings.

Originally Posted by Sanrio87

MedPR posted the comments the same day that I received the mass e-mail, with about the same number that he stated receiving it. He started out summarizing the e-mail accurately "had a great time meeting you all at the interview"... MedPR was referring to the email that we received. No question. Just maybe took a few liberties of his own later on in his postings.

Hmmmm okay! Just checking because reading the two it didn't seem the same at all, but going by your reasons I can see you're probably right.

Originally Posted by Sanrio87

Accepted! I'm so excited!!!!

Congrats on the early x-mas present!

Originally Posted by Sanrio87

MedPR posted the comments the same day that I received the mass e-mail, with about the same number that he stated receiving it. He started out summarizing the e-mail accurately "had a great time meeting you all at the interview"... MedPR was referring to the email that we received. No question. Just maybe took a few liberties of his own later on in his postings.

Congrats Sanrio87!!!

And ditto. I agree with what you said. But I'm tired of this topic. I thought I should just bring it up because that guy who sent us the message was super nice and chill. And what was being posted was was simply not true. And e-mail addresses have no personal information attached to them... unless, like you said, you put your full name on your e-mail or reply to an e-mail sent to you.

Have a great Christmas and Congrats!

Originally Posted by DrMeows

Hmmmm okay! Just checking because reading the two it didn't seem the same at all, but going by your reasons I can see you're probably right.

Dr. Meows, are you still going to your KCOM interview? Or are you going to Marian? Just wondering because I saw an early january date just opened on the calendar...

Originally Posted by dmarie91

Dr. Meows, are you still going to your KCOM interview? Or are you going to Marian? Just wondering because I saw an early january date just opened on the calendar...

That wasn't from me - I'm still going on January 7th Not gonna lie, I really loved Marian, but I think it would be an immature decision to not give KCOM a look with the history and reputation it has. I'll never know if it's for me if I don't at least give it a look

SO happy for you abolt! You are going to make an AWESOME DO whichever school you attend. Who knows, if I am lucky maybe I will see you the following year!

Just withdrew my acceptance. Good luck all!

DMU c/o 2017!!!!

Originally Posted by Sanrio87

Accepted! I'm so excited!!!!

Awesome to hear. Congrats and hopefully we'll see you next year.

First, I was really impressed with the quick response from KCOM. I interviewed 12/17 and was accepted 12/19! I really like Kirksville (I grew up in rural Iowa so Kirksville is like a metropolis for me), but I'm not too keen on having to move somewhere else to rotate for years 3-4. My family lives only 2 hours from Kirksville so moving anywhere else would be further from them.

I do have a question for any current students. I know they require students to have health insurance, but do they offer a student plan or am I required to find one on my own? I have had a lot of medical issues and am afraid that a private plan would be prohibitively expensive and/or inadequate.

Although I liked the school, my first choice would be DMU. I'm interviewing there tomorrow, so we'll see what comes of that.

To my knowledge there isn't a student insurance plan offered (if you hear to the contrary, don't take my word as final, I'm lucky enough to still technically be allowed to be covered under my parents' insurance, and with all our loans I didn't want to tack on anything extra so I just went for that.)

As far as marriage goes, 2/3 of the class seems a little high, but there are definitely a lot of people married and with kids. From an unmarried view...I actually really like it - everyone's spouses are really nice and supportive, not just of their own spouse but of the class as a whole. Plus, unless you're not a "kid person," it kind of brightens your day to see all the kids at events.

Good luck to all of you waiting/interviewing!

Originally Posted by lmwehr

First, I was really impressed with the quick response from KCOM. I interviewed 12/17 and was accepted 12/19! I really like Kirksville (I grew up in rural Iowa so Kirksville is like a metropolis for me), but I'm not too keen on having to move somewhere else to rotate for years 3-4. My family lives only 2 hours from Kirksville so moving anywhere else would be further from them.

I do have a question for any current students. I know they require students to have health insurance, but do they offer a student plan or am I required to find one on my own? I have had a lot of medical issues and am afraid that a private plan would be prohibitively expensive and/or inadequate.

Although I liked the school, my first choice would be DMU. I'm interviewing there tomorrow, so we'll see what comes of that.

While KCOM doesn't have an insurance plan, the student organization SOMA (to not be confused with the school SOMA) has an insurance plan that any osteopathic student can use. So you're covered no matter where you go. So no worries.

KCOM doesn't have a "food court," but there is a kitchen area and a lot of students use the hospital cafeteria!

Yeah I go to the hospital cafeteria next door almost every day for lunch. They give us the employee discount and it's dirt cheap to begin with. And during nasty weather like recently, there is an underground tunnel or above ground overpass you can walk through to stay indoors.

So I interviewed on 10/6 and they told me that they will make a decision on 1/21, so I guess I'm kind of on hold. KCOM is absolutely my top choice and I'm wondering if I should send a letter of intent? Or should I save that in case I get waitlisted?

Hi all,

I noticed a few post about number of students being married at KCOM. I am currently a second year student and I can tell you there is about 1/3 of the students who are married. From my perspective I believe that the SAA provides great support for spouses and significant others which is an excellent feature of the school. Nevertheless, there are plenty of clubs and organizations on campus that are gear for all student regardless of marital status. I congratulate all you new accepted students!!! Welcome to the KCOM family.

Originally Posted by LAT110206

Hi all,

I noticed a few post about number of students being married at KCOM. I am currently a second year student and I can tell you there is about 1/3 of the students who are married. From my perspective I believe that the SAA provides great support for spouses and significant others which is an excellent feature of the school. Nevertheless, there are plenty of clubs and organizations on campus that are gear for all student regardless of marital status. I congratulate all you new accepted students!!! Welcome to the KCOM family.

I'm gunna go head and second that. I'm a second year also, with a kid, married, and we are the minority. 1/3 may be correct, the school doesn't keep official numbers. Full disclosure, I'm a Student Ambassador for KCOM. I'm going to be staying in Kirksville for 3/4 year, so I might be biased to Kirksville in general. PM me if you have questions.

Mahalo

So, OMS4 here, got some free time on my hands.

Anyone have questions? About anything and everything.

Originally Posted by dani042

So, OMS4 here, got some free time on my hands.

Anyone have questions? About anything and everything.

May have already been answered, but when do you pick your rotation site? A few schools like SOMA and AZCOM are assigning them right now and I was wondering if KCOM did it before matriculation.

Originally Posted by dani042

So, OMS4 here, got some free time on my hands.

Anyone have questions? About anything and everything.

What was your experience like during your rotations? Was KCOM helpful and supportive to you during the 3rd and 4th years? Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions!

Originally Posted by rcheech7

May have already been answered, but when do you pick your rotation site? A few schools like SOMA and AZCOM are assigning them right now and I was wondering if KCOM did it before matriculation.

Originally Posted by bjk3771

What was your experience like during your rotations? Was KCOM helpful and supportive to you during the 3rd and 4th years? Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions!

Oh goodness no! You don't pick your site until 2nd year! I would have ended up in very different places if I would have had to pick before starting school.

You get assigned to your rotation site through something similar to the match for residency. You have the opportunity to visit the various sites during 1st and 2nd year, as well as a Hospital day on campus when all the sites come to town and provide information in a fair type setting. When I was a 2nd year we had the opportunity to write a letter of interest to our top site. The site has the opportunity to pick half of their available positions from the letters they receive. The other half of the positions enter the lottery. You will list your top six sites you would like to attend. You will either be chosen by your letter to your top site or you will be matched based on the lottery. For my class 90% or so got their top choice. It depends on where you want to go and how competitive that site is.

For my class MI was one of the more competitive areas. For the class above me it was OH and for the class below me it was AZ. Its all dependent upon where people are from/where they want to end up.

I matched to a site in MI and have done all of my cores here. I love it and I would pick my site again. I did a mix of preceptor and hospital based, even though it is considered a hospital based site. I got a good amount of hands on, maybe more maybe less than my classmates at other sites. I was never the 4th or 5th person to get to do something, more like 1st or 2nd. During 3rd year you meet with your site coordinator and dean monthly. In 4th year you are much more on your own. For your core rotations they are set up for you for the most part, at least for me. For any and all electives its up to you to set them up, but you can go anywhere you want if you want to do the leg work.

I had a good experience with the school helping me with questions/concerns/needs for the most part. I know some of my classmates can't say the same. That would be one thing I would say to check out at potential sites...do the coordinators seem helpful and on top their game? It helps you out a lot as a student if they are committed to helping you out. Also, help them out! Make sure you're responsible, get your things done on time, if not early.

Medicine is a two way street from the day you start medical school. Help others help you and your experience will be that much better.

But for real....rotation sites are important, but I honestly didn't worry about it until end of first year. Know your stuff, do well on boards, then tackle the wards.

Originally Posted by dani042

Oh goodness no! You don't pick your site until 2nd year! I would have ended up in very different places if I would have had to pick before starting school.

You get assigned to your rotation site through something similar to the match for residency. You have the opportunity to visit the various sites during 1st and 2nd year, as well as a Hospital day on campus when all the sites come to town and provide information in a fair type setting. When I was a 2nd year we had the opportunity to write a letter of interest to our top site. The site has the opportunity to pick half of their available positions from the letters they receive. The other half of the positions enter the lottery. You will list your top six sites you would like to attend. You will either be chosen by your letter to your top site or you will be matched based on the lottery. For my class 90% or so got their top choice. It depends on where you want to go and how competitive that site is.

For my class MI was one of the more competitive areas. For the class above me it was OH and for the class below me it was AZ. Its all dependent upon where people are from/where they want to end up.

I matched to a site in MI and have done all of my cores here. I love it and I would pick my site again. I did a mix of preceptor and hospital based, even though it is considered a hospital based site. I got a good amount of hands on, maybe more maybe less than my classmates at other sites. I was never the 4th or 5th person to get to do something, more like 1st or 2nd. During 3rd year you meet with your site coordinator and dean monthly. In 4th year you are much more on your own. For your core rotations they are set up for you for the most part, at least for me. For any and all electives its up to you to set them up, but you can go anywhere you want if you want to do the leg work.

I had a good experience with the school helping me with questions/concerns/needs for the most part. I know some of my classmates can't say the same. That would be one thing I would say to check out at potential sites...do the coordinators seem helpful and on top their game? It helps you out a lot as a student if they are committed to helping you out. Also, help them out! Make sure you're responsible, get your things done on time, if not early.

Medicine is a two way street from the day you start medical school. Help others help you and your experience will be that much better.

But for real....rotation sites are important, but I honestly didn't worry about it until end of first year. Know your stuff, do well on boards, then tackle the wards.

Phew, I definitely didn't want to have to make that decision now, before even being in medical school!

Good to hear that KCOM really wants you to learn a lot about the site before going

A post on the Osteopathic forum made me curious. How much time off are you able to get during your 4th year rotations for interviews??? Do you have "vacation" or sick days you can take so as to not be penalized on that rotation? The OP of the thread that sparked my curiosity said his school limited them to TWO days a month that could be missed! When you're trying to interview for residency, to me that just seems completely unreasonable.

Anyone in 3rd or 4th year that can perhaps comment? Thanks!

Originally Posted by abolt18

A post on the Osteopathic forum made me curious. How much time off are you able to get during your 4th year rotations for interviews??? Do you have "vacation" or sick days you can take so as to not be penalized on that rotation? The OP of the thread that sparked my curiosity said his school limited them to TWO days a month that could be missed! When you're trying to interview for residency, to me that just seems completely unreasonable.

Anyone in 3rd or 4th year that can perhaps comment? Thanks!

Each school is obviously different but as a 4th year you get 4 weeks of vacation to use as you see fit. Some people use it to study for boards, some use it for interviews. Like I said before you schedule nearly all of your 4th year yourself so you can make sure you have time set aside for interviews.

Originally Posted by dani042

Each school is obviously different but as a 4th year you get 4 weeks of vacation to use as you see fit. Some people use it to study for boards, some use it for interviews. Like I said before you schedule nearly all of your 4th year yourself so you can make sure you have time set aside for interviews.

Thanks! Four weeks of vacation seems more than reasonable enough to work it all out for interviews!

I received a pre-interview hold letter. Has anyone been invited to interview after being on hold?