2012-2013 The Commonwealth Medical College Application Thread

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Space reserved for prompt.

Please PM the essays or lack thereof to me when the secondary is available and I will update this.

Good luck to everyone applying!

Who else is applying to TCMC?

Originally Posted by Unidentified1

Who else is applying to TCMC?

Me!! Good luck to you!

Dr. Nora's letter on provisional accreditation

June 14, 2012

Dear TCMC Community,

Over the past year, on several occasions, I have communicated decisions of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) regarding The Commonwealth Medical College’s (TCMC) accreditation status to you. I am pleased to do so again today.

TCMC was reviewed by the LCME at its June meeting. The LCME review included consideration of various materials and the findings of a site visit team that reviewed TCMC earlier this year. The site visit team’s findings were based on their analysis of an extensive database, our institutional self-study, the TCMC student survey, and three days of on-the-ground inspection at TCMC. I reported the findings of the survey team to you earlier this year; they can be found in two letters from January 2012 and July 2011.

I am absolutely thrilled to inform you that the LCME has taken TCMC off probation and has advanced us to provisional accreditation status. Further, the LCME has determined that resources appear adequate to permit us to expand our class size to 100 students as scheduled in fall 2013.

Moving forward, the LCME will require a status report relating to permanent leadership across the institution (LCME Standard IS-11) and resource stability and sustainability (LCME Standard ER-2) to be submitted for review at its February 2013 meeting. After review of that status report, the LCME will schedule the full survey site visit necessary for TCMC’s advancement to full accreditation status. The scheduling will likely result in TCMC achieving full accreditation status sometime during the 2013-14 academic year. Provisional accreditation status will not impact our graduating charter class in any way.

In recent months, we have taken important steps to address the issue of permanent leadership across the institution. We have outstanding institutional leaders in positions that were previously vacant or were held by interim leaders. These leaders include: Dr. Maureen McLeod as Chair of Basic Sciences; Linda Berardi-Demo, MPA, as Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Admissions; Andrea DiMattia, MEd, as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development; Dr. Valerie Weber as Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs; and Dr. Christian Adonizio as Assistant Dean for Clinical Education. We are moving forward with hiring additional faculty members. The search for the permanent CEO/Dean is well underway.

We are also working to bring additional resources to the College to ensure the long term financial health of the school. I expect that the positive decisions of the LCME will reassure local and national donors and supporters of the quality, value, and permanence of our College. If you have not made your gift to the school for this year, I encourage you to join me in doing so.

The decisions of the LCME are great for TCMC – and even better for the people of the 16 counties that we serve. I congratulate the many faculty, staff, and students in the TCMC community who were instrumental in doing the work and achieving the outcomes that have led to our coming off of probation and achieving provisional accreditation status. I thank – from the bottom of my heart – the students, parents, faculty, staff, donors, friends and volunteers who have remained stalwart supporters of the school during this challenging probation year. You recognized the importance of, and you have helped create and sustain, this amazing school. I hope that you take particular pleasure and pride in this excellent result.

Congratulations, TCMC!! Well done. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Lois Margaret Nora, MD, JD
Interim President and Dean
The Commonwealth Medical College

http://www.thecommonwealthmedical.com/lcme

Saw this on my Facebook feed and thought I should share it with people applying!

Originally Posted by Unidentified1

Who else is applying to TCMC?

Me!!!

Just got the email with the link to the secondary. Anyone else?

Originally Posted by medhopeful12

Just got the email with the link to the secondary. Anyone else?

Not yet

Could you please post the prompt?

Theyre the same as last year:

1) List the 5 most important attributes you feel a physician should possess.
2) Choose one attribute from the above list, and describe one personal experience that best exemplifies that attribute.
3) Given TCMC's unique missions and values, please tell us why you feel you are a good fit for our institution.
4) TCMC values diversity and is committed to maintaining an inclusive environment. How do you think you can contribute to our commitment to diversity and inclusion?
5) Using 1 - 3 sentences, explain how your admission to TCMC could assist in addressing the health care needs of northeastern Pennsylvania.
6) If you could speak directly to the Admissions Committee, explain why you should be admitted to The Commonwealth Medical College.
7) Do you verify that you are able to perform essential functions listed in (click on link)

Thank you! Is there a word or character limit at all?

Not sure, i'm on my phone at work so i havent opened that section yet, all i can see are the essays not the space to answer them

Originally Posted by medhopeful12

Just got the email with the link to the secondary. Anyone else?

Got it at 9:03.

Sent from my X10i using SDN Mobile

it tells me a 2000 character limit for each except for the last which is a yes or no lol (yay for the last one )

Thanks!

Just got the secondary, was verified 6/6.

So unmotivated right now... Anyone else just staring at the screen and daydreaming instead? Haha.

"List the 5 most important attributes you feel a physician should possess."

Does this mean we actually just list each one, or do we describe them as well? I'm not sure whether the 2000 character limit is a factor in answering this.

Originally Posted by Joosbocks

"List the 5 most important attributes you feel a physician should possess."

Does this mean we actually just list each one, or do we describe them as well? I'm not sure whether the 2000 character limit is a factor in answering this.

The way I look at it is that they also gave us a 2000 character limit for the 1-3 sentences question as well. Listing should be fine, maybe with a brief description for each.

Originally Posted by AiyaTuc

So unmotivated right now... Anyone else just staring at the screen and daydreaming instead? Haha.

yes! 2000 characters sounds so unappealing..

this is the worst secondary in the world...all these questions are so vague! im gonna try to finish this one today and send it back ASAP!

Whoo! I just finished! Now to proof-read and submit!

Originally Posted by AiyaTuc

Whoo! I just finished! Now to proof-read and submit!

did you use all 2,000 characters for each essay?? The amount of characters I used ranged from about 1,300 to 500. i hope thats ok

No, I didn't use 2,000 for all the questions. In fact, I think the only one I came close to the character limit was the third question. For the others (barring 1 and 5), I had like 200-500 remaining.

Whoo! Submitted!

to those who submitted, are you able to log back into the system? cause i'm not.

You mean log back into the secondary? Or the applicant status page?

nevermind, just read my email and answered my own question haha

Originally Posted by medhopeful12

nevermind, just read my email and answered my own question haha

Same here. I kind of freaked out after I couldn't log back in.

since i sent my secondary and have my HC letter in should I be receiving an email soon saying my application is complete?

Originally Posted by Joosbocks

"List the 5 most important attributes you feel a physician should possess."

Does this mean we actually just list each one, or do we describe them as well? I'm not sure whether the 2000 character limit is a factor in answering this.

Originally Posted by uofp57

The way I look at it is that they also gave us a 2000 character limit for the 1-3 sentences question as well. Listing should be fine, maybe with a brief description for each.

I spoke to an admissions official, and they said they like to see elaboration when you list your five important attributes.

Originally Posted by Unidentified1

I spoke to an admissions official, and they said they like to see elaboration when you list your five important attributes.

oops. maybe they should tell you that instead of just saying list.

Originally Posted by SourD21

oops. maybe they should tell you that instead of just saying list.

Seriously. You can't elaborate more than a phrase or sentence for each attribute when the question specifically asks to LIST.

Sorry for the double post, but hey its many hours later.

So, has anyone tackled this beast-secondary? To me, questions 2, 3, and 6, are all similar in what they want (at least for my experiences); and 2000 characters per is ALOT.

Has anyone completed this secondary? if so, did you go close to the 2k mark for all of the prompts (not 1 or 5 obviously)??

Thanks

What do they mean when they say inclusive environment? isn't medical school non-inclusive by nature?

Originally Posted by sipowitz61

isn't medical school non-inclusive by nature?

As my dad likes to say: "Don't confuse what's going on here with reality"

Originally Posted by Unidentified1

As my dad likes to say: "Don't confuse what's going on here with reality"

i like that, but I just don't get how to answer this question...

Originally Posted by sipowitz61

i like that, but I just don't get how to answer this question...

73% of their students were white, is it a different type of diversity they speak of?

Originally Posted by Unidentified1

I spoke to an admissions official, and they said they like to see elaboration when you list your five important attributes.

Submitted last week with a list (like they asked for)

Originally Posted by kad

Sorry for the double post, but hey its many hours later.

So, has anyone tackled this beast-secondary? To me, questions 2, 3, and 6, are all similar in what they want (at least for my experiences); and 2000 characters per is ALOT.

Has anyone completed this secondary? if so, did you go close to the 2k mark for all of the prompts (not 1 or 5 obviously)??

Thanks

I'm hitting about 1200-1600 for each of the questions. I think as long as you just stay true you'll be okay.

Did you guys secondary answers come out in block formatting too?

Originally Posted by MooCowJoe

Did you guys secondary answers come out in block formatting too?

yeah mine came out that way too. i tried inputting my responses from notepad and from word, and both end up with block formatting. not sure if that's how it's supposed to be...

^Same with me.

Originally Posted by uofp57

^Same with me.

any one who submitted already have the same issue?

Originally Posted by toby13

any one who submitted already have the same issue?

Submitted on the first day and had the same issue. I wouldn't worry about it, though. It doesn't hurt your character count and is still readable.

for those who have submitted (i did about a week ago), is this all it says on your status page?

App Fee Paid or Waived
AMCAS Application Received

(with times attached)

cause it says nothing about receiving my secondary or my letters of rec, but if thats how it is for everyone I won't be concerned.

Originally Posted by medhopeful12

for those who have submitted (i did about a week ago), is this all it says on your status page?

App Fee Paid or Waived
AMCAS Application Received

(with times attached)

cause it says nothing about receiving my secondary or my letters of rec, but if thats how it is for everyone I won't be concerned.

says same thing for me. dont worry . i think they're a little slow compared to other schools when it comes to processing stuff

Originally Posted by medhopeful12

for those who have submitted (i did about a week ago), is this all it says on your status page?

App Fee Paid or Waived
AMCAS Application Received

(with times attached)

cause it says nothing about receiving my secondary or my letters of rec, but if thats how it is for everyone I won't be concerned.

Same here.

Anyone get a status change yet on their secondaries? This was one of the very first ones I submitted. Looking forward to hearing back!

Originally Posted by jgalt42

Anyone get a status change yet on their secondaries? This was one of the very first ones I submitted. Looking forward to hearing back!

Nope, no change. Heck, I have a guaranteed interview and still nothing.

Sent from my X10i using SDN Mobile

Originally Posted by AiyaTuc

Nope, no change. Heck, I have a guaranteed interview and still nothing.

Sent from my X10i using SDN Mobile

jealous! how'd you get a guaranteed interview?