You sound perfect. Actually I feel humbled by your maturity and focus and warmth. I won't have time in a month to post much on sdn but I'll look for posts by you. May Good Fortune grace your MD app to CNU.
California Northstate gains Accreditation
- Thread starter ThinkReallyFast
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Any word on which dates they are interviewing? I have an interview on the 24th and I was wondering if that may be too late for an acceptance.
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Second day will be this friday, then they have a week off then two interview days the following week (sounds like yours) then a week off an then two interview days the first week of august. Sounds like you are right in the middle so probably not a great spot but it isn't like you are the last day to be interviewing. Also you know never they might decide that we were all crazy today and accept no one! Then you would be really well off!
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Do you know if the interviews are open or closed file? Also can you describe the writing and critical thinking exercise?
Whoa! Isn't that sensitive info that might get throwaway in trouble?
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They didn't seem to have my file in front of them but from their questions and our conversation I think they had looked at my essays before interviewing me. Not 100% certain about this. Writing exercise was very easy prompt is going to be different each day apparently, ours was about euthanasia we had to state our stance why we felt that way and talk about opposing arguments. Takes 30 mins and you get 2/3 page to write on, it was very easy and seemed to be a rather simple exercise just remember to justify your argument and speak about the opposing arguments and how they influence or dont influence your opinion and why. For my group it was the last thing we did so it kind of sucked just wanted to get out of their and relax at that point to be honest.
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I dont think so they were pretty open about the fact that there are different prompts for each day. Also you REALLY dont need to prep for this. Seriously if you can score well on the MCAT and write legibly this should not be a problem for anyone!
Okay. Just looking out for you. Never forget that the med school application process is competitive, irrespective of pizza get together's.
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Interviews are closed file. They notify within 10 business days. ALSO this was a big deal to me: no scholarships are given until matriculation. That means they don't offer scholarships until you have decided to enroll at CNU. Only source of financial aid is private loans, which need a cosigner.
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When I asked my interviewers about the for-profit status, their explanations were not extremely clear. However, they did emphasize that the investors and the board of trustees are separate entities. The educational faculty does not have to go through the investors to implement whatever changes to the faculty they want. Basically, the educational aspect is separate from the business aspect. They stressed that the school will be no different than any other US accredited MD school with regards to post-graduation experiences.
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This did seem like a weird decision to me. Would have made more sense as a new school to put the scholarships up front to get the best students I would think.
How did you feel the day went?
I appreciate it.
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Were the three interviews back-to-back-to-back? It must exhausting to sit there for 90 minutes and and maintain that kind of concentration.
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All three of the members I interviewed with seemed very experienced and knowledgeable. I interviewed with two MDs and a PhD. One of the MDs and the PhD are part of the teaching faculty, and the other (volunteer) MD interviewer told me that he wanted to join the faculty as well, and he seemed to be a well-respected physician around the area, from what I learned from a quick google search on him after the interview. The MDs also told me that since the school gained accreditation, the school has been bombarded with many highly qualified applicants from other hospitals and universities across the country.
As far as my general impression from interview day, I can understand the apprehension about a new school, the general unknown territory, but the school was very organized with the presentations and they covered a lot of ground in quite a bit of detail. The curriculum seems to be sound (LCME noted this to be the biggest strength of the school), and it sounds like the rotations with Kaiser and Dignity are set...and these are two of the best healthcare systems in NorCal. They also were actively looking for even more clinics and hospitals to align with to give the students the best exposure and opportunities. The staff and faculty were even more excited than us, and everyone seemed genuine in their desire to provide a great education to our general of medical students.
I haven't read every single comment in this thread, but based on skimming through it, I'll attempt to comment on some of the main points that were brought up.
1. the "for-profit" designation. Theoretically, every school is trying to make money, even if they are listed as "non-profit". Regardless, the people who invested in this school, invested A LOT of money, way more than would be recovered by just staying open for just one or two years, so even if they are just looking out for their wallets (which I didn't really get that impression from my time spent with all of the faculty and staff, but then again, i'm just a pre-med student), it is in their best interest to keep getting applicants.
2. LCME accreditation. This was a question that was definitely brought up by us interviewees, and the faculty didn't hesitate to answer. This also ties in with the "for-profit" topic. The school won't get full accreditation until they graduate their first class. Their accreditation depends on how the first class performs (research, residency match, and of course, USMLE scores). As a result, they NEED to provide the education that would allow us to do well in all those regards (because just four years worth of tuition won't even break even with the amount they invested), so they are even more concerned with making sure we have good faculty to help us do well in the classes. And they are still adding even more faculty.
3. the anatomy teacher being a PhD candidate. I think I read that somewhere in the thread, but that is absolutely not true. The anatomy professor, who is a PhD, gave us a tour of the anatomy lab, and was definitely very well qualified. He has teaching experience in numerous other universities in the United States, and seems very passionate about his job, and eager to see all of his students not only succeed, but go on to do great things (paraphrasing his words).
Here are some final thoughts. The first class will be highly involved in providing suggestions and feedback on the curriculum, and the faculty said they will be actively incorporating our feedback and modifying the curriculum based on what we highlight. So for all you applicants applying for 2016 cycle, you'll be in good hands, because we all really want to match into good residencies!
If anyone has any other questions, feel free to ask!
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The three interviews were back to back, but surprisingly, it was not exhausting during the 90 minutes. As we went to go listen to a few more presentations before our writing assignment, that was when I started feeling more tired.
Yeahhh. That's not common sense even if you were correct. Which you're not.
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Also, for the preliminary accreditation, the school was required to raise $70 million to put into the medical school for the students education. To me, it seems that whatever $$ they make over the requirement to remain functioning under LCME standards will go back to the investors.
As for the anatomy professor, this is the guy: http://medicine.cnsu.edu/faculty/fa...padmanabhan-rengasamy-phd-fibiol-lond-dsc-med, not the grad student. Perhaps the grad student is just a TA?
And also, I felt that during the interview day, many of the interviewees underestimated the effect of the lack of financial aid. Private loans will have huge interest rates and require a co-signer, which will be difficult to find. In addition, they, for some reason, won't offer you a scholarship until after you matriculate. For people like myself, that may be the nail in the coffin for this school because I wouldn't even be able to pay for it. Unless your family is able to support your medical education or you are willing to take on private loans with higher interest rates, I don't see how anyone is going to pay for this school.
As for the anatomy professor, this is the guy: http://medicine.cnsu.edu/faculty/fa...padmanabhan-rengasamy-phd-fibiol-lond-dsc-med, not the grad student. Perhaps the grad student is just a TA?
And also, I felt that during the interview day, many of the interviewees underestimated the effect of the lack of financial aid. Private loans will have huge interest rates and require a co-signer, which will be difficult to find. In addition, they, for some reason, won't offer you a scholarship until after you matriculate. For people like myself, that may be the nail in the coffin for this school because I wouldn't even be able to pay for it. Unless your family is able to support your medical education or you are willing to take on private loans with higher interest rates, I don't see how anyone is going to pay for this school.
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This is an interesting comment. To those of you on this thread interested in CNU, what will you do?
Unless your family is able to support your medical education or you are willing to take on private loans with higher interest rates, I don't see how anyone is going to pay for this school.
Unless your family is able to support your medical education or you are willing to take on private loans with higher interest rates, I don't see how anyone is going to pay for this school.
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I've seen some credit unions with comparable rates to the federal loans for medical education. Granted I have barely skimmed the thousands of loans out there and didn't delve into any of them. If I was to get accepted and decided not to go the private loan route, I would reconsider my interest in the Navy Medical Program and other programs like it. You give up A LOT (summers for training, residency choices I believe have to be within their military branch, x amount of years after school), but you leave debt-free and with some other worthwhile benefits.
edit: a word
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Not apply.
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I had a friend in the Navy who served on a tin can (a Destroyer, for the unenlightened) in the Pacific. He described it as "like being in jail, with a chance of drowning."
I had another friend who served on a USS Vincennes class cruiser. These can pull > 30 knots and the crew used to go water skiing behind the ship when at full speed.
I had another friend who served on a USS Vincennes class cruiser. These can pull > 30 knots and the crew used to go water skiing behind the ship when at full speed.
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These are the responses I seem to get from everyone. Either a love or hate relationship. I'd have to think about it long and hard of course, especially considering the program is more beneficial to those not going towards primary care.
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Of all of the veterans I've know, the Navy seems to have elicited the most negative feelings. The Marines, the most positive.
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That's really useful information, thanks Goro. If I end up going down that road I will keep that in mind!
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I will definitely go in with an open mind. Touro places a heavy emphasis on OMM (which isn't really my thing) and they also said flat-out in the interview that they "don't know" where we'll be rotating. That was a bit concerning. I'm not tied to California forever, but I am ties here for the next four years due to personal reasons, and I would like to eventually come back and practice here.
I have an MD mentor (an attending at Stanford) who is strongly urging me to go for the MD. He makes the case that "it's for the rest of your life", and he says that someone with my scores (3.8/35) has "no business" at a DO school.
That said, I like Touro's environment and its faculty seem great.
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I have done a little research into this area. I will be pulling out private loans and from the few people I have talked to my interest rates will likely be on par with federal loans and perhaps even lower. This is because I am old with a good and long (relative to most applicants) credit history. My wife has good credit and will be working and my parents and in laws both have excellent credit with each having combined incomes north of $100k/yr and are willing to cosign if needed. I also have the added benefit of having a working spouse which means I won't need as much loans as some other students. This puts me in a unique (perhaps not the best word but I will go with it) situation. For other students I would recommended you REALLY look at cost of attendance and begin speaking with family/friends about consigning loans as well as look at your own credit history. A bad credit history could easily make this school unattainable simply do to cost. Attending CNU will be expensive (as are the majority of medical schools) I would hope all applicants regardless of what schools they are applying to actually take the time to really look at the expected expenses and debt they will be taking on.
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You might want to talk with this mentor about getting help with away rotations if you are going to go interview at CNU. If they feel they can help that would help alleviate some of the concerns around CNUs rotations and if they feel they can't help then That makes touro look a bit better.
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I hate to stereotype, but I have to chime in about his "for the rest of your life" advice. I went to Stanford as an undergrad and I am currently a scientist there, and from working there, I've noticed that a number of their doctors, clinicians, and other scientists have a very stuck-up nose-in-the-air attitude. They have a sense of entitlement just because of where they work, and they look down on anyone who they believe isn't on their level. There was another poster who said a Stanford resident said something similar (stay away from DO at all costs), I just felt I had to chime in after seeing another post. I don't think it's a coincidence that both were from Stanford.
I've spoken to other physicians and adcoms at UC Davis and UCSF (my MD mentor is an adcom at UCSF) and they only have good things to say about DOs. In particular, they say Touro is a great school (I've seen a number of Touro grads doing their residencies at UCSF), and the letters behind your name are meaningless.
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Thank you for the input. I used to work in a lab at Stanford and got the same vibe (though one of the researchers in my lab was a DO).
Are you sure Touro grads match at UCSF? I haven't seen that. Other than UCSF Fresno, which might be what you meant.
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I know there are WesternU grads at UCSF.
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I've seen them at the UCSF campuses across the city (SFGH, Mission Bay, Parnassus)
A good friend of mine is a pathologist at Parnassus, and he said he's seen a couple of DOs rotating through pathology in particular (from Touro Vallejo and Touro New York).
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What's the tuition at CNU??
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About 52-53k
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As much as the idea of private loans is scary, it happens with the new schools. Western Michigan c/o 2019 will be relying on them next year if they don't have other means to finance their education. I chose to matriculate elsewhere, but I still liked it a lot on my interview day. The private loans certainly aren't fun, but I don' t think that says that much about the school.
From the CNU brochure linked to at post #551 on page 15, "There are also in-house scholarships available through the university itself based on grades and scholarly activities... The inaugural class will have $2 million in scholarships and other financial aid available. "
I wonder how much $ CNU hands out for academic merit as opposed to need.
$2 Million is a hefty sum for 60 students. Interesting.
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With such a paucity of qualified faculty, I look forward to threads about paramedics teaching EM and RRTs teaching the cardiopulmonary system at CNUCOM. Perhaps they'll have radiology techs showing students how to interpret imaging studies.
Also don't be surprised if students do their peds rotation at a pre-K nursery or FM at a local CVS minute clinic.
Also don't be surprised if students do their peds rotation at a pre-K nursery or FM at a local CVS minute clinic.
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If it is distributed across 4 years, it would bring everyone's tuition down to ~47k on average per year.
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edit: Nevermind, misread.
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Private loans aren't necessarily terrible. I think that most people can get 5-7% interest rate loans, which is on par with federal loans (obviously a higher percentage if you have bad credit/undergrad loans). And you can file for bankruptcy if things go to crap.
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yea bruh i'm sure you're a real expert in residency applications
Okay there's some misinformation floating around this thread. It's actually possible to get a LOWER interest rate with private loans than government loans. The interest rate isn't what is a turn off for people. It's the fact that student loan debt, whether private or federal, is non-dischargeable (if you declare bankruptcy is does not go away!!).
The major upside for federal loans is that IBR is built into the master promissory note for federal loans (in addition to whatever legislative breaks are voted in, like PAYE). This means that even if your career goes ass up and you only make $50k/yr for the rest of your life, the government will be happy to take just a fraction of your disposable income as repayment every month while leaving you with spotless credit. Private loans on the other hand will still want their $2k/month for 20+ years. No mercy.
Taking out $300k in private loans is just one more pact you are making with an institution that doesn't really have your best interests at heart. But I guess if you're gonna go, go big right?
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For those who have gotten interview invites, how long did you wait between secondary submission and interview invite from CNU?
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My mistake, I was under the impression that private loans can go away with bankruptcy.
The CNU brochure stated "There are also in-house scholarships available through the university itself based on grades and scholarly activities... The inaugural class will have $2 million in scholarships and other financial aid available. "
At first glance, it doesn't seem like the $2 Million will be distributed holus bolus evenly to all 60 students.
Applicants with excellent MCAT and GPA ( hello leela13!) should most definitely find out what % of the $2 Million is specifically assigned to "grades and scholarly activities" scholarships. If the $2 Million will be focused on rewarding/attracting academically meritorious matriculants, CNU will blow the other MD schools out of the water in terms of attracting the best of the best minds. And attracting those types of applicants would pay off in dividends re: establishing CNU's prestigious reputation - say board scores anyone?
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Thanks for the shoutout! I'm one of the few very lucky people who will not have to take out a loan to attend medical school, but I do love me some merit-based scholarships! I will definitely ask during my interview
It's going to be that bad huh?
I don't understand the negativity. I'm accepted elsewhere but if I had no opportunity to attend an American based allopathic school (that has prelim accreditation, which btw it has received at light speed pace unlike UCR that took forever even though it was associated with an established respected med school), I'd be thrilled with CNU giving me a chance that other highly politicized allopathic schools did not. If CNU actually does plan to award substantial $ scholarships for academically meritorious candidates, good on them because it's ultimately good for patients ( the people we are supposed to serve who want top notch care that has zero to do with need or skin color or tenure track or government grants) and it's immediately good for applicants who are rewarded for intelligence instead of fuzzy subjective "journey."
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The people running CNUCOM are a punch of pigs but they arent stupid my friend. What theyve done is nothing short of genius. They have transplanted a Caribbean school to California. I expect the curriculum to be very similar no matter what ridiculous buzzwords they use so you better be good at self study. Its like real estate: location, location, location!
CNUCOM has pulled the wool over premeds' eyes because they have provisional accreditation by the LCME .They will get a flood of qualified applicants each year no matter what. This is where their genius shows; they are cashing in BIGTIME on the student loan bubble. Medical students are very attractive targets because they are guaranteed 6-figure incomes starting. I dont know who CNUCOM's parent company is but I want to buy in. Hopefully CNUCOM goes public with a big IPO so they can start franchising like Touro and Edward Via.
CNUCOM has pulled the wool over premeds' eyes because they have provisional accreditation by the LCME .They will get a flood of qualified applicants each year no matter what. This is where their genius shows; they are cashing in BIGTIME on the student loan bubble. Medical students are very attractive targets because they are guaranteed 6-figure incomes starting. I dont know who CNUCOM's parent company is but I want to buy in. Hopefully CNUCOM goes public with a big IPO so they can start franchising like Touro and Edward Via.
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