Lake Erie - Bradenton (LECOM-Bradenton) Discussion Thread 2013 - 2014

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HeyBeckerson said:
After looking over some more information about LECOM's administration and policies towards its students I'm going to withdraw my acceptance. Good luck to everyone trying to get a spot!

Interviewed 1/26 Accepted the day after (called for confirmation)
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Do you mind sharing what about their administration and policies turned you away? I am teetering whether I should go to my interview or not....any insight would be great.
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HeyBeckerson said:
After looking over some more information about LECOM's administration and policies towards its students I'm going to withdraw my acceptance. Good luck to everyone trying to get a spot!

Interviewed 1/26 Accepted the day after (called for confirmation)
Click to expand...

Do you mind sharing what about their administration and policies turned you away? I am teetering whether I should go to my interview or not....any insight would be great.
 
HeyBeckerson said:
After looking over some more information about LECOM's administration and policies towards its students I'm going to withdraw my acceptance. Good luck to everyone trying to get a spot!

Interviewed 1/26 Accepted the day after (called for confirmation)
Click to expand...

Do you mind sharing what about their administration and policies turned you away? I am teetering whether I should go to my interview or not....any insight would be great.
 
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Winterland said:
Do you mind sharing what about their administration and policies turned you away? I am teetering whether I should go to my interview or not....any insight would be great.
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I don't want to disparage LECOM unnecessarily but there are many rumors swirling about concerning the way LECOM and its satellite campuses are run. The family that has control treats students more like piggy banks than students, and impose rules that are more suitable for children than adults. People may overlook some of these things (mandatory business casual attire for students) but there are rules that don't mesh well with me as I study to become a physician (absolutely no food or drink outside of the cafeteria, even water).

This sentiment is shared by a friend who attends LECOM currently as a DO student. As an example of the kind of regard LECOM has for its students, the administration once called a mandatory student gathering on an off day to give a brief lecture on the importance of keeping the campus clean. They had caught some people drinking water in a classroom outside of the cafeteria and sought to punish the entire student body by making them drive to campus when a simple e-mail would have sufficed. I have no patience for these antics and would rather spend my time focusing on studying medicine.
 
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HeyBeckerson said:
I don't want to disparage LECOM unnecessarily but there are many rumors swirling about concerning the way LECOM and its satellite campuses are run. The family that has control treats students more like piggy banks than students, and impose rules that are more suitable for children than adults. People may overlook some of these things (mandatory business casual attire for students) but there are rules that don't mesh well with me as I study to become a physician (absolutely no food or drink outside of the cafeteria, even water).

This sentiment is shared by a friend who attends LECOM currently as a DO student. As an example of the kind of regard LECOM has for its students, the administration once called a mandatory student gathering on an off day to give a brief lecture on the importance of keeping the campus clean. They had caught some people drinking water in a classroom outside of the cafeteria and sought to punish the entire student body by making them drive to campus when a simple e-mail would have sufficed. I have no patience for these antics and would rather spend my time focusing on studying medicine.
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Thanks for sharing.... what have you heard about PBL?
 
Anyone else interviewing here tomorrow? I've never been to the area before.
 
Winterland said:
Thanks for sharing.... what have you heard about PBL?
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PBL is fantastic. The students we observed really knew their stuff, and if you have confidence in your ability to study on your own then PBL should be a good fit for you. On the flip side, you have to know how to interact with others in order to solve cases together, so if you're meek or anxious then your grade may suffer for it (participation during PBL sessions is part of the grade).
 
declining my interview to LECOM-B. they still have 3/17 amd 2 other dates in early april available. good luck everyone!

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I updated my application with my new MCAT score on Tuesday and got an interview invite today-- couldn't take the March date so I signed up for early April. New MCAT is 29 (8 P/11 V/10 B), GPA ~3.75.
 
My friend interviewed here last week, and he said this school is filled up and only interviewing for the waitlist now :/ He also said the school was somewhat secretive about its average GPA and MCAT, though he liked it otherwise. Such a shame...I already got into Campbell but would have liked to have gone here.
 
I interviewed on 2/10 and just got the call that I've been accepted. Was never placed on the official waitlist but did have to wait for earlier candidates to reject their offers. (I also had 2 other interviews in late February. I've been accepted to one and I'm waiting on a response from on the other. So don't get discouraged people! You can still make in at this point in the cycle!)
 
Canceling my interview on march 17, good luck everyone! It's not over till the fat lady sings.....in July when classes actually start!
 
Also interviewed 2/10... The waiting is hard. I love this school. It's my definitely my top choice and I absolutely love PBL. Already sent a letter in immediately after my interview...maybe I should call?
 
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Soo I am interviewing here on friday ..realistically is there a chance? How is the wait list set up?
 
interviewed 2/28 and promptly rejected 3/4 lol
3.2 cGPA (incl. SMP grades) / 32 MCAT

I felt like the group interview went well but apparently not well enough! I tried asking Ms Shively what my most glaring weakness is and she was not concrete--her thought was that it was probably some of my undergraduate grades (some scattered F's and C-'s amid A's and B's--I have a 3.0 undergrad cGPA) which is unfortunate because the group interview does not enable much personal discourse. Of course, Mr Shively did offer to everyone some solo time with him if there's anything the committee should know about that wasn't covered anywhere else... I did not take him up on the offer, though in hindsight I should have.

#notdeterred
 
PH190 said:
Also interviewed 2/10... The waiting is hard. I love this school. It's my definitely my top choice and I absolutely love PBL. Already sent a letter in immediately after my interview...maybe I should call?
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There's no harm in trying. Personally, I e-mailed Ms. Shively to let them know LECOM-B was my top choice. However, if you've already got all your letters and prereq's in, and it still says "your file is still under review" on your portal, you probably just have to play the waiting game for your acceptance to come.

Thisisittttttt said:
Soo I am interviewing here on friday ..realistically is there a chance? How is the wait list set up?
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There's still a chance! They'll explain it to you all after your interviews but you can still get accepted, just not right away. Instead, you're placed on the acceptance list, which is different than their waitlist. LECOM-B doesn't send out more acceptances than the size of their incoming class so you have to wait until some candidates reject their acceptances before they can send out more acceptances. But the good news is, according to the admissions office, everyone on this list has historically been offered an acceptance to LECOM-B. I was placed on this list, and it took 3 weeks after my interview for enough people to reject their offers so that they could offer me an acceptance.

And from what I understand, the waitlist is set up a little differently. If you're placed on the waitlist, they don't start considering and sending out acceptances to these people until after all the interviews are done. So this means after all the folks on the acceptance list are offered acceptances, the waitlist candidates are up next. According to the student leaders, a sizable chunk of people placed on the waitlist also get accepted! So probably around May, people will start to receive acceptances off of the waitlist. And if you are placed on the waitlist, that's when you should everything in your power to let the admissions office know your interested (send letters of intent, LOR's, updated transcripts, CV's etc...).

Hope this puts you at ease. I know how stressful all of this stuff can be. Anyway, good luck!
 
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I called today, alternate list. Not really ideal but better than a rejection. Interviewed 2/28
 
So if the status changes to "still under consideration" after the committee meets that always means an acceptance? I know they told us something like this at the end of the interview, but I want to be certain.
 
Giving up my LECOM-B acceptance within a week or two. Congrats to whoever is in the waitlist that gets my seat!

Nice school, I'm just not big on PBL.
 
hemlocktree said:
Where did you decide on?
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UNE. I their curriculum suits me much better, it's more of a hybrid model, and allows me to attend traditional lectures if I want (or watch them at home). Plus they've got a residency program I really want to attend as part of their Opti- it's just a better school for me all around.
 
Has anyone else had the "Your application is still under consideration" message post-interview for at least 3 weeks now. I was assured by admissions this was a good sign but I would like to hear feedback of others if possible! Thanks
 
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Anyone interviewing on 3/21? Got a pretty late interview invite for that day (maybe someone cancelled...).

What hotel did you stay at and what was the LECOM rate?

Thanks :)
 
Just declined my acceptance offer. Hopefully someone on here gets my seat.

David West said:
Has anyone else had the "Your application is still under consideration" message post-interview for at least 3 weeks now. I was assured by admissions this was a good sign but I would like to hear feedback of others if possible! Thanks
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It's a good sign. Same thing happened to me too before I got the acceptance call. I know waiting sucks, but that's pretty much what you have to do.
 
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brew said:
Anyone interviewing on 3/21? Got a pretty late interview invite for that day (maybe someone cancelled...).

What hotel did you stay at and what was the LECOM rate?

Thanks :)
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I don't remember my exact rate as I interviewed in October but I stayed at the Hampton Inn one exit up the interstate from LECOM. If you have any other questions about the day feel free to PM me!
 
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I'm a MS4 at LECOM Bradenton and I have to say that I am pretty unhappy with my education here. One very important detail that the school doesn't tell you when you interview is that you basically set up your clinical rotations yourself. This is why tuition is lower there because your clinical educators are basically nice private practice docs willing to let you follow them for 4 weeks. I've had too many rotations where I felt like I was shadowing and not learning to be independent. I am not a fan of how osteopathic med schools are being run these days because its beginning to seem more like a money making business - LECOM-B is a prime example. Yeah you pay less for tuition but it holds true that you get what you pay for. A major gripe I have about the school is that the administration is soooo condescending towards students. The only thing this school has going for them is that they put out good board scores. If I could go back in time I would've gone to a better DO school or tried harder to get into MD school. I could go on and on about what I dislike about the school but I'll just stop here.
 
uncal_hernia said:
I'm a MS4 at LECOM Bradenton and I have to say that I am pretty unhappy with my education here. One very important detail that the school doesn't tell you when you interview is that you basically set up your clinical rotations yourself. This is why tuition is lower there because your clinical educators are basically nice private practice docs willing to let you follow them for 4 weeks. I've had too many rotations where I felt like I was shadowing and not learning to be independent. I am not a fan of how osteopathic med schools are being run these days because its beginning to seem more like a money making business - LECOM-B is a prime example. Yeah you pay less for tuition but it holds true that you get what you pay for. A major gripe I have about the school is that the administration is soooo condescending towards students. The only thing this school has going for them is that they put out good board scores. If I could go back in time I would've gone to a better DO school or tried harder to get into MD school. I could go on and on about what I dislike about the school but I'll just stop here.
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Thanks for the post. I think it is good to hear both sides
 
uncal_hernia said:
I'm a MS4 at LECOM Bradenton and I have to say that I am pretty unhappy with my education here. One very important detail that the school doesn't tell you when you interview is that you basically set up your clinical rotations yourself. This is why tuition is lower there because your clinical educators are basically nice private practice docs willing to let you follow them for 4 weeks. I've had too many rotations where I felt like I was shadowing and not learning to be independent. I am not a fan of how osteopathic med schools are being run these days because its beginning to seem more like a money making business - LECOM-B is a prime example. Yeah you pay less for tuition but it holds true that you get what you pay for. A major gripe I have about the school is that the administration is soooo condescending towards students. The only thing this school has going for them is that they put out good board scores. If I could go back in time I would've gone to a better DO school or tried harder to get into MD school. I could go on and on about what I dislike about the school but I'll just stop here.
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Looks like you joined today and have only one post. Do you dislike the school so much that you created a profile just to post your dissatisfaction with the school? I am still considering LECOM, but I'd like to hear more about why you are unhappy with your education. Besides setting up clinical rotations, do you feel satisfied with the education in the first two years? What do you think of PBL? Thanks.
 
hemlocktree said:
Looks like you joined today and have only one post. Do you dislike the school so much that you created a profile just to post your dissatisfaction with the school? I am still considering LECOM, but I'd like to hear more about why you are unhappy with your education. Besides setting up clinical rotations, do you feel satisfied with the education in the first two years? What do you think of PBL? Thanks.
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I just made this account so I can give applicants some insight into the school. PBL is an effective way of learning but LECOM Bradenton does it a different way. You never see your tests after they're done you only see your score. Furthremore, it is a curve driven scoring system. The school has a computer that manipulates the scores so only a select few get A's, B' and so on. From a learning standpoint it is good because it makes you read text over and over. The downside is that you could be getting a question wrong several times over and over and not know it. I found LECOM B's PBL style to be very frustrating because all they do is hand you the book and tell you to read. I had a test where I done poorly relative to the class so I had to meet with the advisor. guess what his advice to me was? go read more. I ended up doing good on boards, COMLEX and USMLE.
 
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uncal_hernia said:
I just made this account so I can give applicants some insight into the school. PBL is an effective way of learning but LECOM Bradenton does it a different way. You never see your tests after they're done you only see your score. Furthremore, it is a curve driven scoring system. The school has a computer that manipulates the scores so only a select few get A's, B' and so on. From a learning standpoint it is good because it makes you read text over and over. The downside is that you could be getting a question wrong several times over and over and not know it. I found LECOM B's PBL style to be very frustrating because all they do is hand you the book and tell you to read. I had a test where I done poorly relative to the class so I had to meet with the advisor. guess what his advice to me was? go read more. I ended up doing good on boards, COMLEX and USMLE.
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Thank you for your honest input! It's nice to get negative critiques that are not cynical!
 
a lot of the leg work is done by us when it comes to a lot of things.
 
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got accepted today. haven't decided if I'll attend LECOM. I'm concerned about their residency policy. Making your own residency schedules? that sounds weird to me. Any current students have any input?
 
docmikeihope said:
got accepted today. haven't decided if I'll attend LECOM. I'm concerned about their residency policy. Making your own residency schedules? that sounds weird to me. Any current students have any input?
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Did you contact them or how did you find out? Congratulations!
 
brew said:
Did you contact them or how did you find out? Congratulations!
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they called me and told me that ill be receiving a letter in the mail soon. I had spoken to them about 2 weeks ago and they said that i should expect an acceptance soon. they're really good about giving you any updates on progress if you call them
 
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hemlocktree said:
+1, Can you elaborate? sounds pretty shady
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docmikeihope said:
got accepted today. haven't decided if I'll attend LECOM. I'm concerned about their residency policy. Making your own residency schedules? that sounds weird to me. Any current students have any input?
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I graduated last year. Things may have changed since I went through, so current students might want to comment on any changes, but I can at least tell you how things were for my class.

The Dean's letter deal is something like this: You're sent a link to an online form to fill out. The questions are things like which clubs you were in, what other extracurriculars you were involved in, volunteering hours, leadership positions, and some other things. I'm not sure where it goes from there, but that information is used to build your dean's letter. So you don't directly write it, but I assume it's built from what you enter and edited from there. I heard anecdotes from friends that at residency interviews that they were told how useless our dean's letters were, but unfortunately that's not unique to the LECOMs by any means. I can't remember anybody mentioning it when I was interviewing.

I assume the second question is about 3rd & 4th year rotations. Rotations at LECOM are pretty well-documented if you search through this thread and others. There are good and bad rotations, and much of the responsibility for your schedule is put on you. You're given a list and allowed to put in your preferences along with 10-14 other students who share your rotation schedule (i.e. IM this month, surgery that month). A schedule is sorted out from those preferences. From time to time, you may find out you're dropped from a rotation for a variety of reasons, and you have to find another. Usually, the office staff can tell you, "xyz location has a spot" for whatever rotation, at least for the core rotations, and they will put you down for it if you tell them to. The times this happened to me (twice at the start of 3rd year, once late in 4th year), I was able to sort it out within a few days. There were definitely horror stories of people finding out a day or two before their rotation that a location cancelled their rotation... and it sucks. But the people I know who had that happen still got through, maybe with a rearranged schedule. Year-long spots tended to be stable with less drama and fewer dropped rotations, at least from what I heard. Depended on the location, though.

My rotations were uneven, but in general I feel like I was able to put together rotations in 3rd and 4th year that worked for me and prepared me for what I wanted to do. I can also tell you that if you're trying to pick between DO schools, LECOM's rotation issues, sadly, aren't unusual. Talking to my fellow residents and to other med students on rotations from other schools (NYCOM, Touro, AZCOM, DMU, Western, RVU, and UNECOM), LECOM was average or slightly below average from what I remember.

Good luck to you.
 
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Thanks for the honest post. Not too thrilled about average to slightly below average rotations though, even if this is the norm at other DO schools.
 
Altruist said:
I graduated last year. Things may have changed since I went through, so current students might want to comment on any changes, but I can at least tell you how things were for my class.

The Dean's letter deal is something like this: You're sent a link to an online form to fill out. The questions are things like which clubs you were in, what other extracurriculars you were involved in, volunteering hours, leadership positions, and some other things. I'm not sure where it goes from there, but that information is used to build your dean's letter. So you don't directly write it, but I assume it's built from what you enter and edited from there. I heard anecdotes from friends that at residency interviews that they were told how useless our dean's letters were, but unfortunately that's not unique to the LECOMs by any means. I can't remember anybody mentioning it when I was interviewing.

I assume the second question is about 3rd & 4th year rotations. Rotations at LECOM are pretty well-documented if you search through this thread and others. There are good and bad rotations, and much of the responsibility for your schedule is put on you. You're given a list and allowed to put in your preferences along with 10-14 other students who share your rotation schedule (i.e. IM this month, surgery that month). A schedule is sorted out from those preferences. From time to time, you may find out you're dropped from a rotation for a variety of reasons, and you have to find another. Usually, the office staff can tell you, "xyz location has a spot" for whatever rotation, at least for the core rotations, and they will put you down for it if you tell them to. The times this happened to me (twice at the start of 3rd year, once late in 4th year), I was able to sort it out within a few days. There were definitely horror stories of people finding out a day or two before their rotation that a location cancelled their rotation... and it sucks. But the people I know who had that happen still got through, maybe with a rearranged schedule. Year-long spots tended to be stable with less drama and fewer dropped rotations, at least from what I heard. Depended on the location, though.

My rotations were uneven, but in general I feel like I was able to put together rotations in 3rd and 4th year that worked for me and prepared me for what I wanted to do. I can also tell you that if you're trying to pick between DO schools, LECOM's rotation issues, sadly, aren't unusual. Talking to my fellow residents and to other med students on rotations from other schools (NYCOM, Touro, AZCOM, DMU, Western, RVU, and UNECOM), LECOM was average or slightly below average from what I remember.

Good luck to you.
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Can you please clarify if the most of the rotations cites are within a driving distance from the school, or most people have to relocate?
 
tearoom said:
Can you please clarify if the most of the rotations cites are within a driving distance from the school, or most people have to relocate?
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Most people relocate, some up north to Pennsylvania, some to rotations elsewhere in Florida. For my class, if you made location your top priority, and wanted the Bradenton/Sarasota area, you could make it work, possibly with a longish commute for a rotation or two.

Things might have become more difficult with the increase in class size since I was there, though.

Another aside... I think if you talk to recent graduates from any med school, they'll have mixed feelings. It's a tough road, and you look at how much you owe at the end and wonder if you got your money's worth. The first 2 years were great, and I'm glad I had the flexibility I had. For 3rd/4th year, the overall quality of rotations is ok, and somewhat uneven, but I only had one or two that I'd say were bad. (There were others I didn't enjoy, but that's a different issue.) What I meant by average/below average for rotations was that the process of setting rotations up and the lack of assistance from the school in 3rd/4th year is pretty standard, sadly.
 
Just got the interview invite this morning.

I am curious: I have letters in my Interfolio account that I used for my applications in general, could I use those letters without consequence? I would have my professors and such write me a letter of recommendation, but to get them to do that and have it in the LECOM-B office is impossible, since the letters are due tomorrow (1 April) and they just notified me of my interview today.
 
mattrmcg said:
Just got the interview invite this morning.

I am curious: I have letters in my Interfolio account that I used for my applications in general, could I use those letters without consequence? I would have my professors and such write me a letter of recommendation, but to get them to do that and have it in the LECOM-B office is impossible, since the letters are due tomorrow (1 April) and they just notified me of my interview today.
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Hey Matt,

I'm not sure what you mean. I have letters of recommendations in my interfolio that I used at other schools too. I would get them in if you could before you interview date.
If you have LoRs that aren't for medical school in interfolio, I would still send those unless you think you can get your LoR writers can get them to LECOM-B's office in a reasonable time. Better to have something than nothing...

I think I read in this thread that LECOM will wait for your letters though, if you need a bit more time...
 
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What I am asking about is if anyone has had any luck sending in non-specific LORs to LECOM-B and if it is ok to do so, since the time frame is so short
 
mattrmcg said:
What I am asking about is if anyone has had any luck sending in non-specific LORs to LECOM-B and if it is ok to do so, since the time frame is so short
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You mean LoRs that do not mention LECOM's name specifically? Essentially every single applicant does that, just has the letter writer say "X would be a great applicant for medical school.", rather than mentioning a specific medical school.
 
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Oh ok, that helps reduce some of the stress... Thanks!
 
I received my acceptance call from Ron Shively this morning! I will officially be attending LECOM class of 2018! I interviewed Friday, Feb 21st.
 
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