Pacific Northwest University (PNWU-COM) Discussion Thread 2015 - 2016

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Current 1st year here.

Medical school is a huge grind. Day in day out you are studying, catching up in one class, while falling behind in another class. It gets a lot easier once you find your balance. Everyone finds their balance at different points in the first year. It's important to have friends to study with (or not, if you insist), but you need to have someone to vent to-and preferably a classmate/study mate that can relate to and Laugh a lot, and have a beer or ten with.

I applied to a lot of medical schools MD & DO. PNWU was my only offer, so I didn't have much of a decision. But I was excited to get the offer, and I am still very happy and proud of PNWU.

Medical schools will not widely differ on their preclinical years. Some schools mix in more clinical, research, or community service opportunities than others-but otherwise everyone will feel the grind of the first two years of medical school no matter where you are at. What it all comes down to is working hard every day. Beyond the biochem/micro/immuno/physio courses in the first semester, you shouldn't rely purely on learning from the professors slides (I use them to know the scope of what I am tested on). So, if I am learning confusing material or if there are confusing Powerpoint slides, then I go reference Harrisons/Up-to-date/wikipedia/Kaplan/Pathoma/etc., to get a big picture idea of what I am learning.

In reference to the above poster's negative feedback about PNWU. I have worked a lot of different jobs and I've noticed that there is always the trend to gather with your coworkers and complain about the supervisor or boss. It's normal, and its a way of venting. I too have personal complaints about PNWU, but I would likely have the same complaints at different schools. However, I realize that most of my complaints are really just a result of being chronically stressed. In other words, everyone will likely have some level of negative feelings about some element of the school that they go to. The key is to work hard so that you aren't behind, to have good friends to vent to, enjoy your loved ones, and enjoy your precious moments of free time. You'll still likely complain, but it probably wont be on SDN.

PNWU is a great new school that is growing and I sincerely believe that it will become known for producing strong, balanced, and community minded physicians.

Below is a relevant article on a Stanford medical student's perspective on their curriculum-you'll see that many of the above posted negative feedback is common throughout. You will have to work hard no matter where you go. No professor will give you the perfect powerpoint or case discussion.

http://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/02/18/the-wikipedia-university-school-of-medicine/

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This probably will be one of my last post here cause frankly this school's not worth my time. Moving on to better and more exciting things in business and life.

But I will leave with a few parting thoughts.

This school seriously needs to put all its eggs, money and energy on recruiting better professors. Throw out and replace half the instructors and administrators. I have never seen a collection of Phds, DOs that gave the word "doctor" such a bad name. I will never look at doctors the same again (in a bad way). So #1 never get sick. #2 go to wikipedia and internet for your source of information. #3 try and not use doctors.
When I was at the university there were some really amazing professors that had a line waiting to see them. They came prepared and you really felt like you got something in that hour even when the class was 15 students small. You would think with an audience of 140, the profs would take a little more care and time to prepare. No such luck at this school. There is one professor who got his Phd from harvard at this school that is absolute gold and I do regret not showing my full ability for him.
Oh the other thing is do not send a request to students asking for their course assessment at a small school like this without a disclaimer saying something to the affect that any critique will be held in the strictest confidence and nothing said will be held against us. Are you stupid or what. I think the requester knows this and doesn't include this disclaimer in the email so as to not receive any harsh honest criticism. Duh, that's probably why no one fills them out and you are stuck with all these bad professors.

This school does not feel like $50,000. Maybe $25,000.

Best of luck to you all. My advice go else where!
 
Some points for the above poster:

#4. Learn to own your mistakes and move forward without blaming others for your shortcomings.

#5. Enjoy the ride and be grateful for all the opportunities that come your way. You'll be happier if you live this mantra.

#6. Disregard numbers 1-3 above as that advice is not relevant to the success of a med student.
 
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current first year. i'm only posting to encourage those of you who applied to not be swayed away or discouraged. There are plenty of reasons to come to PNWU and even more to stay, all of which have been elucidated by posters before me.

You might have noticed that more than a few of us are on here to encourage and counsel prospective students. This is quite the common theme here on campus and one that I would like to particularly highlight. There is such a great sense of comradery that you never feel quite alone and that when you want help you will find it if you want. Sometimes, help will even find you first before you know you need it.

I've been unhappy with a few things here and there sure but so is everyone else. What you will find here, which I believe makes this school stand out, is a student body and faculty that is so nurturing and caring, so encouraging and passionate, that you will eventually and perhaps quickly feel at home. We first want to know if you care and then we care what you know. One of our professors even printed a small booklet full of inspiring quotes for whenever we feel down on ourselves and distributed them among the class.

I would like to encourage HeadtoDoc, as others have before me, to privately PM any of us if he is in need of emotional or academic support as it will be provided, no judgment whatsoever and to secondarily leave his posts up. Its a good thing to let people know you are struggling but even better to find help afterward.
 
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For those that have already interviewed: are any of the MMIs role play/acting scenario? Or do you just discuss the matter presented with an interviewer?
 
For those that have already interviewed: are any of the MMIs role play/acting scenario? Or do you just discuss the matter presented with an interviewer?

I'm not 100% sure what it's like now but last year when I did it, we had a couple role plays and a couple "actual" interviews where they asked us questions etc.


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do you guys think the format of the interview and what they ask in each station changes each session? I was thinking about it and it doesnt seem fair if some groups get more difficult questions than others etc.. whats everyone's thoughts
 
do you guys think the format of the interview and what they ask in each station changes each session? I was thinking about it and it doesnt seem fair if some groups get more difficult questions than others etc.. whats everyone's thoughts

Changing up the questions forces the applicant to think instead of spitting out a rehearsed answer. It allows the person that is interviewing us to see how we process information "on the spot" and how we express ourselves when providing an answer. We are all going to get asked difficult questions at some point in our training by professors, attendings, nurses, patients, and their families. The ability to provide answers to those difficult questions, or at least admit that we don't know but care enough to try, is more important than how "fair" the questions are :)
 
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For those that have already interviewed: are any of the MMIs role play/acting scenario? Or do you just discuss the matter presented with an interviewer?

I interviewed in December and there were no role-play questions. However, feel free to demonstrate how you would communicate with a patient in a given scenario if it's related to the prompt. If you can answer the question while showing compassion I think you'll be in good shape. Good luck!
 
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I can almost guarantee (based off the post history) that HeadtoDOC is one of the students who didn't pass 1st semester and is no longer a student at PNWU. I am a current first year student and overall I am incredibly happy with the school. There are some amazing teacher and super smart/cool classmates.
 
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Late applicant, but feeling very lucky to get my II for 4/15! :giggle:

I also saw in the email that there may be seats left, but that it is likely for a waitlist spot. Can any current students comment on waitlist movement?
 
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I can almost guarantee (based off the post history) that HeadtoDOC is one of the students who didn't pass 1st semester and is no longer a student at PNWU. I am a current first year student and overall I am incredibly happy with the school. There are some amazing teacher and super smart/cool classmates.

I question your efforts to discredit me. Whether I am one of the 5 that got kicked out is besides the primary point of this whole forum.
Do you seriously think I don't have the chops to make it academically. I had gotten 10/10/11 on the MCAT, gotten a 3.93 GPA in the last 4 years worth of courses, passed anatomy, passed scifom or do you think perhaps (if I am one of the 5 that got kicked out) that there is a lot more going on in the background than meets the eye).

I definitely had grown tired of the 8 hours of screaming, high pitched voice, the constant down loading of quizzes every night, the constant 5 point quizzes everyday (what - are we back in grade school, that's exactly what you will feel like). I had thought about quitting in the middle of the semester. And don't tell me you all haven't thought about that too. I had made millions in business and I could live a comfortable life already, why the hell am I going through all this crap just so I can help people? Or perhaps I am too smart to realize that this ain't worth $50,000. Or perhaps it was the jerking around this school does. Or perhaps it was discrimination, this school out of what 120 instructors and administrators have couple latino clinical instructors, otherwise zero minority when a full 30% of our society are minority. Or perhaps it was age discrimination. Or perhaps it was one lady in student affairs that took it upon herself to push a 45 year old guy out of a school among 20 year old females because she detested the idea of a 45 year old guy hooking up with a 20 some year old girl. You will never know.

But we will all keep a very close eye on 20 or so other students that failed one course last semester. Because if this school is fair and is not discriminatory and follows by the student handbook then anyone that fails 2 courses within an academic year will be "Failure of two courses in a single academic year will result in an automatic dismissal without the opportunity for remediation. " Good luck to you all, especially those that choose to come here.

If this school didn't have the license to print DOs on a piece of paper, no one would be here.
 
I question your efforts to discredit me. Whether I am one of the 5 that got kicked out is besides the primary point of this whole forum.
Do you seriously think I don't have the chops to make it academically. I had gotten 10/10/11 on the MCAT, gotten a 3.93 GPA in the last 4 years worth of courses, passed anatomy, passed scifom or do you think perhaps (if I am one of the 5 that got kicked out) that there is a lot more going on in the background than meets the eye).

I definitely had grown tired of the 8 hours of screaming, high pitched voice, the constant down loading of quizzes every night, the constant 5 point quizzes everyday (what - are we back in grade school, that's exactly what you will feel like). I had thought about quitting in the middle of the semester. And don't tell me you all haven't thought about that too. I had made millions in business and I could live a comfortable life already, why the hell am I going through all this crap just so I can help people? Or perhaps I am too smart to realize that this ain't worth $50,000. Or perhaps it was the jerking around this school does. Or perhaps it was discrimination, this school out of what 120 instructors and administrators have couple latino clinical instructors, otherwise zero minority when a full 30% of our society are minority. Or perhaps it was age discrimination. Or perhaps it was one lady in student affairs that took it upon herself to push a 45 year old guy out of a school among 20 year old females because she detested the idea of a 45 year old guy hooking up with a 20 some year old girl. You will never know.

But we will all keep a very close eye on 20 or so other students that failed one course last semester. Because if this school is fair and is not discriminatory and follows by the student handbook then anyone that fails 2 courses within an academic year will be "Failure of two courses in a single academic year will result in an automatic dismissal without the opportunity for remediation. " Good luck to you all, especially those that choose to come here.

If this school didn't have the license to print DOs on a piece of paper, no one would be here.


I am sorry HeadtoDOC, but I just can not take your words seriously anymore. You sound like the biggest crybaby ever. "aka I am so so smart and it's everyone's else fault that I am not successful...but definitely not mine!"
Of course no student, who wants to be a doctor, would go to the DO school knowing that the school is not giving out the DO degree ;) duhhh
Please stay in business, make millions, and stop discouraging others about this school. We clearly got your point of view, and there is no point of repeating yourself over and over again. Thanks!

PS. I am super excited to start this fall tho.:rolleyes:
 
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I question your efforts to discredit me. Whether I am one of the 5 that got kicked out is besides the primary point of this whole forum.
Do you seriously think I don't have the chops to make it academically. I had gotten 10/10/11 on the MCAT, gotten a 3.93 GPA in the last 4 years worth of courses, passed anatomy, passed scifom or do you think perhaps (if I am one of the 5 that got kicked out) that there is a lot more going on in the background than meets the eye).

I would like to add my fair sense to the discussion about what is going on and what HeadtoDOC is saying. I am NOT saying that HeadtoDOC is not the smartest and couldn't cut it as a medical student. Here is a few things that I would like to mention.

1) There are some professors that you will not get along with and will not understand how to understand their teachings. This is life and you will not get along with everyone. Learn from it and find the resources that help you succeed, even if this includes asking fellow classmates, tutors, recitation leaders, the professor causing the problem, or other professors for help.

2) The school is gearing students to become "adult" learners. The idea is that once we leave medical school, a good part of the time we will be needing to do self-learning to enrich our clinical practice. Therefore, we need to learn how to be able to read and dissect lecture material or textbooks for pertinent information. So there is about 60-80% self-study at PNWU and 20-40% lectures.

3) Within the PNWU curriculum, the quizzes are used for 2 purposes: (1) to give students checkpoints to help progress steadily through their coursework, and (2) to alleviate the burden of high-stakes exams. The idea is to weight quiz grades to be between 30-50% of the grade so that you spend more time studying and learning the information than stressing about performing well on the exams.

4) In my opinion, MCAT and undergrad GPA are just numbers. I would like to state that I had an excellent GPA in undergrad and thought it was easy. Then during the first 3 days at PNWU, they covered everything that I could remember from my undergraduate degree.

I am not saying this to discredit HeadtoDOC, but I would like to just post another view of the curriculum. As a disclaimer, I am not the best student campus nor am I the highest scoring student on campus. But I believe PNWU prepares students well for the clinical world.
 
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I am sorry HeadtoDOC, but I just can not take your words seriously anymore. You sound like the biggest crybaby ever. "aka I am so so smart and it's everyone's else fault that I am not successful...but definitely not mine!"
Of course no student, who wants to be a doctor, would go to the DO school knowing that the school is not giving out the DO degree ;) duhhh
Please stay in business, make millions, and stop discouraging others about this school. We clearly got your point of view, and there is no point of repeating yourself over and over again. Thanks!

PS. I am super excited to start this fall tho.:rolleyes:

Who ever said I was not successful. If you buy a product, wouldn't you want to know what you pay for and if not state the matter of facts.
When you are in the depths of 9 days straight of test taking you all will question why you are in this thing, some even going as far as suicide. But in these trials you always want to be respected and not be jerked around. This school fails in this department. The premise is one thing, but the reality is far darker.
 
When I buy a product and read 10 good reviews and 1 bad review, I typically will still buy that product.
 
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When I buy a product and read 10 good reviews and 1 bad review, I typically will still buy that product.

The so called 10 good reviews are more balanced with comments like 'there are "some" good instructors', some is not even half. I wouldn't exactly called that good.

My review of course is from my own experience. As I've said, those that choose this school, good luck you will need it.
 
The so called 10 good reviews are more balanced with comments like 'there are "some" good instructors', some is not even half. I wouldn't exactly called that good.

My review of course is from my own experience. As I've said, those that choose this school, good luck you will need it.
Every school will have its share of good, ok, and bad reviews, every single one. I am sure if you talk to top Ivy med school people, you will still hear something negative, so-so, etc. Those experiences are very personal and greatly depend on your attitude, expectations, personalty, etc. This school was not a good fit for you, but it does not mean that it will be the same for me or other incoming students.

But good luck to you as well :)
 
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This is going to come at a bad time with that one guy trolling this thread, but I was looking at the "Fast facts" section of the PNWU website and found some questionable facts (maybe I'm understanding the numbers incorrectly, but I'm not directly accusing PNWU of making up numbers or anything). I'm a bit confused at the overall graduation rates, which report that the vast majority (like upper 90%) of students graduate. However, when I look at enrollment it says that there are only 75 fourth year students. Then when you look at the "Alumni" tab it says that there were 71 graduates in 2015 and 2014, 73 graduates in 2013, and 69 graduates in 2012. Doesn't PNWU admit around 140 students? How can they state their graduate rate is 95-98% when they start with ~140 students but only ~70 graduate? I feel as though I may be reading this wrong.

Also, I thought it was a bit sneaky of them to state that 100% of students matched into GME placements. If you look more closely, you'll see that the 18.3% of the class of 2015 went into a Traditional Rotating Internship. For those who are not familiar, the rotating internship is something you do if you don't match at ALL into a single residency program (kind of like a backup plan). Now, this school is one of my top choices based on location, but if nearly 20% of students aren't able to match into residency, that kind of seems like a red flag.
 
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This is going to come at a bad time with that one guy trolling this thread, but I was looking at the "Fast facts" section of the PNWU website and found some questionable facts (maybe I'm understanding the numbers incorrectly, but I'm not directly accusing PNWU of making up numbers or anything). I'm a bit confused at the overall graduation rates, which report that the vast majority (like upper 90%) of students graduate. However, when I look at enrollment it says that there are only 75 fourth year students. Then when you look at the "Alumni" tab it says that there were 71 graduates in 2015 and 2014, 73 graduates in 2013, and 69 graduates in 2012. Doesn't PNWU admit around 140 students? How can they state their graduate rate is 95-98% when they start with ~140 students but only ~70 graduate? I feel as though I may be reading this wrong.

Also, I thought it was a bit sneaky of them to state that 100% of students matched into GME placements. If you look more closely, you'll see that the 18.3% of the class of 2015 went into a Traditional Rotating Internship. For those who are not familiar, the rotating internship is something you do if you don't match at ALL into a single residency program (kind of like a backup plan). Now, this school is one of my top choices based on location, but if nearly 20% of students aren't able to match into residency, that kind of seems like a red flag.

A couple things, PNWU only started admiring 140 students ~2-3 years ago. So those older class are only 70-75 people. *Now* they are 140. Also, in regards to the rotating internship, from what I understand an intern year is basically required for most residencies. However, some residencies include it. For example if you want to do anesthesiology, there are a handful of residences that you can match directly into, but there are also a fair amount that draw from the intern pool. The same can be said for a handful of over residencies. They all draw from the same "intern pool". So as far as I know when someone does a rotating internship, it's not always because they didn't get accepted into anything else, it's more likely that they didn't get accepted into a specific program that included an intern year.
Someone feel free to correct me if I misunderstand, but that is what I have gathered.


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A couple things, PNWU only started admiring 140 students ~2-3 years ago. So those older class are only 70-75 people. *Now* they are 140. Also, in regards to the rotating internship, from what I understand an intern year is basically required for most residencies. However, some residencies include it. For example if you want to do anesthesiology, there are a handful of residences that you can match directly into, but there are also a fair amount that draw from the intern pool. The same can be said for a handful of over residencies. They all draw from the same "intern pool". So as far as I know when someone does a rotating internship, it's not always because they didn't get accepted into anything else, it's more likely that they didn't get accepted into a specific program that included an intern year.
Someone feel free to correct me if I misunderstand, but that is what I have gathered.


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Ah, the graduation thing makes more sense now. I was pretty sure I was missing something there.

But as for the Traditional Rotating Internship ---- I don't believe you are correct. My wife is currently a fellow and from what she has told me the "Traditional Rotating Internship" is what you do if you 1. don't match anywhere, 2. scramble (applying to residency programs after you find out you didn't match anywhere on Match Day) and still fail to match. The Traditional Rotating Internship USED to be required for all DO grads, but that hasn't been the case for a while. But yeah, it's what people do if they fail to match, but ironically doing the Traditional Rotating Internship while waiting a year to reapply for residency is really not impressive to residency programs (but I can't recall what you're supposed to do). As for drawing from the intern pool for some residencies....I'm not sure what you're talking about because I was with my wife when she was applying for residency/interviewing and she never mentioned anything weird like that.

That being said, I would still attend PNWU in a heartbeat. I have never "relied" on a school/people to end up where I want to end up. If there is something I want, I will work hard enough to get it.
 
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as for the Traditional Rotating Internship ---- I don't believe you are correct. My wife is currently a fellow and from what she has told me the "Traditional Rotating Internship" is what you do if you 1. don't match anywhere, 2. scramble (applying to residency programs after you find out you didn't match anywhere on Match Day) and still fail to match. The Traditional Rotating Internship USED to be required for all DO grads, but that hasn't been the case for a while. But yeah, it's what people do if they fail to match, but ironically doing the Traditional Rotating Internship while waiting a year to reapply for residency is really not impressive to residency programs (but I can't recall what you're supposed to do). As for drawing from the intern pool for some residencies....I'm not sure what you're talking about because I was with my wife when she was applying for residency/interviewing and she never mentioned anything weird like that.

However, you do have to look at other circumstances. If you look at the programs that PNWU students match into, most of these programs are categorical programs. This means that you start and have an "Internship year" integrated within the program. NOT ALL RESIDENCY PROGRAMS have a PGY-1/Internship year integrated into them. Programs such as Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (NMM), a few Dematology programs require you to do an internship year somewhere else. SO traditionally, DO students did their internship year at these "Traditional Rotating Internship" (TRI). However, more programs are integrating a internship year within their program. Second, I know one of these students that placed into the TRI and they placed there because they have been matched into an NMM program. But since it is a PGY-2 program, they must complete this TRI first and thus the reason why PNWU shows that this is where they matched. So to state that the TRI's are for people that didn't match is not 100% true. Also, in all the information sessions that I have attended about residency applications on-campus, the administration has mentioned that we have NOT had a student that DID NOT MATCH into at least one program.

As for the numbers thing, the Class of 2017 was the first class to have 140 students in their program. The classes before were set at 75 students. The varying numbers are for the students that decided to withdraw from medical school or because they decided to take an extended study program, for numerous reasons.
 
However, you do have to look at other circumstances. If you look at the programs that PNWU students match into, most of these programs are categorical programs. This means that you start and have an "Internship year" integrated within the program. NOT ALL RESIDENCY PROGRAMS have a PGY-1/Internship year integrated into them. Programs such as Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (NMM), a few Dematology programs require you to do an internship year somewhere else. SO traditionally, DO students did their internship year at these "Traditional Rotating Internship" (TRI). However, more programs are integrating a internship year within their program. Second, I know one of these students that placed into the TRI and they placed there because they have been matched into an NMM program. But since it is a PGY-2 program, they must complete this TRI first and thus the reason why PNWU shows that this is where they matched. So to state that the TRI's are for people that didn't match is not 100% true. Also, in all the information sessions that I have attended about residency applications on-campus, the administration has mentioned that we have NOT had a student that DID NOT MATCH into at least one program.

As for the numbers thing, the Class of 2017 was the first class to have 140 students in their program. The classes before were set at 75 students. The varying numbers are for the students that decided to withdraw from medical school or because they decided to take an extended study program, for numerous reasons.
This makes much more sense, thanks!
 
Interviewing tomorrow! Much sooner than expected, but so excited for the opportunity! :heckyeah:

Can anyone fill me in on how the interview goes at PNWU? Are our standard questions asked in groups or are they MMI's? Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks so much in advance!
 
Wow, things really blew up around here! o_O As someone who just finished a masters at a pretty high ranking medical school, I can tell you that complaints about programing and professors are pretty much the same at every school. I don't know anyone who spends a crap ton of money on education and ever feels like they truly got what they paid for. It happens.
For those that weren't scared off by that rant, is there a 2020 Facebook page yet? lol Couldn't find one when I started searching.
 
Wow, things really blew up around here! o_O As someone who just finished a masters at a pretty high ranking medical school, I can tell you that complaints about programing and professors are pretty much the same at every school. I don't know anyone who spends a crap ton of money on education and ever feels like they truly got what they paid for. It happens.
For those that weren't scared off by that rant, is there a 2020 Facebook page yet? lol Couldn't find one when I started searching.
There is, I will PM it to you :)
 
I'm so pumped for my interview at PNWU and I congratulate anyone accepted. I hope to join all of you in the fall.

That's great! I hope you enjoy it. I loved my interview experience. Cheers!
 
Yay! Finally some actually talk about applications. :)
and Ceramium, it sounds like we got some clarification on how it all works. Good luck everyone!
 
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I have been trying to talk to the administration about setting up a prank during interviews where we have a student walk down the hall with a sign that says "failed the last Cardio test", with people behind him with bells saying "Shame! Shame!" game of thrones style. But alas they wont do it. I even took out the part of throwing eggs at them.




COU8hzFUYAAFY_V.jpg
 
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I have been trying to talk to the administration about setting up a prank during interviews where we have a student walk down the hall with a sign that says "failed the last Cardio test", with people behind him with bells saying "Shame! Shame!" game of thrones style. But alas they wont do it. I even took out the part of throwing eggs at them.




COU8hzFUYAAFY_V.jpg
Oh you and your GoT references!
 
A cautionary tale of Debi Thomas for anyone who thinks pnwu is going to be an automatic ticket to a glamorous lifestyle.
Stanford
Northwestern med school
becoming an Orthopedic surgeon
Now this story in just today:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...91972c-ce99-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561_story.html



This is what I'm telling folks. Make sure when you go in debt $400,000 that you at least are getting a good product from pnwu. There's going to be so much headwind in the future as it is, if you don't at least get world class (well decent) education, you are going to get screwed. On top of that you have staff that have a chip on their shoulder and want to jerk you around when their getting paid by you. No way hosay.
 
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A cautionary tale of Debi Thomas for anyone who thinks pnwu is going to be an automatic ticket to a glamorous lifestyle.
Stanford
Northwestern med school
becoming an Orthopedic surgeon
Now this story in just today:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...91972c-ce99-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561_story.html



This is what I'm telling folks. Make sure when you go in debt $400,000 that you at least are getting a good product from pnwu. There's going to be so much headwind in the future as it is, if you don't at least get world class (well decent) education, you are going to get screwed.


Dude, I've been trying to be nice and understanding because it definitely sounds like you had a poor experience here, and I'm really sorry about that, but holy crap move on. All your posts here have nothing but prove to me that you were in the wrong place to start with.
First of all, anyone with business acumen (as you claim to have yourself) would tell you that medical school is (financially) probably not a great investment. It takes lots of time to get your money back, it's high stress, and it's expensive. Now take all of that and throw it onto a 45 year old man instead of a 25 year old one. Not that a 45 year old man can't handle that, but from a business perspective it's even a WORSE investment.
You are clearly so proud of your business success and your initial desire to help people, but I'm sorry, people with lots of money don't become doctors because they want to help people. Unfortunately I don't believe anyone becomes a doctor on the SOLE reason of wanting to help people. I believe that's a part, but I believe prestige also plays a role. If your only goal was to help people there are about 1000 ways you can do that without the stress/time/expense of medical school.
Unfortunately you didn't do your homework before you decided to go into medicine. I am sorry it didn't work out for you, but you running your mouth at how much of a waste it is, isn't helping anybody. You think you'll feel better by "enlightening" us but in reality we don't want or need your enlightening. You aren't doing anyone any favors. Your very obviously biased opinions do not give a realistic picture of what is happening nor does it help anyone make an informed decision about coming to this school or going into medicine in general.
I didn't come to this school because I wanted to go to the best residency. I'm not stupid enough to believe that medical school is a quick ticket to a glamorous lifestyle. I'm here because this is what I feel like I need to do. Do I hope to be well compensated? Of course. Do I hope to be respected for the time and effort I have put into my career, yeah, but I don't view a career in medicine as a cure for my damaged ego that my "millions in business" couldn't fix right up. You are obviously looking for something in life and you thought you would find it in medicine and unfortunately you didn't. I truly hope you find what you're looking for, but I can tell you that you won't find it by bashing the rest of us for our choices and trying to belittle our hard work by telling us it's a waste.
We don't need your senseless negativity anymore. All you seem to care about is how none of us will make any money. Sorry mane but if that's all we cared about we wouldn't be here. And if it's all you cared about you wouldn't either. So assuming you really do have your millions from business, I would hope (as I mentioned before) that you use them to fill the void that you have that unfortunately medicine could not fill.


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Dude, I've been trying to be nice and understanding because it definitely sounds like you had a poor experience here, and I'm really sorry about that, but holy crap move on. All your posts here have nothing but prove to me that you were in the wrong place to start with.
First of all, anyone with business acumen (as you claim to have yourself) would tell you that medical school is (financially) probably not a great investment. It takes lots of time to get your money back, it's high stress, and it's expensive. Now take all of that and throw it onto a 45 year old man instead of a 25 year old one. Not that a 45 year old man can't handle that, but from a business perspective it's even a WORSE investment.
You are clearly so proud of your business success and your initial desire to help people, but I'm sorry, people with lots of money don't become doctors because they want to help people. Unfortunately I don't believe anyone becomes a doctor on the SOLE reason of wanting to help people. I believe that's a part, but I believe prestige also plays a role. If your only goal was to help people there are about 1000 ways you can do that without the stress/time/expense of medical school.
Unfortunately you didn't do your homework before you decided to go into medicine. I am sorry it didn't work out for you, but you running your mouth at how much of a waste it is, isn't helping anybody. You think you'll feel better by "enlightening" us but in reality we don't want or need your enlightening. You aren't doing anyone any favors. Your very obviously biased opinions do not give a realistic picture of what is happening nor does it help anyone make an informed decision about coming to this school or going into medicine in general.
I didn't come to this school because I wanted to go to the best residency. I'm not stupid enough to believe that medical school is a quick ticket to a glamorous lifestyle. I'm here because this is what I feel like I need to do. Do I hope to be well compensated? Of course. Do I hope to be respected for the time and effort I have put into my career, yeah, but I don't view a career in medicine as a cure for my damaged ego that my "millions in business" couldn't fix right up. You are obviously looking for something in life and you thought you would find it in medicine and unfortunately you didn't. I truly hope you find what you're looking for, but I can tell you that you won't find it by bashing the rest of us for our choices and trying to belittle our hard work by telling us it's a waste.
We don't need your senseless negativity anymore. All you seem to care about is how none of us will make any money. Sorry mane but if that's all we cared about we wouldn't be here. And if it's all you cared about you wouldn't either. So assuming you really do have your millions from business, I would hope (as I mentioned before) that you use them to fill the void that you have that unfortunately medicine could not fill.


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Look money means nothing to me. I had mentioned it just as a matter of fact in passing. I've always really lived a frugal life. Why else do you think I even came back to medicine at 45 (really I'm just 32). Excellence is what I'm striving for, a life worth living, and that's what you and everyone else including the instructors should all strive for. You got to have passion for what you do. Instructors that are not passionate about wowing their students should take a hike. (oh jesus, don't write so much, you just about gave me pre-sleep headache just scanning.)
 
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current first year. i'm only posting to encourage those of you who applied to not be swayed away or discouraged. There are plenty of reasons to come to PNWU and even more to stay, all of which have been elucidated by posters before me.

You might have noticed that more than a few of us are on here to encourage and counsel prospective students. This is quite the common theme here on campus and one that I would like to particularly highlight. There is such a great sense of comradery that you never feel quite alone and that when you want help you will find it if you want. Sometimes, help will even find you first before you know you need it.

I've been unhappy with a few things here and there sure but so is everyone else. What you will find here, which I believe makes this school stand out, is a student body and faculty that is so nurturing and caring, so encouraging and passionate, that you will eventually and perhaps quickly feel at home. We first want to know if you care and then we care what you know. One of our professors even printed a small booklet full of inspiring quotes for whenever we feel down on ourselves and distributed them among the class.

I would like to encourage HeadtoDoc, as others have before me, to privately PM any of us if he is in need of emotional or academic support as it will be provided, no judgment whatsoever and to secondarily leave his posts up. Its a good thing to let people know you are struggling but even better to find help afterward.


Well said Dzung!
 
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I know I am late to the discussion, as I didn't have time during the week to reply (I was studying of course, as this is what is required for success in medical school).

In reply to HeadtoDOC various off-the-mark comments: "I had gotten 10/10/11 on the MCAT, gotten a 3.93 GPA in the last 4 years worth of courses, passed anatomy, passed scifom or do you think perhaps (if I am one of the 5 that got kicked out) that there is a lot more going on in the background than meets the eye)."

Given this history I know exactly who you are, as I am sure most of my fellow colleagues on here do as well. (i.e. you were dismissed for failing 2 courses in a semester, 1 of which [pharmacology] no student has ever failed in the history of the school). So here is the real kicker. My stats before starting medical school were lower than yours: 9/9/8 on the MCAT, and because PNWU changed the +/- grades that I earned from Arizona State University to plain letter grades, a 3.73 GPA. Now, given our respective stats and your shifting of the blame of your failure from yourself to our professors, I will only say that medical school is difficult, and as was iterated by a colleague here, you get out what you put in. I never saw you at any review sessions, never emailing the professors (Most of whom are excellent by the way), and never seeking help from academic services or even your own colleagues - even me, and I would have been more than happy to help.

It's an easy equation: Substantial work put in = Success and passing grades. They might not be the A's you were accustomed to, but passing nonetheless. I, as well as many of my excellent colleagues from the class of 2019, can attest to that. I write this now, as a second semester student, having passed all of my courses; even if I wasn't as "smart" as you "on paper". The difference between us and you? Perhaps work ethic, academic enthusiasm and curiosity, humility, and owning up to our own shortcomings (as opposed to shifting the blame to our professors).

Then there was this gem: "I definitely had grown tired of the 8 hours of screaming, high pitched voice, the constant down loading of quizzes every night, the constant 5 point quizzes everyday (what - are we back in grade school, that's exactly what you will feel like)."

I have several friends who are in medical school, in residencies, or are already doctors (I am soon to be 38, so your claims of age discrimination are spurious and completely unfounded) and all of them can attest to grueling examination periods (especially the friends who were in medical schools that had blocks). One of my friends, an emergency medicine resident told me: "At no time will you ever feel like you have a handle on everything....you will always feel overwhelmed". I generally agree with this friend's assessment as medical school, whether here at PNWU or anywhere else, is supposed to be extremely challenging; as the responsibility and privilege to care for other people is immense.

Modesty and humility not withstanding: "I had thought about quitting in the middle of the semester. And don't tell me you all haven't thought about that too. I had made millions in business and I could live a comfortable life already, why the hell am I going through all this crap just so I can help people? Or perhaps I am too smart to realize that this ain't worth $50,000."

I can honestly say that at no time have I ever thought about quitting. I knew that medical school was going to be tough, and planned accordingly. Had you used the same work ethic and dedication to your studies here at PNWU as you did to amassing your purported wealth, then I wouldn't have had to come on here and write my response to your unwarranted comments. As for you being "too smart to realize this ain't worth $50,000" and "why am I going through all of this crap just so I can help people" guff, anyone reading this response will understand these are compensatory remarks made by a bitter, dismissed student to salve his damaged ego.

And lastly: "If this school didn't have the license to print DOs on a piece of paper, no one would be here."

I suppose the trajectory of your life because of these circumstances is for the best. PNWU doesn't have to graduate a student without the appropriate ethos of dedication to learning, community, caring about other people, and service to our fellow human beings, and you don't have to attend an institution that you feel isn't up to par with your business savvy and/or level of intelligence.

On a more serious note, to any student reading this thread and wants more insight into the veracity of HeadtoDOC's claims concerning PNWU, PM me and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. My answer may be a little biased however because I love this school, and am grateful to it for giving me the opportunity to do what I wanted to do: practice medicine.
 
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Anyone on here interview today (2/27)? How did it go?
 
Troll or not, here is something you all will agree on.

For those unfortunate to go here, I hated downloading quizzes (1 -3) every night before the following day. Yeah it was only like 5 - 10 minutes, but this is a lot of valuable time if you are doing this everyday. It kills your focus on whatever you are studying to do this every night. So we had to download this software and you have to open this software, wait to open and then go through a bunch of steps to down load several quizzes everyday.

This gets to be a big drag especially if you are doing this for 2 years. ouch.
 
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I'll tell you why I failed two classes when I could have just as well have been 1st in the class. The difference between top of the class and where I was, fail two, Whaaaah, fail, sounds really bad, is just mere few degrees, but actually did you know that progressiq shows as an I(ncomplete) for incomplete, not as fail.

In medicine as in all graduate schools there is no such thing as failing. Some of us are a hare, some of us are a turtle, we all study differently at different speeds. That is why some people take only 4 years to get their Phd, some take 7 years.

Showing as incomplete is completely the right thing to do. I would have gladly taken an extra weekend or the summer to make up the Incompletes on these two small classes. Oh, and by the time the boards come around, I will smash it. Don't worry about that.

I will tell you some of the variables such as not having enough space, were addressed by the start of the second semester.

Anyways, going back to the hare and the tortoise, don't be the hare in life like Debbie Thomas when she was going to Stanford and training for the olympics at the same time, these people will be so high strung that by the time they are in their 40's will be having a mental breakdown, like she seems to have and become one of the 400 doctor suicide statistics in this country.
 
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I'll tell you why I failed two classes when I could have just as well have been 1st in the class. The difference between top of the class and where I was, fail two, Whaaaah, fail, sounds really bad, but actually did you know that progressiq shows as an I(ncomplete) for incomplete, not as fail.

In medicine as in all graduate schools there is no such thing as failing. Some of us are a hare, some of us are a turtle, we all study differently at different speeds. That is why some people take only 4 years to get their Phd, some take 7 years.

Showing as incomplete is completely the right thing to do. I would have gladly taken an extra weekend or the summer to make up the Incompletes on these two small classes. Oh, and by the time the boards come around, I will smash it. Don't worry about that.

I will tell you some of the variables such as not having enough space, were addressed by the start of the second semester.

Anyways, going back to the hare and the tortoise, don't be the hare in life like Debbie Thomas when she was going to Stanford and training for the olympics at the same time, these people will be so high strung that by the time they are in their 40's will be having a mental breakdown, like she seems to have and become one of the 400 doctor suicide statistics in this country.
 
Long time reader, first time poster. Never really felt I needed to create a SDN profile before. But a friend recommended I check out what's going on in this forum.

I'm not here to debate on the quality of PNWU as a school. However I will provide, anybody who asks, my personal, absolutely biased, opinion of PNWU. I am a member of the student government here at PNWU just so you know where I'm coming from when I offer my assertions about the school. I love 90% of all the things at this school, but what really makes me enjoy being here is the students, all of them, past and present. They are all good people and I believe at even their worst they still have great qualities about them.

Let me know if there's anything else you want to hear about PNWU, good or bad, and I will freely give you my personal opinion in the hopes that helps you make a decision on wanting to come here or finding a school that's a better fit.
 
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I have no quibbles with my classmates. We are all regular average people. Really no better or worse than your average 27 year old anywhere, even those in student government. If we think we are any better here at this school than anyone anywhere else, we are kidding ourselves. People are in general mostly good wherever you go. And hence no different here. I am one though that would benefit on a campus with a larger variety of programs, such as school of nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, PA, etc. And I think you would as well once you explore these other options. Midwestern comes to mind where I interviewed and it was really nice to have lunch with group of nursing students.

Realize no current student here is going to shoot themselves in the foot by saying anything critical of their own school. Students here have a vested interest to promote the well being of our own selfish future. Denigrating the school that you attend is probably not going to bode well with your classmates nor your own future reputation when we say we went to that school.

Alas the source of the problem. No one likes to point out the problems, everyone puts on their happy face, all is good. Right. Not really.
 
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I have no quibbles with my classmates. We are all regular average people. Really no better or worse than your average 27 year old anywhere, even those in student government. If we think we are any better here at this school than anyone anywhere else, we are kidding ourselves. People are in general mostly good wherever you go. And hence no different here. I am one though that would benefit on a campus with a larger variety of programs, such as school of nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, PA, etc. And I think you would as well once you explore these other options. Midwestern comes to mind where I interviewed and it was really nice to have lunch with group of nursing students.

Ok.. here is a few things. (1) My MCAT was no where near yours 8/7/8 and undergrad GPA of 3.3. So not the best student there. I went to a Master's program to decided if I could handle the stresses of medical school and did better, but not much in GPA (3.2). However, since attending PNWU, I have been in the top 15% of the class for certain classes and the bottom 15% in other classes. But it is because I know that I have to attend review sessions, seek out tutors and meet with them, and study outside those times. (2) I have attended both Midwestern University and PNWU. I chose PNWU because it was a better fit for me. (3) You mention a school with a large variety of programs. MWU-Chicago has been teaching since 1900 (for 116 years) and partnered with the AZ campus to produce the other programs. They had better have more programs than PNWU that has only been open for 8 years. With PNWU being a start-up school, it needs finances before it can introduce more programs. Also, PNWU is trying to incorporate other programs from other schools before being able to create their own (with the next one coming in the next 5-10 years). (4) I have a spouse and kids. I am still able to balance my home responsibilities with medical school. As one of the PNWU professors has said (sorry if I offend anyone), "Medical school is like a scorned mistress. you ignore her and she will repay you 10 fold." So yes, I struggle in medical school. Yes I am not the top of my class. But I know that I get what I put into medical school. And I put in as much time as I can afford. (5) To quote that same PNWU professor, "If you can think of something else in life that you can do, THEN GO DO IT. You chose medical school. This is the career PATH OF THE MOST RESISTANCE. If you cannot think of anything else that you love with life other than medicine, then medical school is where you are needed." To say that you might have found something else that you wanted to do is just showing that your heart was not 100% into medicine. I knew I was going into medicine since I was in high school and was only further reinforced as a Combat Medic in the US Army. I am glad that I am here. I am glad that I chose PNWU. It is where I wanted to go. (6) Yes, there are many things that I DO NOT LIKE about PNWU. However, every school has their positives and negatives. I loved my Graduate program at MWU but I chose not to do the DO program at MWU because of the same negatives that I had about the MWU-masters program.

I am sorry that HeadtoDOC did not have a good experience at PNWU, but you get what you put into any program (PhD, MD/DO, DDS/DMD, DC, etc.). Some professors are great, and others are difficult to understand and swallow. You have to put in 100% of the effort to get the results you want. If you don't understand the topic, there are tutors and recitation leaders that are there to help you with another point-of-view. If you have a meeting with a tutor, you should attend the meeting and come prepared.

Anyone is free to pm me and I will respond back if you have any pertinent questions about PNWU or just want to talk about PNWU.
 
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