UQ-Ochsner 2022 Cohort

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Is a June MCAT too late for this program?
Looking at the academic calendar, the last MMI is scheduled for October 21. The class could be full by that point. The previous MMIs are scheduled for September 23 and August 19, if you can get everything settled before that you shouldn't have to worry too too much. Just get your application and transcripts in early so MCAT is the only thing pending.

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Looking at the academic calendar, the last MMI is scheduled for October 21. The class could be full by that point. The previous MMIs are scheduled for September 23 and August 19, if you can get everything settled before that you shouldn't have to worry too too much. Just get your application and transcripts in early so MCAT is the only thing pending.
Would interviewing in August/September put me at a disadvantage? Are there still people getting acceptances around that time?
 
Would interviewing in August/September put me at a disadvantage? Are there still people getting acceptances around that time?
Can't say for sure, but i can give what I have noticed. They seem to accept a lot more people early on out. The further down you go the more wait-lists they give out as the class starts to fill up. I haven't seen that many straight out rejections, but most people don't post their rejections. So basically what I'm saying is it's likely that you'll be waitlisted if they have accepted too many people by then. If that is the case, a spot opens up from a person dropping out then you'll be given the seat.
 
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I interviewed last year in August and was initially waitlisted along with nearly everyone else in my interview cohort, and got off the waitlist along with most others in my interview cohort at the start of November. Last year was fairly unique, and this year will be too. For context, here are all the interview dates listed on the calendar:

25 Mar
20 May
17 Jun
19 Aug
23 Sep
21 Oct

I feel like they did more earlier interviews last year but I could be wrong. I don't know your specific situation/if you have a specific reason to apply here before going for a US cycle. But if you do really like this program, I think you should just go for it, the application is fairly painless and the biggest hurdle is just getting all your documents processed.

Also I know you can submit your application with a scheduled test date rather than an actual score. Does anyone here know if they offer interviews without an MCAT score? I think last year they did but I'm not completely sure...
 
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I just got an interview for May 20th. Submitted my application a few days ago.
 
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I just really wanna keep my options open. I wanna have the best chance that I can if I can help it. I can certainly move my exam earlier to fit the timeline, so I’m just wondering how timing affects admission vs stats. :/ GPA 3.3 MCAT pending. What do you guys think is a good score for admissions here based on the trend you’ve seen?
 
I just really wanna keep my options open. I wanna have the best chance that I can if I can help it. I can certainly move my exam earlier to fit the timeline, so I’m just wondering how timing affects admission vs stats. :/ GPA 3.3 MCAT pending. What do you guys think is a good score for admissions here based on the trend you’ve seen?
It appears that the average GPA is around 3.4 and MCAT around 508. I know their low end cutoff for MCAT is 504 so I would hope for something around a 510.
 
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I just really wanna keep my options open. I wanna have the best chance that I can if I can help it. I can certainly move my exam earlier to fit the timeline, so I’m just wondering how timing affects admission vs stats. :/ GPA 3.3 MCAT pending. What do you guys think is a good score for admissions here based on the trend you’ve seen?
Honestly anyone that meets the gpa and mcat requirements gets an interview. After that I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of doing well enough on the interview.
 
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Would any current students still have picked Ocshner over LECOM-Erie in PA?
 
Yes, that's the one. @Wolvvs
I interviewed at LECOM and I personally wouldn’t have chosen them even if I wasn’t waitlisted. The professionalism rules, the weirdly intense level of security, and the overall vibe of the students and staff that I gleaned from the info sessions do not align with my own personality at all. I remember feeling very intimidated during the session itself because it just felt like the professors and the dean didn’t really want to be there and a few students came with pre-prepared monologues disguised as questions (this wasn’t even an interview, just an info session, and it was 5 hours long).
 
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I agree AthenaSteph. UQ-Ochsner, at least in my experience so far, has been nearly the opposite of that. You do have to take more responsibility for your own education, but you get a lot more time and freedom to do that. And the Australian hierarchy is much flatter than the US which makes interacting with professors/clinical coaches much simpler and much more fun IMO. I can't speak to 3rd and 4th years of course, but in terms of freedom to study in the way I personally prefer, I think UQ-Ochsner is about as good as I could have asked for. I wouldn't trade this for a school like LECOM even if LECOM is a US school.

Of course this is a very personal decision. Some people prefer to direct their own learning and would feel stifled with too much structure, and some people will function much better in a well-structured environment and can feel directionless otherwise. You've really got to think about the way you learn best and make a decision for yourself.
 
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Yea, I definitely think LECOM comes with negatives regarding faculty/admin/rules, but the main drawbacks with Ochsner are that its Australian (so IMG match into stuff like derm/rads I've heard is much harder than US) , tuition is much more expensive since LECOM is only 35k/ yr, and I would essentially waste 1 more year starting in 2022 Jan class. If there was any way to graduate early and match in 2025 with a Jan 2022 start date, that would be ideal.

Also, I'm in the Directed study pathway at LECOM - I like to study independently, so I don't think I'll interact much with the LECOM administration anyways.

Probably the most important thing for me is being able to match into a competitive US residency, so do you guys know of the comparison between a decent US DO vs Ochsner ?

Also, are you guys going to be all online/remote for the first 2 years of medical school so how do you guys do anatomy labs, dissections, and whatnot ?
 
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Yea, I definitely think LECOM comes with negatives regarding faculty/admin/rules, but the main drawbacks with Ochsner are that its Australian (so IMG match into stuff like derm/rads I've heard is much harder than US) , tuition is much more expensive since LECOM is only 35k/ yr, and I would essentially waste 1 more year starting in 2022 Jan class. If there was any way to graduate early and match in 2025 with a Jan 2022 start date, that would be ideal.

Also, I'm in the Directed study pathway at LECOM - I like to study independently, so I don't think I'll interact much with the LECOM administration anyways.

Probably the most important thing for me is being able to match into a competitive US residency, so do you guys know of the comparison between a decent US DO vs Ochsner ?

Also, are you guys going to be all online/remote for the first 2 years of medical school so how do you guys do anatomy labs, dissections, and whatnot ?
I honestly didnt want to get too involved in this because it really is a personal choice. Theres always going to be a stigma against UQ-O because they are IMG, but at the same time, we do our most important years in the US with a school that is in a partnership rather than one that is getting paid for us to do rotations, so they actually care for us. Plus, I think carrying connections is much more important nowadays. I personally dont think of LECOM as one of the top, but it is arguable. I think the point of comparing a US DO to Ochsner is kinda moot at this point because it depends on the school and your own personal opinion. The only thing that @Wolvvs and I can speak to is what we do have and dont have, which I think we did do a good job on. Just in case, I will summarize: our match is good and we have good faculty especially at ochsner, but we are still considered IMG and who knows how that will play a role in the future of matching. For LECOM, I know that their rules are strict, but some of them are not even followed and some of them people just suck it up and do. If you are an independent studier, I think the only things that this comes down to is experience and finance imo. Assuming you all will be in Australia by next year, thats probably going to provide you with a more interesting experience than going to LECOM, but Im sure its also much more expensive.

Actually I wanted to bring up this point about labs so im glad you brought it up. Anatomy online is basically just getting tested on what you memorized from the guide they give us every week (or every other week). I think I wrote about this more in a previous post, so go look if youre curious or feel free to ask specific questions. Im not really sure what you specifically want to know. In person they do have a GAF, but from what I have been told they do pro-dissected anatomy. That's something I remember a lot of people were concerned about when I was interviewing at med schools, so if you wanted to dissect your own, probably not the right school for you. Pathology is mainly just seeing the pictures on BEST slide network (its a virtual microscopy thing) rather than seeing them live, the pictures are usually pretty good, so I have no complaints there. The rest of the practicals are not very in person dependent so I assume those are the two you would be curious about.

I hope that helps.
 
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Yea, I definitely think LECOM comes with negatives regarding faculty/admin/rules, but the main drawbacks with Ochsner are that its Australian (so IMG match into stuff like derm/rads I've heard is much harder than US) , tuition is much more expensive since LECOM is only 35k/ yr, and I would essentially waste 1 more year starting in 2022 Jan class. If there was any way to graduate early and match in 2025 with a Jan 2022 start date, that would be ideal.

Also, I'm in the Directed study pathway at LECOM - I like to study independently, so I don't think I'll interact much with the LECOM administration anyways.

Probably the most important thing for me is being able to match into a competitive US residency, so do you guys know of the comparison between a decent US DO vs Ochsner ?

Also, are you guys going to be all online/remote for the first 2 years of medical school so how do you guys do anatomy labs, dissections, and whatnot ?
I'm in a very similar boat to you! I'm deciding between UQ O and Nova Southeastern DO. In my case, Nova is freaking expensive so money doesn't play a role in my decision. I would choose Ochsner too if we could match in 2025. The only thing that's pulling me towards staying in the US at Nova is that I will match in 2025 and that saves a whole year. To me that's important. But similar to LECOM, Nova has hella admin issues and weird things going on at the school so I don't know if it's a risk choosing them. Not to mention as a DO, I'd have to take 2 sets of boards and OMM adds a lot to the curriculum, etc etc.
 
Yeah, the Australian calendar really screws up the timing which is a dealbreaker for me. I have heard much worse things about the NOVA DO school than LECOM, so your decision is going to be tough. At the end of the day, I think a US DO is going to be more advantageous than an IMG, especially in the future with Step 1 going P/F so I am going to stick with LECOM as much as I would like to go to Ochsner.
 
Yeah, the Australian calendar really screws up the timing which is a dealbreaker for me. I have heard much worse things about the NOVA DO school than LECOM, so your decision is going to be tough. At the end of the day, I think a US DO is going to be more advantageous than an IMG, especially in the future with Step 1 going P/F so I am going to stick with LECOM as much as I would like to go to Ochsner.
Yeah it's almost a dealbreaker for me too. While Nova's issues seem really bad, I have talked to many current students who loved their experience and I think it's all dependent on personal fit with the school and location, as well as just what you make of it. I'm from SoCal so Florida sounds amazing to me. I'm waiting to hear back from LECOM actually, but even then I think I would still go with Nova. I think no matter where we go, we'll reach our end goal! But I do agree with US DO > IMG.
 
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If I had only found out about Ochsner 2 years ago it would have been perfect...But I've already taken a few gap years and don't really want to waste any more time if necessary. I don't understand why everyone talks about the Carib School but no one talks about Ochsner or Sackler
 
If I had only found out about Ochsner 2 years ago it would have been perfect...But I've already taken a few gap years and don't really want to waste any more time if necessary. I don't understand why everyone talks about the Carib School but no one talks about Ochsner or Sackler
Most people who have a 504 or above can usually get into a DO school. I think the MCAT requirement at UQ-O is the significant barrier of entry for most people. The average MCAT score for matriculated DO students was a 502 in 2019. The average Carib school applicant has an MCAT score that's much lower so this program wouldn't be an option.
 
Gotcha, I had a high MCAT, but a pretty low GPA so Ochsner seems perfect for applicants like me.
 
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Gave up my acceptance here. Such a tough choice, but just couldn't justify putting the deposit down right now. Best of luck to everyone interviewing in May!
 
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I'm posting this article here to give some perspective on the variability of the border with Australia. Do not assume the borders will open by the time you start school. The vaccine effort in Australia is moving at a glacial pace: "Australians hoping international travel will return to normal next year have been dealt a blow, as the Federal Government warns borders are unlikely to reopen until the end of 2022 at least."

As a current first year student, I highly recommend that you do not commit to this program until travel is certain. Attending this program online is difficult and will leave you feeling forgotten by UQ.

The link to the article is below:

 
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Did you have an acceptance elsewhere? @caterwaiter
I have an acceptance at a different international program and am on a couple of waitlists at US MD/DO schools. In full honesty, if this program had interviewed/accepted me before the other international school, I'd have chosen UQ!
 
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As a current first year student, I highly recommend that you do not commit to this program until travel is certain. Attending this program online is difficult and will leave you feeling forgotten by UQ.
I strongly disagree on this (of course this is my opinion and my situation, and will vary depending on the person). As someone who has a partner who won't be able to go over to Australia, I'm actually really happy to be attending online. I don't get the sense that we're missing out on anything that onshore students have available--as I've said before, I feel like this program really works best for those who work and learn best independently. There's no dissections but they do have actual specimens, so the biggest difference is really seeing those specimens live or seeing pictures of them.

But yeah to your other points, that's a bit concerning. My biggest worry is how they're going to deal with the logistics, especially 3rd and 4th year, if a large portion of our class has to defer. (My class has about 5 people in Australia right now, so it's kind of funny to imagine a class of 5 followed by a class of 200.) I think they'll figure it out, but I do think you all should keep this in the back of your mind, especially if you're weighing against a DO acceptance.
 
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@Wolvvs I respect your opinion and I'm happy you're enjoying the program but I really think you're downplaying how difficult this is for most people. Medical school is already difficult, combined with the isolation, lack of UQ support, poor quality online teaching, etc. I'm not sure how you can say the students in Australia have the same experience as those of us studying online.

It's also misleading to sell the program as international if you'll be spending most of it studying from home online.

It's mostly important for prospective students to understand what they'll be getting into if attending this program. Consider that the UQ-Ochsner program has provided no information on border closures or plans for the future, yet is willing to accept your deposits and enrollment as if nothing abnormal is going on.

Again, I would strongly encourage all prospective students to hold off until travel is certain.
 
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I have an acceptance at a different international program and am on a couple of waitlists at US MD/DO schools. In full honesty, if this program had interviewed/accepted me before the other international school, I'd have chosen UQ!
Wow, that must've been a hard decision for sure, but best of luck to you and as always feel free to reach out if you need anything, you can still be an honorary member of the family 😂
 
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Medgo I do get your points. And you're right, to say we're having the same experience as those in-person isn't correct, especially when you consider the social aspect. My CBL group is great and I enjoy working with them, but I haven't had the same chance to make friends and interact with classmates that I would have had in-person, and that really can feel a bit isolating especially if you're the type to study best in groups.

In terms of UQ-provided content, lectures are online for on-shore students too. I believe the in-person HSR tutorials are 2 hours rather than 1, and tbh I really prefer our model. Missing the GAF tutorials and practicals could be an issue if you really prefer to learn anatomy by handling tissue, for me the anatomy anki deck has been good enough but I could see that being a problem. Clinical coaching is also harder online than in-person but my sense is there will be plenty of time to learn that stuff during third year. I don't think there's really any content offered by UQ other than that. The quality of the materials offered by UQ isn't bad IMO, especially compared to horror stories I've read here about other schools, but I've found that Boards and Beyond works very well with the curriculum and has been really helpful and might even be enough on its own. For exams, the ProctorU issues were pretty bad for some people and I really think they need a better solution. But as Ochsner students, as long as we get the 52-54% needed to pass, the grade doesn't really matter at all.

Regarding the international perspective, yes it's true that we're not getting to spend a lot of time abroad. For someone like me, who applied to this program because of an unsuccessful US application cycle, that's a positive. For someone who applied to this program specifically for the international aspects, studying online is unequivocally a negative. And the uncertainty around what's going to happen next year isn't good for anyone, but I understood there would be uncertainty coming into this program. I think it's great that you're flagging this as it is important for everyone to understand before accepting an offer.
 
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I know the match rates seem good, but I just can’t get out of my mind the fact that there’s a possibility that being an IMG would weigh me down, especially if I want to go for one of the more competitive specialties. Kind of off topic for what’s been said recently (sorry lol) but it and the price are two off putting factors for me. Wouldn’t want to go into big debt then not be happy with what specialty I’d be able to get in the future.
 
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I know the match rates seem good, but I just can’t get out of my mind the fact that there’s a possibility that being an IMG would weigh me down, especially if I want to go for one of the more competitive specialties. Kind of off topic for what’s been said recently (sorry lol) but it and the price are two off putting factors for me. Wouldn’t want to go into big debt then not be happy with what specialty I’d be able to get in the future.
I think in general being an IMG puts you at a disadvantage but there are a few exceptions. I think this program along with Sackler and WCM-Q are better options then the majority of DO schools imo. Most IMGs are either coming from Caribbean medical schools or no name medical schools from the 3rd world. The majority of IMGs aren't coming from well known medical schools in first world English speaking nations. For example, I don't think a US citizen who graduated from Oxford medical school would be at a significant disadvantage to someone who graduated from Rocky Vista college of osteopathic medicine just because ones an IMG and the other is a US grad. If you look at the match list for this program and the other 2 that I've listed, you'd notice that it looks more like a match list for a low tier US MD school rather than a DO or Caribbean medical school match list. So yes, I agree DO is usually the better option when compared to the average IMG, but I believe there are exceptions to that rule.
 
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I'm just going to throw it out there that all of y'all are making such valid points and making this DO vs Ochsner decision for me very hard *nervous laughter*
 
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I know the match rates seem good, but I just can’t get out of my mind the fact that there’s a possibility that being an IMG would weigh me down, especially if I want to go for one of the more competitive specialties. Kind of off topic for what’s been said recently (sorry lol) but it and the price are two off putting factors for me. Wouldn’t want to go into big debt then not be happy with what specialty I’d be able to get in the future.
That's true, it's hard to know how residency programs will react. We know from the match lists that matching into competitive specialties is possible but don't know how much work that took compared to someone from a USMD school. It's also important to consider that being a DO will also be detrimental for competitive specialties and those schools are often expensive as well.

If you're deciding between USMD and UQ-Ochsner and think you might want a competitive specialty, the answer is USMD. I think most people here are going to be deciding between DO and UQ-Ochsner, and which one is better for competitive specialties is a lot less clear. Also, poor administration and excessive focus on OMM with required time-consuming activities seem to be more common (but certainly not universal) at DO schools.
 
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I'm just going to throw it out there that all of y'all are making such valid points and making this DO vs Ochsner decision for me very hard *nervous laughter*
Add to that the fact that the two are basically the same price unless we’re talking about LECOM and it gets even harder 😂😂
 
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Message me for details but honestly if it's the same price, just go for the one that you think you will enjoy being at more. I honestly think this is going to become a battle of connections. Assuming the worst case, i think that ochsner will still have louisiana and your DO schools will have whatever programs their most associated with. The rest of the connections are up to you. Remember though that you don't want to be miserable in med school either so if you don't think that a school would provide you happiness take that into account


Edit: and step 2 scores will be important especially for more traditional programs
 
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Declined my acceptance last week, I hope it goes to one you! Best of luck to everyone, this was a rough year.
 
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This seems like a pretty hard question to answer, but i think @mcat_taker has the best shot

Hi @skiteflies123 . 1 person applied dermatology last year and didn't match derm (she was very competitive). This year 1 person applied and matched but she was stellar possibly had a phD and some ridiculous step score if I remember correctly. Dermatology is notoriously difficult for IMGs to match into unfortunately. It can be done as was noted this year but it isn't easy and therefore you don't see too many people apply or have the interest in pursuing it, i.e 1 person applied and matched this year and only 1 applied last year (no match).

We have had a few match in the history of the program but this year was the first match in derm for the past few years.

Ochsner also does not have an in house Dermatology residency program which means you rely on other programs to take you without having that help of an in house residency.
 
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I thought the girl last year did match into derm, but is doing prelim surg first. @mcat_taker
 
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I thought the girl last year did match into derm, but is doing prelim surg first. @MCAT

So this year (class of 2020) Match 2021- 1 applicant matched dermatology at U of Arizona (tucson) TY year first.
1 applicant last year (class of 2019) Match 2020 matched into a TY year without an advanced position in dermatology.
 
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Looking at the Charting Outcomes for the Match 2020, 12 or fewer US-IMGs participated in the match for dermatology. There were so few that NRMP didn't show the distribution of matched/unmatched. For non-US IMG, the match rate was just under 50%.
 
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Just received my acceptance gift from UQ-O in the mail. Won't ruin the surprise for everyone... But just wanted to say it was very nice 🙂
 
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XD both of you have high security turned on for your profiles
 
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I just learned that if you have a masters degree, thats the only GPA that UQ considers as they only use the most recent degree. They completely ignore your Undergrad GPA in that case...
 
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I think Sackler and UQ-Ochsner tend to match a bit better than the RCSI but I don't know a lot about those two programs. Do Sackler and RCSI provide any US clinical experience?

Typically the stats needed for UQ-Ochsner are similar to those you would need for DO schools. Do you think it was your GPA and MCAT that held you back this cycle or other stuff?

Students have matched diagnostic radiology from UQ-Ochsner--there weren't any this year, but there were 3 last year so I think interest varies from year to year. I don't know if radiology programs in particular have any biases against IMGs, but you would be able to match from UQ-Ochsner if you put in the work and are able to score well enough on step 2.

Ah I see now why you wrote no matches in diagnostic rads this year. That list on the website isn't completely accurate. There are matches that aren't on there.
 
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Ah I see now why you wrote no matches in diagnostic rads this year. That list on the website isn't completely accurate. There are matches that aren't on there.
That's interesting, I wonder if those students didn't want their matches published.
 
Wait, so there were matches in diag rads this year as well? Was it about the same as last year (3?)

Any other competitive specialty matches that weren't published?
 
Wait, so there were matches in diag rads this year as well? Was it about the same as last year (3?)

Any other competitive specialty matches that weren't published?
There were actually 5* diagnostic radiology matches last year (2 at ochsner). and the year before last year there was an IR match at Sinai (or it was the year before that can't remember). This year there was 1 diagnostic rads match.

If it was competitive they would remember to publish it don't worry. The website is just not fully up to date.
 
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