Western U - Pomona (COMP) Discussion Thread 2012 - 2013

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New Year, New Thread!!! Discuss Away!!!
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Strongly considering applying here. Would any current students care to discuss this wonderful school and its surrounding area?
 
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Submitted application yesterday (6/6).

Stats:
3.4/3.41/31N + above avg ECs

Love this school and would like to get a head start on secondary.
Those who applied before, could you let us know what to expect on the secondary app?
 
AACOMAS verified 6/7/2012.
 
Sunnydidi said:
Submitted application yesterday (6/6).

Stats:
3.4/3.41/31N + above avg ECs

Love this school and would like to get a head start on secondary.
Those who applied before, could you let us know what to expect on the secondary app?
Click to expand...
Here are the prompts for the secondary:
While shadowing a physician, what did the experience do to solidify your desire/ambition to become an osteopathic physician?

What criteria did you use to select a medical school and why WesternU meet your high level of expectation?

Describe your participation in community service activities in a medically underserved or economically disadvantaged community.

Explain why the opportunity to study and participate in clinical experiences in Southern California appeals to you.

I can't for the life of me remember anything else about the secondary app. Happy writing!
 
wilg0013 said:
Here are the prompts for the secondary:
While shadowing a physician, what did the experience do to solidify your desire/ambition to become an osteopathic physician?

What criteria did you use to select a medical school and why WesternU meet your high level of expectation?

Describe your participation in community service activities in a medically underserved or economically disadvantaged community.

Explain why the opportunity to study and participate in clinical experiences in Southern California appeals to you.

I can't for the life of me remember anything else about the secondary app. Happy writing!
Click to expand...

Do you remember the character limit on any these? Thanks for posting these!
 
Western's the one that screens pretty heavily before sending out secondary requests, correct?

My stats aren't that great so I should probably wait to see if I get an invite...
 
psychkub said:
Do you remember the character limit on any these? Thanks for posting these!
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I can't recall the character limit. Maybe someone else will remember. I limited my answers to about a page each. Sorry I don't have anything more concrete!
 
wilg0013 said:
I can't recall the character limit. Maybe someone else will remember. I limited my answers to about a page each. Sorry I don't have anything more concrete!
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I limited mine to a page each, too. After a cycle everything is just a blur. Good luck with this year guys!
 
wilg0013 said:
Here are the prompts for the secondary:
While shadowing a physician, what did the experience do to solidify your desire/ambition to become an osteopathic physician?

What criteria did you use to select a medical school and why WesternU meet your high level of expectation?

Describe your participation in community service activities in a medically underserved or economically disadvantaged community.

Explain why the opportunity to study and participate in clinical experiences in Southern California appeals to you.

I can't for the life of me remember anything else about the secondary app. Happy writing!
Click to expand...
Thank you for the post. Appreciate it! Time to get started.
 
swtmoonlght said:
I limited mine to a page each, too. After a cycle everything is just a blur. Good luck with this year guys!
Click to expand...

I did some searching in older discussion threads for Western, and it seems that the limit is a page for each question.

I will be applying to both Pomona and Lebanon, so would it hurt my chances to use the same essay for first and third question?
 
psychkub said:
I did some searching in older discussion threads for Western, and it seems that the limit is a page for each question.

I will be applying to both Pomona and Lebanon, so would it hurt my chances to use the same essay for first and third question?
Click to expand...

This question came up several times last year (apply to both campuses?) The answer from the admissions counselor was that DON"T BOTHER. As far as the school is concerned, the two campuses are ONE class. Apply to one or the other, but not both. The one that you select on your secondary will see your application, but the other campus will not look at it.

Look at both, then choose one.

dsoz
 
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dsoz said:
This question came up several times last year (apply to both campuses?) The answer from the admissions counselor was that DON"T BOTHER. As far as the school is concerned, the two campuses are ONE class. Apply to one or the other, but not both. The one that you select on your secondary will see your application, but the other campus will not look at it.

Look at both, then choose one.

dsoz
Click to expand...

From what I have seen on last years thread, I have to agree with this. It is not like PCOM and LECOM and a few others, they really do treat it like this is one class in two locations. Odd but acceptable. Find which program you would like a put our focus there.
 
I got a lot of help/information on SDN this past cycle and am starting at Western in 2 months. I'd be glad to help if you have any questions this cycle!
 
swtmoonlght said:
I got a lot of help/information on SDN this past cycle and am starting at Western in 2 months. I'd be glad to help if you have any questions this cycle!
Click to expand...
How do you think about living in Irvine and commuting to Pomona for classes? I've a cousin's house to rent in there, thus I wonder if this would be a good idea.

One more question: how likely to do rotations or secure a residency spot in LAC+USC hospital as a Pomona graduate? Do they have strong relationships with LA hospitals to apply for residencies?
 
aspDO said:
How do you think about living in Irvine and commuting to Pomona for classes? I've a cousin's house to rent in there, thus I wonder if this would be a good idea.

One more question: how likely to do rotations or secure a residency spot in LAC+USC hospital as a Pomona graduate? Do they have strong relationships with LA hospitals to apply for residencies?
Click to expand...

I honestly would not recommend commuting. You have full days of classes and sitting in traffic for 2-3 hours is very draining.

The 2012 match list for Western is extremely impressive, with pretty much all the specialties I could think of, and a good portion (if not the majority) of residencies are in CA. There are other states, too, of course.
 
swtmoonlght said:
I honestly would not recommend commuting. You have full days of classes and sitting in traffic for 2-3 hours is very draining.
Click to expand...
Although, it's some 25-30 miles between Pomona and Irvine, I guess I'd prefer to stay local. I wonder if there're good public middle schools for kids (6th through 9th grade) in Pomona. I know Irvine's been big on this particular topic.

swtmoonlght said:
The 2012 match list for Western is extremely impressive, with pretty much all the specialties I could think of, and a good portion (if not the majority) of residencies are in CA. There are other states, too, of course.
Click to expand...
Where the 3rd & 4th years rotations are gonna be? Do you have to schedule them by yourself or does the school take care of it for you? How long to drive is needed?
 
WorldChanger36 said:
How is life in that area? I live in Jacksonville so it will be a bit of a change for me.
Click to expand...

I've got family in Chino. My understanding is Pomona itself is a little ghetto, but Chino and Chino Hills are really great! They've lived there for over 15 years and they've loved it. I'd recommend checking it out. Also for some cool city statistics, I'd recommend checking out www.city-data.com if you want to know crime rates, weather, average cost of rent, and demographics of pretty much any city.
 
abolt18 said:
I've got family in Chino. My understanding is Pomona itself is a little ghetto, but Chino and Chino Hills are really great! They've lived there for over 15 years and they've loved it. I'd recommend checking it out. Also for some cool city statistics, I'd recommend checking out www.city-data.com if you want to know crime rates, weather, average cost of rent, and demographics of pretty much any city.
Click to expand...

To be honest it looks great. About 30 minutes from LA and 45 to an hour from the beach is really not too bad. Of course I am used to going East to get to the beach so I am going to have to get used to the change in direction..:laugh:
 
WorldChanger36 said:
To be honest it looks great. About 30 minutes from LA and 45 to an hour from the beach is really not too bad. Of course I am used to going East to get to the beach so I am going to have to get used to the change in direction..:laugh:
Click to expand...
That's not true, at least in my personal experiences. I used to drive some 40-50 minutes on 405 (car-pool with family) from Irvine to Los Angeles. Adding some 30-35 minutes drive from Irvine to Pomona makes it about 2 hours drive one-way from Pomona to LA. Rush hour traffic is a killer in/around downtown. I doubt if you can make it even to Culver in 2 hours in a rush hour traffic.

You'll regret when you see the beaches in California after living in Florida. They're too wavy, cold, and dark. I remember my days at Santa Monica Beach :(... yeah, nowhere can beat Florida's beaches (I'm in Tampa, so I might be a little bit of biased.)

However, having relatives in LA and Orange County, I'd love to go to this school. Thus, I've applied.
 
aspDO said:
That's not true, at least in my personal experiences. I used to drive some 40-50 minutes on 405 (car-pool with family) from Irvine to Los Angeles. Adding some 30-35 minutes drive from Irvine to Pomona makes it about 2 hours drive one-way from Pomona to LA. Rush hour traffic is a killer in/around downtown. I doubt if you can make it even to Culver in 2 hours in a rush hour traffic.

You'll regret when you see the beaches in California after living in Florida. They're too wavy, cold, and dark. I remember my days at Santa Monica Beach :(... yeah, nowhere can beat Florida's beaches (I'm in Tampa, so I might be a little bit of biased.)

However, having relatives in LA and Orange County, I'd love to go to this school. Thus, I've applied.
Click to expand...

I grew up in the OC area and went to school in LA. Plan on living around Pomona. I know a few people that tried to do the commute from Irvine and Pomona and they quickly learned that it wasn't worth it.
 
AACOMAS application released to school 6/14/2012 :).
 
physcigirl27 said:
I grew up in the OC area and went to school in LA. Plan on living around Pomona. I know a few people that tried to do the commute from Irvine and Pomona and they quickly learned that it wasn't worth it.
Click to expand...

If one was not going to live in Pomona, what would be the best place to live to commute to the school?
 
I lived in Rancho Cucamonga. Victoria Gardens had just opened. It was awesome. I lived closer than the majority of my classmates to Arrowhead and it paid off during clinicals.
 
Hmm, I don't know too much about Ontario but I have friends that live in Chino Hills and Diamond Bar. I don't know what apt rates are there though. :/
 
WorldChanger36 said:
Chino Hills and Ontario sound like the best bets.
Click to expand...

Most of my classmates lived in Chino Hills, which worked great for the commute to school for the preclinical years.

However, a lot of people stopped going to class every day and just looked at powerpoints and recorded lectures and only went to required OMM labs.

Then rotations started and depending on where you live and where your core rotations are, you could be doing some significant commuting.

Living close to where your rotations are in the clincal years is far more important than living close to campus for your preclinical years. You can't blow off rotations, and chances are you will be far more exhausted during rotations than you will ever be during preclinical.

Food for thought.
 
tkim said:
Most of my classmates lived in Chino Hills, which worked great for the commute to school for the preclinical years.

However, a lot of people stopped going to class every day and just looked at powerpoints and recorded lectures and only went to required OMM labs.

Then rotations started and depending on where you live and where your core rotations are, you could be doing some significant commuting.

Living close to where your rotations are in the clincal years is far more important than living close to campus for your preclinical years. You can't blow off rotations, and chances are you will be far more exhausted during rotations than you will ever be during preclinical.

Food for thought.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this great info. This was what I've been thinking about.

I had my cousin and his family living in Irvine, so I'd love to live close to them wit my family; I'd prefer to have an extra support system by me during pre-clinical years. Then, during clinical years, it's a different story.

So, can students schedule all of their clinical rotations in major hospitals either in downtown LA, like LAC+USC Hospital, or in Irvine, Tustin regions? Is it doable?
 
aspDO said:
Thanks for this great info. This was what I've been thinking about.

I had my cousin and his family living in Irvine, so I'd love to live close to them wit my family; I'd prefer to have an extra support system by me during pre-clinical years. Then, during clinical years, it's a different story.

So, can students schedule all of their clinical rotations in major hospitals either in downtown LA, like LAC+USC Hospital, or in Irvine, Tustin regions? Is it doable?
Click to expand...

You'd have to ask current students, as my experience is now seven years old and outdated. But consider this: third year rotations are set at affiliated hospitals. Fourth year rotations are when people travel all over CA and elsewhere doing audition rotations.

During the four years of med school, the first two have pretty doable hours, the third has rough hours, the fourth you may not even be in the state most of the time. So, you have to guage whether living in the same place all four years is more valuable than moving around after the first two years. If you're single and travel light, no problem. If you've got a family, like I did, not having to move around was key.

I did the majority of my core rotation at Arrowhead, and aside from some rotations in LA and Pasadena, and one in Long Beach, all of which sucked for commute, it took me 15 mins of travel time, which is unheard of. Yeah, I drove longer back and forth to Pomona for the first two years, but that slowly became less frequent as I studied closer to home.

I will say that had I the money, I would have lived in Claremont all four years. It was a pretty cool little town.
 
tkim said:
You'd have to ask current students, as my experience is now seven years old and outdated. But consider this: third year rotations are set at affiliated hospitals. Fourth year rotations are when people travel all over CA and elsewhere doing audition rotations.

During the four years of med school, the first two have pretty doable hours, the third has rough hours, the fourth you may not even be in the state most of the time. So, you have to guage whether living in the same place all four years is more valuable than moving around after the first two years. If you're single and travel light, no problem. If you've got a family, like I did, not having to move around was key.

I did the majority of my core rotation at Arrowhead, and aside from some rotations in LA and Pasadena, and one in Long Beach, all of which sucked for commute, it took me 15 mins of travel time, which is unheard of. Yeah, I drove longer back and forth to Pomona for the first two years, but that slowly became less frequent as I studied closer to home.

I will say that had I the money, I would have lived in Claremont all four years. It was a pretty cool little town.
Click to expand...

Still great information... thanks
 
tkim said:
You'd have to ask current students, as my experience is now seven years old and outdated. But consider this: third year rotations are set at affiliated hospitals. Fourth year rotations are when people travel all over CA and elsewhere doing audition rotations.

During the four years of med school, the first two have pretty doable hours, the third has rough hours, the fourth you may not even be in the state most of the time. So, you have to guage whether living in the same place all four years is more valuable than moving around after the first two years. If you're single and travel light, no problem. If you've got a family, like I did, not having to move around was key.

I did the majority of my core rotation at Arrowhead, and aside from some rotations in LA and Pasadena, and one in Long Beach, all of which sucked for commute, it took me 15 mins of travel time, which is unheard of. Yeah, I drove longer back and forth to Pomona for the first two years, but that slowly became less frequent as I studied closer to home.

I will say that had I the money, I would have lived in Claremont all four years. It was a pretty cool little town.
Click to expand...
I've a family, thus doing clinical rotations in a driving distance is very important for me.

I'd appreciate if current students can contribute:

Will things really go crazy in the 4th year by having to go out of state to do clinical rotations and auditions? I wonder how a medical school, be it a private DO school, cannot fix its students' clinical rotations in a great state like California. What comes to mind is that LA County Hospital is so huge that it can home almost all medical school students in CA at once for rotations. There are also private ones like Mount Sinai and Kaiser, and many other state hospitals in the Orange County, LA, and San Fernando Valley. Do they discriminate DO school students? Doesn't the school have any academic ties with any of them for 3rd & 4th year rotations? :(

Please, current students, your comments are all welcome.
 
I've lived in the L.A. area my whole life, and went to school in Pomona for grad school. Safest bet would be to just find a place in Pomona, because the 57, 60, and 10 freeways can get pretty hectic if planning on living 10-15 minutes away from Western. Time and gas money will be saved, even if rent is $100-$200 more then surrounding areas.
 
DocGodfather said:
I've lived in the L.A. area my whole life, and went to school in Pomona for grad school. Safest bet would be to just find a place in Pomona, because the 57, 60, and 10 freeways can get pretty hectic if planning on living 10-15 minutes away from Western. Time and gas money will be saved, even if rent is $100-$200 more then surrounding areas.
Click to expand...

Noted
 
Anyone get the secondary yet?
 
Does anyone know when secondaries came out last year for those who submitted within the first week of aacomas opening up? Thanks!
 
jgalt42 said:
Does anyone know when secondaries came out last year for those who submitted within the first week of aacomas opening up? Thanks!
Click to expand...

7/18 is the earliest anybody got a secondary last year so kick back and relax we have got a good couple of week to enjoy life before grinding those things out....:cool:
 
Hey everyone so I would like to share this thread - http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=352351 - to all the current/future applicants to WesternU/COMP. Posts #23-25 are the highlights of that thread and IMO provided me the best insight into COMP's clinical rotations out of all the posts that I tried to garner up on SDN. Good luck to all of the applicants and if anyone has any questions feel free to PM me.
 
TheOncoDOc said:
Hey everyone so I would like to share this thread - http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=352351 - to all the current/future applicants to WesternU/COMP. Posts #23-25 are the highlights of that thread and IMO provided me the best insight into COMP's clinical rotations out of all the posts that I tried to garner up on SDN. Good luck to all of the applicants and if anyone has any questions feel free to PM me.
Click to expand...

You sir are awesome!!! Thanks for the info...
 
Hi! I just submitted my application to AACOMAS today, and I am awaiting verification. Does Western University screen applicants or do they send out secondaries to all? Thanks!
 
acciouno said:
Hi! I just submitted my application to AACOMAS today, and I am awaiting verification. Does Western University screen applicants or do they send out secondaries to all? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Yep, they screen. I heard its done pretty rigorously before sending out secondaries.
 
WorldChanger36 said:
Yea they screen . Saves you money though if you think about it
Click to expand...


Agreed. I wish every school screened. I highly doubt my writing skills are going to compensate for a too-low GPA/MCAT.
 
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