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

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member11 said:
Hey Guys, I am a first year at Westernu and will be giving a campus tour this Saturday. Make sure you get a good breakfast since its gonna be a long session ..Fell free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns?
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mgill52 said:
Hey Y'all. Anyone interviewing this Saturday? I'm giving a campus tour so if you have any questions or anything, feel free to message me.
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I'll be there Saturday! See you then :)
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If anyone has any questions about WesternU/COMP let me know. I'm currently an OMS-I just trying to get by.
 
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TheOncoDOc said:
If anyone has any questions about WesternU/COMP let me know. I'm currently an OMS-I just trying to get by.
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What does your day-to-day schedule in school look like? I am not asking you to go in depth but just a general overview will give us pre-meds insight into the life of an OMS-I
 
angldrps said:
What does your day-to-day schedule in school look like? I am not asking you to go in depth but just a general overview will give us pre-meds insight into the life of an OMS-I
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Here's the OMS-I (Class of 2016) calendar for this semester;

https://www.google.com/calendar/emb...Los_Angeles&gsessionid=LG6m3Y_tZdCERbS8k_z8eA

You can also check out the OMS-II (Class of 2015) calendar for this semester through here;

http://www.westernu.edu/students-ccalendars

The daily schedule is usually from 8/9AM - 12PM then an hour lunch break and then 1 - 4/5PM.
 
TheOncoDOc said:
If anyone has any questions about WesternU/COMP let me know. I'm currently an OMS-I just trying to get by.
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Have you ever searched about the job prospects in California (i.e. particularly LA County, Orange County, etc.) after an AOA/ACGME residency (particularly med, gen.surg., gas) done also in California after graduating from COMP? Are the graduates mostly pulled to East Coast due to -so called- highly saturated market in California?
 
TheOncoDOc said:
If anyone has any questions about WesternU/COMP let me know. I'm currently an OMS-I just trying to get by.
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Does COMP provide its students with a COMLEX and/or USMLE preparation class? How do students get prepared to board exams?
 
DrBumblebee said:
Have you ever searched about the job prospects in California (i.e. particularly LA County, Orange County, etc.) after an AOA/ACGME residency (particularly med, gen.surg., gas) done also in California after graduating from COMP? Are the graduates mostly pulled to East Coast due to -so called- highly saturated market in California?
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People usually end up working where they grew up, where their spouse grew, up or where they went to residency. There are relatively few AOA residencies West of the Rockies and many COMP grads end up going East. However, there are plenty of COMP grads working in the LA area. You should be able to find a job anywhere you want, but salaries will be somewhat depressed in the areas you mentioned because a ton of people want to live and work in those spots.

DrBumblebee said:
Does COMP provide its students with a COMLEX and/or USMLE preparation class? How do students get prepared to board exams?
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They got us some group discounts on study materials (DIT, Pathoma). Everyone studies differently. We have 6 weeks of dedicated board studying/taking time blocked off after our second year coursework ends and before third year starts. Most people start hardcore studying ~3 months out concurrently with classes. Gunners are starting now.
 
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MRSAful Fate said:
People usually end up working where they grew up, where their spouse grew, up or where they went to residency. There are relatively few AOA residencies West of the Rockies and many COMP grads end up going East. However, there are plenty of COMP grads working in the LA area. You should be able to find a job anywhere you want, but salaries will be somewhat depressed in the areas you mentioned because a ton of people want to live and work in those spots.
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So, it sounds like one would better to shoot for an ACGME residency in LA to stay in the area after graduating from COMP or has to apply for an AOA residency that is located mostly in the East.

How hard is it to get a medicine residency as a COMP graduate in LA? Does the school have a good presence that would help its students a bit? How competititve COMP graduates are seen by these programs in LA?

MRSAful Fate said:
They got us some group discounts on study materials (DIT, Pathoma). Everyone studies differently. We have 6 weeks of dedicated board studying/taking time blocked off after our second year coursework ends and before third year starts. Most people start hardcore studying ~3 months out concurrently with classes. Gunners are starting now.
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Are these courses free of charge?
Do they also provide with online question banks in order to get prepared to all courses' exams and shelf exams (like previous years exam questions and whatnot)? How do you prepare for them?
 
DrBumblebee said:
So, it sounds like one would better to shoot for an ACGME residency in LA to stay in the area after graduating from COMP or has to apply for an AOA residency that is located mostly in the East.

How hard is it to get a medicine residency as a COMP graduate in LA? Does the school have a good presence that would help its students a bit? How competititve COMP graduates are seen by these programs in LA?


Are these courses free of charge?
Do they also provide with online question banks in order to get prepared to all courses' exams and shelf exams (like previous years exam questions and whatnot)? How do you prepare for them?
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from looking at the residency spreadsheet it seems like all the popular specialties in socal area are not given to western students. figures considering usc, ucla, uci and loyola med schools and also since socal is a very popular destination for all. western presence can really only be felt in inland empire
 
DrBumblebee said:
So, it sounds like one would better to shoot for an ACGME residency in LA to stay in the area after graduating from COMP or has to apply for an AOA residency that is located mostly in the East.
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There are AOA residencies in the LA area too. Residency in the area is not required to get a job.

DrBumblebee said:
How hard is it to get a medicine residency as a COMP graduate in LA? Does the school have a good presence that would help its students a bit? How competititve COMP graduates are seen by these programs in LA?
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It's LA, so a bit more competitive than whatever the national average would be. It's a desireable area so people who went to school all over the country are trying to get here. You'll mostly be viewed on your own merits - board scores, LOR's, grades, EC's, research, etc. If you're applying ACGME you'll probably have to look better than your MD competition and there are no guarantees, plenty of MD applicants get snubbed by SoCal programs because there's a large competitive applicant pool. Just like getting into med school here.

DrBumblebee said:
Are these courses free of charge?
Do they also provide with online question banks in order to get prepared to all courses' exams and shelf exams (like previous years exam questions and whatnot)? How do you prepare for them?
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Not free of charge, something like a 10-20% discount IIRC. I think last year they got a Q bank from the school for free but most people felt it was low quality and bought uworld instead. I don't know what they're going to do this year. Boards are pretty much up to you, your individual effort and your brain. Everyone studies differently and even if the school had an in depth prep course it worldn't be useful for a lot of people. Plus, don't worry about it. It's a long, long way away. Worry about getting accepted, then passing anatomy, then passing your next class, then having fun over the summer after your first year, then passing your first semester of second year classes. Only after all that is done should you start worrying about boards.
 
I thought I should drop by and tell you all how the interview was. First, here is how my morning went:

Morning of the interview

Okay, but seriously...

Breakfast was provided, although I didn't have any. There was coffee, fruit, bagels, muffins, etc. I got to talking to the other interviewees (55 of us) and they were all really impressive people: nice, down to Earth, professional-looking, and seemingly very accomplished. I had a great time talking and joking with everyone. We were placed into groups of about 12-15 and started either at the panel interview or MMI interview station and we switched. My group had panel first, so we waited patiently for our specific interviewer to call our name. My name was called after 15 minutes and I had a casual conversation with him as we walked to the interview room. When I got there, there was one other interviewer there. One of them was a PhD and one was a DO. The interview was very conversational. They asked the big 3 questions, but in a way that I could tell they knew my app. They played off of what I said to create a conversation about my views on health and the rest of my app/experiences. The 30 minutes really flew by for me. By the end, we were being rushed so I only had time to ask them one question. Overall, I felt pretty good about this part. Some other interviewees mentioned that theirs seemed like "the longest 30 minutes of their life". I guess it's case by case.

The MMI was a liiiittle more stressful than I imagined. I'm pretty outgoing and I do have a tiny bit of acting experience. One of them was what I expected and it went well. The second one was harder and I'm not too sure about it. That's all I'm going to say though. We signed a confidentiality agreement, so I can't discuss anything further.

The rest of the day was workshops on financial aid and admissions, tours, and OMM demonstrations. It was really interesting. We had lunch too, which was pretty good. They gave you a sandwich, a cookie, a pasta salad, and chips. I only had the sandwich because I'm working on my portion control, but it all looked pretty delicious. The students were awesome, helpful and inspiring.

I am really really hoping to get that acceptance here. I love this school and I feel it would be an excellent fit for me. I'm glad I made it my first, but I also have 5 others to worry about now. PM me if you have any questions about the experience besides the MMI part. Good luck, everyone!
 
That match list looks great, and I would love to stay in California for school and residency! I need to buy my plane tickets for my 9/24 interview soon!
 
It'd be highly appreciated if you'd also provide with your travel choice and accommodation experiences (along with the costs), and how you felt overall about the neighborhood and such soon after finishing your interviews when the memories are still fresh.
 
DrBumblebee said:
It'd be highly appreciated if you'd also provide with your travel choice and accommodation experiences (along with the costs), and how you felt overall about the neighborhood and such soon after finishing your interviews when the memories are still fresh.
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Sure thing...

I stayed at the Comfort Inn. I couldn't be happier with my experience there. It was quiet, close to the school, comfortable (haha), and I saw some other interviewees there so I got to meet some people before the interview. The immediate area seems to be occupied by low income housing and there were some homeless people around. It's something I'm used to in certain areas I have lived so it didn't bother me at all. In fact, I think it's really good to situate a med school in that kind of area so you have the opportunity to do some impactful community service. That's just my opinion though.

I had dinner the night before about 10 minutes away in claremont, which seemed like a pretty affluent area. There were nice little restaurants and shops in the area. It looked like a real college town. I can imagine spending some time hanging out there if there is any free time at all. In general, the area was perfect from my perspective.

The hotel room was <$100. The gas was $20. Dinner the night before was $15. Didn't have to pay for food on the day of.
 
For those who had the interview on the 8th,

Who was the DO that demonstrated OMM?

Thank you for sharing your experiences! :)
 
ModernAlchemist said:
I am really really hoping to get that acceptance here. I love this school and I feel it would be an excellent fit for me. I'm glad I made it my first, but I also have 5 others to worry about now. PM me if you have any questions about the experience besides the MMI part. Good luck, everyone!
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You'll be accepted there, A. That's for sure. Good job!
 
DrBumblebee said:
It'd be highly appreciated if you'd also provide with your travel choice and accommodation experiences (along with the costs), and how you felt overall about the neighborhood and such soon after finishing your interviews when the memories are still fresh.
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Overall the presentation at COMP was impressive -- I could definitely see myself here. Day started with Interviews/MMI, followed by presentations: financial aid, curriculum, OMM demonstration, then lastly a campus tour with M1 & M2's. The campus was an old strip mall (odd). The anatomy lab (in an old JC Penny building) was pretty impressive.

Immediate area surrounding the school was definitely low income/ not the greatest.

I stayed in Chino Hills at the Hampton Inn the night before. Hotel was ~$100. Great breakfast in the morning and the area was really nice. I also spent some time in Claremont and hiked on Mt. Baldy the day before. It was beautiful. Some of the students I talked with lived in Pomona (basically on campus) and others lived in either Claremont or Chino Hills which is why I chose to visit those areas.

Hope this helps.
 
Anyone complete since mid August and have not heard back?
 
Thanks for the nice responses ModernAlchemist and DrawCab.

I'm planning to book my flight, my hotel, and rental car until this weekend. It's gonna be a looong trip from Florida, coast to coast, but I'm excited about it; this is gonna be my first time to see WesternU and Pomona.
 
DrBumblebee said:
Thanks for the nice responses ModernAlchemist and DrawCab.

I'm planning to book my flight, my hotel, and rental car until this weekend. It's gonna be a looong trip from Florida, coast to coast, but I'm excited about it; this is gonna be my first time to see WesternU and Pomona.
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i hope you like :) remember,,, its not about Pomona, its about the land around Pomona
 
jgalt42 said:
Anyone complete since mid August and have not heard back?
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+1 I should be marked as finished since August 1st. However, they didn't mark my application as complete until they received my new MCAT score on August 28th...Now I guess I wait, hopefully, they are still spots left....Hate this waiting game...
 
AHAHAHAHAHAH where is my ii???????? COME ON!!!!!!!
 
Sorry, what's "MMI"?
 
acciouno said:
Multiple mini-interview. It's like a doctor/patient role play.
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It must be a lot of fun for the interviewers to watch the applicants without having any medical school experience behind the camera while they pretend to be real doctors. I wish I had an acting class or something before...
 
Deutsch Arzt said:
Anyone know current average time from AACOMAS release to secondary? Thanks in advance.
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My AACOMAS was released on August 30th or 31st and I got my secondary app invite on September 6th. So about one week for me.
 
DrBumblebee said:
It must be a lot of fun for the interviewers to watch the applicants without having any medical school experience behind the camera while they pretend to be real doctors. I wish I had an acting class or something before...
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I interviewed here last year. You dont play the role of a doctor, but rather some other role with less medical knowledge (it varies with each scenario). It is pretty tough! Honestly, I ran out of things to say way before my time was up!
 
s48jet said:
I interviewed here last year. You dont play the role of a doctor, but rather some other role with less medical knowledge (it varies with each scenario). It is pretty tough! Honestly, I ran out of things to say way before my time was up!
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I agree. It was pretty tough. The hard part is trying to finish a discussion that is not too short and not too long. It's easy to either under or overshoot it.
 
s48jet said:
I interviewed here last year. You dont play the role of a doctor, but rather some other role with less medical knowledge (it varies with each scenario). It is pretty tough! Honestly, I ran out of things to say way before my time was up!
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How did it end up for you? An admission or a rejection?
 
What time does the interview end? I need to book my flight soon but I don't want to book it too early or too late.
 
virtuoso735 said:
What time does the interview end? I need to book my flight soon but I don't want to book it too early or too late.
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I caught a 3:45 flight and it was just about perfect. ( I had a rental car)
 
NekoBeats, did you hear from them yet? I finally completed all the requirements, so now the waiting begins!!! *fingers crossed*
 
acciouno said:
NekoBeats, did you hear from them yet? I finally completed all the requirements, so now the waiting begins!!! *fingers crossed*
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Not yet, I'll post here if I hear anything haha. I'll be officially ~4 weeks complete as of tomorrow, so I hope I hear something soon...

Western, why u no love me :(
 
DrBumblebee said:
How did it end up for you? An admission or a rejection?
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I got waitlisted, I interviewed on the very last day lol so I decided to just reapply since their were no spots available at the time.
 
I just saw a stats post that BabyDoc wrote for the DMU thread from her interview day, so I thought it would be nice to post one here from mine. This is for those people who are interested in this sort of thing.

For last cycle (2016 class), they had received...

4300 applications, 656 interviewed, 395 acceptances, for class of 220

On our interview day, they said that this year they have about 23% more applications than they did at this same time last year.

I hope this is useful for those with interviews coming up or waiting for IIs. Good luck!
 
ModernAlchemist said:
I just saw a stats post that BabyDoc wrote for the DMU thread from her interview day, so I thought it would be nice to post one here from mine. This is for those people who are interested in this sort of thing.

For last cycle (2016 class), they had received...

4300 applications, 656 interviewed, 395 acceptances, for class of 220

On our interview day, they said that this year they have about 23% more applications than they did at this same time last year.

I hope this is useful for those with interviews coming up or waiting for IIs. Good luck!
Click to expand...

This is great information. Thanks!
 
NekoBeats said:
Not yet, I'll post here if I hear anything haha. I'll be officially ~4 weeks complete as of tomorrow, so I hope I hear something soon...

Western, why u no love me :(
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I have a feeling that IF Western does decide to love us and send us an invite, you and I will be seeing each other again since we were complete around the same time. :)
 
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