Western University - Pomona (COMP) Discussion Thread 2013 - 2014

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BustersBooty said:
Rejected via email yesterday. 26 mcat 3.40 gpa with an URM. Felt like I had an amazing interview with an even better MMI. Hope they gave me a chance at least :(
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Really sorry to hear this, my friend. If you have to re-apply because you don't have other acceptances, don't hesitate to do so. I applied with a low MCAT my first cycle and was rejected based on minimums. I re-took my MCAT, added a few shadowing hours and continued research; I have been accepted for this cycle. Don't give up! And if you do have other acceptances and go there, best of luck! Western is great, but there are many great schools out there.

Out of curiosity, do you feel you might have said/done something inappropriate or a part of your application was considerably lacking?
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I have an interview on thursday, does anyone know how long the Thursday interviews go til? I'm trying to make post-interview travel arrangements. Thanks!
 
3pm will give you the proper idea of when it'll be officially over. though the interviews all happen in the beginning (at least, that's how it was when I did it). things may have changed, I don't know
 
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Anyone know when the last interview date is? Hoping they begin churning through the Alternate List shortly thereafter!
 
OurTown said:
I attended the 2/20 interview. I am also still waiting--no letter one way or the other. A few of the 2/20 interviewees have received word so I am not sure why it is taking so long and whether the delay indicates anything about our chances.
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Did you hear back from western yet?
 
Has anyone taken the Summer SMSPP or ISAC courses and if you have, could you please advise on the pros and cons of each program? Thank you so much!
 
To anyone who interviewed today, any word on how full the class is at this point?
 
I interviewed here on March 8th. I am pretty happy that I was accepted this Monday, but I may have a problem. I was almost deadset on me attending KCUMB, and paid the matriculation fee since it was incidentally due the date I was accepted here.

Is it too late to reconsider? If anyone is curious I am a CA applicant and I'm from San Diego. My family is pressuring me to attend Western and offered to pay the ~13k difference in yearly tuition between the two schools to entice me to attend Western. My girlfriend for the past 3 and a half years also lives in Walnut (10 min drive.) which is incredibly convenient.

Even if it's not too late to reconsider, I'm still not 100% sure which school I'm going to attend. KCUMB was my best interview hands down and I loved the area (yeah I know I'll miss the SoCal weather). I'm more of a self-directed learned and don't care too much about lectures (never attended lecture unless forced too in undergrad) but apparently KCUMB unfortunately has mandatory lectures. I do feel that KCUMB does have the better curriculum, and looking at the '13 match lists, I'm a little more impressed with KCUMB. I'm very open to leaving SoCal. Western still being a very respectable school and close by family is not making it a choice to leave though.

Can someone who was interviewed/accepted at both help me out here?
 
DriftNSlide said:
I interviewed here on March 8th. I am pretty happy that I was accepted this Monday, but I may have a problem. I was almost deadset on me attending KCUMB, and paid the matriculation fee since it was incidentally due the date I was accepted here.

Is it too late to reconsider? If anyone is curious I am a CA applicant and I'm from San Diego. My family is pressuring me to attend Western and offered to pay the ~13k difference in yearly tuition between the two schools to entice me to attend Western. My girlfriend for the past 3 and a half years also lives in Walnut (10 min drive.) which is incredibly convenient.

Even if it's not too late to reconsider, I'm still not 100% sure which school I'm going to attend. KCUMB was my best interview hands down and I loved the area (yeah I know I'll miss the SoCal weather). I'm more of a self-directed learned and don't care too much about lectures (never attended lecture unless forced too in undergrad) but apparently KCUMB unfortunately has mandatory lectures. I do feel that KCUMB does have the better curriculum, and looking at the '13 match lists, I'm a little more impressed with KCUMB. I'm very open to leaving SoCal. Western still being a very respectable school and close by family is not making it a choice to leave though.

Can someone who was interviewed/accepted at both help me out here?
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for the love of god, do not chose what school you are going to be committing the next four years of your life plus hundreds of thousands of dollars based on what your parents and/or gf want you to do! I was accepted to KCUMB too, and I thought the school was fantastic. however I chose Western because i weighed out all of the pros and cons and Western was were I landed. at no point were any of the pros and cons in my head: where does my mom and dad want me to go? what about what my gf wants? They have no right to get in the way of my education. don't get me wrong, one of my pros to staying in SoCal was to be near my family in case of any family emergencies (god forbid) that would require me to drop everything and rush over to be with them . that was just one factor, but not a deciding factor. in the end, i decided to go to the school that would make ME the happiest. not what my mom and dad thought. if they are withholding 13k of tuition money because they want you to go to a school they deem appropriate for you, that's kinda messed up. sorry to be blunt

you got a better vibe out of KCUMB, felt more at home at KCUMB, then you need to go to KCUMB. The rumor is they are going to be likely dropping the mandatory attendance policy (like how they just removed their dress code). Otherwise you are going to be miserable at Western, wondering what if you decided to go where you knew was a better fit for you. this is the one time where you can make a purely selfish decision and not feel guilty about it, because this is going to be the next 4 years of your life. you dont need regret hanging over you for those four years +
 
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guylewis said:
for the love of god, do not chose what school you are going to be committing the next four years of your life plus hundreds of thousands of dollars based on what your parents and/or gf want you to do! I was accepted to KCUMB too, and I thought the school was fantastic. however I chose Western because i weighed out all of the pros and cons and Western was were I landed. at no point were any of the pros and cons in my head: where does my mom and dad want me to go? what about what my gf wants? They have no right to get in the way of my education. don't get me wrong, one of my pros to staying in SoCal was to be near my family in case of any family emergencies (god forbid) that would require me to drop everything and rush over to be with them . that was just one factor, but not a deciding factor. in the end, i decided to go to the school that would make ME the happiest. not what my mom and dad thought. if they are withholding 13k of tuition money because they want you to go to a school they deem appropriate for you, that's kinda messed up. sorry to be blunt

you got a better vibe out of KCUMB, felt more at home at KCUMB, then you need to go to KCUMB. The rumor is they are going to be likely dropping the mandatory attendance policy (like how they just removed their dress code). Otherwise you are going to be miserable at Western, wondering what if you decided to go where you knew was a better fit for you. this is the one time where you can make a purely selfish decision and not feel guilty about it, because this is going to be the next 4 years of your life. you dont need regret hanging over you for those four years +
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I think having family close by can be an important support base especially in medschool where students can easily burnout from stress. This was something that actually came up in my interview at COMP where my interviewer informed me that they like to select students from socal because they can usually handle stress better because of family/friend support.
 
Futrdoc89 said:
I think having family close by can be an important support base especially in medschool where students can easily burnout from stress. This was something that actually came up in my interview at COMP where my interviewer informed me that they like to select students from socal because they can usually handle stress better because of family/friend support.
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having family close by is fine and a worthy thing to put on your pros and con list. but what I was emphasizing was that you should not go to a school because it's what your parents want or they are bribing you to go there. DriftNslide was making it seem like he was really liking KCUMB but his parents didn't want him to go there so he was leaning Western because that would please them. it's his education, his loans, his life. he needs to go to the school he wants to go to, and not live a life of regrets by going to the school his parents want him to go to
 
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guylewis said:
having family close by is fine and a worthy thing to put on your pros and con list. but what I was emphasizing was that you should not go to a school because it's what your parents want or they are bribing you to go there. DriftNslide was making it seem like he was really liking KCUMB but his parents didn't want him to go there so he was leaning Western because that would please them. it's his education, his loans, his life. he needs to go to the school he wants to go to, and not live a life of regrets by going to the school his parents want him to go to
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I agree being close to family should be his choice.

Also is anyone gonna be staying at the new apartments at western? It looks like it's solely for the students. Any thoughts?
 
DriftNSlide said:
Thanks for the replies everyone. I never knew being accepted to more than one school would give me such trouble haha.



I apologize if I gave you the sense that my parents were forcing me to go to Western. I think it's just a slight push. I very much like having family nearby, and I definitely do value Western highly in that sense. The more self-directed focus on studying at Western and higher chance for California rotations makes it a very good choice as well. My tone from my first post may not have given you that vibe, but Western is definitely not only about family. That's why this decision is quite difficult.

Also I'd like if you provided me a source stating KCUMB is planning on throwing out the formal clothing and mandatory lectures. I wasn't able to find anything on that. If that was the case though, that would be a huge plus for KCUMB. I interviewed there in September last year, so I'm sure a lot could have changed.



If I attend Western, I think I may. The pricing is as low as $750 - $1200/month from what I've learned from the student ambassador lunch/tour. He told me that many students room in places in Chino Hills/Diamond Bar because it's safer and would be closer to rotation sites during the 3rd and 4th year.
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http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/kcumb-dress-code.1049492/
here's a thread discussing it. I don't get KCUMB emails so I don't have any primary sourcing on it. the mandatory attendance rule change is more rumor so I don't want you to bet on it but you can see on that same thread that the attendence policy was a rarely enforced joke. go where you feel most comfortable.
 
I was recently admitted earlier this month and I am looking for a roommate if anyone is interested. I am a 23 year old male, am clean and I usually keep to myself during the work week. I like sports and usually keep pretty active. Definitely looking for someone that is clean and not partying every night. I have a really nice couch and a lot of furniture and kitchen stuff already. I grew up in Long Beach and Seal Beach so I know the area well. Went to undergrad in Arizona.

Looking to live either around campus (Pomona, Chino Hills) or in Orange County (Brea, Fullerton, Anaheim etc.). I would be open to the Helix or Daumier. If you want to talk on facebook or whatever let me know via private message and we can make that happen. Look forward to the fall!
 
Can any current students comment on the recent match for residency? It seems that ~30 westernu students did not match directly to AOA or ACGME and will go on to SOAP. Does this seem high to anyone?
 
Futrdoc89 said:
Can any current students comment on the recent match for residency? It seems that ~30 westernu students did not match directly to AOA or ACGME and will go on to SOAP. Does this seem high to anyone?
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Where did you get this information from?
 
According to this http://jprod.westernu.edu/news/nr_detail.jsp?id=18908, 108 matched ACGME, 69 matched AOA, 11 matched military, 1 matched Canadian residency, and 1 matched SF residency. Total is 190.

According to this https://natmatch.com/aoairp/stats/2014sklstats.html, there were 212 grads this year. 190 of them (~90%) matched somewhere on their first attempt. This leaves 22 to participate in SOAP or AOA scramble.

Last time I ran the numbers, 650+ DO's secured a pgy-1 residency spot though AOA scramble. If we assume that 1/30 of those came from WesternU, then all these unmatched 22 students found their placement. Remember, I'm not including the SOAP numbers.

All in all, I am very, very pleased with WesternU's students' performance, which is well above the average of other DO schools (79% match rate).
 
Rejected post interview, wasn't expecting that. Must have done worse than I thought. screw this.
 
Ibn Alnafis MD said:
According to this http://jprod.westernu.edu/news/nr_detail.jsp?id=18908, 108 matched ACGME, 69 matched AOA, 11 matched military, 1 matched Canadian residency, and 1 matched SF residency. Total is 190.

According to this https://natmatch.com/aoairp/stats/2014sklstats.html, there were 212 grads this year. 190 of them (~90%) matched somewhere on their first attempt. This leaves 22 to participate in SOAP or AOA scramble.

Last time I ran the numbers, 650+ DO's secured a pgy-1 residency spot though AOA scramble. If we assume that 1/30 of those came from WesternU, then all these unmatched 22 students found their placement. Remember, I'm not including the SOAP numbers.

All in all, I am very, very pleased with WesternU's students' performance, which is well above the average of other DO schools (79% match rate).
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I see your point. I was a little off on the numbers but I guess 22 people trying to scramble doesn't seem too bad. Any links to the full list of the westernu match?
 
Futrdoc89 said:
I see your point. I was a little off on the numbers but I guess 22 people trying to scramble doesn't seem too bad. Any links to the full list of the westernu match?
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I guess it's not out yet. I'm anxiously waiting for it. Although there's very little you can draw from a match list, I still think it somewhat reflects how well the school was perceived by local residency PD's.
 
dbaker629 said:
II this morning! Complete in August
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+1
Last interview date is April 17th for whoever asked earlier in the thread. I have a feeling we're interviewing for wait list spots at this point so it takes a bit of the edge off. It should be a valuable learning experience regardless.
 
rken3 said:
+1
Last interview date is April 17th for whoever asked earlier in the thread. I have a feeling we're interviewing for wait list spots at this point so it takes a bit of the edge off. It should be a valuable learning experience regardless.
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Last year they took many people from the waitlist. There might be actual seat offers left.
 
Alright Mar 20th interviewees.

Has anyone heard back yet?

Trying not to stalk the mailbox...
 
guylewis said:
3pm will give you the proper idea of when it'll be officially over. though the interviews all happen in the beginning (at least, that's how it was when I did it). things may have changed, I don't know[/QUOTE
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MissAmbolita said:
Alright Mar 20th interviewees.

Has anyone heard back yet?

Trying not to stalk the mailbox...
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I second this! Haven't heard at all. They're snail-mailing it correct?
 
possible financial aid options: do you really need all TWO of your kidneys? now you're just being selfish when you could be making big bucks off of black market organ donations.
 
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guylewis said:
possible financial aid options: have you considered selling your body for sex? do you really need all TWO of your kidneys? now you're just being selfish when you could be making big bucks off of black market organ donations. egg donations can run around $10,000 a pop...lets be real, you're gonna throw away most of them anyways.
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Except that egg donation is time consuming and painful. Stopping the normal cycle, taking pills, a surgical procedure, numerous dr visits, screenings, blood tests and ultrasounds. Hardly sure it's worth the money
 
MissAmbolita said:
Except that egg donation is time consuming and painful. Stopping the normal cycle, taking pills, a surgical procedure, numerous dr visits, screenings, blood tests and ultrasounds. Hardly sure it's worth the money
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paying off med school debts don't feel much better...results in us losing our normal cycles, taking pills, doing surgical procedures, numerous visits to doctors, etc etc.
 
AlbinoHawk DO said:
Last year they took many people from the waitlist. There might be actual seat offers left.
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I hope so! I'm also interviewing on April 17th.. really kicking myself in the ass right now for waiting so long to turn in my secondary. Congrats to those that have been accepted already! I'm in at LECOM-SH and ATSU-SOMA, but Western is definitely my top choice.. also applied to UQ-Ochsner and think I have a good shot at getting in there. Fingers crossed that the interview goes well at Western and I will be able to call SoCal my new home in a few months!
 
Just got something from the financial aid office saying I need to prove citizenship in person. Did anyone get this and know if there is an easier way rather than having to book a flight?

EDIT: just heard from the financial aid office, it HAS to be done in person.
 
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NuttyEngDude said:
Just got something from the financial aid office saying I need to prove citizenship in person. Did anyone get this and know if there is an easier way rather than having to book a flight?

EDIT: just heard from the financial aid office, it HAS to be done in person.
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I got it as well. I showed them my passport/ss card and that was it. it was painless and quick. they made a photocopy and then checked off the requirement on their computers and let me on my way. see if they'll be cool with you sending a copy or a scan over to them. I'm sure that they wouldn't require you to do something ridiculous like paying a couple hundred dollars for a flight to come over for a two minute meeting where you show them your passport.
 
guylewis said:
I got it as well. I showed them my passport/ss card and that was it. it was painless and quick. they made a photocopy and then checked off the requirement on their computers and let me on my way. see if they'll be cool with you sending a copy or a scan over to them. I'm sure that they wouldn't require you to do something ridiculous like paying a couple hundred dollars for a flight to come over for a two minute meeting where you show them your passport.
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Nope, they say explicitly they dont accept copies, faxes, scans, etc and it HAS to be in person :inpain:

Maybe I'll do an old fashioned road trip :p
 
NuttyEngDude said:
Just got something from the financial aid office saying I need to prove citizenship in person. Did anyone get this and know if there is an easier way rather than having to book a flight?

EDIT: just heard from the financial aid office, it HAS to be done in person.
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Why don't they do this on interview day. Seems like a major inconvenience.
 
Does it have to be done now? Are you able to show them whenever you move before school starts?

NuttyEngDude said:
Nope, they say explicitly they dont accept copies, faxes, scans, etc and it HAS to be in person :inpain:

Maybe I'll do an old fashioned road trip :p
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NuttyEngDude said:
I have to do it if I want financial aid. I can do it the few weeks before class starts and they'll expedite it but then I wont get the aid before then.
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I wouldn't play with this. I would go clear up whatever it is. What if newer problems arise? I wouldn't want that stress on top of classes.
 
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Now I'm going to be checking my school email daily hoping an unplanned flight from Florida to California isn't in the cards for me :(
 
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