LECOM - Bradenton Discussion thread 2008-2009

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digitlnoize said:
We started the last week of July...I expect 2013 will do the same...
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Thanks, my summer session ends on 7/10. So, I think I will still be ok.
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airforcedukie said:
haha awesome.....just curious, which of those do you pref?
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LECOM B, definitely.

I really like the PBL program. The students that I met at NOVA readily admitted that they hated going to lecture, that they just studied in the back of the auditorium without listening to the prof and that, if they could, they would get a friend to swipe their pass so they didn't have to go (attendance is mandatory, regulated by swiping as you enter the class). PBL seems like a much more interesting way to learn and I feel like I will retain what I've learned more easily. Medical school is going to be intense and hard no matter where I go, but PBL seems more fun.

LECOM B is cheaper (and Bradenton is cheaper to live in.) I think I'll be happier and more relaxed in Bradenton vs. Ft. Lauderdale.

I have family in Tampa and St. Pete.

Good luck and I hope to see you at LECOM next year. It'd be nice to have some company from NC.
 
Anyone know the date of the letter if you interviewed on jan 12? I know we only have two weeks to reply but I haven't recievied one yet.
 
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I got my letter from them today from my Jan 12 interview, it was good news!!!
 
baja said:
I got my letter from them today from my Jan 12 interview, it was good news!!!
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sweet congrats! If you don't mind when was the letter dated? Thanks
 
Can anyone give me any hope... my portal says "file will be re-reviewed in late FEB"??
 
airforcedukie said:
hey,

anyone out there know anything about how hpsp works coming from ROTC?
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you tack on some extra time to your enlistment, they'll reimburse you for all supplies. you'll keep your rank. you get a check. 2 week duty during summer. PT test once a year? must rotate through a couple of military hospitals. match early!! thats' about it in a nutshell
 
Deepa100 said:
Is it a snail mail?
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The letters for people who interviewed from Jan 12th & before are dated Jan 13th and yes, are snail mail.

I imagine some of them got held up a bit due to the holiday.
 
Mine was postmarked 1/14 and yes, snail mail. I called LECOM the day after the interview and Heather was delightfully nice and told me the decision. If you have not heard I would not hesitate to call...
 
DocHas said:
LECOM B, definitely.

I really like the PBL program. The students that I met at NOVA readily admitted that they hated going to lecture, that they just studied in the back of the auditorium without listening to the prof and that, if they could, they would get a friend to swipe their pass so they didn't have to go (attendance is mandatory, regulated by swiping as you enter the class). PBL seems like a much more interesting way to learn and I feel like I will retain what I've learned more easily. Medical school is going to be intense and hard no matter where I go, but PBL seems more fun.

LECOM B is cheaper (and Bradenton is cheaper to live in.) I think I'll be happier and more relaxed in Bradenton vs. Ft. Lauderdale.

I have family in Tampa and St. Pete.

Good luck and I hope to see you at LECOM next year. It'd be nice to have some company from NC.
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I'll see you soon!!!! :)
 
Here's a question for the current Bradenton students:

I've seen it mentioned that you are responsible for setting up your clinical rotations (in the 3rd and 4th year). What does this entail? That is, do you have to call the hospital/clinic yourself and say "hi, I'd like to do a rotation with you?" Or does the school facilitate this? If not, what exactly does your tuition buy you during the 3rd and 4th years?

Thanks so much!
 
howard100 said:
Here's a question for the current Bradenton students:

I've seen it mentioned that you are responsible for setting up your clinical rotations (in the 3rd and 4th year). What does this entail? That is, do you have to call the hospital/clinic yourself and say "hi, I'd like to do a rotation with you?" Or does the school facilitate this? If not, what exactly does your tuition buy you during the 3rd and 4th years?

Thanks so much!
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I'll let some of the 2nd years answer this better, but I'll tell you what little I know...

There is some paperwork involved. Most of the common rotation sites, I think, are fairly easy to set up through the school. There's sort of a "lottery" system. People submit a list of the places they want to go (or, what month they want a certain rotation...you pick which is more important to you, location or time) and the school matches you into spots...

If you want to go somewhere weird, then you are responsible for contacting the hospital and setting up the rotation, usually through their office of medical education or something like that.

We have an Office of Clinical Education and their job is to take care of 3rd and 4th years.

Your 3rd and 4th year tuition money at pretty much every DO school and many MD schools mostly goes to the school. In any situation, you're at a hospital learning from the attendings, not sitting in class listening to a paid lecturer. Some schools give the hospitals kickbacks for taking students, but LECOM-B does not.

The main thing to keep in mind is this:

Rotations at DO schools are a mixed bag.

Advantages include: choice of what hospitals you rotate at & more 1 on 1 experience (i.e. you get to do more, esp on rotations like surgery)...the hierarchy of Attending-->Resident-->Intern-->4th Year-->3rd year doesn't exist. Instead, it's just Attending-->You.

Disadvantages: You might have to do a little more leg work setting up or figuring out where you want to go. Also, many (but not all) of the hospitals are smaller, so you may not see as much "crazy stuff".

Also, remember that your LECOM-B tuition will still be cheaper than pretty much everyone else's. Why? Because we rock.
 
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digitlnoize said:
I'll let some of the 2nd years answer this better, but I'll tell you what little I know...

There is some paperwork involved. Most of the common rotation sites, I think, are fairly easy to set up through the school. There's sort of a "lottery" system. People submit a list of the places they want to go (or, what month they want a certain rotation...you pick which is more important to you, location or time) and the school matches you into spots...

If you want to go somewhere weird, then you are responsible for contacting the hospital and setting up the rotation, usually through their office of medical education or something like that.

We have an Office of Clinical Education and their job is to take care of 3rd and 4th years.

Your 3rd and 4th year tuition money at pretty much every DO school and many MD schools mostly goes to the school. In any situation, you're at a hospital learning from the attendings, not sitting in class listening to a paid lecturer. Some schools give the hospitals kickbacks for taking students, but LECOM-B does not.

The main thing to keep in mind is this:

Rotations at DO schools are a mixed bag.

Advantages include: choice of what hospitals you rotate at & more 1 on 1 experience (i.e. you get to do more, esp on rotations like surgery)...the hierarchy of Attending-->Resident-->Intern-->4th Year-->3rd year doesn't exist. Instead, it's just Attending-->You.

Disadvantages: You might have to do a little more leg work setting up or figuring out where you want to go. Also, many (but not all) of the hospitals are smaller, so you may not see as much "crazy stuff".

Also, remember that your LECOM-B tuition will still be cheaper than pretty much everyone else's. Why? Because we rock.
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LECOM-B sounds better and better every time I check out this thread. I really hope I rock my interview next week :D
 
Anyone going to be interviewing February, "Friday the 13th?" I will :laugh: and it might be nice to know someone...
 
soapall16 said:
Anyone going to be interviewing February, "Friday the 13th?" I will :laugh: and it might be nice to know someone...
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Looks like I'm going to miss you by a few weeks! I'll be interviewing next Wednesday....eep!

I wish you all the best!!!
 
beachblonde said:
The letters for people who interviewed from Jan 12th & before are dated Jan 13th and yes, are snail mail.

I imagine some of them got held up a bit due to the holiday.
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Thanks! Did they change your online status before sending the mail? I interviewed on the 14th so, it may take a while still.
 
Thanks digitlnoize for the info on the 3rd/4th years. Having volunteered in a teaching hospital I can see how the traditional hierarchy doesn't give the MSIII and IV much hands on time. I'm liking this more every day. Bradenton does rock!
 
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howard100 said:
Thanks digitlnoize for the info on the 3rd/4th years. Having volunteered in a teaching hospital I can see how the traditional hierarchy doesn't give the MSIII and IV much hands on time. I'm liking this more every day. Bradenton does rock!

I've already accepted to Bradenton for 2013. I'm just making sure, only get to go to med school once.
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No prob. I'm sure one of the 2nd years will chime in with some more detailed info for you.

You can also go to my.lecom.edu and download the Clinical Handbook. That might have more details too...
 
digitlnoize said:
No prob. I'm sure one of the 2nd years will chime in with some more detailed info for you.

You can also go to my.lecom.edu and download the Clinical Handbook. That might have more details too...
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Think you pretty much hit on the good stuff above.

Things are always changing so in the next few years the exact procedure and locations available will probably be a little different, but in general..... the class gets split up into groups of around 10-12 people each and each group has their own schedule as far as which rotation they do each month. In other words your group may start with 2 IMs in a row, another group may have their vacation for that first rotation slot, etc.... At the end of your first year you fill out form where you choose if you'd rather have a specific rotation schedule (Ex: you REALLY want to have a specific vacation month) OR if you'd rather have a certain general location. So you kind of decide then what your preference would be (location vs. schedule) and then you're put into groups.

Once you're in your groups that's where you really work out who is going where. For "core/required" rotations (peds, IM, surg, etc...) they have to be with a hospital/clinic/physician that's already on the affiliated list which you'll get. Now, it's possible to do a core rotation at a site that's not on that list but there are a couple criteria that have to be met, proper paperwork filled out and all that. I think the hardest criteria is something like the that location has to agree to take a certain number of students so that could be an issue if you're going back to some small town and will be the only student that's going to be rotating there in the near future. But it's possible, there are several students who are going back to where they are from and were able to setup pretty much all their rotations there.

Other rotations like Family Practice, and elective/selectives are treated more as pure electives and you can pretty much do them where ever you want. If you have a doc back home you want to rotate with on a FP or elective rotation you basically call them up, see if they'll take you for that month, and then there's just a little paper work the school has to get from them (mostly so they can check their credentials). So those are pretty open. Like I said, core rotations can be done at places not on the "list" but with a couple more limitations.

I'm from Florida and have family in Tampa area so I wanted to stay in the St Pete area and didn't have any problems getting all mine in the area. I have a couple back down in Bradenton area but at most it'll be a 40-50min drive from where ever I'm living.

A big change this year is that some of northern locations that were affiliated with Erie weren't as open to us down here because of Erie having preference and first shot at those spots. Didn't really bother me as I didn't want to go up north, but there were some northern students who came down looking forward to being able to go back up and make use of some of those locations only to find them filled. So if that may apply to you then it's something you may want to ask about when you interview. Seems like it's moving more towards we have preference on the spots down here and Erie the northern ones.

All in all I got spots I am happy with and the process didn't kill me. Initially a lot of people were frustrated because there wasn't really any instruction as far as how to go about this..... so there were a lot of questions, a lot of asking the group leaders for clarification, etc.... but it worked out in the end. I'm sure comments will be made from us as to how to improve it for future classes. Part of the reason is this year they started using that online portal system and were in the middle of moving rotation scheduling over to that and dealing with bugs of pretty much testing it out for the first time by having us use it. Previously it was strictly done by paper with choices turned into the clinical office but eventually all the options will be online and it'll be similar to how most of us registered for classes online during undergrad.
 
ne other class of 2013 people out there as excited as me!
 
i officially found out i'm accepted yesterday so as long as i can come up with $1500 by the 28th :eek: i'll be good.
 
cleoscat3 said:
i officially found out i'm accepted yesterday so as long as i can come up with $1500 by the 28th :eek: i'll be good.
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Congrats! If the money is an issue, you might want to call and talk to them. They might at least give you an extra week or so...maybe?
 
I'm definitely jumping the gun here....but I need to plan ahead in the event I get good news from LECOM-B.

Is the acceptance deposit payable by credit card? I do not have $1,500 in my bank account and I only get paid once a month (the joys of working for an academic institution!) and after undergrad loan payments and rent/utilities....my cash stores are definitely below $1,500 :)
 
digitlnoize said:
I'll let some of the 2nd years answer this better, but I'll tell you what little I know...

There is some paperwork involved. Most of the common rotation sites, I think, are fairly easy to set up through the school. There's sort of a "lottery" system. People submit a list of the places they want to go (or, what month they want a certain rotation...you pick which is more important to you, location or time) and the school matches you into spots...

If you want to go somewhere weird, then you are responsible for contacting the hospital and setting up the rotation, usually through their office of medical education or something like that.

We have an Office of Clinical Education and their job is to take care of 3rd and 4th years.

Your 3rd and 4th year tuition money at pretty much every DO school and many MD schools mostly goes to the school. In any situation, you're at a hospital learning from the attendings, not sitting in class listening to a paid lecturer. Some schools give the hospitals kickbacks for taking students, but LECOM-B does not.

The main thing to keep in mind is this:

Rotations at DO schools are a mixed bag.

Advantages include: choice of what hospitals you rotate at & more 1 on 1 experience (i.e. you get to do more, esp on rotations like surgery)...the hierarchy of Attending-->Resident-->Intern-->4th Year-->3rd year doesn't exist. Instead, it's just Attending-->You.

Disadvantages: You might have to do a little more leg work setting up or figuring out where you want to go. Also, many (but not all) of the hospitals are smaller, so you may not see as much "crazy stuff".

Also, remember that your LECOM-B tuition will still be cheaper than pretty much everyone else's. Why? Because we rock.
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the cores are set up by the school (can be waived with special approval). getting rotations outside of the core isn't too difficult. getting them when you want can be frustrating at times. some hospitals (residency training centers) do not allow 3rd yr students for elective rotations. this is for all DO/MD med students. private hospitals don't usually have those constraints. you pretty much do all the leg work, get accepted if a slot is open, maybe even get free housing/food. their hospital med ed will do the legal paperwork with ours although you may have to get new vaccinations /background check/physical on your own $$ depending on their hospital requirements. hospital size is based on city population and have no limitations on where you can go as 4th yrs. pathology definitely varies on location, lack of access to health care = stuff out of robbins textbook. being taught by attending vs residents....its' a personal choice. both have huge pros/cons. if you're new to the medical field, rotate with both and see what you perfer

yea....we do
 
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swimchick said:
I'm definitely jumping the gun here....but I need to plan ahead in the event I get good news from LECOM-B.

Is the acceptance deposit payable by credit card? I do not have $1,500 in my bank account and I only get paid once a month (the joys of working for an academic institution!) and after undergrad loan payments and rent/utilities....my cash stores are definitely below $1,500 :)
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I think so, but don't quote me on that...you might want to call and ask...

As an alternative, you can ask your credit card company for those cash access checks...
 
nlax30 said:
Think you pretty much hit on the good stuff above.

Things are always changing so in the next few years the exact procedure and locations available will probably be a little different, but in general..... the class gets split up into groups of around 10-12 people each and each group has their own schedule as far as which rotation they do each month. In other words your group may start with 2 IMs in a row, another group may have their vacation for that first rotation slot, etc.... At the end of your first year you fill out form where you choose if you'd rather have a specific rotation schedule (Ex: you REALLY want to have a specific vacation month) OR if you'd rather have a certain general location. So you kind of decide then what your preference would be (location vs. schedule) and then you're put into groups.

Once you're in your groups that's where you really work out who is going where. For "core/required" rotations (peds, IM, surg, etc...) they have to be with a hospital/clinic/physician that's already on the affiliated list which you'll get. Now, it's possible to do a core rotation at a site that's not on that list but there are a couple criteria that have to be met, proper paperwork filled out and all that. I think the hardest criteria is something like the that location has to agree to take a certain number of students so that could be an issue if you're going back to some small town and will be the only student that's going to be rotating there in the near future. But it's possible, there are several students who are going back to where they are from and were able to setup pretty much all their rotations there.

Other rotations like Family Practice, and elective/selectives are treated more as pure electives and you can pretty much do them where ever you want. If you have a doc back home you want to rotate with on a FP or elective rotation you basically call them up, see if they'll take you for that month, and then there's just a little paper work the school has to get from them (mostly so they can check their credentials). So those are pretty open. Like I said, core rotations can be done at places not on the "list" but with a couple more limitations.

I'm from Florida and have family in Tampa area so I wanted to stay in the St Pete area and didn't have any problems getting all mine in the area. I have a couple back down in Bradenton area but at most it'll be a 40-50min drive from where ever I'm living.

A big change this year is that some of northern locations that were affiliated with Erie weren't as open to us down here because of Erie having preference and first shot at those spots. Didn't really bother me as I didn't want to go up north, but there were some northern students who came down looking forward to being able to go back up and make use of some of those locations only to find them filled. So if that may apply to you then it's something you may want to ask about when you interview. Seems like it's moving more towards we have preference on the spots down here and Erie the northern ones.

All in all I got spots I am happy with and the process didn't kill me. Initially a lot of people were frustrated because there wasn't really any instruction as far as how to go about this..... so there were a lot of questions, a lot of asking the group leaders for clarification, etc.... but it worked out in the end. I'm sure comments will be made from us as to how to improve it for future classes. Part of the reason is this year they started using that online portal system and were in the middle of moving rotation scheduling over to that and dealing with bugs of pretty much testing it out for the first time by having us use it. Previously it was strictly done by paper with choices turned into the clinical office but eventually all the options will be online and it'll be similar to how most of us registered for classes online during undergrad.
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Nlax:
How desirable are the Cleveland locations. I am one of those students who will start next year in Bradenton, but I am from Cleveland and would like to do my rotations there. There are a couple of Cleveland hospitals on the list you mentioned and I was just wondering is these were highly sought after
 
atallcosts said:
Nlax:
How desirable are the Cleveland locations. I am one of those students who will start next year in Bradenton, but I am from Cleveland and would like to do my rotations there. There are a couple of Cleveland hospitals on the list you mentioned and I was just wondering is these were highly sought after
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In all honesty I just don't know. Never really looked into them myself and not sure I know anyone going there, so at least I guess there wasn't a large group trying for it.

I would THINK that it would appeal more to people who are from that area. Just my opinion, but I think a lot of people tend to try and get rotations in areas where they were originally from, if possible. Always exceptions, some with families that moved here want to stay now, others that are single and will be moving all around, etc.....

Doesn't really answer your question, but I don't remember hearing anything about that location specifically. The only real place that had a "meeting" so people could draw names for was the Florida East year-round spot in Orlando.
 
Congrats yall! Its wierd now though, having this little lul, where for the past (lots of) years everythign has been geared with getting in a med school, now its like so close!
 
now as soon as we get to med school it's all about residency.
 
but thats kinda what i am getting at, we have had our own uniquely tough paths, including the application process, to get into med school.

and we have an unbelievably tough path ahead.

its just surreal to have this time right now to just chill out (Thank God!) I am going nuts just figuring out what to do with myself.
 
WMD 172 said:
but thats kinda what i am getting at, we have had our own uniquely tough paths, including the application process, to get into med school.

and we have an unbelievably tough path ahead.

its just surreal to have this time right now to just chill out (Thank God!) I am going nuts just figuring out what to do with myself.
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I hear that. I'm in my last year of undergrad and my senioritis is worse than when I was in high school. I can't imagine what I'm going to find to fill my time over the summer.
 
Well....I'm about to head to the airport and be on my way to Bradenton!

To any posters or lurkers who are interviewing tomorrow...I wish you all the best of luck and may we all do well tomorrow :)
 
swimchick said:
Well....I'm about to head to the airport and be on my way to Bradenton!

To any posters or lurkers who are interviewing tomorrow...I wish you all the best of luck and may we all do well tomorrow :)
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Good luck! Relax and be yourself! It's not a high stress interview...at least, as not-high-stress as a med school interview can be. :D
 
swimchick said:
Well....I'm about to head to the airport and be on my way to Bradenton!

To any posters or lurkers who are interviewing tomorrow...I wish you all the best of luck and may we all do well tomorrow :)
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good luck! that's me next week!
 
atallcosts said:
Nlax:
How desirable are the Cleveland locations. I am one of those students who will start next year in Bradenton, but I am from Cleveland and would like to do my rotations there. There are a couple of Cleveland hospitals on the list you mentioned and I was just wondering is these were highly sought after
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a majority of my class wanted to return up north, i am quite certain ohio was one of the areas. the problem is lecom-erie has 1st dibs on those locations so it narrows down the choices. you may not get all your core near you but you should be able to get some. also take note, once the hospital is an affliate, you're set. just find a doc that's willing to take you and that will take some effort on your end. the numbers game is only what is reported from that hospital to our school. it truly is about "who you know"
 
I just got accepted into LECOM - B but i still have interviews at other schools. I only have till the 4th to send my check in. I don't know what to do. I'm still waiting to hear from my first choice. Does sending in my 1500 $ check mean i have to go to the school? or can i always choose not to go if i hear from another school? How does this work? I don't want to NOT send the check in case i don't get into my first choice....

so confused
 
lilkrazyangel24 said:
I just got accepted into LECOM - B but i still have interviews at other schools. I only have till the 4th to send my check in. I don't know what to do. I'm still waiting to hear from my first choice. Does sending in my 1500 $ check mean i have to go to the school? or can i always choose not to go if i hear from another school? How does this work? I don't want to NOT send the check in case i don't get into my first choice....

so confused
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$1500 reserves your seat in the class, but doesn't require you to attend. However, you probably won't get your money back if you choose to go elsewhere.
 
I was lucky enough to be accepted to LECOM-B, but after much deliberation/soul searching, I decided that the school is not for me and I forfeited my spot. So hopefully it will go to an SDNer who's on the waitlist and wants it more than I do! Good luck y'all.
 
beachblonde said:
I was lucky enough to be accepted to LECOM-B, but after much deliberation/soul searching, I decided that the school is not for me and I forfeited my spot. So hopefully it will go to an SDNer who's on the waitlist and wants it more than I do! Good luck y'all.
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Can I ask what changed your mind about LECOM-B?
 
I was also lucky enough to be accepted to at LECOM-B. I have about two weeks to decide whether or not to put my deposit down. (I've been accepted to two other programs)

Two main things on my mind:

1) PBL. I absolutely loved watching PBL in action and felt really engaged in the material, but I have reservations about whether or not its for me. I know most med students i've talked to from other schools end up not going to lectures and end up learning on their own like PBL. But I feel like I might be someone who prefers structured learning.

2) 3rd & 4th year. I've read (here and elsewhere) about it being very messy to set up rotations (everything about LECOM-B seems self-directed). But can any students address how 3rd and 4th years actually work and if there are any changes they are making anytime soon? What are the pros and cons to it?

Any comments or advice to help me would be greatly appreciated!!
 
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Dr Simplicity said:
1) PBL. I absolutely loved watching PBL in action and felt really engaged in the material, but I have reservations about whether or not its for me. I know most med students i've talked to from other schools end up not going to lectures and end up learning on their own like PBL. But I feel like I might be someone who prefers structured learning.
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Learning on your own by not attending lecture is NOT the same as PBL. Say hypothetically I was to skip bio-chem. This is NOT the same as learning biochem by PBL. PBL is a problem's based cirriculum and is way different then learning lecture material on your own time.

I just thought I'd throw that out there. If you liked PBL, go to a school that offers PBL, you will NOT get the same experience going to a lecture based school and skipping class. :)
 
Dr Simplicity said:
2) 3rd & 4th year. I've read (here and elsewhere) about it being very messy to set up rotations (everything about LECOM-B is self-directed). But can any students address how 3rd and 4th years actually work and if there are any changes they are making anytime soon? What are the pros and cons to it?

Any comments or advice to help me would be greatly appreciated!!
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Regarding rotations..... go back through this thread. I know a few of us have put up a good deal of info detailing how rotations are handled currently. I'll see if I can find specific posts but go through some of the previous pages first and/or just do a search for LECOM Bradenton rotations.
 
Dr Simplicity said:
I've read (here and elsewhere) about it being very messy to set up rotations (everything about LECOM-B is self-directed). But can any students address how 3rd and 4th years actually work and if there are any changes they are making anytime soon? What are the pros and cons to it?

Any comments or advice to help me would be greatly appreciated!!
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I don't think it's all that messy. it definitely appears that way when you first start figuring out what group you want to be in for the core rotations/ vacation month, mainly either up north or here in FL. then it's all up to you. I know other schools use a lotto or gpa system. I taught at a school with a hospital attached and many of the rotations were done at that place. I think the best description of ours at LECOM Bradenton is a wish list.

look at my previous 2 posts, I wrote a few things about rotations. the pros are: you get to choose where you want to go nationwide (except for IM, surg, peds, OB), a lot of flexibility with type of rotation, and hospital type. the con is you have to do some work for it, and of course there are no guarantees on that. you look at what rotation you have to do that month, where in the US you'd like to do it, call around to see what's available, that's about it. housing/food/transport all varies.

we (thanks to Brian L!) have a rotation review site with feedback, tips, housing, who's who....etc. on all the places that students from lecom-bradenton have rotated at. I don't know if lecom-erie has a site too. they probably do. as for changes- I don't see the system being any different except adding on more core sites. overall it's not to shabby
 
Dr Simplicity said:
I was also lucky enough to be accepted to at LECOM-B. I have about two weeks to decide whether or not to put my deposit down. (I've been accepted to two other programs)

Two main things on my mind:

1) PBL. I absolutely loved watching PBL in action and felt really engaged in the material, but I have reservations about whether or not its for me. I know most med students i've talked to from other schools end up not going to lectures and end up learning on their own like PBL. But I feel like I might be someone who prefers structured learning.

2) 3rd & 4th year. I've read (here and elsewhere) about it being very messy to set up rotations (everything about LECOM-B seems self-directed). But can any students address how 3rd and 4th years actually work and if there are any changes they are making anytime soon? What are the pros and cons to it?

Any comments or advice to help me would be greatly appreciated!!
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I think the important thing to think about here is the other school you're accepted at.

Most schools' rotations do not have the FLEXIBILITY of LECOM's. They usually have all kinds of rules regarding what elective you can and cannot choose and when you can (or cannot) choose them.

Also, sometimes the school just sets it up for you and if you get somewhere you don't like, then you're screwed.

I would also echo the above comment that skipping lecture and reading is NOT the same as PBL. In that scenario you're missing the following things:

1. A "Patient" with real diseases, lab values, social issues, etc.

2. PBL structure. Our program is designed to have you go through areas of the body more than once. You won't have this repitition in lecture. For example: we studied cholesterol last semester. Now, we're doing it again.

3. Group interaction. You really do learn ALOT from your classmates (and the facilitator) during the group meetings.

I would ALSO think about the area. Are your other schools in big cities? Do you wanna be in a big city. This is not a big city. I looooooove it here and don't ever want to leave, but some people complain it's too small. Personally, I have everything I could ever need, and Tampa/St Pete is 30-45 min north if we want concerts and big city life.

Also, we have the #2 COMLEX scores (may be #1 now, has anyone heard about this year) for the last couple years now. Unless your other school is claiming to be #1 (PCOM, maybe?) I would go to LECOM-B.

Then again, I think anyone that DOESN'T go to med school here is just a little bit crazy.

Just things to consider.
 
worlddoctor23 said:
Can I ask what changed your mind about LECOM-B?
Click to expand...

Well, ultimately it came down to the way PBL is done at LECOM-B. Reading textbooks for hours on end is not my thing. The lack of direction-as in explicit instructions as to what to know and when-would also stress me out. I imagine some people really thrive in that environment, but because I had so many doubts I figured that LECOM-B wasn't for me.

(disclaimer: I know that textbooks come with the territory of medical school, but every school relies on them to a different extent, and I prefer syllabli/note sets to learn from in lieu of solely reading textbooks)

Other deciding factors for me: Bradenton (not for me) and I think I prefer schools with a few more physical resources (larger building, more study space, a gym, 24 hour buildings/rooms, etc) that come from being associated with a full university.

For the right people, LECOM-B is a great place. I'm not hating on the school. I'm just saying that given my personal preferences, I'm pretty positive I wouldn't be happy there. Hence, I hope my spot goes to somebody who really wants it.
 
beachblonde said:
Well, ultimately it came down to the way PBL is done at LECOM-B. Reading textbooks for hours on end is not my thing. The lack of direction-as in explicit instructions as to what to know and when-would also stress me out. I imagine some people really thrive in that environment, but because I had so many doubts I figured that LECOM-B wasn't for me.

(disclaimer: I know that textbooks come with the territory of medical school, but every school relies on them to a different extent, and I prefer syllabli/note sets to learn from in lieu of solely reading textbooks)

Other deciding factors for me: Bradenton (not for me) and I think I prefer schools with a few more physical resources (larger building, more study space, a gym, 24 hour buildings/rooms, etc) that come from being associated with a full university.

For the right people, LECOM-B is a great place. I'm not hating on the school. I'm just saying that given my personal preferences, I'm pretty positive I wouldn't be happy there. Hence, I hope my spot goes to somebody who really wants it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I wish I had more experience about how PBL is run and whether you can go through the pathway and find at the end of a school year that you didn't learn what you were supposed to. I mean is it possible to go through an entire year and find out at the end the direction you took in your studies was incorrect.
 
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