As I understand it, you were a previous post-bacc student at LECOM and I feel I have to respectfully disagree with you based on several points.
First, The post-bacc and the master's program are intertwined to an extent where the post-bacc students are offered a choice of continuing on for a second year for the Masters by taking the GRE and being auto-accepted if they wanted to choose this route or did not recieve the conditional acceptance. My friend is matriculating this fall after completion of her program in April and she has told me she and her classmates were offered this choice.
http://www.lecom.edu/pros_pathways.php/biomedical-sciences%2C-master-of-science-degree-curriculum/76/0/1955/14961
That's the Masters curriculum
http://www.lecom.edu/pros_pathways....-post-baccalaureate-curriculum/76/0/1955/6923
That's the post-bacc curriculum and they are virtually identical for the first year with even Masters students attending the lectures for the same classes as the post-bacc students. If students are allowed to transfer into the Masters program upon completion of the 1 year biomedical post-bacc program, then it seems common sense to deem the credits earned in the 1 year program as graduate credits.
Second of all, graduate certificate programs are everywhere including
http://graduate.umsl.edu/programs/certificates.html
http://www.gradschool.uky.edu/certificates.html
http://www.gradcerts.usf.edu/
http://www.umuc.edu/programs/grad/certificates/
"
UMUC certificates are the ideal path for individuals who do not wish to pursue a masters degree or for those who already have one or more advanced degrees and wish to add to their credentials in their field. All of the courses in each certificate program earn graduate credits that can be applied toward the parallel masters degree program."
(again the last sentence supports-reiterates the first point I was making about the post-bac students and the Masters program)
Third, the admissions department at LECOM and Tom Ross are pretty adamant on telling you to fill out the coursework as
graduate on AACOMAS when they are asked the question on how to designate it when filling out the primary.
Fourth, another example would be that VCU's CERT program is also structured as a 1 year with the option of going to two years (like LECOM) and this is clearly what they say on their website.
"The Pre-Medical Health Sciences Certificate Program (CERT) of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine (SOM) is a one-year, graduate-level program for individuals seeking to enhance their qualifications for admission into professional school, including Medical, Dental, and Veterinary School. Students who complete the Certificate Program also have an opportunity to continue to a Master of Science (M.S.) or Ph.D. degree program within the School of Medicine. '
"The CERT Program is a graduate program designed for applicants who have already taken basic undergraduate courses required for medical school and other professional schools. "
Fifth, PCOM has a virtually equivalent program known as the PCOM Certificate program which
everyone matriculates into automatically no matter if you are going for the 2 year Masters or simply the certificate.
"The one-year certificate program emphasizes biomedical concepts. It is designed for college graduates who are preparing for application to medical and other health professions degree programs, but who may not currently meet the competitive requirements. The courses are not designed to substitute for undergraduate premedical requirements.
All course work is at the graduate level and instruction is by the medical faculty of Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Courses are held in the evening session three nights per week.
Courses are similar in subject area to the courses in the medical program at PCOM, but students benefit from instruction as a separate class. The foundation courses provide a strong base of biomedical lecture and laboratory work in a one-year, full-time evening schedule, specially designed to accommodate the non-traditional student.
A post- baccalaureate certificate of graduate study is awarded for successful completion of all foundation courses.
Even as a medical student now having been a former post-bacc student, if you filled your primary as PB instead of graduate and still made it in, it doesn't make that the "correct" way of entering it in your primary (my assumption is that you did it this way, if it wasn't, then I apologize). My friend inputted hers as predicted graduate coursework and was accepted just the same. As for me, hearing it from the admissions department at LECOM and seeing equivalent programs at other osteopathic schools and allopathic schools also granting certificates with equivalent curriculums as LECOM's labelling their program as graduate level leads me to my perspective.
