Umdnj-som

Applying to Med School? Get In Or Your Money Back
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*sigh* My meeting with Ms. Slade pushed back to Nov 19th b/c of recruiting. Not cool :( I hate slow processes.
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Thanks jopdo. I am getting excited about it. My husband will be taking the NYS bar so he can't really move either, so we will probably have a similar arrangement. I'll email you when I have more questions.
 
I interviewed today at UMDNJ and loved it. The people and facilities were great. It also has a nice hospital on campus.

Interview went pretty well. But i got the impression that my interviewer didnt think I would attend because he ask me if i applied MD and why i was applying from GA

Ill post in the interview feedback in a couple of days
 
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hi. i was complete in early sept...so its been about month.....and i havent gotten an interview from there yet? is this normal? or should i kiss this school goodbye?
 
they said the committee meets in a two and a half weeks( oct 18 i think). Look to hear from them that week
 
Just came back from meeting with Paula Slade (advisor) about how to get into med school. Just information meeting.

I learned that small schools have their advantages of personalization. The ad counselor was AWESOME. Yes she did tell me what I wanted to hear but she also told me its up to me. Suggested county college for pre-reqs then enroll post-bacc. I asked her if just pre-reqs would be strong enough, she said they could be, but they want to see how I do in upper level courses, plus they are changing their cirrculum to integrated, so less concentration in lecture would mean that having no background would be harder. She said not to worry about money or getting in. Just do what she says and she will get me in. Gave me 5 examples of students who have done what I wanted to do. and 70% of their students are not directly from undergrad. ( I know one student there - she's same way). It just gave me a light at the end of the tunnel. Yes the next 4 years will be hard for me ... next 3 will be of classes and hopefully with applying but there is a chance I could apply in 2 years, I will see how my app looks. She insisted I keep in contact with her and to let me know if I had any questions. Offered for me to shadow students for a day. I even asked her about a health care class - if she had any contacts for research I'm doing and she is going to get back to me. I am going to send her an email right now. I have such a positive feeling overall right now ... floating on a cloud.

This school is a top on my list b/c it has many advantages to me. Price, student body, support, health system, and affiliations. This school f'in rocks. :) I hope all other schools I look into are like this, b/c if not I already have #1, and I know I can get in here so ... :thumbup: :)

Oh yeah and pretty much, if you get an interview, they want you. last year 95 spots - 200 interviews, classes fill usually by Feb due to higher competition. Just a little tidbit!
 
mshheaddoc said:
Just came back from meeting with Paula Slade (advisor) about how to get into med school. Just information meeting.

Hey MSH,

Congrats on the informative day and the valuable connection and insights. Go get'em!

OckhamsRzr

*feel free to pm with any other good tidbits
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mshheaddoc said:
One other post - she was raving about drexels post-bacc program ...
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Hi! just wanted to let you know that as someone who's at Drexel's post-bacc right now you should be sure of what its like before you sign up. The classes and professors are great... the administration however leaves much to be desired. I won't get into it on here but if you'd like to ask me question feel to to message me.
 
:thumbdown:
Its a good school but it definitely has some bad points. The faculty is great, the admissions dept is great, but the academic dept could be better. I am not sure if they make in coming students aware or this or not, i'll fill you in. They force students to take a board review course and make attendance mandatory....this includes weekends. If your attendance is poor they threaten to prevent you form sitting for the boards. This year was the first for step I. They are supposed to continue these mandatory preps, for stepI and II, but now they are going to make us pay for them ourselves. They are even going to get rid of one of the few electives we have in 4th year and force us to take this course. These prep courses are a HUGE waste of time for most students. By the end of second year most of us know how to study in order to do well...but this school has no faith in its students. :mad:
 
smedly2 said:
:thumbdown:
Its a good school but it definitely has some bad points. The faculty is great, the admissions dept is great, but the academic dept could be better. I am not sure if they make in coming students aware or this or not, i'll fill you in. They force students to take a board review course and make attendance mandatory....this includes weekends. If your attendance is poor they threaten to prevent you form sitting for the boards. This year was the first for step I. They are supposed to continue these mandatory preps, for stepI and II, but now they are going to make us pay for them ourselves. They are even going to get rid of one of the few electives we have in 4th year and force us to take this course. These prep courses are a HUGE waste of time for most students. By the end of second year most of us know how to study in order to do well...but this school has no faith in its students. :mad:
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Interesting ... please tell us more!!! Some of the other weaknesses I was wondering about was technology and the library ...
 
Please remember most schools make you take these courses. UMDNJ has decided to switch from KAPLAN to something more geared toward the COMLEX (that's the PC way of putting it, want more details PM me). Also, UMDNJ has one of the highest pass rates so something must be working.

I find the library adequate although I would like it to be open later. Also the school is open around the clock to students and there are plenty of spots to study - we're allowed to check out reserve books at night as long as we return them in the morning within an hour of the library opening (this is extremely helpful for those late night sessions). Our classrooms just got a major overhaul technologically which is really nice. Wireless internet is now running in the library and plans are being made to make the whole campus wireless.

We do not videotape lectures, this is because we have amazing faculty and tons of them (one of the best if not the best student:faculty ratios). We do however record all the lectures and they are available to us and we have a student run scribe service for notes. Our classroom has 2 TVs, a projector for the front of the room, sound system, everything powerpoint, and our Histology professors hook up a microscope to the projector to review slides with us, plus the lights that dim so you can still take notes, etc.

Sorry about the laundry list but I think this place is great and it IS getting better. The website is currently being overhauled as well with lots of student input (there are at least 2 first year students helping to revamp that).

Keep the questions coming

-J
 
DOctorJay said:
Please remember most schools make you take these courses. UMDNJ has decided to switch from KAPLAN to something more geared toward the COMLEX (that's the PC way of putting it, want more details PM me). Also, UMDNJ has one of the highest pass rates so something must be working.



-J
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What schools 'make' you take these courses? I was aware that many schools made these courses available, but the schools I interviewed at did not mention mandatory attendance.

UMDNJ sounds like a great school. Good luck to all those who are applying there :luck:
 
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its been about 3-4 weeks since ive been complete...do you all think that this means i do not get an interview?

how do they notify you of an interview?

i am thinking about mailing an update letter of my activities to them to express more interest...does anyone think this helps?

thanks!
 
Interview invite comes snail mail. I do not think you should give up hope just yet, it is still early and they seem to interview a little bit at a time. Good luck.
 
Paula was at our school today, along with 2 other med students from umdnj som. They raved about the school, and answered quite a few general questions. Average gpa and mcat scores were 3.5/28. No preference is taken to nj residents any longer. She said its now about 50/50 resident/non resident. When I asked about 3rd and 4th year clinicals and where they were, I did not get much of a response as they were 2nd year students. All they could tell me was that it was through the kennedy system. :/ Interviews they said were really lax, and they really look for people who know what they are talking about when talking about osteo medicine. Overall the day went well, and they said you could basically call up and make a trip there anytime you want. Also, they do not require a strict letter from a do, either an md or do will be fine.

oh and how could i forget this? Paula mentioned studentdoctor.net and said it was one of the best resources out there :)
 
From what I have found out clinical rotations go through Kennedy, which is fairly suburban, but also through an inner-city hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes, in Camden which seems like it would round out the clinical education nicely.
 
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Please remember most schools make you take these courses. UMDNJ has decided to switch from KAPLAN to something more geared toward the COMLEX (that's the PC way of putting it, want more details PM me). Also, UMDNJ has one of the highest pass rates so something must be working.
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I am sorry but I think someone may be blowing smoke up your ass.....Its not your fault, you're are just repeating what you've been told. The reason these prep courses were made mandatory is because our pass rate is LOW. I think the class ahead of mine had over 10 people fail step I out of a class of 80some students. This is far from "the highest pass rates". In addition, I think my school has some of the lowest scores in the OMM section. Why do you think the curriculum is changing? ...to better prepare students for boards....because the academic dept feels that the current one does not. In my opinion, the current curriculum was a good prep (i did pretty well on boards). Which is why I disagree with enforced prep classes. One more thing about boards...as of right now, all 4th years must take stepII in the winter, only military may take them in Aug/oct. This may not mean much now but later on it will. Essentially what it means is, if you don't do well on stepI and wish to improve on stepII in order to show residency programs, you're out of luck. If you fail stepII in the winter...you are screwed.
Regarding clinical rotations, most are done in kennedy HS. OLOL is urban, its on the outskirts of camden and you might see something interesting. However, you're really not there that often.
Sorry if my replies sound negative. I just think you guys should know what you sign up for.
 
I appreciate the candid input. Obviously some things you just don't know about early on in the game. However, OMM is definitely getting better and we have definitely been told that our students do quite well on the COMLEX (yes I've heard not so good on the OMM section). The match lists speak for themselves though with many students going to highly competitive residencies.

I'm sure you're trying to be helpful with your comments as am I, I just have yet to experience much negativity thus far in my "journey".

-J
 
I already interviewed in jersey. Where can I get a copy of the match list?
 
pratik7 said:
I already interviewed in jersey. Where can I get a copy of the match list?
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I'm pretty sure I found a copy on here. do a search on it.

-J
 
I'm not sure where you got this and I'm pretty sure that my school doesn't make our match lists public knowledge. Also, how would contacting family practice help one obtain the list?
 
Well, I got it by a simple google search but if it shouldn't be public then I will remove it now. I don't see how something on the internet is supposed to be kept private or why but for now I am deleting it.
 
Nate said:
Well, I got it by a simple google search but if it shouldn't be public then I will remove it now. I don't see how something on the internet is supposed to be kept private or why but for now I am deleting it.
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as far at the match list you probably found (the 2002 one), i think that was the last official one the school made public.

there's nothing wrong with posting it.. it's on the acofp website:

http://www.acofp.org/state/Match%20Results%20f%C9ass%20of%202002.htm

Also, as far as board scores, the class of 2004 and before them always did really well. the class of 2006 did really well also (this was unrelated to the board review course that we were forced to take, any any of the class members will tell you---the board review course was a gigantic waste of time). the class of 2005 did not do so well. the class of 2005 was an anomaly for some reason.

the cirriculum was the same on for the class of2005 and the class of 2006 in general, and as smedly said, it really was not bad at all.

so, imho, our school is still doing well in terms of boards.

regarding the match list, the students compiled an unnofficial match list for 2004 and here's some facts on it without being too specific:

Class of 2004
Residency

6 in anesthesia including matches at St. Joseph?s hospital, the Cleveland clinic, Jefferson Univ, and Yale

5 in emergency medicine

4 in emergency medicine/internal medicine

1 in ENT

8 in Family Medicine

18 in internal medicine including matches at Newark Beth Israel and Albert Einstein

2 in Neurology at Drexel/Hahnemann

1 in Neurosurgery at CCOM

3 in OB/GYN (all allopathic programs)

2 in Orthopedics at SOM

1 in Pathology

11 in Pediatrics, including at St. Christopher?s and AI DuPont Children?s Hospital

1 in PM&R at Temple

3 in psychiatry
1 in surgery

the rest are traditional rotators.
 
I just interviewed at UMDNJ. I feel the interview went quite well, and the school is among my top choices. Apparently the committee is meeting on 10/18 and sending their decisions out immediately after. The facilities were immaculate. I was very impressed. The school is a little smaller than I anticipated. The Doctor's Pavilion & academic center were absolutely beautiful buildings.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to view any of the Kennedy hospitals. I could only see the Stratford division from a distance, and to be honest it didn't look terribly impressive. For those who attend UMDNJ, how do you feel about the Kennedy Health System/Our Lady of Lourdes hospital? I don't have any specific questions; I'm just looking for some general feedback or experiences regarding the systems in terms of rotations. I've researched them, but knowing that there are 614 beds in the Kennedy system doesn't really give a good "feel" for what it will be like as a MSIII. Any advice/feedback - good or bad - is appreciated!

Thanks.

Edit: for clarification, I have read the input regarding rotations earlier in the thread. I guess I am looking more for information on the quality of the facilities, etc. than the actual logistics of the 3rd year.
 
Mr. Seeds said:
I just interviewed at UMDNJ. I feel the interview went quite well, and the school is among my top choices. Apparently the committee is meeting on 10/18 and sending their decisions out immediately after. The facilities were immaculate. I was very impressed. The school is a little smaller than I anticipated. The Doctor's Pavilion & academic center were absolutely beautiful buildings.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to view any of the Kennedy hospitals. I could only see the Stratford division from a distance, and to be honest it didn't look terribly impressive. For those who attend UMDNJ, how do you feel about the Kennedy Health System/Our Lady of Lourdes hospital? I don't have any specific questions; I'm just looking for some general feedback or experiences regarding the systems in terms of rotations. I've researched them, but knowing that there are 614 beds in the Kennedy system doesn't really give a good "feel" for what it will be like as a MSIII. Any advice/feedback - good or bad - is appreciated!

Thanks.

Edit: for clarification, I have read the input regarding rotations earlier in the thread. I guess I am looking more for information on the quality of the facilities, etc. than the actual logistics of the 3rd year.
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Yes, especially from the view of the 3rd floor academic center on a rainy day, it doesn't look very appealing. It's an old building. Kennedy at Washington Twp looks better on the outside, it's a newer building...they are also doing tons of construction there...the ER has been recently expanded, and from what i've heard they're expanding the icu, and possibly building a new or. from what i understand, they're trying to acheive level 2 trauma status. if the state needs another level 2 facility, according to an attending here, kennedy washington twp would be the designee.

Our Lady of Lourdes is also an old building in a cramped up space in camden. there's also a lot of construction there.


but they're all great hospitals in terms of learning.
for the clinical years, what you put in is what you get out.
if you are determined to make the most out of your experience, you can learn a lot.
a good example is taking call (students take call in the 3rd year in peds, int med, surgery, obgyn, pscy, and geriatrics). some of the residents won't say anything if you want to leave early from call.


you will see some interesting cases at all of the hospitals.

most of the attendings and residents are willing to teach if you show a willingness to learn.

there are attendings over here however that will reciprocrate lack of interest that students show.



at lourdes you will see more interesting cases primarily becuase it is a tertiary acute care facility.
but in the 3rd year - you spend 2 weeks (out of 6) for peds at lourdes, 1-2 weeks (out of 6) weeks for surgery, up to 3 weeks for obgyn (out of 6).
you also have the option to do psyc at lourdes (4 weeks)

but kennedy cherry hill has a psyc emergency room/crisis center so the more acute pscy cases go there.

i'm not sure about the 4th year, but i do know 4th years take call at lourdes(for third year, except for ob/gyn all call is at the kennedy system hospitals)

hope this helps.
 
applicant2002 said:
Yes, especially from the view of the 3rd floor academic center on a rainy day, it doesn't look very appealing. It's an old building. Kennedy at Washington Twp looks better on the outside, it's a newer building...they are also doing tons of construction there...the ER has been recently expanded, and from what i've heard they're expanding the icu, and possibly building a new or. from what i understand, they're trying to acheive level 2 trauma status. if the state needs another level 2 facility, according to an attending here, kennedy washington twp would be the designee.

Our Lady of Lourdes is also an old building in a cramped up space in camden. there's also a lot of construction there.


but they're all great hospitals in terms of learning.
for the clinical years, what you put in is what you get out.
if you are determined to make the most out of your experience, you can learn a lot.
a good example is taking call (students take call in the 3rd year in peds, int med, surgery, obgyn, pscy, and geriatrics). some of the residents won't say anything if you want to leave early from call.


you will see some interesting cases at all of the hospitals.

most of the attendings and residents are willing to teach if you show a willingness to learn.

there are attendings over here however that will reciprocrate lack of interest that students show.



at lourdes you will see more interesting cases primarily becuase it is a tertiary acute care facility.
but in the 3rd year - you spend 2 weeks (out of 6) for peds at lourdes, 1-2 weeks (out of 6) weeks for surgery, up to 3 weeks for obgyn (out of 6).
you also have the option to do psyc at lourdes (4 weeks)

but kennedy cherry hill has a psyc emergency room/crisis center so the more acute pscy cases go there.

i'm not sure about the 4th year, but i do know 4th years take call at lourdes(for third year, except for ob/gyn all call is at the kennedy system hospitals)

hope this helps.
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Thanks for your input, applicant2002. That is really helpful. It sounds like once you get past the outward appearance of an old building, it is a great place to do the clinical years.

Thanks again for your feedback.
 
It is absolutely incredible.....I have just been reading all of the posts in this thread and I am absolutely amazed. So much accurate info, yet so much hear-say and other garbage! No offense intended; just making a critical comment. I am a 2004 grad of SOM and I was on the admissions committee for 2 years as a student. If you guys have any questions, I would be happy to answer them.....I think you guys deserve accurate and complete information from someone who has been thru it all already, with observations and experience on both sides of the interview table. Good luck to all those who have applied and have been interviewed. And good luck to those waiting for an interview. Any questions, just post'em here so everyone can be educated.

- Dr. Feelgood
 
Hey DrFeelgoodDO,
Will you give us your opinions on the clinical years at UMDNJSOM? Any other advice for us preparing to enter this coming year would also be appreciated =)
~Nate
 
Nate said:
Hey DrFeelgoodDO,
Will you give us your opinions on the clinical years at UMDNJSOM? Any other advice for us preparing to enter this coming year would also be appreciated =)
~Nate
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Nate, congrats on your acceptance. i wonder who interviewed you out of curiosity? Anyway, as far as the clinical years are concerned, it has its good and bad points. The good points are that most of your 3rd year core rotations are either within the Kennedy system and Lourdes. Unlike most other DO schools, you have group of affliated core hospitals and thats good cuz you won't be all over the country. I knew people at PCOM that were in different states EVERY month.....That may be cool with some people, but you really have no continuity with faculty and with patient populations. Plus it costs a heck of a lot of scratch. The Kennedy system in and of itself isn't so bad, esp. when concerning the pathology you will see. Plus the patient populations are varied - at Lourdes you will see the hardcore destitute inner city population whereas in Cherry Hill you will see mostly old white folk. Then in fourth year you get a lot of electives, not as many as other schools, but enough none the less. The down side about the clinical years can be described in two words: family medicine. That dept. is out of its mind; plus they take up SO MUCH of your time 3rd and 4th year! VERY few schools, DO schools included, require that you spend 6 months of your clinical years under the auspices of FM. You will see what I mean. Its great if you want to be a family doc or if you want to do primary care, but if you are like one dude in my class who wanted to do (and got into) neurosurgery, its a waste of time. What makes it worse is that the FM dept. acts like their **** doesn't stink. During orientation, one of the FM docs will talk to you about FM and in the process douche on other professions in order to make it look oh so great. Mark my words! It's just not right. But overall, everything considered, I learned alot from the clinical education at SOM and I am alot better than other kids in my program. Not to be cocky, but better than foreign grads, other DOs, and even better than American MDs. Again, not to be cocky - I owe it all to SOM. Any other specifics I can answer, just let me know.

As far as preparing for the 1st 2 years, its all about boards. You do well during the 1st 2 years not to do well, but to do well on boards. When it comes to residency, they will make or break you. Its not like the MCAT in that respect. And the most important piece of advice that I can give you is this: if you have any inkling that you may want to do an MD residency, TAKE THE USMLE!! DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! If you don't, you will be like me and pay in the end. If you take it when you take COMLEX, you will be the most prepared you can ever be AND the school will give you extra financial aid to make it possible! That's not a well publicized fact, but it is most certainly true. Listen, dude, just study hard and it will pay off in the end. When I say study hard, I'm not saying don't have fun, just be orgarnized.
 
Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to write all of that; it is very appreciated. My interviewers were great, Dr. Levin and Mr. Verma an MS3; I felt at home from the very beginning. I am planning on taking the USMLE and COMLEX even though I am not sure what residency I will apply to yet but I do not want to shut any doors. I have been doing surgery as part of my research for a few years and love it but I also love being in the ED when I am volunteering and I can see myself in numerous other specialties, who knows what I will be "when I grow up". I can't wait to see the new curriculum they are introducing our first year and if any of the clinical years are being changed or if it is just the basic science years being changed. It would be nice to have less time in FP but if not than fine, I am sure there is plenty of good to take home from it anyway.

I do have a couple more questions to any current or past students. I know that SOM shares anatomy professors with RWJ, which is one reason Anatomy is in the spring instead of the usual fall as it was explained to me. After all, in the beginning SOM students took all their basic science courses at RWJ. Are there any other resources shared with RWJ or NJMS as being part of the UMDNJ system? Just out of curiosity, and if you don't mind, where are you doing your residency? Did you do any international electives during your fourth year? Did you do any research or any electives during the first two years that you can comment on, worthwhile or not?

I guess that's it for now, this is an awesome thread I am glad there are a few SOM students looking out for us!

~Nate


DrFeelgoodDO said:
Nate, congrats on your acceptance. i wonder who interviewed you out of curiosity? Anyway, as far as the clinical years are concerned, it has its good and bad points. The good points are that most of your 3rd year core rotations are either within the Kennedy system and Lourdes. Unlike most other DO schools, you have group of affliated core hospitals and thats good cuz you won't be all over the country. I knew people at PCOM that were in different states EVERY month.....That may be cool with some people, but you really have no continuity with faculty and with patient populations. Plus it costs a heck of a lot of scratch. The Kennedy system in and of itself isn't so bad, esp. when concerning the pathology you will see. Plus the patient populations are varied - at Lourdes you will see the hardcore destitute inner city population whereas in Cherry Hill you will see mostly old white folk. Then in fourth year you get a lot of electives, not as many as other schools, but enough none the less. The down side about the clinical years can be described in two words: family medicine. That dept. is out of its mind; plus they take up SO MUCH of your time 3rd and 4th year! VERY few schools, DO schools included, require that you spend 6 months of your clinical years under the auspices of FM. You will see what I mean. Its great if you want to be a family doc or if you want to do primary care, but if you are like one dude in my class who wanted to do (and got into) neurosurgery, its a waste of time. What makes it worse is that the FM dept. acts like their **** doesn't stink. During orientation, one of the FM docs will talk to you about FM and in the process douche on other professions in order to make it look oh so great. Mark my words! It's just not right. But overall, everything considered, I learned alot from the clinical education at SOM and I am alot better than other kids in my program. Not to be cocky, but better than foreign grads, other DOs, and even better than American MDs. Again, not to be cocky - I owe it all to SOM. Any other specifics I can answer, just let me know.

As far as preparing for the 1st 2 years, its all about boards. You do well during the 1st 2 years not to do well, but to do well on boards. When it comes to residency, they will make or break you. Its not like the MCAT in that respect. And the most important piece of advice that I can give you is this: if you have any inkling that you may want to do an MD residency, TAKE THE USMLE!! DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! If you don't, you will be like me and pay in the end. If you take it when you take COMLEX, you will be the most prepared you can ever be AND the school will give you extra financial aid to make it possible! That's not a well publicized fact, but it is most certainly true. Listen, dude, just study hard and it will pay off in the end. When I say study hard, I'm not saying don't have fun, just be orgarnized.
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Nate said:
Awesome! Thanks for taking the time to write all of that; it is very appreciated. My interviewers were great, Dr. Levin and Mr. Verma an MS3; I felt at home from the very beginning. I am planning on taking the USMLE and COMLEX even though I am not sure what residency I will apply to yet but I do not want to shut any doors. I have been doing surgery as part of my research for a few years and love it but I also love being in the ED when I am volunteering and I can see myself in numerous other specialties, who knows what I will be "when I grow up". I can't wait to see the new curriculum they are introducing our first year and if any of the clinical years are being changed or if it is just the basic science years being changed. It would be nice to have less time in FP but if not than fine, I am sure there is plenty of good to take home from it anyway.

I do have a couple more questions to any current or past students. I know that SOM shares anatomy professors with RWJ, which is one reason Anatomy is in the spring instead of the usual fall as it was explained to me. After all, in the beginning SOM students took all their basic science courses at RWJ. Are there any other resources shared with RWJ or NJMS as being part of the UMDNJ system? Just out of curiosity, and if you don't mind, where are you doing your residency? Did you do any international electives during your fourth year? Did you do any research or any electives during the first two years that you can comment on, worthwhile or not?

I guess that's it for now, this is an awesome thread I am glad there are a few SOM students looking out for us!

~Nate
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Nate,

That's really interesting bout your interviewers....cause Sid Verma is one of my best friends from SOM. Pretty much him and Gilbert Siu are my close buddies from SOM. If you didn't meet Gil on the tour at all, then you will, believe me. Both of those guys started with me in the class of 2004 - however Sid was in the DO/JD program and Gil was in the DO/PhD program. Both are extremely bright and are awesome guys to hang out with. Trust me dude, I know Dr. Levin very well sine I interviewed with him quite a few times and I definitely know Sid really well and trust me - they wouldn't have admitted you if they didn't think you were able to do the work and fit in to the SOM environment. So congrats again.

My story is a bit different than most guys.... I am a prelim medicine resident at the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa and the reason is that my wife is a 4th year MD student here. I decided to do a prelim medicine year (that is AOA approved) so there would be no bull**** later as far as licensure is concerned. I am currently back in the match trying to couples match for allopathic surgery with my wife, who also wants to do surgery. So I'm a bit more complicated than most SOM grads. I want to do specifically allopathic surgery, mainly b/c of fellowship opportunities later. Its a long explanation for a different day, but since you might be interested in surgery, remind me about it, ok?

I specifically didn't do any research cause research just isn't my thing, but a bunch of kids in my class did. Usually most people who opt to do research do it during the summer btwn 1st and 2nd year. SOM is pretty cool b/c you can do either basic science or clinical research or both. Its up to you and most of the people you can do research with are pretty cool. In fact, one kid in my class went to Mayo Clinic that summer and did research on Viagra. You have a lot of options when it comes to that.

That is true about the anatomy thing, partly. The other reason has to do with the supply of bodies. Apparently RWJ and SOM get bodies from the same organization. RWJ and SOM also share the mortician, so thats part of it too. Drs. Mulheron and White are the two profs that are shared. Dr, White also teaches neuroscience...and he teaches for Kaplan......and he teaches at UPenn and a couple of other Pennsylvania med and PA schools. Both are amazing teachers, esp. Dr. White. He will make neuro a breeze...so much so that I use things that he taught me to this day as a medicine intern. Thats the only thing that I can think of thats shared btwn the schools at UMD.

I never did an international elective, although it is more than possible. You can either set it up on your own or go thru SOMA (student osteopathic medical association). A few desi kids in my class went back to India for a month and saw and did a LOT. So I hear. So, yeah, its definitely possible.

You know, overall SOM is a great school. It has its short commings, but so does any school. If you are sure thats where you want to be, than you are a perfect match. I encourage you to get to know Sid and Gil. They and I were SOM's biggest recruiters. We all gave tours, we all sat and talked to interviewees, and we all have been or are on or will be on the admissions committee. I trust those guys with my life, literally. Hope that helps ya!

:)
 
just curious but about how many indians are in each class

guju pride :D :D
 
lots of desis, not just gujus :)

pratik7 said:
just curious but about how many indians are in each class

guju pride :D :D
Click to expand...
 
Dr.Feelgood, got any info on the GS residency at Kennedy?
 
DrFeelgoodDO said:
Nate,

That's really interesting bout your interviewers....cause Sid Verma is one of my best friends from SOM. Pretty much him and Gilbert Siu are my close buddies from SOM. If you didn't meet Gil on the tour at all, then you will, believe me. Both of those guys started with me in the class of 2004 - however Sid was in the DO/JD program and Gil was in the DO/PhD program. Both are extremely bright and are awesome guys to hang out with. Trust me dude, I know Dr. Levin very well sine I interviewed with him quite a few times and I definitely know Sid really well and trust me - they wouldn't have admitted you if they didn't think you were able to do the work and fit in to the SOM environment. So congrats again.

My story is a bit different than most guys.... I am a prelim medicine resident at the University of Oklahoma, Tulsa and the reason is that my wife is a 4th year MD student here. I decided to do a prelim medicine year (that is AOA approved) so there would be no bull**** later as far as licensure is concerned. I am currently back in the match trying to couples match for allopathic surgery with my wife, who also wants to do surgery. So I'm a bit more complicated than most SOM grads. I want to do specifically allopathic surgery, mainly b/c of fellowship opportunities later. Its a long explanation for a different day, but since you might be interested in surgery, remind me about it, ok?

I specifically didn't do any research cause research just isn't my thing, but a bunch of kids in my class did. Usually most people who opt to do research do it during the summer btwn 1st and 2nd year. SOM is pretty cool b/c you can do either basic science or clinical research or both. Its up to you and most of the people you can do research with are pretty cool. In fact, one kid in my class went to Mayo Clinic that summer and did research on Viagra. You have a lot of options when it comes to that.

That is true about the anatomy thing, partly. The other reason has to do with the supply of bodies. Apparently RWJ and SOM get bodies from the same organization. RWJ and SOM also share the mortician, so thats part of it too. Drs. Mulheron and White are the two profs that are shared. Dr, White also teaches neuroscience...and he teaches for Kaplan......and he teaches at UPenn and a couple of other Pennsylvania med and PA schools. Both are amazing teachers, esp. Dr. White. He will make neuro a breeze...so much so that I use things that he taught me to this day as a medicine intern. Thats the only thing that I can think of thats shared btwn the schools at UMD.

I never did an international elective, although it is more than possible. You can either set it up on your own or go thru SOMA (student osteopathic medical association). A few desi kids in my class went back to India for a month and saw and did a LOT. So I hear. So, yeah, its definitely possible.

You know, overall SOM is a great school. It has its short commings, but so does any school. If you are sure thats where you want to be, than you are a perfect match. I encourage you to get to know Sid and Gil. They and I were SOM's biggest recruiters. We all gave tours, we all sat and talked to interviewees, and we all have been or are on or will be on the admissions committee. I trust those guys with my life, literally. Hope that helps ya!

:)
Click to expand...

That's funny, Sid interviewed me as well, and when I asked about the DO/PhD, he referred me to Gil and gave me his email address. I still have to email him as my internet has been down for the last week. Dr. Levin and Sid really impressed me; they were very nice and professional and quite helpful and informative. Sid was teling me that Gil has like 8 publications already! Very cool.

nate, I just got your pm. I'll reply in a few minutes.
 
Docgeorge said:
Dr.Feelgood, got any info on the GS residency at Kennedy?
Click to expand...

Its a good program...lots pathology and the best part is that the program director Dr. Weese is a surgical onocologist so they do all kinds of crazy **** like Whipple Procedures and stuff. If you don't know what that is, its for pancreatic cancer and basicall the take out the antrum of your stomach, the duodenum, the gall bladder, and the pancreatic head as well as lymph node dissections, tumor resection, a vagotomy....all kinds of crap. Anyhow, its an operation that is only done by experienced surgeons. I HIGHLY DOUBT THERE IS ANY OTHER DO SURGERY PROGRAM THAT WOULD EVEN CONSIDER DOING THIS OPERATION!!! So all in all a decent program.
 
Mr. Seeds said:
That's funny, Sid interviewed me as well, and when I asked about the DO/PhD, he referred me to Gil and gave me his email address. I still have to email him as my internet has been down for the last week. Dr. Levin and Sid really impressed me; they were very nice and professional and quite helpful and informative. Sid was teling me that Gil has like 8 publications already! Very cool.

nate, I just got your pm. I'll reply in a few minutes.
Click to expand...

Yeah Gil is awesome. He actually is doing with a guy named Dr. Nagele who could quite possibly be the smartest guy ever. Even if you don't do DO/PhD, at least you will have the pleasure of having this dude lecture in histo. No one should be allowed to be as smart as Gil or Dr. Nagele. Gil is about to be published in HUGE journals, such as Nature. It didn't mean much to me, but it means A LOT in PhD land!

Sid is one of the best! Me and him partied all throughout med school. An incredibly smart cat!
 
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