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Interesting article that talks about the increase in applicants to LECOM probably due to its branch campus.
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/business/8582460.htm
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/business/8582460.htm
LAKE ERIE COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE
School officials see spike in number of applicants for its Ranch campus
MATT GRISWOLD
Herald Staff Writer
EAST MANATEE - Whether it's because of an affinity for sunny days or a longing for a non-traditional education, applications from medical students to the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine are skyrocketing, and school officials say the new campus under construction in Lakewood Ranch is the primary reason.
Some 2,600 students applied to Erie, Pa.-based LECOM this year for a 20 percent spike in applications, surpassing this year's typical medical college application growth of about 6 percent.
Dr. Anthony Ferretti, LECOM's associate dean for clinical education in Lakewood Ranch, said the combination of LECOM's reputation, Florida's climate, a new building and active recruiting have all contributed to heightened awareness of and interest in the medical school.
LECOM's expansion into Florida has had a huge impact on the number of applications from southern states, school officials said.
"Students from Mississippi would no sooner look to Erie than they would the North Pole," Ferretti said. "Put this school up north, and I don't think you get the same response."
Medical schools are relatively scarce in the south compared to a high concentration of them in the Northeast, he said.
There are 10 medical colleges in Pennsylvania. The new LECOM campus will be Florida's sixth medical school.
"Florida is going to make a big contribution to education," Ferretti said.
In just its third year, LECOM's pharmacy program netted more than 1,500 applications, up 300 percent from last year. LECOM officials said it's possible that a pharmacy program could be implemented at the Lakewood Ranch campus if a need assessment indicated there's a market for more pharmacy education in Florida, said Dr. Robert George, associate dean of academic affairs.
With the exterior complete, construction crews are working inside a 109,000-square-foot building that in about three months will begin welcoming faculty and students to campus life in the inaugural year of physician training at Lakewood Ranch.
Everything from enrollment to building construction is on schedule for Sept. 13, the first day of classes. George said all faculty positions have been filled.
There will be 150 students for LECOM's first academic year - coincidentally about half male, half female, George said.
School officials expect to add 150-student classes each of the next four years, for a maximum enrollment of 600 at the start of the 2007-08 academic year.
Bradenton-based NDC Construction Co. is in the midst of building the three-story, $25 million medical college on 18 acres in Lakewood Ranch just north of the YMCA. The project is on budget and on time, George said.
LECOM spokesman Pierre Bellicini said Monday the Lakewood Ranch campus appears to be the magnet school officials always thought it could be.
"You could write a headline that the Florida campus was the main reason for interest in the medical school going up by 20 percent," he said.
