Hi everyone, as an accepted student at this school, I am hoping that one of the current students may be able to comment on something. I remember from the interview day that VTC uses electronic textbooks. How does that work exactly? Do most people study the electronic files online, or are you able to print them somewhere without paying a fortune on printing?
2012-2013 Virginia Tech Carilion Application Thread
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oh nevermind. i thought you had deferred your acceptance from last year. like someone already said, the chances probably look the same. they quoted that they were planning to accept 50% of the class in december. so if they took about 50, they will probably take another 50 out of 185.
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Textbooks are given to us through VitalSource software. Kind of like an iTunes of college textbooks. The software behaves like a digital textbook rather than a webpage. Allow for highlighting, bookmarking, etc. We get access to a lot of the big titles (Robbins, Netter, etc) and further, the Carilion Health Sciences library gives us access to dozens of texts online, including Harrison's. I know some of us choose to purchase some of the textbooks like Robbins as we all lived in that book during our second year and paper is much more pleasant on the eyes than a computer monitor. All in all, you will find the digital library to be extremely extensive and after a few months, you will find the resources that bring you the most comfort studying from, whether you are studying from Harrison's or Robbin's or if you decide to just use First Aid, BRS, and UpToDate.
As for electronic journals, you have access to all of Jefferson College of Health Sciences resources, Carilion resources, as well as Virgnia Tech's resources.
Printing... you are not charged for printing at VTCSOM. It can be tricky to find printer paper sometimes, but otherwise, printing is readily accessible. We do try to police ourselves though as its kind of annoying when you need to print something and all the paper is gone/toner spent because someone decided to print out an encyclopedia set worth of material.
Welcome to VTCSOM!!!!
I think you have a different understanding of what deferred means. Deferred is to be accepted to a medical school and then put off attending for a year (or more, I guess). If you get permission to defer then a spot will be held for you in the next class. VTC follows this process.
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Not completely true. Deferred can also mean that the school is deferring evaluation of your application.
Oh, ok. I hadn't heard it used for MD schools in the other context, so thanks for clarifying.
Just to be clear, if you are accepted and then get permission to defer, they will still hold a spot for you in the next class. Good luck to those who are still waiting and congrats to those who were accepted! Keep posting questions and we will try our best to answer them.
So as of right now, VTC is my top choice. I want to try to let them know before they start reviewing my file. However, I'm not 100% sure what the financial aid packages will be compared to other schools (assuming I get in to the other ones I've interviewed at), and that might end up playing a role in my decision. If the money stuff was equal, I'd definitely choose VTC in a heartbeat, but I'm still waiting to hear back from a brand new school, where they said there'd be a very generous scholarship given to the first class. So I'm not quite sure that I want to tell VTC that I will definitely attend if accepted.
Does anyone have any advice on how to let them know that they're my #1 choice without absolutely committing to attending?
Thanks! 🙂
Does anyone have any advice on how to let them know that they're my #1 choice without absolutely committing to attending?
Thanks! 🙂
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You can always say its your number one choice without saying that you will definitely attend. Just the term number 1 choice should carry some weight.
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ehh. i sort of disagree here. i think number 1 choice "implies" you would go. of course implication doesn't carry as much weight as an explicit statement, but still. i would just stick with "i am still very interested."
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I (respectfully) disagree. In this situation VTC is his (you may be a girl but for the sake of pronouns I'm assuming youre a dude) number one choice, yet he can't commit to it because of financials. Any school will understand choosing a different school based on money issues. If it is the number one choice it should be stated. "Very interested" seems to very obviously say VTC is not the number one choice, which might be a negative.
Thank you all for your input! I ended up going with "number one choice" because it's the truth and I wanted to convey that. I just hadn't been sure if it would sound too commit-y, but after seeing what you had to say and thinking about it again, I think it'll probably be ok. 🙂
For the record, I am a girl, but it really doesn't matter. 🙂
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Another thing to think about is telling adcom exactly what you just said here; be honest. Also, administrators are, indeed, on this forum and do look at these posts (though I am student)...so they are at least aware of this sort of stuff.
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Withdrew today. Good luck everyone.
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How are you enjoying your clinical rotations? Are you shadowing? or are you actively involved?
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Although I haven't been to other medical schools, I am familiar with some of the rumors of how certain institutions handle the role of the student on the floor. All in all, compared to rumors, things are quite nice here at Carilion. =)
During your first 2 years, you will have your LACE (Longitudinal Ambulatory Care Experience) in which you will be assigned to an attending physician (usually in a primary care setting). You will "shadow" him/her on a regular basis and slowly incorporate your newly acquired clinical skills as you progress. By the end of your 2nd year, you will be interviewing patients solo, presenting findings, and even performing basic procedures. Further, if you would like more clinical experience during your first 2 years, you can shadow in any department and they will get you involved in patient care/procedures based on your comfort level.
Year 3 is a whole new beast of an experience. First off, everyone expects you to struggle off the start, everyone expects you to stumble(often), and everyone is extremely helpful at getting you back on your feet again. You work closely with Residents and in many of the rotations, you spend a lot of 1 on 1 time with the Attendings. It is not a shadowing experience. Your primary task is to KNOW your patient and send any and all pertinent information up the food chain. Doing procedures is just icing on the cake. Your team will allow you to do just about anything they feel you can handle based on you knowledge, maturity, and mental preparation. With that said, you will do a lot of basics - suturing, IM injections, bandage/dressing changes, etc. However, each rotation will have some gems to keep you interested. You will deliver babies in OBGYN. You will be first assistant on many surgeries (I have been able to not only assist in a laproscopic procedure, but I have been allowed to use every tool in laproscopy except for the electrocautery) - sure you do your fair share of retraction holding, but my point is you get to do a lot more as well. The big take home is that, you get to do what you want to learn to do. You may not have a lot of people chasing after you to offer you opportunity, but if you speak up and say you would like to try to do _____, they will hook you up. Even had some peers playing around on a Da Vinci the other day(not on a patient). Finally, I can't tell you how amazing of a feeling it is, after countless management plans that showed off your ability to repeatedly fall on your face, to finally begin submitting management plans that are accepted by the team. You will be asked to make attempts at management plans from day 1 and you will stumble, a lot. But as the 3rd year progresses, things start clicking and the next thing you know, that foot doesn't find its way into your mouth so much. Glorious!
Procedures aside, I can't stress enough how important it is to have 1 on 1 educational time with an attending. That time can make or break any rotation and fortunately, we have some great physicians here that love to teach students here at VTC! To quantify it, about 85% of the Residents and about 95% of the Attendings will make your experience a good one.... but I won't lie, there are a few bad apples, however when you survive their eccentricities, you kind of wear it like a badge of honor.
Sorry for the rambling, hope this all helps!
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Thanks for all the clinical info, it was very helpful!
Accepted today as well! So stoked! I loved VTC!
Congrats on the acceptances!
I don't think so, since they had said they'd make calls STARTING on march 27 and it looks like they didn't start calling until this afternoon.
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I wasn't expecting to get the call today and it seems like they only gave out a few acceptances today. I think a lot more will go out tomorrow, hopefully you get good news then
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Was also accepted today. Does anyone know if there is a Facebook page for the class of 2017?
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Did anyone by chance call admissions and see if they were still handing some out today?
I called admissions yesterday, and I was told that calls will be made throughout the week up until Friday.
I also asked about being wait-listed,and i was told that we would get that e-mail after they have made all the calls. There is no movement in their wait-list until May 15th like all the other schools.
I didn't ask about post-interview rejections because that is too depressing to think about.
I also asked about being wait-listed,and i was told that we would get that e-mail after they have made all the calls. There is no movement in their wait-list until May 15th like all the other schools.
I didn't ask about post-interview rejections because that is too depressing to think about.
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haha well thats great to hear I suppose. Although the week just got that much longer. Thanks for calling
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Nope
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they don't do post-interview rejections. they said at the interview that everyone who interviews will get waitlisted if not accepted. so technically after this round, you can be accepted up to the first day of school.
I was wondering if any current VTC students could answer a question about the Roanoke Athletic Club for me...I heard that you get a membership to RAC, but on the RAC website I saw that student memberships have restricted hours - do VTC students get full memberships to the gym or student ones? Thanks in advance 🙂
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You get the full membership, and also access to their sister-facilities, one in botetourt and one in the city (although that one is small and you will probably never use it. You get full access to their classes, towel service, hours, pool, etc.
Ballin. Is the one in the city that bad? Is there at least a squat rack? This is a very important issue
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Could be a deal breaker right thereBallin. Is the one in the city that bad? Is there at least a squat rack? This is a very important issue
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the big one that's away from campus, the main facility, is said to be really nice. on our tour we drove by it and it looked like a huge complex. there's likely at least 1 power rack in there, i envision. don't quote me.
Ballin. Is the one in the city that bad? Is there at least a squat rack? This is a very important issue
nBeeDee, I'm with you on the squat rack issue...wanna be lifting buddies?
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So did no phone calls go out today or was it just No one on this forum received any?
I'm guessing no one from the forum...
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So I called admissions today,
they made it seem like there are a couple of different people making calls and that each one has a list of people. It appears that when we get the phone call just depends what list we're on. However the person said that the number of phone calls they send out in a day depends on whether or not people respond back. Conclusion: We are all on different lists which are held by different people. When we get called depends on when that person is working, which seems somewhat random, so don't lose hope..
they made it seem like there are a couple of different people making calls and that each one has a list of people. It appears that when we get the phone call just depends what list we're on. However the person said that the number of phone calls they send out in a day depends on whether or not people respond back. Conclusion: We are all on different lists which are held by different people. When we get called depends on when that person is working, which seems somewhat random, so don't lose hope..
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+1. I searched for one but couldn't find one
Oh cool. I honestly cant remember if they drove us by it on my interview day. I googled the website though and it looks like it has just about everything: http://www.carilionfitness.com/index.html
nBeeDee, I'm with you on the squat rack issue...wanna be lifting buddies?
Done 👍 If the city gym has a rack that's great because I'm looking into living there, but I'd probably end up going to the main one more. The RAC looks legit judging by the website and is only a few miles away from VTC.
Hi everyone,
As one of the applicants accepted into VTC, I am currently weighing my choices. On that topic, I have a question about anatomy class.
How is the class primarily taught at VTC? I know the student tour guides mentioned a cadaver lab during our interview day, but they also mentioned a simulator and computer programs. What is the primary format for the anatomy class? Is cadaver dissection a major component, or is most of the class presented using computer imaging or pictures?
Thanks in advance for any feedback you can offer.
As one of the applicants accepted into VTC, I am currently weighing my choices. On that topic, I have a question about anatomy class.
How is the class primarily taught at VTC? I know the student tour guides mentioned a cadaver lab during our interview day, but they also mentioned a simulator and computer programs. What is the primary format for the anatomy class? Is cadaver dissection a major component, or is most of the class presented using computer imaging or pictures?
Thanks in advance for any feedback you can offer.
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The anatomy curriculum is almost entirely cadaver based (in terms of non-lecture based parts). It is taught as a traditional medical school anatomy class with with both wet lab (cadaver) dissections and dry lab (anatomical models and clinical anatomy application/identification) components, both weekly. On top of that, anatomy lectures from the anatomy faculty are worked into our basic science lecture series as they fit into the system we are learning about. For example, during the cardiology block, you will get basic science lectures in cardio, anatomy lectures on thoracic anatomy, dissect the thorax/heart/periphery of that area over the 8 week block, and have a dry lab component where you will be taught not so much how to do clinical exam procedures (that is clinical skills curriculum), but more of why exam techniques are performed and the anatomical structures involved. Dry lab is also a time to solidify difficult anatomic information. Wet labs are usually 2 hrs long, dry lab 1 hour. While half the class is doing their wet lab, the other half will do 1 hr of dry lab and 1 hr of histology lecture. After 2 hrs, the groups switch. This is to avoid overcrowding the wet lab room and to keep groups nice and small. 10 people crowded around a cadaver is useless...we have 4.
We are lucky in regards to our anatomy faculty. The head of the curriculum is a former general surgeon who devoted himself to teaching anatomy to medical students, we have a tremendously experienced trauma surgeon (who is still an attending at Carilion Memorial), a physical therapist with a phd in anatomy (specialization in neuro), and chiropractor that also teaches anatomy at Jefferson College of Health Sciences. There are also regularly visiting surgeons of all sorts that visit the anatomy lab to help. This means that for a 6-cadaver room, there is at least 4 faculty walking around to help answer questions, and sometimes more.
In regards to models: We do have simulators but they are more for physiology than anatomy (program in heart sounds, pathologies, make it have a heart attack, etc.). I also know that they just wheeled in a giant glass table the size of a dining room table. Faculty is still learning it and setting it up but I know its a touch-screen interface that a body is projected on; muscle layers/fascia/nerves etc. will be easily added/removed (I'm sure it does more than that, but that's all i know). However, our anatomy is mainly a traditional wet lab and lecture setup.
I'm not sure what your guides meant about computer programs. My best guess is that they were referring to our library resources. We get access to very large programs such as the full Primal Pictures suite (http://www.primalpictures.com/) that allow us to rotate 3D images of the body while adding/removing minute layers at a time...but resources such as this (and there are others) are just study materials along with textbooks such as Clinically Oriented Anatomy and Netter's Atlas, and certainly not how the faculty teach us anatomy.
That being all being said, most medical students would probably agree that most of your anatomy learning and memorization will come from textbooks. Lab is usually a great way to solidify material, but most people cannot remember the insertion, origin, blood supply, and nerve supply of all the muscles in ones arm just because they dissected it. Just something to keep in mind.
Hope that helps!
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aaaannnndd wait list email
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