2014-2015 The Commonwealth Medical College Application Thread

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Marina91 said:
Hey! I'm going to be a MD1 this fall at TCMC and so I've just been through this SUPER long process. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

I know that everyone gets a secondary application and, in my interview at least, they seem to go over each essay question.
Click to expand...
How much research is being conducted at TCMC ... having trouble finding anything online. Is there any biochemical research being done?
 
kl0117 said:
How much research is being conducted at TCMC ... having trouble finding anything online. Is there any biochemical research being done?
Click to expand...

There is alot of research being conducted at TCMC. Most of them revolving around biochemical interactions between diseases and drugs. Cancer tumors. Alhz. etc.
 
Is there anything "to do" in Scranton?
 
Omppu27 said:
Is there anything "to do" in Scranton?
Click to expand...
+1 I've been to Honesdale before but not sure about Scranton.

Also, what community service opportunities exist that are medically related? Do students have the option to do community work?
 
AMCAS processed 7/2 secondary received 7/7. I'm oos cGPA 3.72, sGPA 3.54, MCAT 33 (12,10,11).

I have a good friend starting there this fall, so it would be awesome to get in!
 
Hi! I was wondering if you could help explain to me the secondary question that says "TCMC values diversity and is committed to maintaining an inclusive environment. How do you think you can contribute to our commitment to diversity and inclusion?"

I'm wondering if they're looking for you to explain how you would contribute to the diversity of the class (like with different experiences and skills) or are they looking for you to explain how you would maintain cultural competence? What does inclusion mean in this context? Thank you so much for your help!


Volvulus10 said:
From reading a lot of secondaries, I can tell you that most people put generic things like "empathy, compassion, desire for life-long learning, etc." I always liked when someone had at least one that was a little unique compared to other applications. That way, it sets you apart and it also gives you something to talk about during the interview. I would usually say "this is the first time I've read that in a list of 5. Why did you include it?"
Click to expand...
 
Aka how are you diverse and how would that help you be a ore inclusive doc.
 
Hey everyone! New to this thread but applying here, as well.

Question about the diversity essay - what if I don't fit any of the traditional definitions of diversity? I.e., I'm white, middle-class, non-disadvantaged, etc. Should I find a different way that I would be different from the rest of the applicants and talk about that? Or talk about how even though I'm not "diverse," I would still support a diverse community?

(Hopefully that made sense - long day at work). Thanks everyone!
 
Volvulus10 said:
Good luck everyone! 3rd year OOS student here. Let me know if you have any questions about TCMC. It's an amazing school.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your willingness to answer questions about TCMC. I am applying to TCMC, and anted to get a more in-depth perspective than the webpage could provide. Here are my questions:

What makes you say TCMC is amazing?
What are TCMC's teaching methods and what do you like about the curriculum?
What are clinical rotations like and what is your role in clinicals as a med student?
Do you have any specific advice regarding secondaries?
Are there and "cons" from your experience at TCMC?
 
jb0390 said:
Hey everyone! New to this thread but applying here, as well.

Question about the diversity essay - what if I don't fit any of the traditional definitions of diversity? I.e., I'm white, middle-class, non-disadvantaged, etc. Should I find a different way that I would be different from the rest of the applicants and talk about that? Or talk about how even though I'm not "diverse," I would still support a diverse community?

(Hopefully that made sense - long day at work). Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say "I'm not diverse." in any secondary ever. Did you go to a diverse high school and/or grow up in a diverse town? Did you go to a big university that exposed you to a plethora of cultures and religions? Did you work in a hospital that exposed you to the previous things? There should be something you can talk about. The point of the question is to make sure you're going to be a caring, empathetic doctor and the school wants proof that you've interacted with a wide variety of people.

Dr. C said:
Thanks for your willingness to answer questions about TCMC. I am applying to TCMC, and anted to get a more in-depth perspective than the webpage could provide. Here are my questions:

What makes you say TCMC is amazing?
1. It's a very warm and welcoming school. The 1st and 2nd year curriculums really set you up to succeed on the boards. You start learning to do an H&P within the first few months of school. You get real clinical expose within the first few months of school.

What are TCMC's teaching methods and what do you like about the curriculum?
2. First year is mostly normal in-class lectures. towards the end of the year they switch to podcasts (all pre-recorded lectures). This starts for the neuroscience block. 2nd year is all podcasts with in-class time used for clinical lectures and case presentations, review sessions with physicians, etc.

What are clinical rotations like and what is your role in clinicals as a med student?
3. Third year and the LIC is awesome. I just finished my 3rd week and let me tell you, you feel like a physician. I already have patients of my own who are coming back to see ME on their next apt (how cool is that)? 3rd year at any school beats the hell out of sitting in the library being miserable, however the LIC works very well. There are some very good papers you can read online about Harvard's "CIC" which is similar to ours.

Do you have any specific advice regarding secondaries?
4. Secondaries aren't a huge deal. They are used to give your faculty and student interviewers a little insight into your background. Student interviewers only get your secondary - no grades, MCAT, or AMCAS application is seen. I can't speak as to how important a secondary is during the final ADCOM meeting.

Are there and "cons" from your experience at TCMC?
5. There are always cons but that's at every school. I can't think of a con that is specific to TCMC at the moment that is worth mentioning.
Click to expand...
 
Volvulus10 said:
I wouldn't say "I'm not diverse." in any secondary ever. Did you go to a diverse high school and/or grow up in a diverse town? Did you go to a big university that exposed you to a plethora of cultures and religions? Did you work in a hospital that exposed you to the previous things? There should be something you can talk about. The point of the question is to make sure you're going to be a caring, empathetic doctor and the school wants proof that you've interacted with a wide variety of people.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much for your reply. Your answers are really helpful!
 
Verified yesterday secondary received today!

How do these sound for the 5 traits question?
1. Attractive
2.Patriotic
3.Sane
4.Sober
5.Well-bred

I plan on talking about how impressive it has been that I have managed to show up to class and work sober 100% of the time as my attribute I'm elaborating on...


Jk jk.... this site is kind of helpful though in all seriousness:
http://ideonomy.mit.edu/essays/traits.html
 
Omppu27 said:
Is there anything "to do" in Scranton?
Click to expand...

I'm not from Scranton specifically, but fairly close in northeastern PA. Yeah it definitely isn't a big city, but there is some stuff to do. The Scranton and Wilkes-Barre area is growing, for sure. And its not terribly far from NYC.
 
jb0390 said:
Hey everyone! New to this thread but applying here, as well.

Question about the diversity essay - what if I don't fit any of the traditional definitions of diversity? I.e., I'm white, middle-class, non-disadvantaged, etc. Should I find a different way that I would be different from the rest of the applicants and talk about that? Or talk about how even though I'm not "diverse," I would still support a diverse community?

(Hopefully that made sense - long day at work). Thanks everyone!
Click to expand...
Then take diversity as meaning different. Who are you, what have you done to get to the point of wanting to become a doctor? Experiences, life lessons, idk. If you could prove you are different from everyone else who is applying, what would you say, right now? Coming from a URM, I'm pretty sure there's a lot of applicants who aren't URM but they figured it out. I'm sure you'll do the same😉
 
AllThatRacket said:
I'm not from Scranton specifically, but fairly close in northeastern PA. Yeah it definitely isn't a big city, but there is some stuff to do. The Scranton and Wilkes-Barre area is growing, for sure. And its not terribly far from NYC.
Click to expand...

Omppu27 said:
Is there anything "to do" in Scranton?
Click to expand...

So I spent a year in Scranton with the MBS program. Scranton was a culture shock for me, even being from Harrisburg. Most of the students at TCMC don't delve to far into the Scranton life like I did, because my house was actually in "South Side", a part of town that doesn't have the best reputation. But I found the people there very nice and excited about the school. There is stuff to do in downtown scranton but it does get a little old after a while. "Parade Day" is really fun. I'm sure you'll hear about it if you haven't already.

Philly isn't to far and NYC is even closer. I didn't make it to a Minor League Baseball game in Scranton but I heard there fun. If you have specific questions you can PM me for sure. Out of all the places I lived so far, mainly college towns, Scranton wasn't my favorite by far but its ok.

Somebody also asked about community service. Lots of opportunities there for sure.
 
Just submitted and was marked complete! Good luck all!
 
funtertaining15 said:
Then take diversity as meaning different. Who are you, what have you done to get to the point of wanting to become a doctor? Experiences, life lessons, idk. If you could prove you are different from everyone else who is applying, what would you say, right now? Coming from a URM, I'm pretty sure there's a lot of applicants who aren't URM but they figured it out. I'm sure you'll do the same😉
Click to expand...

Great advice, thanks so much 🙂
 
Could someone please clarify the second essay prompt: "List the five most important attributes you feel a physician should possess. Please choose one attribute and describe one personal experience that best exemplifies that attribute."

I am a little confused as to whether the "personal experience" means an experience in which you personally demonstrated the chosen attribute or just a time when you observed the said attribute (for example, while shadowing a physician). Thanks for any help!
 
DancingDevil said:
Could someone please clarify the second essay prompt: "List the five most important attributes you feel a physician should possess. Please choose one attribute and describe one personal experience that best exemplifies that attribute."

I am a little confused as to whether the "personal experience" means an experience in which you personally demonstrated the chosen attribute or just a time when you observed the said attribute (for example, while shadowing a physician). Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
Good question, I kind of assumed it meant a time I personally demonstrated
 
Yeah you want to showcase you doing the trait not somebody else.
 
I'm complete all things in assuming im now under review?
 
Omppu27 said:
Is there anything "to do" in Scranton?
Click to expand...

I'm an M3 from the Midwest so Scranton was a bit of different place than what I am used to. I think you can definitely find things to do in Scranton, and there are a lot of places which aren't too far. If you like hiking and kayaking, there are a lot of places within an hour drive. There are a lot of great restaurants here that aren't chains. My friends and I really like exploring those. NYC, Philly, and Hershey are all pretty close so you can venture out to those as well.

There are a ton of volunteer opportunities. TCMC puts on a lot of health fairs and other events through the year. A lot of clubs organize volunteer events. If you are interested in peds, the pediatric group puts on a ton of events throughout the year. There is a club and volunteer fair within the first couple weeks of classes so you can sign up for some things there.

If you guys have any other questions about applying or the school or anything like that feel free to ask me. I also was an interviewer last year so if you have questions about how the interview day goes I can help there as well!

Good luck everyone!
 
So for these five attributes: do you guys think they all have to be single words? I have this idea for one of them, but I don't think it can be adequately described in a single word - can I write a short phrase? Thanks!
 
jb0390 said:
So for these five attributes: do you guys think they all have to be single words? I have this idea for one of them, but I don't think it can be adequately described in a single word - can I write a short phrase? Thanks!
Click to expand...
I said the 5 in one word then explained only one of them(the one i said i had)
 
Thank you both! Probably overthinking this whole thing haha
 
Anyone know if they accept additional letters of recommendation? (besides committee or 3 that are required...)
 
Hey this is probably a bad question. Can you submit the secondary if one of your letters is not submitted yet? On the letter page it doesn't have that last letter that I assigned to TCMC, I'm assuming cause she didn't submit yet. Will it update automatically when she submits or do I have to wait for her?

Also does this school take additional letters?
 
Last edited:
Adding this school to my AMCAS today, just wondering how many LOR do they need if you don't have a committee? Their website says 3 but doesn't list a max and I need to know how many to designate to the school. I'd call them but unfortunately they're closed right now.
 
2nd year here that frequently talks to 3rd & 4th years about rotations...just wanted to let SDN know how the LIC works!

This isn't like other schools where you go to a rotation in the same hospital. You will rotate through FM/IM/PEDS/OBGYN/SURG/PSYCH (1/2) each throughout the week. For example,

Monday - Peds 8-12; Surgery (office) 1-5
Tuesday - White Space AM; Psych 2-6
Wednesday OBGYN 8-12; IM 1-6
Thursday - White Space AM; FM 1-6
Friday - White Space AM; CED evenings

CED = clinical education days, where they have lectures/student presentations/quizzes (occassionally)/outside groups present; I'm not sure as to how exactly the regions are split up, but I'm assuming that Williamsport 3rd years don't come back to scranton for CED
White space = free time to explore different things such as surgery (you are scheduled on office days...so you need to use white space to actually see surgeries if that's your interest); this is hard sometimes because you have to work around physician schedules...also during summer alot of physicians are on vacation so you are paired with someone else (i.e., another doc, PA, midwife, etc)

Pro: If you don't like something, you only have it one half-day a week and can just sit there // Lots of white space time to concentrate on fields you have interest in ( IF you can find time that works for your physician to teach you & of course a physician willing to work with you) // No "on-call" technically (but, from what I've heard some people do overnights willingly and that's ok too) // Weekends are pretty much free which is nice because I can drive home on the weekends to see family // Hopefully a 3rd year will chime in...but the continuity patient tenent seems like it would be useful

Con: HIGH variability in quality of preceptors (i.e., the doctor who shows you how to write notes, lets you see the patient before him, do the physical exam, & come up with a dx & tx plan VS shadowing for half a day VS doctors that openly tell you that they are being made to be preceptors & hate teaching)... I really hope they fix this by next year!!! // Lots of driving (most likely, each office is at a different location, and yes, it could be far) // Surgery rotation (hard to do morning rounds on patients when you have to be at OBGYN on Wed from 8-12; this is ok if you have white space in the mornings) // Never get to know the 'day in the life' of a certain specialty (by doing half-days, you see only that portion...you don't ever experience an entire day unless you have a full day of white space)... do you really want to work in surgery from 630A-7P 5 days a week? // not enough preceptors (BIG CON; some people don't have preceptors for certain specialties...I'm pretty sure what my friend told me was Psych & Peds)
 
Hi! I'm a third year just finishing my 6th week of the LIC. I am enjoying it a lot so far. I am lucky that all of my preceptors are really great and happy to teach and let me do things. Most of what nycement1 said is true.

CED takes place in each region so people in Williamsport (West) and Wilkes-Barre (South) have offices and areas they go to for this every week. Sometimes lectures are broadcast from other regions, but most of the time each region has an in house speaker. This is nice as some campuses take longer than others.

You can end up driving quite a distance for rotations especially in the South campus as it is the most spread out. My farthest rotation is an hour away, but I only have it once every other week so it's not bad.

Along with your rotations you will have burst weeks. These are weeks where you are fully immersed in an inpatient setting for that specialty. You will have bursts in peds, IM, OB/GYN, surgery, anesthesia. Most of your rotations will be in outpatient settings so this is a good opportunity to see inpatient. You will also have so many ED shifts throughout the year. Some campuses schedule them for you (South) so they are on the weekends when you are the only student with the physician. Others have you do the scheduling (North) so you can take shifts throughout the week.

White space: So far I have used it to go in with my FM physician as she is out a lot on the days I'm with her and for surgery with my gynecologist. I plan to use it more once I get a little more comfortable with my schedule. That being said, it takes a long time to truly feel comfortable with this type of schedule. All the people ahead of me say we will hit our stride around December/January, and I totally believe them!

I didn't want to repeat what was already said so hopefully I didn't miss anything! Let me know if you guys have any more questions about the LIC or TCMC in general!
 
scribbling said:
Hi! I'm a third year just finishing my 6th week of the LIC. I am enjoying it a lot so far. I am lucky that all of my preceptors are really great and happy to teach and let me do things. Most of what nycement1 said is true.

CED takes place in each region so people in Williamsport (West) and Wilkes-Barre (South) have offices and areas they go to for this every week. Sometimes lectures are broadcast from other regions, but most of the time each region has an in house speaker. This is nice as some campuses take longer than others.

You can end up driving quite a distance for rotations especially in the South campus as it is the most spread out. My farthest rotation is an hour away, but I only have it once every other week so it's not bad.

Along with your rotations you will have burst weeks. These are weeks where you are fully immersed in an inpatient setting for that specialty. You will have bursts in peds, IM, OB/GYN, surgery, anesthesia. Most of your rotations will be in outpatient settings so this is a good opportunity to see inpatient. You will also have so many ED shifts throughout the year. Some campuses schedule them for you (South) so they are on the weekends when you are the only student with the physician. Others have you do the scheduling (North) so you can take shifts throughout the week.

White space: So far I have used it to go in with my FM physician as she is out a lot on the days I'm with her and for surgery with my gynecologist. I plan to use it more once I get a little more comfortable with my schedule. That being said, it takes a long time to truly feel comfortable with this type of schedule. All the people ahead of me say we will hit our stride around December/January, and I totally believe them!

I didn't want to repeat what was already said so hopefully I didn't miss anything! Let me know if you guys have any more questions about the LIC or TCMC in general!
Click to expand...

Hi fellow classmate! The only thing I'd add to this great description is that the schedulers attempt to make your white space coincide with your surgeon's OR time. I'm not that interested in surgery but I've scrubbed in to 5 cases in the past 6 weeks simply because my two surgeons have asked me to come. The more difficult part (for myself) is finding time to scrub in with my OB/GYN because he's an hour away and his surgery days don't work that well with my schedule...plus I'm lazy and driving an hour more than once a week can get tiring.
 
Does anyone know if TCMC accepts letters outside of the 3 faculty?
 
uvrsol said:
congrats! when were you complete? if you don't mind, what's your stats? if not, its ok...congrats anyways!
Click to expand...
hey, i cant see a complete email in my email list but i know i sent my secondary on 7/12. pm me for stats
 
kl0117 said:
Did you get a complete email? Or just all the checks were marked are complete? When is the interview scheduled for?
Click to expand...
they give you a bunch of dates i think on mondays and fridays of every week, im still deciding on either the 8th or 12th.
 
Volvulus10 said:
Good luck everyone! 3rd year OOS student here. Let me know if you have any questions about TCMC. It's an amazing school.
Click to expand...
Anything unique about the school? I read they like it if you know some stuff thats specific to the school
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

wysdoc
2024-2025 Commonwealth (Geisinger)
7 8 9 10 11
Replies
528
Views
126K
Hickfromdasticks
H
wysdoc
2024-2025 Virginia Commonwealth
21 22 23 24 25
Replies
1K
Views
266K
joyride-05
joyride-05
wysdoc
2024-2025 Medical College of Georgia
11 12 13 14 15
Replies
717
Views
147K
Southernpeach
S
wysdoc
2024-2025 New York Medical College
8 9 10 11 12
Replies
597
Views
188K
BabySnoopy
BabySnoopy
wysdoc
2024-2025 Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW)
11 12 13 14 15
Replies
722
Views
183K
FightingHawk123
F
Top