2017-2018 Des Moines University (DMU-COM)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Did they send you an e-mail telling you that you were on hold? I've been really confused because they merged the primary and secondary in the initial AACOMAS application so there isn't a portal to go to. I just have one e-mail from them telling me I was complete back in mid September :/

That's correct. I got an email.

If you got completion in mid September, I'd expect to hear back a decision around 2-3 weeks from now.

Members don't see this ad.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Did they send you an e-mail telling you that you were on hold? I've been really confused because they merged the primary and secondary in the initial AACOMAS application so there isn't a portal to go to. I just have one e-mail from them telling me I was complete back in mid September :/
There is a portal....you should have gotten an email about signing up for it after submitting your primary
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Could a current (or former) student please tell me about rotations? Were you on your own finding rotation sites or did the school play a large part in arranging them for you? Are there year long rotation sites? Do you feel like you had freedom to rotate in specialties you were interested in?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 5 users
Rotations are a tricky thing. I'm very happy with my year long site. It's more of a struggle for those on non-year long schedules, and again, very hit or miss depending on who your attending is/what the site is.
What goes in to deciding whether or not you get a year long site? Is there a way to make our chances better?
 
What goes in to deciding whether or not you get a year long site? Is there a way to make our chances better?
I haven't gone through the process myself but there was a presentation on this earlier in the semester that said there are a certain number of spots that are reserved for extenuating circumstances (medical necessity, etc) and there are also a certain number of spots that can be awarded upon written request. Once those are up, I think we rank them and go into the lottery.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Could a current (or former) student please tell me about rotations? Were you on your own finding rotation sites or did the school play a large part in arranging them for you? Are there year long rotation sites? Do you feel like you had freedom to rotate in specialties you were interested in?

Current 4th year. Third year the school takes care of a lot of your rotations whether you’re a year long or non-year long track student. The benefit of non year long is for those with significant connections in the field that can help you. If you have enough connections to get all of your third year core rotations set up on your own, DMU will let you do it. It’s all a matter of paperwork and signing affiliation agreements. 4th year is the difficult part where you are going to do 90% of the Work. DMU has some rotations available through what they call the optimization but it’s not enough slots for all 4th years and a lot of the rotations are not typical rotations (physical therapy, dentistry, pharmacy, etc.).

Third year rotation sites are assigned in 3 ways primarily. 1) Exemption, 2) Personal statement, 3) Lottery.

You have freedom 4th year to rotate in specialties you want, but you will be doing the work to get them. And you also have to meet the required rotations 4 weeks FM, 4 weeks Inpatient Medicine, 4 weeks of community/rural/international Medicine, and 4 weeks of EM if you didn’t do it third year.

Feel free to follow up with more questions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Current 4th year. Third year the school takes care of a lot of your rotations whether you’re a year long or non-year long track student. The benefit of non year long is for those with significant connections in the field that can help you. If you have enough connections to get all of your third year core rotations set up on your own, DMU will let you do it. It’s all a matter of paperwork and signing affiliation agreements. 4th year is the difficult part where you are going to do 90% of the Work. DMU has some rotations available through what they call the optimization but it’s not enough slots for all 4th years and a lot of the rotations are not typical rotations (physical therapy, dentistry, pharmacy, etc.).

Third year rotation sites are assigned in 3 ways primarily. 1) Exemption, 2) Personal statement, 3) Lottery.

You have freedom 4th year to rotate in specialties you want, but you will be doing the work to get them. And you also have to meet the required rotations 4 weeks FM, 4 weeks Inpatient Medicine, 4 weeks of community/rural/international Medicine, and 4 weeks of EM if you didn’t do it third year.

Feel free to follow up with more questions.
Have you had a difficult time scheduling these and getting your required rotations? Do you feel that the staff supports you in this?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Current 4th year. Third year the school takes care of a lot of your rotations whether you’re a year long or non-year long track student. The benefit of non year long is for those with significant connections in the field that can help you. If you have enough connections to get all of your third year core rotations set up on your own, DMU will let you do it. It’s all a matter of paperwork and signing affiliation agreements. 4th year is the difficult part where you are going to do 90% of the Work. DMU has some rotations available through what they call the optimization but it’s not enough slots for all 4th years and a lot of the rotations are not typical rotations (physical therapy, dentistry, pharmacy, etc.).

Third year rotation sites are assigned in 3 ways primarily. 1) Exemption, 2) Personal statement, 3) Lottery.

You have freedom 4th year to rotate in specialties you want, but you will be doing the work to get them. And you also have to meet the required rotations 4 weeks FM, 4 weeks Inpatient Medicine, 4 weeks of community/rural/international Medicine, and 4 weeks of EM if you didn’t do it third year.

Feel free to follow up with more questions.
Thank you so much for the reply! Are the rotations primarily ward or preceptor based?

Also, does anyone know where I can find recent information about USMLE score/pass rate and allopathic vs osteopathic residency matching?
 
Last edited:
II today! Honestly didn't think I would get one as I was complete in late June.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
so it's time for me to be neurotic --

when do you all think the next round of acceptances will be?
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Application on hold. Got the email at 6:30EST
 
Have you had a difficult time scheduling these and getting your required rotations? Do you feel that the staff supports you in this?

Haven’t had a hard time myself but classmates of mine have and the support is hit or miss unfortunately. If you get on the bad side of clinical affairs it will definitely make things more difficult.

Thank you so much for the reply! Are the rotations primarily ward or preceptor based?

Also, does anyone know where I can find recent information about USMLE score/pass rate and allopathic vs osteopathic residency matching?

The vast majority are preceptor based. I’m guessing 10-15% are ward based, and that’s probably being generous.

Are you asking about DMU specifically for USMLE scores/pass rate? My class for step 1 had a 95 or 97% pass rate with a class average the same as the national average that year. About 65% of my class took USMLE Step 1. If you’re asking about General USMLE pass rate and matching ACGME you can look at this site for all the match data:

Main Residency Match Data and Reports - The Match, National Resident Matching Program
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
When do they do the background checks? do we have to order them ourselves?
 
Anyone from the 10/19 interview group hear back yet? It's approaching 3 weeks and the wait is driving me insane!
 
Just an FYI to my fellow on-hold candidates: looks like they started offering interviews to on-hold folks in February last year.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Anyone from the 10/19 interview group hear back yet? It's approaching 3 weeks and the wait is driving me insane!

10/12 heard back. I interviewed 10/13 and haven’t heard anything yet- also dying with the wait. Not sure if anyone else from that group has.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Has anyone who interview 10/16 heard back? A friend is waiting to hear
 
Haven’t had a hard time myself but classmates of mine have and the support is hit or miss unfortunately. If you get on the bad side of clinical affairs it will definitely make things more difficult.



The vast majority are preceptor based. I’m guessing 10-15% are ward based, and that’s probably being generous.

Are you asking about DMU specifically for USMLE scores/pass rate? My class for step 1 had a 95 or 97% pass rate with a class average the same as the national average that year. About 65% of my class took USMLE Step 1. If you’re asking about General USMLE pass rate and matching ACGME you can look at this site for all the match data:

Main Residency Match Data and Reports - The Match, National Resident Matching Program
Thank you for all of your help! One more question, would you say the majority of the students have trouble finding rotations or is it a minority? Does it eventually work out? What happens if they can't get any?
 
Thank you for all of your help! One more question, would you say the majority of the students have trouble finding rotations or is it a minority? Does it eventually work out? What happens if they can't get any?

I’d probably say 40% have some sort of issue scheduling rotations in some way. But everything eventually works out fine because we have a high graduation rate. It’s just added stress that we don’t need in 4th year. They did make some positive changes though for the Now 3rd years by eliminating the 4th year FM requirement and adding 4 weeks of vacation time so we get a total of 2 months. Which is a huge thing my class fought hard for with clinical affairs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Accepted at 7:10pm CST!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
Interviewed 10/13 and radio silence, what do I do??? What does this mean??
 
Accepted!! Interviewed 10/19 as well
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
when did you interview? CONGRATS!

Thanks you! And I interviewed 10/13.

Interviewed 10/13 and radio silence, what do I do??? What does this mean??

Check your spam folder just in case! And otherwise, don’t assume the worst. They may just not have sent yours out yet. You can also email admissions since it has been over three weeks now. Hope you get it soon!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I know this is super late, but for the LORs -- are the MD/DO letters required? They phrased it slightly weird on the website and I can't tell if those letters are absolutely required or just recommended to have.

Edit: In terms of letter content, I have a research letter from an MD (vs. their clinical experience content recommendation).
 
I know this is super late, but for the LORs -- are the MD/DO letters required? They phrased it slightly weird on the website and I can't tell if those letters are absolutely required or just recommended to have.

Edit: In terms of letter content, I have a research letter from an MD (vs. their clinical experience content recommendation).
I would call them directly and ask. It seems like it wouldn't be an issue but DMU is big on their applicants having some sort of clinical experiences
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I know this is super late, but for the LORs -- are the MD/DO letters required? They phrased it slightly weird on the website and I can't tell if those letters are absolutely required or just recommended to have.

Edit: In terms of letter content, I have a research letter from an MD (vs. their clinical experience content recommendation).

I only had a letter from an MD and got an II
 
But did the MD talk about clinical experience for you? Or research?

A letter from a doctor is a letter from a doctor. They want to ensure that you understand the medical field and what a doctor does before you sign the next 7+ years of your life away. Yes, a clinically-focused letter is probably better... but a research-focused one will probably be ok. If the letter is research-focused, make sure your activities highlight clinical exposure.
 
Thank you so much for the reply! Are the rotations primarily ward or preceptor based?

Also, does anyone know where I can find recent information about USMLE score/pass rate and allopathic vs osteopathic residency matching?

The 2019 class did well on boards (above average USMLE, WAY above average COMLEX). Have to look through my emails to find the exact averages.

Preceptor vs ward depends on your site. All of my rotations have been purely inpatient except for family medicine, and even my family doc admits his own patients to a hospital in the area so we're still managing them on the floor there.

Rotation requirements 4th year were just changed. We no longer are required to do 4 more weeks of FM in the 4th year and those 4 weeks became vacation time to use at your discretion (with some guidelines like you can't be on vacation during the first week of any term). Other requirements with 4 weeks of community/rural, inpatient IM and EM if not done in 3rd year remain.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
A letter from a doctor is a letter from a doctor. They want to ensure that you understand the medical field and what a doctor does before you sign the next 7+ years of your life away. Yes, a clinically-focused letter is probably better... but a research-focused one will probably be ok. If the letter is research-focused, make sure your activities highlight clinical exposure.
gotcha! I'll call the school this afternoon and confirm with admissions. thanks!
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Anyone interviewing tomorrow?
 
Sooo has anyone not heard back until after other people in their interview group and people that interviewed after them...?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Top