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Are you an accepted student? If so, you can go ahead and request to join the KCU Residency Match 2018 group on Facebook and check it out for yourself. That's what I did!
2017-2018 Kansas City University (KCU-COM)
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For those on the waitlist, are you sending 1 or more letters of intent? I'm getting some mixed opinions after reading the forums on SDN. Some people say consistently sending letters gets you noticed and the persistence may pay off, while others say it's annoying and only to send another letter if there is something significant to update admissions on.
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I am, but I'm one of those "nontraditional" old students who doesn't use facebook anymore
I wouldn't send multiple, but that's just me
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I tried to do this but I didn't get in
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Any current students know whether there's a particular type of stethoscope we're required to get?
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I wouldn’t send multiple letters of intent/interest but sending in updates periodically would definitely be appropriate. Stick with one letter of intent and multiple updates (unless you only have enough for one update letter to send) and rope in some points of continued interest into the update letters, but do NOT be repetitive in your points of interest in different letters. Good luck my friend
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I am interested in urology at this point in my life. I know it's super competitive and that there are very few AOA residency spots. Does anyone know if any KCU students matched urology this year?
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Can anyone comment on the Waitlist movement here?
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Awesome, thank you!
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What about gen surg?
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Thank you so much for the advice! What do you think is worthy of an update letter. More volunteering? More shadowing? Another recommendation letter? I'm out of school and not doing research.
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Yes, all those would be great to include. If you increased hours for anything (volunteering, shadowing, work experience at your current job), try to link those experiences to how it has shaped/influenced you. For example, if i was teacher, I’d make some points about how the increased hours continue to build leadership and communication skills, my ability to motivate others, etc. You could link the volunteering and shadowing hours to expanding your understanding of medicine, how it has confirmed your desire to be a physician, gives you a sense of purpose, there are so many ways to positively spin your updates and make a solid case for why you are a good fit for the school and how you can add to the class. As for the letter of recommendation, I would submit that separately and send an email to admissions saying that you want to add that LOR to your file. Don’t forget to rope in points of continued interest and how you can add to the class in those update letters! Feel free to PM me if you want to brainstorm some ideas - if I know what you do for a job/shadowing and volunteering experience, I may be able to help you be more specific in your letters, but of course, only what you’re comfortable sharing with me. Cheers!
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Definitely a few (at least) gen surg. Also several ortho and at least two ENT.
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Sad to say, but I will be giving up my seat here. Hopefully one of y'all gets it!
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Current 4th year addressing a lot of points, so sorry for the long post.
Too much imo. I took Level 1 late in the dedicated period and wish I had taken it 2 weeks sooner. I scored significantly lower than my practice exams and I think burnout played a role.
Disagree on the affordable point (definitely most convenient). You can find cheaper places. Other than first year, I lived in houses that were both 1500+ sq feet and total rent was $900/mo on each. You can find much better places than CT if you look into houses, but you have to search harder.
My class had an average Level 1 of 553 (nat avg 517) and Step 1 of 225 or 226 (nat avg 229) with over 80% of my class taking Step 1. Not sure about Step/Level 2, but as far as I know we were fine there as well.
~1,000 to $1,500 per year. As was already said, KCU is very transparent with this and during my first 2 years tuition actually decreased.
No, not other than a fridge and maybe one or two other kitchen things. Keep in Mind CT is not student housing, it's an actual apartment complex that just so happens to have a ton of students living there.
Hopefully soon (I thought it was sooner than June, but idk), if you've got individual questions feel free to PM me.
Just a fair warning, KCU does an excellent job matching people into some competitive fields (ortho, derm, ENT), but uro is not one of them and historically we're not great there. If you're interested, start doing research and building connections early to give yourself the best chance possible. It's a rough field in general for DOs to get into, and our school is not an exception.
My class had 6 ortho and 3 ENT that I know of. We also had a few really strong gen surgery matches like U Wash (a top 10 program nationally) this year. Keep in mind, those people are very strong applicants and you'll need to bust your butt for those positions. Generally we do well with gen surg though and when I was a first year the graduating class matched 30 people into the field.
I will try and do this tonight when I get home. As said, a ton of gas and other TRI matches this year, so our list may look worse than it actually is (like Hopkins, lol).
Too much imo. I took Level 1 late in the dedicated period and wish I had taken it 2 weeks sooner. I scored significantly lower than my practice exams and I think burnout played a role.
Disagree on the affordable point (definitely most convenient). You can find cheaper places. Other than first year, I lived in houses that were both 1500+ sq feet and total rent was $900/mo on each. You can find much better places than CT if you look into houses, but you have to search harder.
My class had an average Level 1 of 553 (nat avg 517) and Step 1 of 225 or 226 (nat avg 229) with over 80% of my class taking Step 1. Not sure about Step/Level 2, but as far as I know we were fine there as well.
~1,000 to $1,500 per year. As was already said, KCU is very transparent with this and during my first 2 years tuition actually decreased.
No, not other than a fridge and maybe one or two other kitchen things. Keep in Mind CT is not student housing, it's an actual apartment complex that just so happens to have a ton of students living there.
Hopefully soon (I thought it was sooner than June, but idk), if you've got individual questions feel free to PM me.
Just a fair warning, KCU does an excellent job matching people into some competitive fields (ortho, derm, ENT), but uro is not one of them and historically we're not great there. If you're interested, start doing research and building connections early to give yourself the best chance possible. It's a rough field in general for DOs to get into, and our school is not an exception.
My class had 6 ortho and 3 ENT that I know of. We also had a few really strong gen surgery matches like U Wash (a top 10 program nationally) this year. Keep in mind, those people are very strong applicants and you'll need to bust your butt for those positions. Generally we do well with gen surg though and when I was a first year the graduating class matched 30 people into the field.
I will try and do this tonight when I get home. As said, a ton of gas and other TRI matches this year, so our list may look worse than it actually is (like Hopkins, lol).
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Hi! Does anyone know what the schedule is for Accepted Students Day this Friday? I just RSVP'd yesterday... booked a last minute flight from Canada with my momma! Also, what's the dress code? Can't wait to meet you all!!! And I hope those of you on the waitlist hear good news soon. I know what it feels like to be waitlisted (I was waitlisted at an MD school for almost 10 months last year and then got rejected the day school started). Hang in there and keep your heads up high!!!
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God bless! Main KC campus or Joplin?
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How does KCU do in Neurosurgery? I'll bust my butt if I have to, but any kind of support/connections I can get?
No dress code
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Check-in is from 8:30 to 9 am and the whole day should be over around 2:15 according to the schedule they sent us. Dress code is casual-- they said jeans and t-shirts are fine. See you there!
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Those of you going to accepted students' day. Plz report back
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KC campus
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How are tests made up during year 1 and 2? Are they pulled from previous USLME/NBME questions?
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I know that this may be a little further down the line. But can any of the current students here tell me if the rotation sites listed on the KCU website are available for all KCU students. I know that all of the sites have the KC symbol beside it but only a few have the Joplin symbol. Is it because the Joplin campus students have preference at these sites? Or are they not allowed to rotate at the other sites? (I posted this on the KCU-joplin forum just wanted to know if anyone else herd anything lately?)
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As promised, the short list from the FB group of people who matched but will be listed as either pre-lim or TRI:
Baltimore pre-lim --> Cooper University (radiology)
Cinci --> UIC (radiology)
UMKC --> Ohio State (radiology)
UMKC --> Baylor (PM&R)
UMKC --> Case Western (PM&R)
unlisted pre-lim --> Advocate IL (radiology)
Mizzou (surg pre-lim) --> Mizzou (PM&R)
There is also a person doing a pre-lim at UC Irvine who I believe is going into PM&R, but I'm not sure if that's also at UC-Irvine or if it's somewhere else. Note: this is by no means a comprehensive list as not everyone posted where they matched on FB (I know many who did not and matched into their top choice).
Similar to uro. Like other highly competitive fields, it's not the most DO friendly and there aren't that many AOA positions. I know of the 3 people in my class who were initially interested, 1 ended up in ENT/plastics, and 2 ended up in radiology. So they still matched well, just not into neurosurgery (and I don't think they ended up trying to go for neurosurg). I was never interested in the field, so I don't know how tough it would be to get connections at KCU, but like uro I'd jump into research right away and try and make connections early if possible.
When I was going through they were written by professors and not pulled from any Qbanks for several reasons (answers available online, having to pay to use the tests, etc). I thought the tests were fair for the most part and if most of the class had issues with a question because of how it was written they usually dropped it for us. Some of my classmates may disagree, but I thought the tests were decently written (and I was not near the top of our class).
Baltimore pre-lim --> Cooper University (radiology)
Cinci --> UIC (radiology)
UMKC --> Ohio State (radiology)
UMKC --> Baylor (PM&R)
UMKC --> Case Western (PM&R)
unlisted pre-lim --> Advocate IL (radiology)
Mizzou (surg pre-lim) --> Mizzou (PM&R)
There is also a person doing a pre-lim at UC Irvine who I believe is going into PM&R, but I'm not sure if that's also at UC-Irvine or if it's somewhere else. Note: this is by no means a comprehensive list as not everyone posted where they matched on FB (I know many who did not and matched into their top choice).
Similar to uro. Like other highly competitive fields, it's not the most DO friendly and there aren't that many AOA positions. I know of the 3 people in my class who were initially interested, 1 ended up in ENT/plastics, and 2 ended up in radiology. So they still matched well, just not into neurosurgery (and I don't think they ended up trying to go for neurosurg). I was never interested in the field, so I don't know how tough it would be to get connections at KCU, but like uro I'd jump into research right away and try and make connections early if possible.
When I was going through they were written by professors and not pulled from any Qbanks for several reasons (answers available online, having to pay to use the tests, etc). I thought the tests were fair for the most part and if most of the class had issues with a question because of how it was written they usually dropped it for us. Some of my classmates may disagree, but I thought the tests were decently written (and I was not near the top of our class).
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Literally nobody goes to NSGY from DO schools. Very rare. There are some, but they match AOA programs (not to discredit them at all, but the nature of NSGY is very research intensive, with resources that DO and their affiliated hospitals lack). I don't think anyone has matched ACGME NSGY (will probably bet that none have matched directly out of med school). TBH, if you are gunning for neurosurg (and dead set about it) you are better off taking a few years to best your app and apply MD.
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As if this moment, Joplin students can only rotate where you see the Joplin “sticker” on the site. I can guarantee this will change multiple times before 2021 picks sites, much less any later classes.
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Can anyone explain if there is a disadvantage going to an AOA credited residency instead of an ACGME one?
This won't even be a thing by the time you go through the match.
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Like Coltuana said, there won't be any AOA residencies when you graduate. However, the current understanding is that previous AOA residencies will still prefer DO graduates. Whether or not that is true, only time will tell.
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Hey can anyone explain to me how kcumb kc does clinical rotations? Ive read that most peolpe end up having to go to different states.
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They are currently working to create local clusters of clerkships for 3rd year. For example, the Joplin campus will emphasize Freeman, Mercy, Cox (in Springfield) and Via Christi (in Pittsburg, KS). Essentially, keeping students within about an hour of the campus for didactics. It is not finalized, but they are attempting to have it for clerkships starting in 2020.
Could you talk more about didactics? I was always under the impression that these were offered by the hospital. Are they actually offered by the school and take place at the school?
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I believe what @DrRedstone was implying is that the pod system is trying to keep you closer to Joplin, while limiting this access for KC campus (don’t fully quote me on this as I don’t know how true this is since I’m a 2nd year, but I’ll go with it). Didactics are essentially a super fancy word for “lecture”. So, after your didactic training in Joplin, you would go to those sites. Part of your clinical training includes a didactic portion completed at the hospital. Real world analogy: I complete my first 2 years of didactic training in 2 weeks. I will have some hospital based didactics next year specific to my rotation at my core site. Hopefully I interpreted your question correctly.
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Thank you!
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The bolded is actually not true. There are some DOs who match ACGME neurosurgery, I met one on a rotation in one of the suburbs near my med school. They are very uncommon though, largely because the vast majority of DOs gunning for neurosurgery apply to the AOA programs and aren't willing to risk going all in on ACGME programs. The ones who match AOA get automatically withdrawn from the ACGME match, the ones who don't match AOA typically aren't strong enough to match ACGME. So the few DOs who end up in ACGME neurosurg programs are typically the most outstanding applicants in the match with the guts to skip AOA.
As a side note, the most difficult ACGME field for DOs to match into is actually integrated plastics (this is without including the hyper-specialized fields in which only 2 or 3 programs may exist). The number of DOs to ever match into ACGME plastics programs can be counted on one hand (2-4 total), and the first DO to match into ACGME plastics is a KCU alum who graduated in 2011 (matched at KU plastic surgery, currently a fellow at Cleveland Clinic).
They are simply lectures as previously stated. In residency, almost every program will have protected time for didactics which typically occur for a few hours once a week. During clinical rotations this will depend on where your core rotations are. If you do your 3rd year in KC, you'll have 3 days of 3rd year where you will miss your rotation and have OMM didactics on campus. Other than that, it's at the discretion of your attendings/preceptor (almost none in KC have actual didactics, but a few will do an hour or two here and there). At some of the hospital-based core sites, you may have didactics weekly with the residents or not at all. It will just depend on your rotation site and how they have it set up.
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So for years 3 and 4, do students even have apartments in KC, or do they basically just hop around short term leases wherever their rotations are?
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Year 3 is 100% done at your core site, so you live where in that city (KC, Denver, Joplin, etc). Year 4 is what you want it to be. Many do sub-i’s at their current core or you use VSAS to secure sub-i’s where you want. Many hospitals offer reduced rate housing to visiting med students, but not all.
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What does everyone think about living in KC, especially those not from there? I’m from the West Coast so it is a bit different for me. I thought the city was neat, but I couldn’t help but notice the amount of trash/litter everywhere...
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It's cause KCU is located in the bad part of KC, it gets nicer more north and south.
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How are core sites assigned? Class rank? Sorry I probably should have asked this on my tour haha
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Core sites for rotations are a lottery. Most people do get their 1st or 2nd pick though. Class rank is updated at the end of every block.
I just saw on the matriculation website that we’ll need to buy a med kid and then it gives the link to the “required medical equipment.” Instead if saying “you need x y and z” it only shows one brand/model of otoscope, opthalmoscope, steth, etc.
http://cdn.agilitycms.com/kansas-ci...ents/admissions/2018_Medical_Supply_Flier.pdf
Can we get whatever good brand we want so as to not have to pay $900+ for that kit? Or do they need us all to have the exact same equipment?
http://cdn.agilitycms.com/kansas-ci...ents/admissions/2018_Medical_Supply_Flier.pdf
Can we get whatever good brand we want so as to not have to pay $900+ for that kit? Or do they need us all to have the exact same equipment?
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Yeah, you can get your own, but you need all the required. Most people buy from 2nd years though at half-price.
So even though they only list a certain make and model on the “required” list, we can order whichever make and model we want?
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