2017-2018 Western U of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Lebanon

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Thank you! Absolutely. (1) I felt COMP NW is very welcoming, while the staff as well as students are personable and professional. The emphasis and culture of the school is cooperative and supportive, and there is a definite air of levity and humor that is pervasive. They administration puts great emphasis on inclusiveness, cohesion within the student body, kindness, and enthusiasm. The school itself is a small well designed space with natural light, a living wall, a grand piano, and extra curricular activities room. It is very calming and holistic feeling, which is not a surprise because of how they stress a balanced lifestyle while in medical school. (2) The school places great emphasis on academic excellence, and students seem to have a great deal of integrity. However, academic excellence is recognized as an extension of the emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing of the students. The school has a track record of excellent board scores and excellent residencies. They serve the philosphical framework of osteopathy and it’s manifest OMM, and they don’t propound the reductionism of osteopathy to strictly primary care. Although primary care is fantastic, and admirable, osteopathy can be a boon in any specialty. COMP NW recognizes this and has provisions to provide preparation for many specialities. Additionally, they are very progressive in terms of serving the needs of their students and improving the way physicians care for themselves. I would go into more detail on this, if you like. There are many instances you can find online and on their website, and through speaking with staff and students. However, for me to expound on it would take a while. Please feel free to write me though if you want to have a more personal conversation about it. One added note, the region is gorgeous and welcoming. The town itself is rather small, but the community is embrasive, inclusive, and generous. (3) Not sure on how to focus this response. I was interviewed by a staff member as well as a current student representative. The questions were what you would expect in terms of background and academic questions. I was asked one ethical question and one circumstantial question for which I established a framework and answered in a way that would give them both insight into my thought process/method of intellectualising and my values/underlying motivations. Very conversational overall. The interview day was all about diffusing the anxiety that is sometimes inherent in the process itself.
Wow. Thank you for taking to time to give us your thoughts. And I apologize for the delayed response as I needed a break from this forum XD.

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Did your friends think it was worth it? Would they do it again if they could go back in time?

They did. It forced them to become very good at anatomy in a short period of time. Yeah your life is kinda miserable for a few weeks, but it makes the actual semester a bit easier since you don't have to take anatomy. Plus you act as a TA for your class.
 
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ISAC is a pretty intense few weeks. Your whole life is literally studying for anatomy. A few of my good friends did it and they basically said the most important thing was staying on top of the material. Its definitely doable and then its nice that you don't have to take it during the year.

They did. It forced them to become very good at anatomy in a short period of time. Yeah your life is kinda miserable for a few weeks, but it makes the actual semester a bit easier since you don't have to take anatomy. Plus you act as a TA for your class.

Thanks @sprinter16 ! :)
 
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Interviewed 2/17 and accepted today via phone call!
 
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Can anyone elaborate on the day-to-day here? i.e. what time do classes start for first years? is it mandatory? which classes/labs are mandatory? do you get a lunch break? what time do you leave? etc...
 
Can anyone elaborate on the day-to-day here? i.e. what time do classes start for first years? is it mandatory? which classes/labs are mandatory? do you get a lunch break? what time do you leave? etc...
So I can comment on most of this. Lecture is for the most part optional (its super nice watching it on 2x speed). The classes that are mandatory are OMM and ECM (the "how to be a doctor course") and those are only once a week for four hours on Monday and Tuesday. Some of the time its two hours of each, but sometimes when you have SP encounters it'll be four hours of ECM one day and four hours of OMM the next.
We do get a lunch break every day from 12-1. Sometimes there are meetings during those times but most of the time those that go to class take that lunch break!
Now as far as what time classes start that varies every day, especially with the curriculum changes coming up. For example, during anatomy we often had anatomy lectures starting at 8, but now that we are in systems we have classes starting anywhere from 9-12 and a couple hours in the afternoon. But again, a lot of people don't go to class so its nice having all that time to study.
 
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So I can comment on most of this. Lecture is for the most part optional (its super nice watching it on 2x speed). The classes that are mandatory are OMM and ECM (the "how to be a doctor course") and those are only once a week for four hours on Monday and Tuesday. Some of the time its two hours of each, but sometimes when you have SP encounters it'll be four hours of ECM one day and four hours of OMM the next.
We do get a lunch break every day from 12-1. Sometimes there are meetings during those times but most of the time those that go to class take that lunch break!
Now as far as what time classes start that varies every day, especially with the curriculum changes coming up. For example, during anatomy we often had anatomy lectures starting at 8, but now that we are in systems we have classes starting anywhere from 9-12 and a couple hours in the afternoon. But again, a lot of people don't go to class so its nice having all that time to study.

Wow, thank you! That was so informative. It'll be intersting to see what they do with the curriculum change. Hopefully they have that out soon.
 
So I can comment on most of this. Lecture is for the most part optional (its super nice watching it on 2x speed). The classes that are mandatory are OMM and ECM (the "how to be a doctor course") and those are only once a week for four hours on Monday and Tuesday. Some of the time its two hours of each, but sometimes when you have SP encounters it'll be four hours of ECM one day and four hours of OMM the next.
We do get a lunch break every day from 12-1. Sometimes there are meetings during those times but most of the time those that go to class take that lunch break!
Now as far as what time classes start that varies every day, especially with the curriculum changes coming up. For example, during anatomy we often had anatomy lectures starting at 8, but now that we are in systems we have classes starting anywhere from 9-12 and a couple hours in the afternoon. But again, a lot of people don't go to class so its nice having all that time to study.

Would you mind sharing the pros and cons of the curriculum as well. I feel like western has had a bad rep on sdn when it comes to the curriculum. Things ive read include the fact that its too OMM heavy and that takes study time away. Also, personally spoke to students from both canpuses who said IPE is a waste of time.
 
Would you mind sharing the pros and cons of the curriculum as well. I feel like western has had a bad rep on sdn when it comes to the curriculum. Things ive read include the fact that its too OMM heavy and that takes study time away. Also, personally spoke to students from both canpuses who said IPE is a waste of time.

Yeah IPE is a gigantic waste of time. We all complain about it but they are constantly working to improve it. Every year is a bit better and its honestly not that big of a deal to just get through it. First year we sometimes have to go to Albany/Corvallis to meet with the OSU pharm students, MA students, and nursing students but then in second year it doesn't take nearly as much time as you do a lot of independent stuff.

We have 4 hours of OMM a week, but this will possibly change with the new curriculum. One cool side note, yeah this seems like a lot of time (and sometimes it feels like it), but we do have a great OMM program. One of our professors trained under the guy that invented counterstrain which is one of the techniques you'll learn. Its awesome to get treated by him and we call him the magician as he seems to be able to fix anything. I personally like OMM, so its not a big time suck for me. Yeah there are treatments that I think are ridiculous and I will never use in my practice, but there are others that I feel have a lot of value and that I will enjoy using.

From what I know of the new curriculum it actually sounds better than what we have as the goal is going to be less lecture time which will ultimately lead to more dedicated study time for when boards come around. The nice thing is that most lectures aren't required meaning you can sit in your pjs at home and watch it on double speed. Like I just finished four hours of lecture in just over two hours this morning by watching last years lectures. Us second years next year will also be more than willing to show you any and all outside resources that we used for our classes that will likely help you a bunch even with the curriculum change!

Cons I guess would be that sometimes they try to squeeze a ton of information into a short period of time, which doesn't always work. There are times when I get super overwhelmed with the volume of information and if a professor wasn't good at explaining something I have to turn to outside resources like Sketchy or another book to help my understanding. However, I feel like this is a common problem amongst medical schools. Another con I guess that kinda goes along with my previous point would be the class called MCBM (Molecular and Cellular Basis of Medicine). We took it last semester and it was basically a whole undergrad biology degree in six weeks. It wasn't very well organized and it was a difficult class, however this again will change with the new curriculum so it's not necessarily something you would need to worry about. The new curriculum is going to allow you to have multiple passes on the material before dedicated period even starts so you'll know your weak points early!

Let me know if you have any other questions or need any other points of clarification.
 
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@sprinter16
any tips on "must-haves" as a first year? book/study materials, gadgets, etc.

I highly recommend you have a way to organize your notes. Second years will discuss this during welcome week, but most of us use either Microsoft OneNote or Notability. Makes it way easier to make it through classes with everything in one place and plus you can write directly on the slides or below in the notes section if you don't have a tablet.

You won't need many books as a lot of them are already available to you online. However I would highly recommend a Netters atlas and Netters Clinical Anatomy for anatomy. They saved me more times than I can count. Also First Aid may help so if you want to annotate you can, though I know a lot of people (including myself) that haven't really done much with that quite yet other than read it.

Sketchy/Picmonic and Pathoma are amazing, however definitely hold off on buying those as you guys will all buy it together as a class. Other than that I would kinda wait to see what your study style is like and/or wait for the second years to discuss this during welcome week. We all have our own preferences/recommendations so its really whatever you find works for you.

Gadget wise... Get some type of hot beverage maker that'll make you tea, coffee, hot chocolate or other good things. Its amazing how much this improves your spirits while studying. You won't really need a ton of notebooks or anything if you have OneNote or Notability, but pens and blank paper are useful to draw out pathways or write one page summaries of lectures if thats the way you choose to study.

In summary: Netters and the Netters Clinical Anatomy would be the only books I really recommend for now. Others will be available to you online and the second years will have a ton of advice for outside resources during welcome week and during the first few months of school so definitely don't worry about anything else right now. Get a warm beverage maker and kinda check out OneNote or Notability to see what you like better!
 
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Would anyone who got accepted mind posting their GPA and MCAT scores? I am a nontrad with a GPA of 3.54. I take my MCAT in a couple weeks. I hope to get 508+.
 
Would anyone who got accepted mind posting their GPA and MCAT scores? I am a nontrad with a GPA of 3.54. I take my MCAT in a couple weeks. I hope to get 508+.

That’s about what my cGPA was (sGPA ~3.25) and I had a 511
 
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That’s about what my cGPA was (sGPA ~3.25) and I had a 511

Thanks! That is quite the MCAT score, good job! What do you think got you the acceptance if you don't mind me asking? Do you think their focus was on one thing in particular or an accumulation of things?
 
Thanks! That is quite the MCAT score, good job! What do you think got you the acceptance if you don't mind me asking? Do you think their focus was on one thing in particular or an accumulation of things?

Thanks! I felt really good about that interview--I connected well with all my interviewers and think it was really smooth and conversational. I'm not sure how much the MMIs factored in, but I felt pretty awkward through mine. Granted, I bet a lot of people do and I did at least feel confident that I didn't come off as a psychopath haha. I'd assume that most of their evaluation of you comes from the interview, since you know that they already like your numbers if you're sitting there in the first place!
 
Looks like there hasn't been a ton of movement going on from the alternate list. Has anyone heard from admissions lately?
 
Just withdrew my acceptance. Hope it goes to one of you!
 
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I've been waiting years to say this.... accepted :) off the highly ranked alt list yesterday afternoon. Extremely excited to be joining you guys this fall. Cheers!
 
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I've been waiting years to say this.... accepted :) off the highly ranked alt list yesterday afternoon. Extremely excited to be joining you guys this fall. Cheers!
congrats! may i ask how did you know that you are highly ranked in the waitlist?
 
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@sprinter16 or any other current students - when/how long is summer break between M1 and M2? Not that I'm already looking forward to it, just making some longer-term plans with family ;)
 
Our break this year is from June 15th when we have our last test to August 13th which is the first day of classes. So a little less than 2 months!
 
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Accepted as of last night! Declining the offer to attend Campbell University. Best of luck to all of you!!!
 
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Is there a big in-state bias? Should an out-of-state student bother applying?
 
Is there a big in-state bias? Should an out-of-state student bother applying?
Most people that interviewed same day as me were OOS. So, even if there is slight bias they accept plenty of OOS applicants
 
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Would anyone who got accepted mind posting their GPA and MCAT scores? I am a nontrad with a GPA of 3.54. I take my MCAT in a couple weeks. I hope to get 508+.

sGPA 3.3 cGPA 3.5 MCAT 505

Non-trad as yourself (psych degree, worked in EMS as EMT and ER/Trauma tech)

If you have any specific questions, you ca PM me. I'd be happy to help!
 
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