To those currently living in Hattiesburg, what areas should I keep in mind, or avoid, when it comes time to find something to rent? My situation requires me to rent a home instead of apartment with at least 3 bedrooms.
2017-2018 William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine (WCU-COM)
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Anyone received their acceptance packet in the mail yet?
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I got mine in the mail yesterday, but I live 2.5 hours away from Hattiesburg.
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Eh, I haven’t really experienced that. There are some PITA policies and some of the professors are subpar, but I don’t see it that way. With the exception of Histology and Dr. Dingleberry, the faculty are more than adequate. Most of them do go out of their way to help you out.
PS: reveal yourself(fellow MS1)
Another first year here, haven't been on this site in a while. I agree with the above statement. Not that bad, more the usual med school frustrations, although maybe a little more than most. I say this having had good friends and past roommates go through allopathic med schools, along with knowing some who have gone through WC. The extra headaches I can think of are more related to going the DO route, so be aware of that in general. Of note, I've been told some of the more frustrating staff from the earlier years have left, but there are some still around. Also, last year's COMLEX I scores were the school's highest so far. More than likely this is related to the suspension of attendance due to the tornado, but to be honest there are several classes that don't officially take attendance. Also, they switched to a more integrated curriculum so the classes are more in sync with one another. The dean has stated they will take another look at the attendance policy, although I'm dubious as other have posters have noted. It's in the syllabus, but you can get away with not going for some. For me personally, I've started to go and just block out anyone I don't want to listen to and read power points or the book. It seems from both anecdotal and objective evidence the situation here has been gradually improving. I will note that there are several professors, both in the clinical and basic sciences, that I do like and think are fairly good teachers. I think they outweigh any professors that are viewed negatively by the students. For the most part, I'd say its just med school. It kind of sucks, and unfortunately its not somewhere like Tulane or whatever where you can just go around getting pass/fail grades. Get in, get something out of your first two years, take not just COMLEX I, but also Step I, and get out. Now the 3rd and 4th years are a little more up in the air here at the moment, but if you're coming in as a pre-med don't have that on your radar as much.
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I have not, but if you call the office, they would likely be very receptive to providing an email copy. I contacted Ms. Day as my Navy recruiter required evidence of the letter, and she provided me with an email copy without me requesting it. Ms. Day also mentioned that they tend to be slow in getting letters to recipients, particularly for those located in different states.
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Living situation Response: Most students live in about three different apartment complexes on the west side of HWY-49 in Hattiesburg. Some students live in the old downtown part of Hattiesburg in some recently remodeled loft apartments. Downtown is really close to school, but the three apartment complexes are good because that's where most students live, and it's convenient to live near your classmates. The area immediately around WCU is still in reconstruction from the tornado, however, there are two newer apartment complexes, but they are government housing from what I've heard and no one lives immediately around WCU.
Keep in mind that Hattiesburg is also home to a Division I college and a junior college so there are plenty of options in good areas.
For those accepted there should be a facebook group for your entering class. Once you get accepted you can e-mail you student guides to see about getting added to it so you can discuss roommate arrangements and whatnot with your classmates.
Also, I haven't experienced the what GEToutLADYits6AM is talking about with "professors trying to fail" students. Realistically, our exams are fair with the exception of a specific course and specific professor that asked a few extremely detailed questions on a previous exam. There were only about 5 questions out of 40ish? like that, and missing those five questions should not be the reason you are failing a course. I think some people are having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that they are in medical school now and this is a full/overtime job which means you absolutely have to cut back your tv watching / cross knitting / redditing, etc. during your first year.
Keep in mind that Hattiesburg is also home to a Division I college and a junior college so there are plenty of options in good areas.
For those accepted there should be a facebook group for your entering class. Once you get accepted you can e-mail you student guides to see about getting added to it so you can discuss roommate arrangements and whatnot with your classmates.
Also, I haven't experienced the what GEToutLADYits6AM is talking about with "professors trying to fail" students. Realistically, our exams are fair with the exception of a specific course and specific professor that asked a few extremely detailed questions on a previous exam. There were only about 5 questions out of 40ish? like that, and missing those five questions should not be the reason you are failing a course. I think some people are having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that they are in medical school now and this is a full/overtime job which means you absolutely have to cut back your tv watching / cross knitting / redditing, etc. during your first year.
Get on Craigslist at some point. There are usually houses catering to USM students up for rent in the summer before classes start that have 2-3 bedrooms. As far as apartments go the main ones are Breckenridge (on US-49, on the other side of I-59), along with Reserve, Parkwest, Cross Creek, and Turtle Creek, which are along US-98. Most of the med school students live in one of these or Breckenridge. Another one in that same US-98 area is opening up next year called the MET. There is another one closer to USM's campus that's nice called Crown at Longleaf Trace. There are a ton of apartments here, with a wide range of prices and amenities. You can go dirt cheap here, but I don't recommend it. The downtown buildings are nice and a little closer to campus, but they don't have the amenities of the larger apartment complexes and cost a little more. Just go to the Apartments website and look around, probably sticking to those I listed above. I would say most of the bigger and nicer complexes are a 15-20ish minute drive to and from school. Hattiesburg has kind of heavier traffic for a smaller city, especially in the morning and evening, but it could be much worse.
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My interview here is this Friday. Did any of yall bring things with you to the interview. I interviewed at ARCOM and only took a pen which was all they wanted us to bring, but wondering if it is different here? Also, any last minute advice?
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You won’t need to bring anything. Just be yourself and be honest. Know why DO, why William Carey, and just be willing to have a conversation. It really is super laid back.
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I second this. You don't need to bring anything except yourself. The entire orientation was set up in a way that makes you feel as if you're already accepted, and Dr. Weir mentioned multiple times that if you get an interview, they want you there. I particularly agree with the willingness to converse, they love that. I will say, while it is certainly laid-back, don't expect all sunshine and smiles. My interview was extremely conversational but the panel kept facial expressions and tones relatively neutral - not a negative at all, just don't mistake laid-back for overly-friendly; if you go in and there's not much smiling, don't worry at all.
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Hey guys, a little off topic, but how would you compare WCU to BCOM? I have an interview on Monday for BCOM that I might decline, since I also have ARCOM on Friday. It’s quite expensive to travel to Las Cruces hence was wondering. Thanks!
D
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Tough to say, as BCOM is a fairly new school. Could you see yourself living in Las Cruces, NM? That should give you your answer. Also, go post in the BCOM thread and see if you can reach out to some current students there.
IMO, I would look at all options possible before committing to Carey.
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Echoing what kovalchuck71 said.... If you have the opportunity then definitely go see every school you can (in person / interview), and make your decision based on where you see yourself getting the most out of that medical school experience. It may sound silly, but make a Pros-vs-Cons list. Talk to the admins, talk to the students, talk to any doctors that would know about the school, etc...
I'm generally a pragmatic person so when I came and toured and interviewed I kept my feelings indifferent. (I was excited, but I did not want to let that excitement cloud my judgement). I kept that same approach as school started and over the course of this semester I have found myself enjoying being at Carey more and more. I like WCUCOM, my classmates are pretty cool, and am proud of where I go. Sure, there are moments when I get a little frustrated with something that is a procedural thing, or something trivial, but overall I feel like I'm getting a good education and I feel like our clinician professors are all experienced and will do a good job of training us. The course content, books, etc, are the same as what friends of mine at several other schools are using and I'm confident we are being educated on how to be good scientific doctors that will go out and do right by our future patients. The classes are smaller and it makes for a closer, almost family-like feel which makes it easier to approach classmates when I'm having difficulty with a concept and vice versa.
However, clearly there are some people who enrolled here and did not have the same experience as me or everyone else. .........'Different strokes for different folks' I guess. Long story short...see as many schools as you can.
I'm generally a pragmatic person so when I came and toured and interviewed I kept my feelings indifferent. (I was excited, but I did not want to let that excitement cloud my judgement). I kept that same approach as school started and over the course of this semester I have found myself enjoying being at Carey more and more. I like WCUCOM, my classmates are pretty cool, and am proud of where I go. Sure, there are moments when I get a little frustrated with something that is a procedural thing, or something trivial, but overall I feel like I'm getting a good education and I feel like our clinician professors are all experienced and will do a good job of training us. The course content, books, etc, are the same as what friends of mine at several other schools are using and I'm confident we are being educated on how to be good scientific doctors that will go out and do right by our future patients. The classes are smaller and it makes for a closer, almost family-like feel which makes it easier to approach classmates when I'm having difficulty with a concept and vice versa.
However, clearly there are some people who enrolled here and did not have the same experience as me or everyone else. .........'Different strokes for different folks' I guess. Long story short...see as many schools as you can.
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Hey guys,
When do we get the info on the background check, etc? is that before or after the deposit?
When do we get the info on the background check, etc? is that before or after the deposit?
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Lol thanks!
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I will be withdrawing my acceptance here. I hope one of you lovely people gets it!
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Hey guys! Quick question, I want to withdraw my application but since WCUCOM doesn't have a portal, do I just email LaDonna, Davidson - She sent the secondary invitation email. I just want to ensure I'm officially withdrawing, and not just MIA.
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Email works fine.
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Yes they screen pretty heavily for secondaries. After reading a bunch of posts from previous years (and asking a similar question myself on this forum), I think they only send secondaries to people they intend to interview and have a pretty high secondary:interview ratio.
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Based on my experience:
Once you submit your secondary, you WILL NOT hear back from them unless you get an invite to interview, or get immediately rejected (I don't know how often they even do that tbh). I submitted and was complete at the end of October and did not hear a single word until the end of Feb. with my II.
They did notify me when I was complete, but that was it.
Once you submit your secondary, you WILL NOT hear back from them unless you get an invite to interview, or get immediately rejected (I don't know how often they even do that tbh). I submitted and was complete at the end of October and did not hear a single word until the end of Feb. with my II.
They did notify me when I was complete, but that was it.
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According to Dr. Turner they were going to call today about acceptances for my interview last week. I guess I didn't get in because it almost 5.
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Try calling them. I called and found out I got accepted (this is earlier on, for 10/30 interview)
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They're pretty good about sticking to their word about calling you on the day they said\. If you did not receive a call then I would wait until that Friday and call up there as ask about your status...let them know you interviewed and wanted to make sure you had not missed a phone call or anything.
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I never got a call before receiving my acceptance in the mail. I wouldn’t stress too much over it. They could just be busy and unable to call.
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Called this morning, got waitlisted. Waitlisted at ARCOM and here. Waiting game continues.
If you're waitlisted here then you have a very good chance you'll be accepted later on, just don't expect any word soon. I would pick William Carey over ARCOM if the choice presents itself.
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Why WCUCOM over ARCOM. I liked both schools. I think WCUCOM might be better because its had 3 classes that graduated compared to ARCOM. WCUCOM has really bad review on SDN, idk why though.
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Hi guys! Just got an II for February.
YAY!!!!!!!
YAY!!!!!!!
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II
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Because it's SDN. I was in the original class of 2014 and most of my classmates are doing quite well. Despite the concerns that are stated (and please do consider them when picking a medical school), my class had a large majority that matched to their #1 for residency (both AOA and ACGME), a number are doing pretty decent fellowships, and those that didn't do the fellowship route have landed really nice jobs. For reference, my class had a decent match of ER, surgery, anesthesiology, OB/GYN, IM, Fam, Peds, etc. Fellowships that I can think of off the top of my head include interventional pain management, interventional radiology, burn and reconstructive surgery, anesthesiology critical care medicine, pulm/cc. Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins are included in that fellowship list.
Is WCUCOM perfect. No. But no school is. It's medical school. Get in. Work your ass off. Study your ass off. Move to the next level. That's it. There's the formula. No matter what specialty (including neurosurgery, integrated plastics), that's what it takes- no matter the school. Are some specialties going to be harder to get into? Well, of course. You also need to be honest with yourself about what you're trying to pursue. If you're a go-getter wanting an upper tier residency at an upper tier institution, and you have 'x' number of publications prior to medical school with other CV boosting credentials, it's highly likely that you're motivated enough to continue that in medical school and meet whatever those requirements may be- yes even at WCU.
Go to a school that fits you best, if possible, and re-read the above. If not, go to the medical school that accepted you and re-read the above.
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I just cancelled my interview here for 12/11 in case anyone is looking for an earlier interview date.
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You're welcome and good luck!
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Be able to answer "Why DO" for multiple reasons. When I interviewed, the exact question was:
"Without using the word 'Holistic', why do you want to be a DO?"
That caught me off-guard a bit, so I just omitted that particular part of my answer, lol.
This is probably an interviewer specific thing, but definitely be able to give a good answer without the cliche 'holistic' or 'whole person' lines. Everyone says them, and even MDs are embracing holistic thinking nowadays. Make sure there is more than just that when preparing your answers.
"Without using the word 'Holistic', why do you want to be a DO?"
That caught me off-guard a bit, so I just omitted that particular part of my answer, lol.
This is probably an interviewer specific thing, but definitely be able to give a good answer without the cliche 'holistic' or 'whole person' lines. Everyone says them, and even MDs are embracing holistic thinking nowadays. Make sure there is more than just that when preparing your answers.
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I remember answering the why DO and why Carey questions in a very honest manner. I believe i said something about DOs being physicians just like MDs, while I do think DOs do have extra training I dont believe nor have I observed MDs being any more or less whole person in how they practice medicine. For the Why Carey I discussed how the school was very close to my support network.
You see they are just questions. They are not trying to trick you or look for an exact answer. Trust me the people in that room that are asking those questions have no idea the answers to those questions nor are they authorities on the matter. The answers dont really matter all that much just that you can back up your thoughts and you dont sound like an idiot or a psychopath.
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Does that increase the overall COA, or are they sticking with the overall budget and taking the cut out of personal expenses and such?
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Can any current 3rd or 4th year student talk about the rotations. From what I've read there seems to be a problem with them. Where are the majority of rotations and how is the experience overall? Also, is the school doing anything to improve the quality of rotation sites? I'm interviewing on February 8th
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Most rotations are in the hattiesburg area but there are sites all over. Hattiesburg seems to be the happiest site, Jackson being a close 2nd and the 2 Louisiana sites being the least happy. What you need to understand is that all 3rd year rotations are preceptor based, not traditional ward assigned hospital based meaning they are less likely to prep you for boards and future rotations and residency but more likely to give you an inside look of what post residency practice is like. Due to this format your experience will vary based on the time of year, what order you do your rotations in, if you do rotations in strong or weak practices, if you do rotations in practice with high or low patient volume and if your preceptor is any good or not. Is the school doing anything to improve the quality of the rotation sites? Nope. They only try to add more preceptors.
My hope is they form stronger relationships with whole hospital systems or physician groups instead of just singular doctors. I imagine this would include Magnolia Regional in Corinth and Merit Health Wesley/Forrest General in Hattiesburg as these hospitals have residencies. Also North MS Medical Center in Tupelo and Baptist in Columbus have some. Having somewhat of an academic atmosphere would be helpful if we can't be involved with any UMMC clinics (only other med school in the state). There are plenty of non UMMC hospitals in Jackson that I hope they are trying to push harder into as well. Mississippi just doesn't have a lot of residency opportunities in community hospitals which can make things a little more difficult for WCU DO students. I think the key is to really get established with these hospitals and, if the opportunity somehow presents itself, maybe became affiliated with a budding residency program. In Louisiana, for example, there are several community hospitals that have affiliated with LSU and Tulane regarding housing residencies, but they are much larger schools with deeper pockets and greater pull. Its just going to take time, a great deal of effort, and maybe some luck if WCU wants to expand their rotations and court more hospitals/physicians that are beneficial to students.
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I was reading through the forum and noticed that people were saying that the acceptance rate post-interview is roughly ~80%+. Does that hold true for if you interview in February? The plane ticket into Mississippi is not a cheap one ($600+) so I thought I'd ask.
Get a cheap flight to New Orleans then rent a car and drive up. Fly into either to New Orleans or Jackson. Hour and a half drive either way along the interstate, but much cheaper. Regarding the acceptance rate, I would definitely say a majority get accepted after an interview.
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Yes, they are very selective with their interviews here, and if you got an invitation then I would say it is definitely worth your time. Also, do not fly into Jackson, MS. The flights are crazy overpriced. Definitely, fly into New Orleans.
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When should someone on the waitlist expect some movement? Does this school accept a bunch of people off the waitlist?
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You see its easy. You go to every interview you get until you get an acceptance. Once you have that you only go to programs you like more than that one. If you don't have any acceptances you shouldn't be concerned about the price. If you have an acceptance you really shouldn't need to go to this interview.
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Hopeful words but Carey doesn't care nor do they have the leverage or monetary interest to invest in such things. Med students are nothing more but funds to the school as a whole. There is no expanding planned or expected.
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Hey guys, I just got accepted (which is my first acceptance) and have a couple more II's at Marian and lmu-dcom. I really like Hattiesburg, as well as the vibe I got from the school. I guess I am just wondering why you guys chose WCUCOM, and if i should even bother attending my other II's. Obviously it's incredibly subjective, but I would like the opinions of others who have seen either of those schools and could compare to WCUCOM
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Marian is a strong school, one i wish I got into but didnt. You should at least go to that interview.
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