2018-2019 Western University of Health Sciences (Lebanon, Oregon)

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snowcrawler85 said:
Got the call today! ACCEPTED!!!! Beyond thrilled. Interviewed 1/19, put on highly ranked waitlist on 2/12, call on 2/19!!! First choice school, can’t wait to meet everyone in August!
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Woo hoo!!! Knew you’d get it! Congrats!!!!
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snowcrawler85 said:
Got the call today! ACCEPTED!!!! Beyond thrilled. Interviewed 1/19, put on highly ranked waitlist on 2/12, call on 2/19!!! First choice school, can’t wait to meet everyone in August!
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Congratulations, I am so thrilled for you!! Wishing you all the best on your journey to becoming a physician, this is such an amazing accomplishment!

Did you send any letters of interest/intent post-interview?
 
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Onlyjoeking said:
Congratulations, I am so thrilled for you!! Wishing you all the best on your journey to becoming a physician, this is such an amazing accomplishment!

Did you send any letters of interest/intent post-interview?
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Thank you, I can’t stop smiling.

I sent a letter of interest before my interview and expressed my intent in a thank you email. I made it pretty clear this was my top choice throughout the interview day..
 
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PreMed-- said:
Does anyone know if a CPR class is required at some point? I have to take BLS Provider again to renew my CNA license and was just curious.
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I’m sure at some point but it’s not part of your admission paperwork. If you can take it for free now I would, then at least it’s good for 2 years. I’m going to take mine again in July at work.
 
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snowcrawler85 said:
I haven’t seen one, wonder who we would reach out to in order to start one?
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Once the class list is official then the student government leaders of the class of 2022 will set one up and invite people! Likely won’t happen for a couple more months.
 
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sprinter16 said:
Once the class list is official then the student government leaders of the class of 2022 will set one up and invite people! Likely won’t happen for a couple more months.
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Thank you! You have an answer to all my questions so maybe you’ll know if Western does an accepted students day?
 
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snowcrawler85 said:
Thank you! You have an answer to all my questions so maybe you’ll know if Western does an accepted students day?
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I don’t think they do... but I do know that you can always schedule an appointment to like walk around the building and get your questions answered one on one. I would imagine they would also let you sit in on a class. Especially if you’ve already committed to the school.
 
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Hi all, current second year here reaching out to those accepted. First off, huge congrats! I'm searching on behalf of my landlords for someone or a group of people who would want to take over our lease in an awesome 3 bed/3 bath house in a great neighborhood in Lebanon. The place would be available in mid-late May, so this would be ideal for those looking to do the Intensive Summer Anatomy Course or anyone who wants to get settled for awhile before the year begins. The landlords would prefer no pets. Feel free to DM me with any questions or interest, and I'm also happy to answer more school related questions, though the wonderful sprinter16 (hi friend :D) seems to have those covered and knows a lot more institutional info than I do.

Also, for those on the waitlist, don't lose hope, tons of people I know were accepted in the later days, especially in April and May as multiple acceptances have to be narrowed down. Best of luck to all!
 
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Oh, also, from some of the questions earlier:

PreMed-- said:
Does anyone know if a CPR class is required at some point? I have to take BLS Provider again to renew my CNA license and was just curious.
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We second years are doing a BLS/ACLS training in May before going out to clinicals, but not needed for anything curricular before then.

snowcrawler85 said:
I haven’t seen one, wonder who we would reach out to in order to start one?
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I just spoke to the class president of the 2022 class who will be coordinating the FB group's setup and he indicated that it should be set up in the next week or two. Have fun with the camaraderie you're about to be flooded with!
 
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Looks like the Facebook page is being worked on, I don’t think it’s done, you can’t join yet. Comp-nw Class of 2023
 
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Any word yet on waitlist movement? I’m very fortunate to have received my first acceptance yesterday, but now I have a $2k deposit due on the 26th. I’ve been holding out for Western, but don’t want to lose a guaranteed spot (or the $2,000 bucks if they end up getting back to me later). Unfortunately, I am only able to pay one set of deposits for this cycle. Do you think it would be beneficial to contact the admissions office and let them know of my position (already sent a letter of interest, but this would be more of a formal letter of intent), or would it come off a bit crass to essentially say “I’ve been accepted elsewhere, I need a response soon”?

Thank you, sincerely, for your guys’ help and support, I wouldn’t have made it through this app cycle if it weren’t for everyone here on SDN and on the Reddit threads! Wishing you guys all the best on this crazy path forward.
 
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Onlyjoeking said:
Any word yet on waitlist movement? I’m very fortunate to have received my first acceptance yesterday, but now I have a $2k deposit due on the 26th. I’ve been holding out for Western, but don’t want to lose a guaranteed spot (or the $2,000 bucks if they end up getting back to me later). Unfortunately, I am only able to pay one set of deposits for this cycle. Do you think it would be beneficial to contact the admissions office and let them know of my position (already sent a letter of interest, but this would be more of a formal letter of intent), or would it come off a bit crass to essentially say “I’ve been accepted elsewhere, I need a response soon”?

Thank you, sincerely, for your guys’ help and support, I wouldn’t have made it through this app cycle if it weren’t for everyone here on SDN and on the Reddit threads! Wishing you guys all the best on this crazy path forward.
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I was in a similar position a few months ago. If you sent the school that email you would just get a very generic response email (one they likely send to many students) saying how they appreciate your interest but they cannot guarantee an acceptance if you decline your other acceptance. My advice, pay the deposit at the other school and have a guaranteed acceptance for medical school. If by chance you get off the waitlist at COMP-NW, then you can make decisions at that point as to what you want to do. Maybe family or friends can help you with the deposit, or you could take out a relatively small personal loan to afford the deposit from a local bank. Congrats on your acceptance. I believe it is better to have a guaranteed seat at a school than to decline an acceptance in hopes that you’ll get off a waitlist. Because it would suck to have to repeat the application and interview process next year if you didn’t submit the deposit and didn’t end up coming off the waitlist at COMP-NW. And just as expensive too to repeat the process.
 
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medstudent1215 said:
I was in a similar position a few months ago. If you sent the school that email you would just get a very generic response email (one they likely send to many students) saying how they appreciate your interest but they cannot guarantee an acceptance if you decline your other acceptance. My advice, pay the deposit at the other school and have a guaranteed acceptance for medical school. If by chance you get off the waitlist at COMP-NW, then you can make decisions at that point as to what you want to do. Maybe family or friends can help you with the deposit, or you could take out a relatively small personal loan to afford the deposit from a local bank. Congrats on your acceptance. I believe it is better to have a guaranteed seat at a school than to decline an acceptance in hopes that you’ll get off a waitlist. Because it would suck to have to repeat the application and interview process next year if you didn’t submit the deposit and didn’t end up coming off the waitlist at COMP-NW. And just as expensive too to repeat the process.
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I definitely agree with that logic, and think I am going to do what you outlined above. Thank you so much, really appreciate it :) congrats on your acceptance/s!!
 
Onlyjoeking said:
Any word yet on waitlist movement? I’m very fortunate to have received my first acceptance yesterday, but now I have a $2k deposit due on the 26th. I’ve been holding out for Western, but don’t want to lose a guaranteed spot (or the $2,000 bucks if they end up getting back to me later). Unfortunately, I am only able to pay one set of deposits for this cycle. Do you think it would be beneficial to contact the admissions office and let them know of my position (already sent a letter of interest, but this would be more of a formal letter of intent), or would it come off a bit crass to essentially say “I’ve been accepted elsewhere, I need a response soon”?

Thank you, sincerely, for your guys’ help and support, I wouldn’t have made it through this app cycle if it weren’t for everyone here on SDN and on the Reddit threads! Wishing you guys all the best on this crazy path forward.
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Plus they are going to pull from their waitlist before the alternate list and as I saw from your previous post you are on the alternate rather than the waitlist. You can email them but think you should pay your deposit to guarantee a spot. Congratulations on your acceptance!!
 
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snowcrawler85 said:
Plus they are going to pull from their waitlist before the alternate list and as I saw from your previous post you are on the alternate rather than the waitlist. You can email them but think you should pay your deposit to guarantee a spot. Congratulations on your acceptance!!
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Gotcha, I was a little confused about the difference between their alternate and waitlist. Definitely sounds like my plan for now is going to be working towards the guaranteed school, and see what my options look like in a few months. Thank you so much, and congratulations again on your acceptance here. I hope you enjoy your time at Western!! :)
 
I’m really pretty sure the alternate list and the waitlist are the same thing, just different terms. My interview packet only talks about alternates and the Pomona thread seemed to debunk this as well
 
SewDrDO said:
I’m really pretty sure the alternate list and the waitlist are the same thing, just different terms. My interview packet only talks about alternates and the Pomona thread seemed to debunk this as well
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I asked the school. They are two different things, snow crawler is right :)
 
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Onlyjoeking said:
Gotcha, I was a little confused about the difference between their alternate and waitlist. Definitely sounds like my plan for now is going to be working towards the guaranteed school, and see what my options look like in a few months. Thank you so much, and congratulations again on your acceptance here. I hope you enjoy your time at Western!! :)
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Thank you, yes, it’s pretty confusing. There are 25 people on the waitlist and I believe there are 60-ish on the alternate list. Because the class is full No acceptances were given at the last two interviews, only “waitlist” spots for those that would have been accepted


PS- Facebook is down, that’s a fun new thing
 
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snowcrawler85 said:
Thank you, yes, it’s pretty confusing. There are 25 people on the waitlist and I believe there are 60-ish on the alternate list. Because the class is full No acceptances were given at the last two interviews, only “waitlist” spots for those that would have been accepted


PS- Facebook is down, that’s a fun new thing
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Can confirm this is true, just asked one of the student interview day coordinators. This is the first year they've filled up slots much earlier than they expected, so they made the waitlist for those that would have been accepted after spots were filled and will be pulling from this first for future acceptances.
 
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Withdrew from waitlist of 25. Good luck to everyone on waitlist and alternate lists. Being waitlisted vs accepted saved me a 2k deposit. This was my top DO choice. Good luck everyone!
 
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biologybum said:
Withdrew from waitlist of 25. Good luck to everyone on waitlist and alternate lists. Being waitlisted vs accepted saved me a 2k deposit. This was my top DO choice. Good luck everyone!
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Congratulations on your acceptance! And best of luck in the future!
 
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Just an FYI for everyone who is accepted/planning on attending. The class connection Facebook page between the classes of 2022 and 2023 is just now up and running. Invites to join should be on their way soon if they aren't already. :) Welcome to the family everyone!
 
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sprinter16 said:
Just an FYI for everyone who is accepted/planning on attending. The class connection Facebook page between the classes of 2022 and 2023 is just now up and running. Invites to join should be on their way soon if they aren't already. :) Welcome to the family everyone!
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Sent requests to the pages! :)
 
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Are they adding new students to the facebook groups, or only current first years since it's still being worked on?
 
ReadUWroteU said:
Are they adding new students to the facebook groups, or only current first years since it's still being worked on?
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The class of 2023 and the connection group are both active now, I’m part of both. If you go to western email there is a link to both the pages in an email.
 
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Check your western email for welcome week info!
 
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I read in the Pomona thread that they felt babied by the school, and ill prepared/confident compared to other schools. Current students, do you feel this way about the NW campus? What are your thoughts on the school as a whole, especially in clinical rotations?
 
whatwhatinthe said:
I read in the Pomona thread that they felt babied by the school, and ill prepared/confident compared to other schools. Current students, do you feel this way about the NW campus? What are your thoughts on the school as a whole, especially in clinical rotations?
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From a second years' perspective: I won't lie that there are things that I wish we could change about the school but a lot of our complaints are being addressed by the new curriculum. With that said, I don't regret coming to COMP-NW for one minute. The NW campus is nice since all our main faculty are within one building and a lot of them have open door policies. There have been plenty of times that I just walk in to my advisors' office without an appointment just to chat and say hi. As far as rotations, it has been a process to try to get our class all ready to go. But, we have two specific individuals in the rotations department that just work on third year rotations, one for "core" rotations and the other just for electives. They have been working at least 6 days a week plus extra hours to get things done so I am definitely appreciative of that. As crazy as the past couple years have been I feel excited to go out on rotations and feel like I've been prepared as best I can be at this point.

I personally don't feel babied by the school at all. Like I said above, there are annoying things I wish we could change and stuff that we have to kinda check boxes for, but most of the time it isn't too bad. I think one of the things to keep in mind is that we have half the amount of students that Pomona does. We do things a bit differently up here. @TitanScout do you have anything to add?
 
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sprinter16 said:
From a second years' perspective: I won't lie that there are things that I wish we could change about the school but a lot of our complaints are being addressed by the new curriculum. With that said, I don't regret coming to COMP-NW for one minute. The NW campus is nice since all our main faculty are within one building and a lot of them have open door policies. There have been plenty of times that I just walk in to my advisors' office without an appointment just to chat and say hi. As far as rotations, it has been a process to try to get our class all ready to go. But, we have two specific individuals in the rotations department that just work on third year rotations, one for "core" rotations and the other just for electives. They have been working at least 6 days a week plus extra hours to get things done so I am definitely appreciative of that. As crazy as the past couple years have been I feel excited to go out on rotations and feel like I've been prepared as best I can be at this point.

I personally don't feel babied by the school at all. Like I said above, there are annoying things I wish we could change and stuff that we have to kinda check boxes for, but most of the time it isn't too bad. I think one of the things to keep in mind is that we have half the amount of students that Pomona does. We do things a bit differently up here. @TitanScout do you have anything to add?
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I would wholly agree with @sprinter16. While there are some complaints I have had with a few classes curriculum wise, that would likely be the case with any school. Our class is the last that is using the curriculum we're working with, so I can't speak to those issues for the future. As far as feeling babied, I think that's quite far from my experience. We have different clinical instructors on each campus for our Essentials of Clinical Medicine class, and that may be part of the difference in this category. Dr. Dreibelbis and Dr. Sorweide are the two instructors in charge of first year and second year respectively up here, and they are absolutely phenomenal clinicians and people. On the personal front, I also have walked in to both of their offices just to chat or expand on a concept that was just touched on in class. Sometimes things have been a bit disorganized with the curriculum shift for the first years, but you also have a great team of TAs comprised of second years to help focus the plethora of info.

In speaking with third and fourth years on their rotations, many have told me they felt incredibly prepared to be out in the wards especially compared to other medical students they've rotated with. We have more patient encounters than any school you will come across, and it shows in how they feel when approaching real patients. They've had preceptors tell them our neuro exams are fantastically thorough, our ultrasound experience has been invaluable in emergency situations, and our students confidence in approaching patients has been exemplary. Of osteopathic schools, I wouldn't change my decision to attend COMP-NW for a second. Also worth noting that I am originally from California and had a chance to interview with Pomona but chose to come to COMP-NW as soon as I was accepted here. The vibes between the two campuses are very different, and I personally prefer the way things are done up here to what I have heard from experiences from Pomona students.
 
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Is buying a house rather than renting an option? My husband is interested in buying a house, but I’m concerned about having to move around for rotations and residency. However he will probably be staying due to work... thoughts?
 
PreMed-- said:
Is buying a house rather than renting an option? My husband is interested in buying a house, but I’m concerned about having to move around for rotations and residency. However he will probably be staying due to work... thoughts?
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Yes it is. The market moves pretty quickly there, so you’ll need to be pre-approved and ready. My husband and I will probably buy rather than rent, but we aren’t sure yet either. I know a great real estate agent in Lebanon area if you want to talk to her, just PM me if you’re interested. I used to be a real estate agent in eugene so I know the market in the area pretty well too.

We will probably keep it as a rental once I move to residency, the rental market there isn’t amazing that’s why we will probably buy. Plus seems like renting vs buying is about the same price per month.
 
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snowcrawler85 said:
Yes it is. The market moves pretty quickly there, so you’ll need to be pre-approved and ready. My husband and I will probably buy rather than rent, but we aren’t sure yet either. I know a great real estate agent in Lebanon area if you want to talk to her, just PM me if you’re interested. I used to be a real estate agent in eugene so I know the market in the area pretty well too.

We will probably keep it as a rental once I move to residency, the rental market there isn’t amazing that’s why we will probably buy. Plus seems like renting vs buying is about the same price per month.
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Thank you! That is helpful. I have tried sending a pm but there’s an error saying I can’t start a conversation with you? I’m not well knowledgable about SDN lol
 
TitanScout said:
I would wholly agree with @sprinter16. While there are some complaints I have had with a few classes curriculum wise, that would likely be the case with any school. Our class is the last that is using the curriculum we're working with, so I can't speak to those issues for the future. As far as feeling babied, I think that's quite far from my experience. We have different clinical instructors on each campus for our Essentials of Clinical Medicine class, and that may be part of the difference in this category. Dr. Dreibelbis and Dr. Sorweide are the two instructors in charge of first year and second year respectively up here, and they are absolutely phenomenal clinicians and people. On the personal front, I also have walked in to both of their offices just to chat or expand on a concept that was just touched on in class. Sometimes things have been a bit disorganized with the curriculum shift for the first years, but you also have a great team of TAs comprised of second years to help focus the plethora of info.

In speaking with third and fourth years on their rotations, many have told me they felt incredibly prepared to be out in the wards especially compared to other medical students they've rotated with. We have more patient encounters than any school you will come across, and it shows in how they feel when approaching real patients. They've had preceptors tell them our neuro exams are fantastically thorough, our ultrasound experience has been invaluable in emergency situations, and our students confidence in approaching patients has been exemplary. Of osteopathic schools, I wouldn't change my decision to attend COMP-NW for a second. Also worth noting that I am originally from California and had a chance to interview with Pomona but chose to come to COMP-NW as soon as I was accepted here. The vibes between the two campuses are very different, and I personally prefer the way things are done up here to what I have heard from experiences from Pomona students.
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Thank you guys so much for the insight! I’m happy to hear the difference from Pomona. You know how SDN can be..
 
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Just an update for those on waitlist (not alternate list), someone I know was just accepted off it today. They aren’t on SDN, but thought I would post some movement to waitlist.
 
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To do ISAC or not to do ISAC, what are the opinions?
 
snowcrawler85 said:
To do ISAC or not to do ISAC, what are the opinions?
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I'll answer this the best I can! They changed ISAC this past summer where all you do is the lab portion and then some minor "presentations" that gets you some of the clinical relevance. In my opinion (keeping in mind I didn't do the program) there are a few pros: 1) You get a smaller class size for lab which is invaluable. 2) Along with #1 you get the professor all to yourself since no one else is there except for approximately 12-15 of your classmates and a couple TAs. 3) You get to help TA your class during the year ($$ as well as leadership experience). 4) You don't have to do the practicals during the year.
Now for the cons. You spend your summer in a stinky smelly lab. Don't get me wrong, I was extremely grateful to learn from our donor patients (you'll hear the dean call them your first patients which they are) but the lab will always smell. Along with that... this is your last summer where you get to do whatever you want without any guilt. If ya'll decide to do ISAC (which I think is a great program) just make sure you have some fun beforehand. Because come ISAC you will be studying a lot.

@TitanScout... tag you're it. Anything to add?
 
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sprinter16 said:
I'll answer this the best I can! They changed ISAC this past summer where all you do is the lab portion and then some minor "presentations" that gets you some of the clinical relevance. In my opinion (keeping in mind I didn't do the program) there are a few pros: 1) You get a smaller class size for lab which is invaluable. 2) Along with #1 you get the professor all to yourself since no one else is there except for approximately 12-15 of your classmates and a couple TAs. 3) You get to help TA your class during the year ($$ as well as leadership experience). 4) You don't have to do the practicals during the year.
Now for the cons. You spend your summer in a stinky smelly lab. Don't get me wrong, I was extremely grateful to learn from our donor patients (you'll hear the dean call them your first patients which they are) but the lab will always smell. Along with that... this is your last summer where you get to do whatever you want without any guilt. If ya'll decide to do ISAC (which I think is a great program) just make sure you have some fun beforehand. Because come ISAC you will be studying a lot.

@TitanScout... tag you're it. Anything to add?
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I have less experience with ISAC than the wonderful @sprinter16. I neither took the class as a first year or helped out the incoming first years over the summer, so I have little to add in this regard. When we were taking anatomy, it was only at the beginning of the year as our first class with all systems right away. At the time, I was jealous of the TAs having all this free time since they had done the entire class during the summer. It's now done as the systems courses progress throughout the year in the new curriculum, and the ISACers only do the practical exams during the summer, not the didactic portion. I think that this would make the ISAC course itself less stressful, but also reduce the later amount of free time you would reap as a benefit from it. This is all from an outsider's perspective though. I would suggest asking the question on the Class Connection 2022-2023 page if you're a member to get some responses from actual first year ISACers. They would know best for sure.
 
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