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

[medstudent1215]

Low risk still equals some risk. But right, most likely everything will pan out as expected. Having to take out private loans still kind of sucks though. Med schools’ financial aid department have told some horror stories about private loans

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[deleted946657]

Low risk still equals some risk. But right, most likely everything will pan out as expected. Having to take out private loans still kind of sucks though. Med schools’ financial aid department have told some horror stories about private loans

Yeah, I agree with the bit about private loans.

 

[snowcrawler85]

Yeah, I agree with the bit about private loans.

Yep I agree about private loans and clinical rotations concern me a little.

 

[snowcrawler85]

Do you guys ever get the feeling like no school you get accepted to is “good enough” for SDN?

 

[deleted946657]

Do you guys ever get the feeling like no school you get accepted to is “good enough” for SDN?

YES

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[CurrentMedStudent--]

For those accepted- are we able to do the immunizations, background check, etc asap? I thought I read somewhere they need to be completed within 6 months of registering but now I can’t find that and am not sure if I made that up or not...

 

[Carrot124]

R today post II. Happy thanksgiving!

 

[deleted946657]

R today post II. Happy thanksgiving!

I'm sorry to hear that. What was your interview date if you don't mind me asking?

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[Carrot124]

I'm sorry to hear that. What was your interview date if you don't mind me asking?

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11/8

 

[deleted946657]

I just got an acceptance phone call. Interviewed 11/10.

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[snowcrawler85]

I just got an acceptance phone call. Interviewed 11/10.

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Congratulations! I knew you would get it! Hopefully your husband and I are next

 

[snowcrawler85]

I wonder how full the class is right now or how many seats are left, anyone have an idea?

 

[958587]

Do you guys ever get the feeling like no school you get accepted to is “good enough” for SDN?

It is my humble opinion that anything that anyone says on this site should be taken with a horse-lick size grain of salt. In the end, f*** what other people think. To ~90% of the world population (I pulled that number out of my butt), getting into medical school is an amazing achievement by itself. Sometimes that fact is lost as we compare our results to those around us on this site.

 

[deleted946657]

Congratulations! I knew you would get it! Hopefully your husband and I are next

Thank you! I will keep rooting for you!

 

[958587]

Thoughts on WesternU vs. ICOM?

Western U 1,000,000%.

ICOM is gorgeous, high-tech, and in a good location. Other than that it is a nice house on the outside where you are not allowed to see the inside, metaphorically speaking. Not having accreditation, federal financial aid, a graduated class, or any sort of name recognition are potentially dangerous things to deal with. Not to mention that clerkships could be in Idaho, Wyoming, North/South Dakota. And the ones in Idaho are competing with the U Washington program and Pacific Northwest for spots.

I so wish that ICOM was 5 years older as I would have no issue whatsoever in attending. I don't want to wish anything bad on those attending there. There is just some risk involved that you would not find at Western.

 

[heavymetalfan]

Well this one is rough for me because Western is my first choice because it’s close to home but I’m accepted to ICOM as well and will go there if I’m not accepted to Western or OHSU. Western is established, good complex scores, good matches and good specialities matches. My biggest cons about Western are location- Lebanon is small but it is pretty close to a big city and the tela-lectures with Pomona. Only about half are in person..
My biggest hesitation came when I toured the campus in April, I didn’t feel super welcome, I felt a lot older than everyone and honestly felt a little uncomfortable all day. I felt like ICOM was home, but private loans, unestablished curriculum/ complex scores/residency matches make Western a smarter choice. IMO. Ps pretty sure I was at ICOM with you

I am an older applicant. Not by a lot, but enough to wonder if the people I interviewed with ever experienced Windows 95. One of the student ambassadors I met is married with multiple kids. Definitely a lot of young applicants in my interview session, but I think they probably admit a good mix of students. And don't they have COMPlements or something like that for the spouses of med students? Personally, I'll need to join the older singles club if I matriculate. I hope there will be a nice sub-group of people who like to go out but want to be asleep by 10PM.

 

[snowcrawler85]

I am an older applicant. Not by a lot, but enough to wonder if the people I interviewed with ever experienced Windows 95. One of the student ambassadors I met is married with multiple kids. Definitely a lot of young applicants in my interview session, but I think they probably admit a good mix of students. And don't they have COMPlements or something like that for the spouses of med students? Personally, I'll need to join the older singles club if I matriculate. I hope there will be a nice sub-group of people who like to go out but want to be asleep by 10PM.

Windows 95.. I played Oregon Trail on a green screen computer... I had a kid tell me he was in middle school when I graduated college, that made me feel young!

 

[deleted946657]

You got dysentary and died!

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[snowcrawler85]

You got dysentary and died!

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[heavymetalfan]

Windows 95.. I played Oregon Trail on a green screen computer... I had a kid tell me he was in middle school when I graduated college, that made me feel young!

Well that's just rude! hahaha. I guess I'm just young enough that the newly graduated college kids will say "age is just a number".

Wait, I'm just re-learning now that these younger applicants are Generation Z, and I am solidly not Generation Z. Have they even been haunted by the sound of dial-up? Do they know what AIM is? WOW....

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[deleted946657]

Well that's just rude! hahaha. I guess I'm just young enough that the newly graduated college kids will say "age is just a number".

Wait, I'm just re-learning now that these younger applicants are Generation Z, and I am solidly not Generation Z. Have they even been haunted by the sound of dial-up? Do they know what AIM is? WOW....

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I get nostalgic when I hear the dial up sound Don't worry, there will be other people who are our age, especially at DO schools. Happy Thanksgiving!

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[heavymetalfan]

I get nostalgic when I hear the dial up sound Don't worry, there will be other people who are our age, especially at DO schools. Happy Thanksgiving!

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literally just youtubed it for a little of that ASMR

 

[goldfish_goldfish]

Got the acceptance 2 days ago! Interviewed 11/10. Almost missed that interview because there was no Uber from my hotel that morning.

 

[jdil]

accepted, II 11/10 was working and missed both calls. quick little nugget: make sure your voicemail isn't full!

 

[MicroDO]

For those accepted- are we able to do the immunizations, background check, etc asap? I thought I read somewhere they need to be completed within 6 months of registering but now I can’t find that and am not sure if I made that up or not...

1st Deposit: Dec 15
2nd Deposit: Jan 15
Everything else: June 1st
Physical exam/immunizations/titers: Within 6 months of matriculation. So maybe June 1st as well?

 

[DRRCKCLMBR]

Anyone going to be at the interview Dec. 1?

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[premedmommyx2]

Anyone going to be at the interview Dec. 1?

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me! Just have to finishing my rental car booking.. oops

 

[DRRCKCLMBR]

Flying in to Portland?

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[DRRCKCLMBR]

me! Just have to finishing my rental car booking.. oops

Flying into Portland?

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[premedmommyx2]

Flying into Portland?

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Nope, Eugene. It wasn't much more expensive, and will save time sitting in potential traffic on a Friday afternoon.

 

[goldfish_goldfish]

Nope, Eugene. It wasn't much more expensive, and will save time sitting in potential traffic on a Friday afternoon.

And there is that pizza social event you can attend if you come the day before the interview - might be helpful for you to warm up!

 

[premedmommyx2]

And there is that pizza social event you can attend if you come the day before the interview - might be helpful for you to warm up!

I will def be there!

 

[Tibiahonestidk]

I received my secondary about 2 months ago. Dumb of me for keep putting it off. Finally finished it today. Do you guys this it’s still worth submitting?

 

[goldfish_goldfish]

I received my secondary about 2 months ago. Dumb of me for keep putting it off. Finally finished it today. Do you guys this it’s still worth submitting?

Yes for what I know they are still interviewing for seats, instead of for waitlists (at least that what they told us during the Nov 10 interview)

 

[goldfish_goldfish]

It is my humble opinion that anything that anyone says on this site should be taken with a horse-lick size grain of salt. In the end, f*** what other people think. To ~90% of the world population (I pulled that number out of my butt), getting into medical school is an amazing achievement by itself. Sometimes that fact is lost as we compare our results to those around us on this site.

Agreed!

 

[pinklimediluted]

IDK if anyone has already done this, but I'm a first year at COMP-NW. I know that choosing a school was a hard decision. AMA.

 

[goldfish_goldfish]

IDK if anyone has already done this, but I'm a first year at COMP-NW. I know that choosing a school was a hard decision. AMA.

Thanks for doing this yo! I am 99% leaning towards western and will sure ask questions soon. Appreciate your time in advance

 

[heavymetalfan]

IDK if anyone has already done this, but I'm a first year at COMP-NW. I know that choosing a school was a hard decision. AMA.

Between two west coast schools, I can't decide! How are you liking school so far? What kind of volunteering do you do? Was there one thing that sealed the deal for you at COMP-NW? What has come to be your favorite part about COMP-NW?

 

[smthom]

IDK if anyone has already done this, but I'm a first year at COMP-NW. I know that choosing a school was a hard decision. AMA.

Thanks for your time! How often are lectures streamed from the Pomona campus? Do you like the broader Lebanon community and is it a relatively safe place to live? Are you happy with your choice to attend COMP-NW overall?

 

[tsmleague]

IDK if anyone has already done this, but I'm a first year at COMP-NW. I know that choosing a school was a hard decision. AMA.

Why comp-nw instead of other schools

 

[pinklimediluted]

Between two west coast schools, I can't decide! How are you liking school so far? What kind of volunteering do you do? Was there one thing that sealed the deal for you at COMP-NW? What has come to be your favorite part about COMP-NW?

If you've visited the school, you'll realize that its in the middle of nowhere. That's a good and bad thing. There's literally NOTHING to distract you. I think that's the difference between us (COMP-NW) and Pomona (COMP). There's no traffic if you choose to live in Lebanon; I literally get up 10 minutes before I need to get to class. I think those are big positives if you're easily distracted by leisurely activities.

We are mandated to do 30 total volunteer hours for the first 2 years. Those opportunities are assigned to you based on your preference. This includes veteran's home, healthy cooking programs, working with K-12, soup kitchen, etc. We also have this clinic we can volunteer at where you get to actually interact with patients; although, I'm not familiar with the details because I ended up not participating (because you had to go to some meeting at the start of the year). This school is very involved with the community. So there's plentiful volunteering opportunities if you look for it.

I choose this school because I enjoyed my interview experience more than my other choice. TBH, since were the guinea pig class as they just changed the curriculum (original was abnormal/normal systems at once; now we do normal first year, abnormal second year), it's felt a little disjointed. It seems like the faculty are struggling to present the information in a new way. This was most evident in the first block which included MSK. It's been better this block, and I'm sure it'll be good next year once they have our feedback. We have this thing called IPE which is the most complete waste of time. Pomona also seems to feel the same way, although theirs seem better than ours as they integrate all their colleges. We have to meet with nursing students, medical assistants, and pharm students from OSU. It's probably the most annoying thing about the curriculum because its so pointless.

My favorite part is how cohesive the class and faculty are. They really are there to support you, and it shows in our performance and match.

 

[pinklimediluted]

Thanks for your time! How often are lectures streamed from the Pomona campus? Do you like the broader Lebanon community and is it a relatively safe place to live? Are you happy with your choice to attend COMP-NW overall?

I remember being super concerned about the whole streaming thing. Let me tell you, IT DOESN'T MATTER. Why? Because you WILL NOT GO TO CLASS. Everything is recorded and its so easy to pause if you don't understand anything, or 2x speed if the professor's monotone is draining your life. But to answer your question, I'd say it's half half. If you do choose to go to class, you can ask questions live via microphone and it feels no different than actually being there.

Lebanon feels very safe, but the city has a drug problem (like any small town?). But they haven't bothered me lol.

Going TBH, I don't know if I'm happy or unhappy with my choice. I sometimes think of how convenient it would have been to attend the other school because it's much closer to home. That's really the only thing I contemplate other than being a guinea pig for the new curriculum (which I accept because I came in knowing it was going to change).

 

[pinklimediluted]

Why comp-nw instead of other schools

That's a really difficult question to answer. I think it's going to ultimately come down to the person. Think about family. Do you want to fly home easily? How about residency location? You're going to likely match where you've done a clinical rotation. Western, like most other schools, allows your 4th year to be your choice meaning you can go anywhere you please.

 

[snowcrawler85]

Anyone still waiting to hear from a western? Complete mid Sept. no news

 

[AlwaysTwoAces]

Interviewed Dec 1st. Got a call for acceptance via Dean today on the 10th. Awaiting email.

 

[premedmommyx2]

Interviewed Dec 1st. Got a call for acceptance via Dean today on the 10th. Awaiting email.

WOW that was so much faster than they told us!! Congrats! what group were you in?

 

[DRRCKCLMBR]

Accepted today! (also got the phone call and awaiting email) (Dec. 1 Interview)

 

[shrimpboatcaptain]

Also accepted today! Wasn't planning on hearing back until this Friday. Congrats to those above me! (Also interviewed December 1).

 

[shrimpboatcaptain]

Is there a facebook page for those accepted or anything? I'm new to this whole "Accepted" thing...

 

[AlwaysTwoAces]

ahhhh I am so anxious!!! You guys are killin' me!

Pardon, you asked for which group I was in, could you be a bit more specific? I was in group Green, sat in the front... during the presentations. Taking a stab at your question preemptively.