2019-2020 Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine (RowanSOM)

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lovepup said:
thoughts about the school? what did you like/dislike about it?
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I dont think Ill end up going but I really liked it, The environment was awesome and everyone genuinely seemed to care about you. Students were all really approachable, facilities were nice, its in a pretty decent area as far as med schools go. I sat in on a class and the faculty were really informative/supportive of the students. there are decent research opportunities if youre into that, its literally next door to jefferson hospital and i believe students are able to do rotations there. Plus housing is fairly affordable (i was seeing ~600-700/month for an apartment in the info packet they sent.)


I really cant think of many things that I disliked
 
Ak09 said:
DO cycle runs later than allopathic so you still have plenty of time. As for in state preference, it certainly does have a bias towards nj residents but there’s still a decent number of oos students. I’d say that as long as you can provide a non-bs rationale for why you’re applying there during your interview you should be fine
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None for Pennsylvania residents? I figured since it's on the border.
 
anyone write thank you emails to the coordinators in addition to your interviewer? or is that too much
 
Premed101011212312e said:
Try visiting the school or calling to show interest. Are you in-state or meet their avg stats?
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Rowan does pre-II hard R's , right? So either we get an II or a rejection? I was complete in Oct so its a little early for me I just mean in general.
 
mwsapphire said:
Rowan does pre-II hard R's , right? So either we get an II or a rejection? I was complete in Oct so its a little early for me I just mean in general.
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I am not sure to be honest. But looking at your stats, I think you're more than qualified and you were complete only a month ago. So you'll hear back but not sure when. This school is pretty in-state biased tho, but around 20% of the class is OOS.

For reference, I was complete in July and I heard back in October.
 
Interview Invite just now!! Complete 10/30. IS, 3.65 cGPA, 511 MCAT. For reference, lots of service, leadership and research work with underserved populations so that could have helped the faster turnaround.

Earliest date available is December 4th!
 
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#wannabemd said:
Interview Invite just now!! Complete 10/30. IS, 3.65 cGPA, 511 MCAT. For reference, lots of service, leadership and research work with underserved populations so that could have helped the faster turnaround.

Earliest date available is December 4th!
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Woah, see now you're giving me anxiety XD Kidding. Congrats! IS or OOS?
 
Onemore10 said:
Accepted via portal today! I interviewed October 22
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Was the II via portal or email? Just making sure not checking the portal as frequently as email is not an issue...and congrats 🙂
 
mwsapphire said:
Was the II via portal or email? Just making sure not checking the portal as frequently as email is not an issue...and congrats 🙂
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Not the person you asked, but the II comes via both email and portal and it gives you 24 hours from receipt to schedule an interview.
 
mwsapphire said:
Was the II via portal or email? Just making sure not checking the portal as frequently as email is not an issue...and congrats 🙂
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I got the interview invite via email. Then, I went to the portal to schedule the interview. It gives you 24 hours to do so.
 
I've sent an update letter 11 days ago and I haven't heard anything yet. Should I call them to confirm that they received it?
 
JUST INTERVIEWED, it was maxxxxx chill af. My interviewer asked the basic, tell me about you questions. Though he very much didn't task certain questions I thought he would. Does anyone know how long is the turn around for decision??? Overall I reccomend shadowing a PBLclass.
 
nxkkks said:
JUST INTERVIEWED, it was maxxxxx chill af. My interviewer asked the basic, tell me about you questions. Though he very much didn't task certain questions I thought he would. Does anyone know how long is the turn around for decision??? Overall I reccomend shadowing a PBLclass.
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Why do you recommend shadowing a class?

And it takes about 1 month usually. The committee meets every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month.
 
Premed101011212312e said:
Why do you recommend shadowing a class?

And it takes about 1 month usually. The committee meets every 1st and 3rd Friday of the month.
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So you can see how PBl classes are done. I think I'd like PBL but my deal breaker is that they do dissections on their own basically. I kind of want to learn anatomy in a class setting.
 
Hi guys,
I was completed at the end of October and still haven't heard anything. Is it too early to hear back from admissions?
My stats are cgpa 3.75 mcat 504.
 
pre-medd2033 said:
Hi guys,
I was completed at the end of October and still haven't heard anything. Is it too early to hear back from admissions?
My stats are cgpa 3.75 mcat 504.
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You could hear within a week as I did, you could hear in March or you could not hear at all. No one can answer this question for you, unfortunately.
 
GoodNotGreat said:
Thank you for joining us!

Do you think their PBL or Traditional tract is better for boards, and why?
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You will hear plenty of opinions from other students, but I think it's important to stress that neither track is better for boards. Board score averages between the two tracks are always fluctuating. If you're the type who will focus more on boards than on class-specific minutiae, then you would do that regardless of whether you're in PBL or in traditional track. Some students will tell you that because of "lots of required/mandatory classes/workload" during the end of second year in traditional track, you will be better off in PBL. Truth is that's kinda just the nature of med school and second year in general. Your success on board exams will be a result of how hard you studied specifically for boards as an individual, not because of what your school's curriculum was. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The question you should ask yourself is how you wanna go about being a med student during your first 2 years. Traditional track students have less mandatory activities/classes than PBL students do even though overall they have "more hours per week in a classroom" (lectures are video/audio recorded and can be played up to 2.5x speed). As long as if you trust you'll motivate yourself, you could show up to campus 2-3 times a week as a traditional-track student and spend the rest of your time studying in your pj's at home or doing whatever really. You can very easily go through all four years being a fly on the wall in the traditional track. PBLers really get to know each other well because they're always in small group sessions together (a few hours a day, 4 times a week). Their mandatory activities are a bit more consistent time-wise and they're following the same daily pattern because of it during the first 2 years. One of the most intimidating aspects of PBL is the question of "what do i even study?" when you first start. But everyone gets the hang of it eventually. Both tracks offer more independence in different ways. It's just up to you to decide which you prefer.
 
Premed101011212312e said:
Are you happy you chose Rowan? Do you think going to a DO school hindered you in any aspect career wise?
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To answer your first question, yeah Im definitely glad I got into rowan. I got accepted and cancelled all my other DO school interviews because of my in state status. It turned out to be really nice because Im used to living in suburbia within a comfy/short commute to a city. There are plenty of research opportunities here (for a DO school) because our school is one of the few that brings in NIH funding for research. The proximity of it to philly gives you opportunity to get involved with research at other programs of interest if youre a real go-getter. We have rotation sites for you and dont leave everyone to fend for themselves come third year. Quality of rotation sites are variable, but will expose you to the bread and butter pathology that med students need to see plus a zebra once in a while. The culture here is generally nice and students help each other out plenty. If it matters to you at all, our geriatrics department is like #5 in the nation and the school will never let you forget about it. Time off for interviews in fourth year is actually really generous compared to other DO schools as well.

I’ll answer your second question by saying that of course there is a lower glass ceiling in general for a DO compared to your typical US MD. The extent to which thats the case varies by specialty. In more competitive fields you will of course need better qualifications than your MD counterparts to get into the same programs as them. In primary care specialties or pm&r there is virtually zero glass ceiling. If your heart is set on a surgical subspecialty or derm, I would only advise that you matriculate into a DO school with a realistic backup specialty in mind that you’d also be happy in. If prestige is a big deal to you, then of course dont come here and dont go to any DO school. Im still interviewing right now but the quality of interviews Ive gotten Im really happy with. I went into the residency application process with the desire to end up at any average level university program in my specialty and thats exactly what Im looking at with my current interview invites. I could go into more detail about specific specialties if you want too. Just pm me.
 
So I just now added RowanSOM and sent in my primary because I just decided I didn't want to stay in the southeast US. Am I too late for this school? Doing more research, it has quickly become in my top choices. My stats are MCAT: 498 🙁(( sGPA: 3.75 and cGPA: 3.70
 
Lizzy2017 said:
So I just now added RowanSOM and sent in my primary because I just decided I didn't want to stay in the southeast US. Am I too late for this school? Doing more research, it has quickly become in my top choices. My stats are MCAT: 498 🙁(( sGPA: 3.75 and cGPA: 3.70
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Youre certainly not early and they do have a fairly heavy instate bias so I wouldnt get your hopes too high but their deadline isnt for quite a while. I guess you 'll never know if you dont try
 
Lizzy2017 said:
So I just now added RowanSOM and sent in my primary because I just decided I didn't want to stay in the southeast US. Am I too late for this school? Doing more research, it has quickly become in my top choices. My stats are MCAT: 498 🙁(( sGPA: 3.75 and cGPA: 3.70
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For OOS and not regional ( like, they prefer NJ but NY and MA are diff. than southeast USA), that MCAT is low, and you are past the T-giving "deadline" for being on time. But shoot your shot, if you want.
 
Lizzy2017 said:
So I just now added RowanSOM and sent in my primary because I just decided I didn't want to stay in the southeast US. Am I too late for this school? Doing more research, it has quickly become in my top choices. My stats are MCAT: 498 🙁(( sGPA: 3.75 and cGPA: 3.70
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I'm glad I did not look at the number of out of state students they matriculate when I applied, otherwise, I would not have applied here. I'm from FL with a 503 MCAT, but my GPA is lower than yours, and Rowan was my first acceptance. I realize now that they do accept many OOS students, but many, like myself, end up choosing to stay closer to home if they have an option. Don't let this OOS thing throw you off. It is a little late, but you won't get in if you don't apply.
 
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MrTaco92 said:
good luck yall. current fourth year here willing to answer any questions about rowan
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Thanks for answering questions, Mr. Taco!

Does Rowan provide any free board prep like Combank or UWorld?
 
_tofu said:
Thanks for answering questions, Mr. Taco!

Does Rowan provide any free board prep like Combank or UWorld?
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No problem! I don't have much on my plate anymore as a fourth year anyway.

You'll get combank "free" even though I believe a portion of your tuition goes to combank. In my third year we got both combank and comquest. Another portion of your tuition goes to some kind of dell lenovo laptop or something along the likes of that. Uworld has never been provided to us like that though. I think efforts have been made several times unsuccessfully by my class and others to make it happen. I wouldn't count on uworld being "free" by the time you're a second year though. Otherwise, you'll likely gain access to other board studying resources through top secret methods that will not be publicly revealed
 
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