2021-2022 Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM-Virginia)

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Received an II here 2 days ago and just requested to withdraw my application. I hope my interview goes to one of you! Best of luck everyone.
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Just got an II yesterday. I was complete at the beginning of September. Does anybody have any interview tips that have interviewed here?
 
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ceramicist1899 said:
Did my interview today. I liked it a lot. It was very conversational.
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Same here, enjoyed it a lot. Nice meeting you all today. In case anyone is curious, seats are still available but they are "getting close" is what we were told today.
 
lexaford said:
Literally just received an invite to do secondaries today
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I also just got a invite to complete my secondary today. Seems REALLY late in the cycle especially as I would still have to wait to be marked complete after it so I'm not sure if I'll be submitting it. If anyone has any advice on whether it would be worth it though I'd love to hear some feedback.
 
premed9494 said:
I also just got a invite to complete my secondary today. Seems REALLY late in the cycle especially as I would still have to wait to be marked complete after it so I'm not sure if I'll be submitting it. If anyone has any advice on whether it would be worth it though I'd love to hear some feedback.
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During my interview they said that their class isn’t full but is filling up. They said that soon they’ll have to start waitlisting everyone, so it depends on whether or not you care to be on the waitlist. I thought the school, program, and facilities were amazing. It just depends on what works for you 🙂 good luck!
 
Hey I hope everyone's keeping well!

If someone gets an interview at VCOM is it highly likely that they will be accepted (assuming they don't act like a psycho during interview day?). I was looking at an SDN Post II Acceptance Rate spreadsheet for 2021 and it looked like post-II acceptance for VCOM was relatively high (like, above 80%), which is why I was particularly curious; is that accurate? With a lot of other schools I know its more around 50-60%, and some even lower :/

Thanks in advance! 🙂
 
No_This_Is_Dr_Patrick said:
Hey I hope everyone's keeping well!

If someone gets an interview at VCOM is it highly likely that they will be accepted (assuming they don't act like a psycho during interview day?). I was looking at an SDN Post II Acceptance Rate spreadsheet for 2021 and it looked like post-II acceptance for VCOM was relatively high (like, above 80%), which is why I was particularly curious; is that accurate? With a lot of other schools I know its more around 50-60%, and some even lower :/

Thanks in advance! 🙂
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I’m not sure what the percentage is, but I do know that they’re very picky about who they interview. I would think that their post-interview acceptance rate is quite high.
 
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Does anyone know if VCOM will be a pass-fail medical school in the future since many med schools now are pass-fail?
 
rani_muan said:
Hey guys! so i was pretty set on a school until i got the vcom acceptance call yesterday and now i’m torn, especially since vcom would be in-state for me and the other school would be a flight away. I was hoping i cud ask a few questions to see what school fits best and would be eternally grateful if any current vcom student had any answers 🙂

I know you all have 1-3 exams almost every week - do you think that studying for an exam every single week makes it hard to keep up and adds a lot of stress on ur plate or does it work well? Does the curriculum help with learning what you need for the boards, what support do they give for preparing for the boards, and how much dedicated time does vcom actually give for boards?

do you think having the 1 week after each block off and ,as a result, a shorter summer puts u at a disadvantage since you dont have the summer to do research or any other activities?

how would you kind of rate rotations since the core sites r only in southern virginia? do you have a chance of going to other states for rotations or is that only something you can set up for fourth year? Is it true that you are guaranteed 1 or more rotations with a DO physician, at least 1 with a resident, and 1 or more rotations with an inpatient component? Are there opportunities to do international rotations in any country you choose (as long as you set it up)?

i know they said lectures aren’t mandatory and they are recorded, however there is still a business casual dress code for lectures. Is this all true and how soon do they provide the recorded lectures?

how easy is it to find research?

how is blacksburg in general? I live in a small city-ish and I went to undergrad in a city school so I know it is definitely going to be a big shift but how is the blacksburg area and housing option there?

I apologize for the influx of questions but would for sure be grateful for any advice/answers I can get. Just want to get a current student's honest perspective of the school before making a final decision. thank you very much!
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Current OMS1 here.

While having multiple exams per week can be stressful, it forces you to stay on top of your lectures/studying because you don't have as much time to procrastinate learning the material prior to the exam. It also makes the amount of material per exam far more manageable. We typically have around 5 questions per lecture and typically around 10 lectures per exam; however, some exams have less and a few will have 1-2 more lectures. I personally feel that having fewer exams would have so much material per exam that it would be more overwhelming and a lot easier to fall behind, so I'm for the multiple exams.

I haven't officially begun to study for boards yet, so I can't speak too much on the support provided for board prep, but I will tell you what I do know. I would say the curriculum helps with board prep. There are definitely lectures/specific details that professors like to emphasize that they feel will be helpful/important for our future careers that may not be board relevant, but I feel as though we are covering what is required for boards. I find that I learn more details in my lectures from VCOM than board prep resources (AnKing, Boards and Beyond, First Aid, Sketchy, etc.) provide me. We are all provided with a subscription to COMBANK at the beginning of our first year, which is a question bank for board prep) and I believe they may provide something else/discounts for other board prep services, but I don't honestly remember the details about that since I'm not at that stage in my education. As for dedicated, the entire 8th block is a comprehensive review block of everything you learned in the first 7 blocks. You also take the COMSAE (like a practice COMLEX Level 1) during the 8th block. I don't know how much additional time you receive after the 8th block prior to a typical test date though. I would recommend reaching out to the school to ask/asking the student panel at your interview since they should be able to give you more complete/accurate answers about board prep/resources/dedicated!

Again, I haven't gotten to my summer break yet, but honestly having the week-long breaks in between blocks if you don't have to remediate (plus winter break) has really helped me avoid burnout. I went into medical school straight after graduating undergrad, so that was a big concern for me. I don't think it would really affect your ability to do research too much, as most people I know, as well as myself, who are involved in research do so during the school year (as well as during the summer if they choose). VCOM has also recently started having a mandatory research rotation I believe during the third year, which should help you get research experience if you are interested. Getting into research at VCOM isn't really difficult from what I've observed. I graduated from Virginia Tech and had been doing research at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Roanoke for 3 years during my undergrad and have been able to continue my research with my previous lab. The professor in charge of research at VCOM is really responsive and invested in making sure you can get into the research you enjoy and will help you figure out which professor at VCOM you would be able to work best under if you need help. But generally, it is the same process as in undergrad, where you reach out to the professor and see if they have availability. You can also do research at Virginia Tech, which is super close if you are interested in a project through VT.

Rotations I can't comment on too much either since I'm not at that part of my training. I will say that rotation sites for the Virginia campus are located all around VA (not just southwest VA), 1 or 2 in NC and I believe there is also one in WV. (Hospital Clinical Sites) Again, I would recommend asking the school/someone at your interview about this since they will know more than I do!

Some lectures/all labs are mandatory, but a lot of our lectures are optional. If you look at a block calendar, you will see what I mean. MLA lectures are mandatory, ALAs are not mandatory, and SDLs are not mandatory. MLA's are typically only for when we have guest lecturers or for labs. We do have a business casual dress code, but occasionally have dress-down days sponsored by different student organizations. When you attend lectures in person you have to dress business casual, for anatomy lab you dress in scrubs, for OMM lab you dress in athletic wear. If you are just at VCOM to study though you don't have to stick to a business casual dress code. The recorded lectures aren't streamed live; however, they are typically posted within an hour or so. Occasionally we will have longer wait times, but generally, it is fairly quickly uploaded to the site we use to watch them.

I really like Blacksburg and this is my fifth year in the area. It is large enough that there are things to do in Blacksburg/Christiansburg (immediately next to it) and close enough to Roanoke if you want to head into a larger city, but small enough that there aren't too many distractions, which I find helpful in medical school. Housing, as another student stated isn't too bad. Depending on where you choose to live, you are competing with VT undergrads for housing, so you will want to secure housing soon if you choose VCOM. I personally live across the street from VCOM which allows me to walk to campus, but in undergrad, I lived on the other side of Blacksburg. Both housing options were nice and affordable. I have friends who live alone, live in Christiansburg, live in undergrad-heavy areas, etc. Everyone lives in different spots of town, so there are definitely a wide variety of housing options depending on how much you are budgeting/roommates/what commute you want, etc. If you have specific questions about Blacksburg/housing, feel free to message me!


For all applicants: Feel free to message me/tag me in any questions you have and I'll do my best to answer based on my experience! I know applying is a stressful process and I'm here to help however I can!
 
Interviewed 1/26 and was also just waitlisted. Does anyone know how the waitlist is ranked or when to expect movement?
 
Redstone926 said:
Interviewed 1/26 and was also just waitlisted. Does anyone know how the waitlist is ranked or when to expect movement?
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I don't know about ranking, but there will probably be some movement over the next 4-6 weeks as the most recent accepted students choose whether or not to accept and put down a deposit. After that my guess is that it will slow down a little bit until towards the end of April when people have to start deciding for sure which schools they will attend.
 
How long after you get the notification that your application is complete that you either get an II or R? I'm sorry if it has been asked multiple times already. 🥲
 
__na508 said:
How long after you get the notification that your application is complete that you either get an II or R? I'm sorry if it has been asked multiple times already. 🥲
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My application was complete in September. I sent a letter of interest at the end of November, and I got an II in the middle of January.
 
Hi everyone, would applying here (any VCOM) with a 496 MCAT score be alright?
 
drthedude said:
Hi everyone, would applying here (any VCOM) with a 496 MCAT score be alright?
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Just to be realistic with you, I don't think anyone would recommend applying at all with a 496, unless you have something extraordinary to offset that score. The time spent applying would be much better spent studying for a retake to push for a few points higher, even just a bit over 500. You're almost there already so best of luck and push for that 500+.
 
SigmaChad said:
Just to be realistic with you, I don't think anyone would recommend applying at all with a 496, unless you have something extraordinary to offset that score. The time spent applying would be much better spent studying for a retake to push for a few points higher, even just a bit over 500. You're almost there already so best of luck and push for that 500+.
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Hey! Completely agree with you, only reason I’m asking in the threads is cause in my WAMC post Faha suggested I apply to these schools with my score saying I could get interviews still!
 
ceramicist1899 said:
My application was complete in September. I sent a letter of interest at the end of November, and I got an II in the middle of January.
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Thank you so much for answering my question!

If you don't mind me asking, you wrote a letter of interest just reminding them that you're still interested in their school? Or was this an update to your application? Or did they send you a separate form? I got an email from them saying, "We are please of your continued interest in Edward Via etc..." in January, and I submitted my secondary in November. I should keep waiting, right? I am not sure if I have to make some kind of move.😅
 
Is this a joke??? I submitted my primary in August and they sent me an invite to do a secondary right now… is there even a point lmao?
 
I submitted my primary in June and they never even sent me a secondary. They just rejected me now.
 
__na508 said:
Thank you so much for answering my question!

If you don't mind me asking, you wrote a letter of interest just reminding them that you're still interested in their school? Or was this an update to your application? Or did they send you a separate form? I got an email from them saying, "We are please of your continued interest in Edward Via etc..." in January, and I submitted my secondary in November. I should keep waiting, right? I am not sure if I have to make some kind of move.😅
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Are you from their “target” region?
 
__na508 said:
Yes, I'm from VA.
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I'm from outside of their target region. My letter of interest just reiterated why I wanted to go to their school, how my goals aligned with their mission, my passion for osteopathic medicine, and why I thought I would be a good fit. I hope this helps 🙂 You can private message me if you have any more questions!
 
Can I or should I submit an additional LOR after being waitlisted? Currently don't have a DO LOR but I've been in contact with a DO that would be happy to write me one. Just don't know if it would be too late or disregarded.
 
2022premed said:
Same did you do it, I have a hard time thinking there's a chance of getting an A?
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I am debating calling their admin office... it's absolutely ridiculous to leave people in silence for months and then to send a secondary a week before the deadline.
 
medap234 said:
My application has been complete but sitting in “Screen Review” for over a week. Has anyone had something similar/ know if it means anything?
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Mine says the same thing. I submitted my secondary in November. When did you submit yours?
 
Hello, just received invitation for the secondary lol, does anyone know it it's worth pursuing at this point? Thanks.
 
ndcpjf said:
Hello, just received invitation for the secondary lol, does anyone know it it's worth pursuing at this point? Thanks.
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I’m pretty sure the candidates that interview at this point are going straight to waitlist even if they really like them. So it depends on if that’s worth it to you.
 
ceramicist1899 said:
I’m pretty sure the candidates that interview at this point are going straight to waitlist even if they really like them. So it depends on if that’s worth it to you.
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That makes sense, I submitted the primary way back in Nov. so it caught me by surprise.
 
Is anyone who was waitlisted here willing to share the wording of the first paragraph of their email? I know in past cycles the wording has been compared between students and seems consistent across the board, but the wording in my email did not match what I've seen posted from prior cycles. Just trying to gauge if there's any hint at WL priority/position from the original email!
 
br02280528 said:
Is anyone who was waitlisted here willing to share the wording of the first paragraph of their email? I know in past cycles the wording has been compared between students and seems consistent across the board, but the wording in my email did not match what I've seen posted from prior cycles. Just trying to gauge if there's any hint at WL priority/position from the original email!
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"Extremely interested"? does not mean anything I believe.
 
Twinkle2099 said:
was the interview with three faculty for 90 minutes total. I am interviewing tomorrow and saw in the interview schedule three faculty under my name
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Good luck on your interview, do let us know what they say about the class size tomorrow.
 
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