2023-2024 Drexel

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I'm also a M2 at Drexel and I totally agree with everything Drake said.

Honestly, I think preclinical years at Drexel aren't that different from other MD programs. However, clinical site lottery can be a very stressful process for a lot of us. We just got our lottery results last week, and there are many classmates who didn't get a regional campus spot and have to move every few weeks to rotate between different sites for the third year.

Like Drake mentioned, one of our biggest rotation site in Philadelphia (which takes about 40 students/class), Crozer Health, is looking to sell its hospitals on the market right now. If they can't find a potential buyer by the end of this year, the hospital may be forced to shut down by its parent company, just like what happened to Hahnemann. Our primary clinical partner Tower Health is also struggling financially, and may be sold to private equity if it runs out of cash (it only has 30-day cash in hands right now according to Philadelphia Inquirer - a local newspaper.) Of course, these are not Drexel's faults since Drexel doesn't run any of these hospitals but rather only maintains loose affiliative relationship with them. However, if we do lose either clinical site, it can cause a lot of uncertainties to students, especially if they are shut down or being sold to a third-party in the middle of a rotation.

With that being said, I think admins at COM have realized what's going on at Crozer, which is why they announced a new regional campus in Delaware this year - Bayhealth. Students can now choose to spend their entire 3rd year in Delaware. Just be cautious that it can become more and more difficult to stay in Philadelphia for rotation in the future, and everyone might have to move at some point. It's probably not too bad if you're originally from places like California, Delaware or North Carolina and want to go back for your rotation (it's not too competitive to get a spot at those sites at least this year because most people don't want to move that far.)
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spideykook said:
Any west coast interviewees? Everything is EST right? Not looking forward to 5:30am authentication lol
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Yeah it’s EST. Unfortunately that’s just how it goes. I authenticated and then had like 2 hours or so to go get coffee and really wake up before my scheduled interviews lol
 
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gavinupwht said:
I'm also a M2 at Drexel and I totally agree with everything Drake said.

Honestly, I think preclinical years at Drexel aren't that different from other MD programs. However, clinical site lottery can be a very stressful process for a lot of us. We just got our lottery results last week, and there are many classmates who didn't get a regional campus spot and have to move every few weeks to rotate between different sites for the third year.

Like Drake mentioned, one of our biggest rotation site in Philadelphia (which takes about 40 students/class), Crozer Health, is looking to sell its hospitals on the market right now. If they can't find a potential buyer by the end of this year, the hospital may be forced to shut down by its parent company, just like what happened to Hahnemann. Our primary clinical partner Tower Health is also struggling financially, and may be sold to private equity if it runs out of cash (it only has 30-day cash in hands right now according to Philadelphia Inquirer - a local newspaper.) Of course, these are not Drexel's faults since Drexel doesn't run any of these hospitals but rather only maintains loose affiliative relationship with them. However, if we do lose either clinical site, it can cause a lot of uncertainties to students, especially if they are shut down or being sold to a third-party in the middle of a rotation.

With that being said, I think admins at COM have realized what's going on at Crozer, which is why they announced a new regional campus in Delaware this year - Bayhealth. Students can now choose to spend their entire 3rd year in Delaware. Just be cautious that it can become more and more difficult to stay in Philadelphia for rotation in the future, and everyone might have to move at some point. It's probably not too bad if you're originally from places like California, Delaware or North Carolina and want to go back for your rotation (it's not too competitive to get a spot at those sites at least this year because most people don't want to move that far.)
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Ok but like would u pick Drexel over a DO school?
 
I'm an M3 and will hop in on this conversation! I am biased because I got my first choice clinical site (which is outside of the Philadelphia area). A lot of people (like me) are excited about the chance to move to different places for 3rd year - people who have family in California or in Pittsburgh and want to be near them over staying in Philly. The quality of learning at my site and experiences of my friends at partner hospitals has been very positive overall (obviously there are some bad experiences as with everything in life). I also have friends rotating and while they were initially upset about it, a few are doing SubIs at places they rotated because they loved their experiences so much, and for the most part it has worked out really well. I would estimate about 80%?? of our class got their first choice. You can always choose to stay in Philadelphia and 'rotate' so you will never (at this point) be forced to leave. The Crozer situation is definitely not great and that is probably where my friends have disliked their rotations the most but not Drexel's fault and no one is sure what will happen moving forward (that site only caters to 40 students a year out of a 300 person class, as mentioned they're adding more and more options elsewhere).

I loved my preclinical years, felt like I learned a lot, REALLY enjoyed the way it was structured (I didn't even think about that going into med school but I would absolutely not have thrived at a place where lectures are required). You get a lot of free time to learn the material on your own and I found most of the in person sessions helpful (more so in M1 than M2). I traveled a ton, wasn't that stressed, made a lot of good friends and like my class a lot.

Don't feel qualified to speak on Drexel vs. DO. I have a good friend at PCOM and I find some of the OMM stuff interesting/effective but it is a lot of work to learn it all and having to take an extra set of exams would not be for me. I will say that she is going through her lottery right now for sites and it is a similar process - a lot of sites and a lot of good options, definitely not all in the Philadelphia area - but it is a lottery based system as well, so not everyone ends up happy. I think it's really school dependent!

I would take everything you hear (good and bad!) with a grain of salt and make the decision that works best for your life! I have seen so many people go through very similar experiences and come out of it with completely different mindsets about Drexel - just as I've seen people go through the exact same rotation with the exact same preceptor and have opposite feelings on it. I picked Drexel over arguably 'better' schools because it made the most sense for my life (had a partner that could move his job to Philly vs. some of the other cities) and I'm completely satisfied with my time at Drexel so far.
 
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Just completed my interview last week and want to say that I thought the whole process was very low-stress. I do think my experience may be different from others because of my faculty interviewer. She was incredibly nice and honestly one of the least stressful interviews I've had this cycle. If you have an interview coming up, Drexel does update the interview portal to tell you which faculty member you are interviewing with. I would suggest just checking that a few days before your interview. Good luck to everyone this cycle!
 
novel_yellow said:
Ok but like would u pick Drexel over a DO school?
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Without a question. For starters, many DO schools have the same flaws as Drexel regarding rotations and then some more. Additionally, even if the DO schools didn’t have these issues, Drexel is still a great and reputable MD school with a great match list in numerous specialties and without any DO stigma or double boards
 
Bowel-Plumber said:
Without a question. For starters, many DO schools have the same flaws as Drexel regarding rotations and then some more. Additionally, even if the DO schools didn’t have these issues, Drexel is still a great and reputable MD school with a great match list in numerous specialties and without any DO stigma or double boards
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Also Drexel is P/F preclinical (potentially true P/F?) and a lot of DO schools have a grading system.
 
Does anyone know if this school accepts update letters/ LOI pre II 🙂
 
azarivqan said:
Does that mean you weren’t deferred?
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i think you’re asking about the hold part? some applicants get put on a pre-II hold. it basically just indicates to them that the school has reviewed their application but is still considering whether they want to offer an interview
 
garnmonster said:
i think you’re asking about the hold part? some applicants get put on a pre-II hold. it basically just indicates to them that the school has reviewed their application but is still considering whether they want to offer an interview
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Sorry all I just meant no deferral
 
IS pre-II R. Complete late Aug. Pretty surprised about this one, as I thought I was a good fit :/
 
everythingisonfire said:
Yeah they say we have to accept or decline for them to consider our app in a future meeting. It’s essentially a waitlist spot
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I also just learned you had to accept the deferral (I got deferred like a month and a half ago). Other than they don't consider your application is there any other repercussions for not accepting it immediately?
 
please.accept.me15 said:
I also just learned you had to accept the deferral (I got deferred like a month and a half ago). Other than they don't consider your application is there any other repercussions for not accepting it immediately?
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I have no idea. They probably haven’t started going through the list to accept from it anyways? But their email is so vague, it says check portal for more info, I just happened to click and see the accept/deny option. It should really be more clear.
 
Chiming in with an MS2 experience at the West Reading campus - whether people are interested or not, all I can say is that most of the Drexel problems don't exist in as polarizing way as they do for over here. And the comment about Drexel's partnership with Tower Health losing money is probably true for every hospital EXCEPT for the one that students rotate at - Reading Hospital - which is the one hospital doing the bulk of the work keeping that hospital system financially afloat. They're expanding the residency spots and selection here as well. We get the CEO speech every year at orientation about it 🙄

Whether or not you wanted to be in a location like West Reading, it's just a chill experience overall and the longer I'm here the more I like and appreciate it. Like the clinical site selection was a non-issue for us - we're here all four years, working with the same professors and residents we'll rotate with for all of our time here, doing research and internships with them, shadowing with them, having them come in to teach our classes and guest lecture for an interest group series. Small class, close vibes, cozy campus, everything is really close by and easy to access without hassle. Our admin and faculty specific to this campus are shockingly accessible and work very hard on smoothing out the 'higher-up' decisions (where most of the Drexel 'discontent,' for lack of a better word, exists for us) for students as much as possible, and our campus-specific deans regularly schedule lunches to talk to us about our concerns and info sessions about things like meet and greets, research, step, rotations, residency apps, etc. Opportunities and leadership positions are handed out like candy, holiday/end-of-year/birthday parties, our faculty will genuinely consider our pitches for extracurricular outreach activities and see if it's possible, and everyone is super friendly and eager to teach! It's not perfect but we make it work.

P.S. I also had That One Interviewer and had some really.... interesting questions asked of me, and yet here I am! Chose to go here over the 6 other MD/DO acceptances I had, for better or worse.
 
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TMP181 said:
How did you fill out the comm and clin sections? Did you take specific course work to fulfill these? Because mine were mostly extracurriculars and not something I entered in AMCAS coursework
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One of my classes had community service built in. I left the clinical empty. They say this area is just in case tou took relevanr classes, they dont expect you to
 
Got a post-II deferral in late nov: this is my only MD interview I received back in September, so really crossing my fingers and hoping this interview turns into an A!
 
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