2024-2025 Lincoln Memorial University DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU-DCOM)

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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Yeah for sure! Things have been changing quite a bit here since I started school. Currently we have in person exams, and in person labs. All lectures are in-person optional IF you are not in academic trouble (aka failing a class). So if you’re passing all your classes you can watch all the lecture recordings from home. This means if a lecture starts at 8am the recording will be posted by 9am. However, if at any point you are failing a class you are then required to attend in-person lectures for all classes for the rest of the semester (even if you’re no longer failing). You have to scan your badge as well to prove your attendance. This is a new policy that just got added about 3 weeks ago. There has been some pushback from students about it as well. It definitely seems like the school is pushing for mandatory in person lectures but I have no idea what they will be doing moving forward next year. That aside, mandatory lectures are not terrible and there’s a lot of students that still attend every day because they choose to.

I’m really happy with the education I’m getting from DCOM. Let me know if there’s anymore questions.
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To anyone applying, I am currently an OMS-2 at DCOM and would say to go to any program other than this one. While there are some ok things about the program, there are a lot of problems with it.

With the school constantly restructuring the academic layout in order to try to fix the problem with their low COMLEX pass rates, they overlook the cheating culture that has overtaken the school.
We have in class quizzes for our OPP lab that students are allowed to take on their personal computers/phones/ipads and send screenshots of the answers to the following lab groups.
There are quizzes for our EPC class that students blatantly ask each other what the answers are in class in front of the professor teaching.
When it comes to written exams, cheating is not absent there either as students that have taken the exam will send test questions and answers to students that have not taken the exam yet.

At the end of it all, when these are reported to the school and the Dean, with the evidence of the cheating, they do absolutely nothing. They tell the student that they “take it very seriously” to get them to go away and let the cheating students stay in the program. If a medical school is able to allow this, they are the reason why the medical field has seen the drop in quality physicians over the years. Please do yourself a favor and go to a school that values the medical profession over a tuition check because at the end of the day, that is what you are to DCOM….$$$
 
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WildWet&Wacky said:
To anyone applying, I am currently an OMS-2 at DCOM and would say to go to any program other than this one. While there are some ok things about the program, there are a lot of problems with it.

With the school constantly restructuring the academic layout in order to try to fix the problem with their low COMLEX pass rates, they overlook the cheating culture that has overtaken the school.
We have in class quizzes for our OPP lab that students are allowed to take on their personal computers/phones/ipads and send screenshots of the answers to the following lab groups.
There are quizzes for our EPC class that students blatantly ask each other what the answers are in class in front of the professor teaching.
When it comes to written exams, cheating is not absent there either as students that have taken the exam will send test questions and answers to students that have not taken the exam yet.

At the end of it all, when these are reported to the school and the Dean, with the evidence of the cheating, they do absolutely nothing. They tell the student that they “take it very seriously” to get them to go away and let the cheating students stay in the program. If a medical school is able to allow this, they are the reason why the medical field has seen the drop in quality physicians over the years. Please do yourself a favor and go to a school that values the medical profession over a tuition check because at the end of the day, that is what you are to DCOM….$$$
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Nah… you should go to this school. Great experience so far. We are lucky to be at any school period. No idea how students are cheating in person and screen shotting during a proctored exam.
 
ushakl said:
Nah… you should go to this school. Great experience so far. We are lucky to be at any school period. No idea how students are cheating in person and screen shotting during a proctored exam.
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Agreed! I'm a first year and am really enjoying it. My only gripe is the exams leave no room for error. You get a few questions wrong, and your average can tank. I would like to see more quizzes, exam questions, etc., to pad our margin of error. I also don't know how people are cheating on exams. We had one this morning and the program locks down your computer while you take it so you can't screenshot. You even turn in your scrap paper before you leave. And the OPP quizzes previously mentioned are easy if you actually look at the PPT and watch the pre-lab video which is less than 15 min.

I can't comment on the mandatory "at-risk" attendance policy. It didn't affect me and I go to lectures anyway. I don't have the self control to NOT go to class.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned. 🤷‍♂️
 
Current 1st year at the Knox campus, feel free to ask questions via the forum or DM and I'll be 100% honest/transparent
 
WildWet&Wacky said:
To anyone applying, I am currently an OMS-2 at DCOM and would say to go to any program other than this one. While there are some ok things about the program, there are a lot of problems with it.

With the school constantly restructuring the academic layout in order to try to fix the problem with their low COMLEX pass rates, they overlook the cheating culture that has overtaken the school.
We have in class quizzes for our OPP lab that students are allowed to take on their personal computers/phones/ipads and send screenshots of the answers to the following lab groups.
There are quizzes for our EPC class that students blatantly ask each other what the answers are in class in front of the professor teaching.
When it comes to written exams, cheating is not absent there either as students that have taken the exam will send test questions and answers to students that have not taken the exam yet.

At the end of it all, when these are reported to the school and the Dean, with the evidence of the cheating, they do absolutely nothing. They tell the student that they “take it very seriously” to get them to go away and let the cheating students stay in the program. If a medical school is able to allow this, they are the reason why the medical field has seen the drop in quality physicians over the years. Please do yourself a favor and go to a school that values the medical profession over a tuition check because at the end of the day, that is what you are to DCOM….$$$
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I will say that student morale is currently very low and a lot of people are unhappy with admin & other aspects of the school. I'm not sure about the cheating stuff, but the mandatory attendance for any at-risk student (doesn't have to be failing, you can just have a few grades in the low 70s and be considered at-risk despite passing) is crazy to implement around 1 month into the semester before students have found what methods work for them. Its also so unrealistic because I had something I had to be at for apartment maintenence that they wouldn't let me go to so my partner had to take off work for a few hours bc they wouldn't let me skip a normal lecture. Also when I was throwing up I didn't go to the doctor because I knew it was food poisoning and they still said the required some form of documentation for it to be excused (thought ab sending a pic of my vomit). The admin tries to act like they care about students, but any student feedback is not taken seriously and sometimes is seen as arrogant. The dean is very set in his ways, and the program feels like it is still holding on to the old/conservative style of medical school (see the faculty member that got fired over BLM stuff). The professors are very hit or miss, and exams are written pretty poorly. Can't comment on clinical rotations but I've heard they range from fine to awful. As of right now, I can't provide a great recommendation for the program without some serious changes being put into place.
 
I was excited to find a medical school in Knoxville, and one of my grandmother's amazing doctors is from LMU. For all the students here who are commenting and giving feedback, if you were in my position, a student applying with an A or two under your belt, would you still attend LMU-DCOM today despite some of the negative aspects mentioned? Thank you for all of your feedback!
 
iLoveA&P said:
I was excited to find a medical school in Knoxville, and one of my grandmother's amazing doctors is from LMU. For all the students here who are commenting and giving feedback, if you were in my position, a student applying with an A or two under your belt, would you still attend LMU-DCOM today despite some of the negative aspects mentioned? Thank you for all of your feedback!
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a little confused by your post sorry, you're saying you have 2 acceptances to other programs? I don't think LMU is an absolute do not go here, but I think its not the best. It depends on the quality of the other programs (if you wanted to list them or PM that would help a ton)
 
I am a first year at Knox campus, and I'm also happy to answer any questions. I actually like the school and overall enjoy attending. However, I am also a bit disturbed and frustrated by the lack of transparency with the recent policy changes. The biggest issue is that you don't actually have to be failing to be placed "at risk" and mandated to attend lectures. They also refuse to tell us what the parameters/benchmarks are, so we have no way of knowing where we stand/what we need to do to get off the list. It scares me that the process could be a bit *too* subjective, and punitive action could be applied unevenly based on the admin's opinions of us. I would also recommend non-trads with families (like myself) take this into consideration. They sprung this on us with about 4 days notice. People had to struggle to find alternative child care/morning routines/rides to school, etc.. And they didn't really seem to have an answer or any sympathy for that. There were rumors last year about them going back to 100% mandatory in person, so some have speculated on whether this is their way of easing back into that.

I was accepted to several schools, and I will admit that some of this has made me questions things a bit, but I am still extremely grateful to be here. I like the curriculum and our student body is overall fantastic from my perspective. I like most of my professors, and I've been learning a ton. I haven't witnessed any cheating like what people are describing. I can't imagine a way people could cheat on exams tbh.. The in class quizzes could be cheated on, but they're worth literally 1-2 points each.. so I'm not really sure why people would be scrambling to cheat on something so low-stakes.
 
Does anyone know how long it takes them to send the secondary email? I sent in my primary on Wednesday (late ik i was just waiting on my updated MCAT score).
 
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taytayswift said:
Does anyone know how long it takes them to send the secondary email? I sent in my primary on Wednesday (late ik i was just waiting on my updated MCAT score).
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It was pretty instantaneous for me. Like within 24 hrs. They say all aacomas verified applicants receive a secondary so I don't think they screen or anything
 
I haven’t gotten a secondary yet either and I also applied this last week.
 
ichigo334 said:
It was pretty instantaneous for me. Like within 24 hrs. They say all aacomas verified applicants receive a secondary so I don't think they screen or anything
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Do you think I should email them just updating them that I sent in my primary app this week and I look forward to receiving a secondary? Might be coming off strong but i just dont want them to forget to check my app while they're busy interviewing other candidates lol
 
taytayswift said:
Do you think I should email them just updating them that I sent in my primary app this week and I look forward to receiving a secondary? Might be coming off strong but i just dont want them to forget to check my app while they're busy interviewing other candidates lol
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Personally I think I would give it like a week and then after a week's time is up I don't think it'd be coming off too strong asking about the secondary
 
OOS acceptance! I think they already answered my question during our interview day, but when do we find out which campus we were accepted to? Thanks!!!
 
9/13 II
9/30 OOS A

Paid ~$1280 (fee incld) deposit which should go towards admission. I called the office and was told by the next day, I should receive an email confirmation on our assigned campus.

UPDATE: 10/1 - Issue signing into school email account, waited one day for the processing to complete then was able to pay deposit
UPDATE: 10/3 - received email confirming the assignment to my preferred campus of choice
 
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ilovebiology1010 said:
Super nervous! I have my virtual interview tomorrow!!
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Don't sweat it! I had mine last month, and 90% of it was similar to an orientation answering any questions you have; I found it very helpful to better understand the program before the interview.

The presentation was a THOROUGH dive into the entire program. Paying attention to the discussion is a good way to gauge your interest in the program and find questions to ask the interviewer. There is time to ask questions after each faculty member explains the program's function. After the entire session, the admission committee will send you a summary email with all the interviewer's contacts.

My Personal Experience (Does NOT represent all)
The time allotted for my interview was 20 minutes. Unlike prior years, interviews were 1 on 1 and NOT in a group format!! I had no time to ask questions since talking to the faculty member was enjoyable, and I lost track of time. My interviewer was very sweet and was very understanding overall. I was generally asked basic questions I had already prepared. There were also some questions that I had to think about first; however, you should be able to answer them honestly without any preparation.

My Opinion:
I appreciated how the interview format was changed to 1 on 1 for a more personal experience. I also liked how the interviews were relaxed and more conversational BECAUSE an authentic and comfortable conversation allowed me to demonstrate more of who I am as a person, not preparing for superficial ethics questions.

For my first medical school interview, I brought in some personal topics about why I wanted to pursue medicine. It almost sounded like I wanted to cry halfway through the interview. I was terrified that this factor would impact my chances of getting in. I sent a brief and genuine follow-up thank you letter, to which I received a response a week later. Ultimately I was accepted!

The faculty is super understanding. Some I talked to were very passionate about "educating and acceptance" (the best way I can put it for certain reasons), and the open-door policy is greatly emphasized here. Seeing that the faculty is very "aware" made me more excited about this program.

Good luck!

Feel free to like this post if I helped you out. It would make me feel good that I provided assistance to those like me in the future 😊
 
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Withdrew my application yesterday so hopefully my interview spot goes to someone else, good luck everyone!
 
misswitch44 said:
I am a first year at Knox campus, and I'm also happy to answer any questions. I actually like the school and overall enjoy attending. However, I am also a bit disturbed and frustrated by the lack of transparency with the recent policy changes. The biggest issue is that you don't actually have to be failing to be placed "at risk" and mandated to attend lectures. They also refuse to tell us what the parameters/benchmarks are, so we have no way of knowing where we stand/what we need to do to get off the list. It scares me that the process could be a bit *too* subjective, and punitive action could be applied unevenly based on the admin's opinions of us. I would also recommend non-trads with families (like myself) take this into consideration. They sprung this on us with about 4 days notice. People had to struggle to find alternative child care/morning routines/rides to school, etc.. And they didn't really seem to have an answer or any sympathy for that. There were rumors last year about them going back to 100% mandatory in person, so some have speculated on whether this is their way of easing back into that.

I was accepted to several schools, and I will admit that some of this has made me questions things a bit, but I am still extremely grateful to be here. I like the curriculum and our student body is overall fantastic from my perspective. I like most of my professors, and I've been learning a ton. I haven't witnessed any cheating like what people are describing. I can't imagine a way people could cheat on exams tbh.. The in class quizzes could be cheated on, but they're worth literally 1-2 points each.. so I'm not really sure why people would be scrambling to cheat on something so low-stakes.
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hikermoose said:
Agreed! I'm a first year and am really enjoying it. My only gripe is the exams leave no room for error. You get a few questions wrong, and your average can tank. I would like to see more quizzes, exam questions, etc., to pad our margin of error. I also don't know how people are cheating on exams. We had one this morning and the program locks down your computer while you take it so you can't screenshot. You even turn in your scrap paper before you leave. And the OPP quizzes previously mentioned are easy if you actually look at the PPT and watch the pre-lab video which is less than 15 min.

I can't comment on the mandatory "at-risk" attendance policy. It didn't affect me and I go to lectures anyway. I don't have the self control to NOT go to class.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned. 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
So I’m an OMS-2 at the Harrogate campus and cannot speak for Knox but the way the students are cheating in the exams is pretty easy. The privacy screens are a joke because the person behind you can easily see your screen. And if you read my post, I clearly said that students would take the exam and then after they take it, they are clearly smart enough to remember the questions and answers and go through their study guides/notes and highlight and make notes on what the test covered and send that out to people they know that are taking the exam at a later date.

If you are an OMS-1 in Harrogate, I’m surprised you didn’t hear about the large group of students that would take their anatomy lab practical and distribute the answers after.

But from the way cheating is handled, it doesn’t matter if you cheat at the school because even if caught red-handed, nothing is done to the offender. I’m just saying to go to a school that actually values the ethical and moral ways of creating a physician as opposed to a school that is very poor at preparing you for your boards.
(FYI: The stats for the pass rate on COMLEX is only from the students that the school allows to take it, thus why their percentage seems so high. If they allowed everyone to take it, their passing rate would
be significantly lower)
 
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ushakl said:
Nah… you should go to this school. Great experience so far. We are lucky to be at any school period. No idea how students are cheating in person and screen shotting during a proctored exam.
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I can’t say that I have ever felt “lucky” to be at DCOM because I had a lot of acceptances else where and am now wishing to be anywhere else but here.
Take your advice from OMS-II’s for your didactic portion and III & IV for clinical rotations.
(Also, if you read what I typed, it’s pretty explanatory, I hope you can read a patients chart better for the future)
 
WildWet&Wacky said:
So I’m an OMS-2 at the Harrogate campus and cannot speak for Knox but the way the students are cheating in the exams is pretty easy. The privacy screens are a joke because the person behind you can easily see your screen. And if you read my post, I clearly said that students would take the exam and then after they take it, they are clearly smart enough to remember the questions and answers and go through their study guides/notes and highlight and make notes on what the test covered and send that out to people they know that are taking the exam at a later date.

If you are an OMS-1 in Harrogate, I’m surprised you didn’t hear about the large group of students that would take their anatomy lab practical and distribute the answers after.

But from the way the Dr. Loyke, Dr. Brown, and Dr. Apperley handle cheating, it doesn’t matter if you cheat at the school because even if caught red-handed, nothing is done to the offender. I’m just saying to go to a school that actually values the ethical and moral ways of creating a physician as opposed to a school that is very poor at preparing you for your boards.
(FYI: The stats for the pass rate on COMLEX is only from the students that the school allows to take it, thus why their percentage seems so high. If they allowed everyone to take it, their passing rate would
be significantly lower)
Click to expand...

How would the school not allow a student to take the COMLEX?
 
I wanted to know what the stats are for this school. Do they take low mcat high GPA?
 
If you go to this link and click a school and then admissions it will show you the average matriculated MCAT and GPA. Hope this helps!

www.aacom.org

Choose D.O. Explorer

Searchable database of U.S. colleges of osteopathic medicine with relevant information to help you decide which ones to apply to.
www.aacom.org www.aacom.org
 
Hi everyone! I thought I would create a group chat via GroupMe for all those who are accepted. It's a great way to connect and meet your potential classmates! The GroupMe link is attached below.

1728625771815.png


LMU-DCOM Accepted Group
 
WildWet&Wacky said:
They make you take a practice prior and if you do not match the score they want, they do not allow you to take it. Simple as that.
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Is that such a bad thing? If you can't consistently score above above a passing on COMSAEs, you have a high chance of failing the COMLEX. You can always make excuses as to why you delayed the COMLEX, but a board failure is much much worse on your resume if you're trying to match.

I do share some of your frustrations of how the admin seem to like pulling last-minute changes to curriculum, but I thought the COMLEX requirements are reasonable.
 
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