This is some info I posted in the "
Pros and Cons of your DO school thread" (which is worth checking out BTW)
The school is 45-60 minutes south of Tampa.
If you want more info from LECOM-B students, I suggest registering on the
LECOM-B SGA website and checking out the forum. A lot of the yakking about living situations, rooms for rent, etc. is done on the SGA website.
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I'll offer some thoughts about LECOM-Bradenton, although as a second year student, my opinions will be basically limited to the preclinical years.
Curriculum: As the only DO school with an all PBL curriculum, LECOM-B is somewhat unique in this area. Apart from those students who picked LECOM-B for geographical reasons, I would say that the PBL curriculum is the most popular reason for choosing this school. It is the reason I chose LECOM-B, and although there are some areas which need improvement, I have been very happy with my decision.
If you are considering attending LECOM-B, it is extremely important to research PBL and decide if this type of curriculum fits your learning style. I like that I can basically make my own schedule in PBL and get the chance to study the material in my own way. Our cases follow a systems approach, and as we go through each case, we touch on the related anatomy, pharm, path, etc. If you are the type of person that can go to the library and read all day and have pretty good comprehension, you will probably enjoy and do pretty well with PBL. It can be a difficult way to learn because it is a large volume of material and, without lectures, it is tough to know where to focus, but this does give you the chance to explore a lot of things you might otherwise miss. I could talk a lot about PBL, but will limit myself to cover some other subjects.
Anatomy, Histology and Embryology are taught in a lecture based format which is basically 10 weeks of lecture and lab 8am-5pm. (At least this is how it was set up for us. I
think Embryo may be rolled into PBL in the future...) Anatomy professors were great, knew their subject extremely well, and did an amazing job of condensing a large amount of material into a short time. We also have lecture based "mini classes" which include Public Health, Healthcare Management, Ethics and Spirituality, and a couple others. These mini classes were in general pretty much a waste of time, IMO. I understand the need to teach some subjects that just don't work in the PBL format, but lecturers seemed weak and the classes lacked focus. Luckily, they were a small part of our overall curriculum, and to the administration's credit, they responded to student feedback by replacing some lecturers and reworking some of the classes.
Location: If you like the sun and the beach, Bradenton is a great place to be. The beaches here are among the best in the country. Traffic can be a bit heavy at times, but there are many places to live under 15 minutes from school.
Cost: The two LECOMs are the least expensive of the private Osteopathic Colleges, coming in at $26,000 OOS, and $25,000 IS. Financial Aid Office is great, and, at least this year, was able to make a lot of money available in the form of small (~$1000) scholarships.
Faculty: In my opinion, the faculty here runs a fairly wide gamut, from exceptional to marginal, with most falling in the good to excellent range. The difference here, though, is that most of your education is really done independently of the faculty, so even if your facilitator is not the best, you can only suffer so much. The classes which are dependent on faculty - ie. OMM, Clinical Exam - are well executed and definitely seem like they are preparing us well for rotations and boards.
Reputation: LECOM-B may be riding LECOM's reputation a bit, and seems to be developing a good reputation among the local hospitals, but after only 4 years, they are definitely the new kids on the block. Florida has a very active and large DO population, which definitely helps to make the school feel welcome.
Clinical rotations: All I can pass along is what I have heard from 3rd years, which is that while getting the rotations set up was frustrating at times, so far they have been pretty pleased overall. I'm sure I will have a lot more to say on this subject in a couple years...
Housing: Gulf Coast Florida in general is not the cheapest place to live, but it's not the most expensive either, and you can do pretty well if you have a roommate. I own a home here, and will *hopefully* turn a pretty good profit when I sell in a few years.
Study areas: The LECOM-B "campus" is basically just one building and is pretty limited as far as study areas go. Also, since there is a dress code during business hours and no food or drink except in the cafeteria, most students prefer to study off campus. Various coffee shops and cafe's are popular, as is the library at UF.
Social scene: I left my partying days behind a while back, so I will mostly defer on this one. Everyone in the class is very friendly, and since the school is relatively small, there is a close feeling among students, faculty and administration. Clubs and Student Government are active, although there is a tendency to "hunker down" especially around exam time. The School of Pharmacy will be opening next year, so there will be another 80 or so people around campus.
Local hospitals: There are quite a few around, I don't really have first hand experience with any, so I will defer on this one.
Preparation for boards: Again, not a whole lot I can say here since I am just starting to think about boards. For the previous two years, the school paid for a Kaplan review for all students, but for our class, they will be doing an in-house board review. Some people were definitely displeased about this change, but I'm rather ambivalent about it, as I don't see a lecture based board review playing a big role in my prep, anyway.
There is some data which shows a good correlation with the PBL tests we take and Step I scores, which suggests that PBL is at least somewhat reflective of Step I and should be good preparation. Much more to say here in about a year...
Edit:Current info about the Class of '09 board scores
here
Chances of specializing: This is a wildcard at this point, as the first class will be matching next year.
Dress Code, Policies, Administration Even though you didn't ask, I think it's important to mention that LECOM-B has a dress code during business hours. Shirt and tie for guys, business casual for ladies. Food and drink is also only permitted in the cafeteria. There is also an attendance policy, although with so few lectures, you might not notice it. Although it's easy to complain about the dress code and rules, honestly, it hasn't affected my experience in the slightest. I treat school like my job, show up, do my thing, and then go home and study. I'm not really looking for a big campus scene, so this suits me fine.
Report Card
Curriculum: B+
Location: B
Cost: A+
Financial Aid: B
Faculty: B
Reputation: C
Technology: B
Study Space/Library: C-
Library technology/Resources: C
Rotations: ?
Social: ?
Hospitals: ?
Post Grad: ?
Cafeteria Food: B
Cafeteria Prices: A
Overall Grade: B
