Hi everyone,
I am currently on my 3rd month of rotations in San Diego and I've been reading posts here on SDN regarding COMP. It's quite amazing that I have to see yet another post from solid_confusion regarding his grievances about COMP. (though he did state some positives, which is a bit of a difference)
I had a meeting with the Director of Clinical Education today at COMP. He came down to meet with the San Diego group and discuss how rotations were going. I too have heard about the numerous rumors about the low pass rate and concern about boards. I asked him directly about the rumors and his answer to me was that yes, it is true that we did score below the national average, but not to the extent of the what is going around the rumor mill. According to him, our class' overall board pass rate was 88%, with the national average being 90%.
Now, the COMLEX was quite a difficult exam. I think the problem that our class had was that we did not know the format of the exam. It's a VERY clinical exam, and you should be reading FIRST AID STEP 2 AND STEP 1. I regret not reading my STEP 2 book and doing the USMLE question book from the NMS series. I'm using it now and the questions are VERY similar to what I saw on the COMLEX.
And yes, we were given ~ 3 weeks to study, and we had to fight to change that. But keep in mind that some schools only had 1 week to study.
I addressed these opinions to the director and he suggested I put my opinions in writing, and I'll be happy to do so. Now, I don't know if you are a class leader solid_confusion (past posts by you don't indicate that you are) but I suggest that you or your class officers ask the Dean to come talk to you about your concerns and get actual confirmation about our pass rate and past year's pass rate. My old roommate, who is in your class, told me that no one from administration has come to talk to your class about our class' boards performance. I would also suggest that you ask for a session on the format of the exam so that you can better prepare for it. This is the responsibility of the LEAD office and in my view, they did not give us any indication of the format (again, this is my opinion).
And one more thing. This is just my opinion, but I felt that the Kaplan COMLEX course we took was a complete waste of time. After taking both the COMLEX and USMLE, I realized that the course was nothing more than a watered down version of Kaplan USMLE. If you're going to take Kaplan, take the real thing and take the USMLE version and then prepare for COMLEX by studying up on STEP 2 stuff. Also pay attention to your clinical lectures. Your performance really depends on how and what you study. I know someone who scored REALLY well on both the USMLE and the COMLEX!!
I hate rumors and I really dislike the act of discouraging other potential students to attend COMP. I think COMP is a great school w/ a great deal of opportunity to become the best osteopathic physician you can be. I am not saying that COMP is perfect and yes it does have it's share of problems, but EVERY medical school has it's own problems. Your medical school education is what you make of it.
Take everything with a grain of salt. And don't believe every rumor you here about or read about on this message board. If you want the truth, contact the actual sources. COMP administration is always willing to listen and work with you. (I can say this because I have worked with them many, many times and it has overall been a very positive experience).
Arnold Cuenca
MS-III
Western University of Health Sciences
College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific