Medical school posts 'no-vacancy' sign
Lake Erie College's new branch is full, and there's a waiting list of students hoping for admission.
BY JANEL STEPHENS
LAKEWOOD RANCH -- Classes are full at East Manatee's new medical school, and about 50 students are on the waiting list to get in.
Letters have gone out to 160 students who have been accepted to the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine campus here. About one-third of those applicants are from Florida, according to college officials.
This year, 2,600 students applied to the medical school, more than in any year since the school opened its main campus in Pennsylvania in 1992 and a 20 percent increase over last year's applications.
Pierre Bellicini, director of communications and marketing for Lake Erie, said Manatee's new campus helped spur the increase. The medical school also extended its March deadline to mid-May to give more students a chance to apply, Bellicini said.
Lake Erie is the first osteopathic college to create a branch campus, said Dr. Robert George, associate dean of academic affairs. It's also the first medical school in Manatee County. The nearest, the University of South Florida College of Medicine, is in Tampa.
"Our announcing the Florida campus definitely had a lot of students interested in going," Bellicini said.
He said the college had a larger marketing campaign than past years. It also recruited heavily at schools in Florida and other southeastern states.
Lake Erie is one of 20 colleges of osteopathic medicine in the United States.
Doctors of osteopathic medicine are licensed physicians who take a holistic approach to treating patients, with an emphasis on the interrelationship of the body's nerves, muscles, bones and organs, rather than targeting specific symptoms.
The medical school has 15 faculty members and three deans on staff now. It will add 15 more teachers next year, George said.
The 109,000-square-foot, $25 million campus on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard is still under construction but is expected to open late this summer. Freshman orientation is set for Sept. 9, and classes begin Sept. 13.
The three-story medical school will have two lecture halls that can seat about 150 students, along with a basic laboratory and 20 small classrooms.
On-campus housing for students won't come until later, college officials said. However, the school is working with several real estate brokers and management companies to help students find housing.
While LECOM students are interested in transferring to the Sunshine State, they won't get the chance this year. The Bradenton campus will open with a freshman class.
"I did not think that we would get the response that we did for year one," George said. "It's been phenomenal."
