AZCOM Discussion Thread 2010-2011

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Hey, are you the girl that had snowboard sponsors that I met at the 10/19 interview? If so, I was the bodybuilder kid from Utah. Congrats on the acceptance. I received my acceptance letter today and am sincerely amped about it.

Ha! Yes that's me :laugh: I am happy for you -Are you going to accept?
 
Wow, tear them up? That's extreme! I agree that it couldn't hurt, perhaps I will email and ask. I went to the trouble to get some good ones, I hate to not use them ;o) Thanks for your comment!

I emailed with no response, decided after two days to just send in 5 and see what happens. Thanks!
 
As far as extra LORs - it's ok to send extra, just don't go crazy. I sent 5, and when I talked to someone on the phone, she said it was fine and that they would read them all.

To those that have already been accepted - do you think most of the problems with 3rd & 4th yr rotations that some people on sdn have complained about have been fixed? From the list of rotation sites, it looks like they may have taken the students concerns into consideration, and that may be why they are letting people choose their site at acceptance.
 
As far as extra LORs - it's ok to send extra, just don't go crazy. I sent 5, and when I talked to someone on the phone, she said it was fine and that they would read them all.

To those that have already been accepted - do you think most of the problems with 3rd & 4th yr rotations that some people on sdn have complained about have been fixed? From the list of rotation sites, it looks like they may have taken the students concerns into consideration, and that may be why they are letting people choose their site at acceptance.

Thats what I'm thinking as well... It seems like they have really changed things up over the past few years
 
I hope so, but we can not say anything until we get our rotation confirmed. I don't know when they will let us know our rotation site. Hopefully before the deposit deadline.

Thats what I'm thinking as well... It seems like they have really changed things up over the past few years
 
I too would like to see if the 3/4 rotation problems have been solved. That 2007 article gave me a glimpse, but even so I continually read more recent 2010 threads talking about AZCOM's rotation problems.
 
I too would like to see if the 3/4 rotation problems have been solved. That 2007 article gave me a glimpse, but even so I continually read more recent 2010 threads talking about AZCOM's rotation problems.

Here are two great threads from the AZCOM 2009-2010 discussion thread, that shed some light on the recent rotation changes.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=8887559&postcount=59
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=8887611&postcount=60
 
Does anyone know when the admissions committee meets next? (i.e. I interviewed yesterday, when should I plan on my online portal changing🙂... or not changing🙁)
 
Does anyone know when the admissions committee meets next? (i.e. I interviewed yesterday, when should I plan on my online portal changing🙂... or not changing🙁)

for me, I interviewed on Monday and found out on Thursday...
 
Does anyone know when the admissions committee meets next? (i.e. I interviewed yesterday, when should I plan on my online portal changing🙂... or not changing🙁)

As denco88 said, they have a quick turn around. There were people who interviewed on Wed and heard on Thurs. You could hear tonight!

Also, don't be alarmed if you don't hear today either. There are people who will hear later, next week.

Good luck!
 
As far as extra LORs - it's ok to send extra, just don't go crazy. I sent 5, and when I talked to someone on the phone, she said it was fine and that they would read them all.

To those that have already been accepted - do you think most of the problems with 3rd & 4th yr rotations that some people on sdn have complained about have been fixed? From the list of rotation sites, it looks like they may have taken the students concerns into consideration, and that may be why they are letting people choose their site at acceptance.

Phew thanks! I just got an email that said they will accept one more... but I had already sent my 5... I figured 5 wasn't too over the top. Glad to hear other people are on the same page. Thanks!
 
Had an interview, 11/04, very laid back, fun interview group. Best of luck everyone!
 
Does anyone know when the admissions committee meets next? (i.e. I interviewed yesterday, when should I plan on my online portal changing🙂... or not changing🙁)

Did you look today? My husband made me promise to wait for him to get home before I check and I'm getting twitchy. :laugh::laugh::laugh:
 
Did you look today? My husband made me promise to wait for him to get home before I check and I'm getting twitchy. :laugh::laugh::laugh:

I just checked again and nothing has changed. I suspect that it will be a few days more because, after today, they are taking a break from interviewing for two months. I imagine they would want to evaluate everyone in this pool together, thus they would have to wait until interviews are completed today to meet and decide.
 
I know that current students have chimed in on rotations, but I wanted to ask a few more questions.

I'm undecided between West Phoenix / East Phoenix and Tucson. Are there any major differences with West and East Phoenix? And, besides locational reasons, what do you see as the pros and cons of Tucson over Phoenix?-I was thinking that U of A's Univ. Medical Center would be a great site to rotate.

Thanks for the help!
 
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I know that current students have chimed in on rotations, but I wanted to ask a few more questions.

I'm undecided between West Phoenix / East Phoenix and Tucson. Are there any major differences with West and East Phoenix? And, besides locational reasons, what do you see as the pros and cons of Tucson over Phoenix?-I was thinking that U of A's Univ. Medical Center would be a great site to rotate.

Thanks for the help!

Choosing our rotation sites is frustrating -I chose LA as #1 but upon looking further into it -LA is more expensive to live, there is no level I trauma center (like there is for all of Phoenix and Tuscon) and hardly any residnecies. Are these sites really equal in terms of opportunity? I feel like we should kind of know what type of medicine we are interested in now so that we are do our rotations in areas where those types of residnecies exist. Is anyone else having these same thoughts or difficulties?

Does anyone know if we can change what we indicated as our top choice after we have sent them in to Dr. Speicher?:scared:
 
I'm pretty sure that 4th year you can go wherever you want in the US(basically) for most of your rotations and by then you're more specific to what and where you want to end up for residency....can someone correct me if thats wrong please.

So if thats true then I don't think it will make as much of a difference where the 3rd year rotations are.

Haha is this right at all??!!
 
Choosing our rotation sites is frustrating -I chose LA as #1 but upon looking further into it -LA is more expensive to live, there is no level I trauma center (like there is for all of Phoenix and Tuscon) and hardly any residnecies. Are these sites really equal in terms of opportunity? I feel like we should kind of know what type of medicine we are interested in now so that we are do our rotations in areas where those types of residnecies exist. Is anyone else having these same thoughts or difficulties?

Does anyone know if we can change what we indicated as our top choice after we have sent them in to Dr. Speicher?:scared:

The points that you made about LA is why it may not be placed in my top 3. I'll most likely choose my top 3 sites to be in AZ. I'm going to hold out for another week or so until I decide what I do.
 
Question...

so i received the official acceptance snail mail and apparently we can rank our preferred rotation sites now, but i was wondering if we need to pay the $1000 deposit before we can turn in that rotation site form?

anyone please clarify if you know..
 
For expediency's sake (on my part at least, since finals studying is officially ongoing), the above questions do have answers in this thread within the previous ~4-5 pages. It really doesn't take long to read through, it just takes really wanting to know the answer.
 
For expediency's sake (on my part at least, since finals studying is officially ongoing), the above questions do have answers in this thread within the previous ~4-5 pages. It really doesn't take long to read through, it just takes really wanting to know the answer.

Perhaps if your time is at a premium, you should preserve it for studying rather than coming on the applicant site to belittle people so frequently.
 
Perhaps if your time is at a premium, you should preserve it for studying rather than coming on the applicant site to belittle people so frequently.

wtf are u talking about?? random has been nothing but helpful to everyone on this thread.
 
Perhaps if your time is at a premium, you should preserve it for studying rather than coming on the applicant site to belittle people so frequently.

I don't think he is trying to belittle anyone. He has actually been quite helpful and answered many questions on numerous occasions within this thread.

There is no point in reanswering the same question several times. It is posted within the thread. There are also a lot of other useful questions asked/answered within this thread so if anybody is interested they should take the time and take a quick read through the whole thing.
 
Perhaps if your time is at a premium, you should preserve it for studying rather than coming on the applicant site to belittle people so frequently.

Telling people that the answers they're looking for can be found in the thread and providing them approximate pages to look at does not equate belittling, it equates indirectly answering their question.

People that contribute/participate in this thread consistently, have pm'd me, or look through my posts-history (and read stuff in context) know that I'm more than happy to answer questions at length, but since my time is at a premium (which, hopefully, you will learn how much of a premium time is this upcoming year in the med school-sense [translation: though you're being critical of me for trying to help, I'm still hoping you get in somewhere]) if a question has been asked and I can reference where to find the answer more quickly, I'm going to do that for the next week (it's better than people not receiving any kind of answer or waiting a few days to get one).
 
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Random, I appreciate your efforts. Your posts are always helpful for me. Thank you and good luck for your finals. Hope to see you around in AZCOM next year🙂.


Telling people that the answers they're looking for can be found in the thread and providing them approximate pages to look at does not equate belittling, it equates indirectly answering their question.

People that contribute/participate in this thread consistently, have pm'd me, or look through my posts-history (and read stuff in context) know that I'm more than happy to answer questions at length, but since my time is at a premium (which, hopefully, you will learn how much of a premium time is this upcoming year in the med school-sense [translation: though you're being critical of me for trying to help, I'm still hoping you get in somewhere]) if a question has been asked and I can reference where to find the answer more quickly, I'm going to do that for the next week (it's better than people not receiving any kind of answer or waiting a few days to get one).
 
For expediency's sake (on my part at least, since finals studying is officially ongoing), the above questions do have answers in this thread within the previous ~4-5 pages. It really doesn't take long to read through, it just takes really wanting to know the answer.

Thank you for your time randomusername as I know it is precious. I have read through almost everything -all threads and links for AZCOM. I know everything is supposed to be equal and we can set up our own 4th year rotations but the advice I received from both the anesthesiologist and urologist that I follow is that you want to do your rotations at a place where they offer the type of medicine your interested in. Their advice is probably more applicaable to 4ht year but since we have the choice and not all of the rotation sites offer the same things - I think it is kind of frustrating, especially because I am not sure (as most first years aren't) of what kind of medicine I am interested -I have an idea but likley it will change and so will the area I want to do rotations in. I am sure I will be happy wherever I go but I would hate to regret my choice two years from now.

I know it really doesn't matter because everytone has to choose and we're all in the same boat. I was just wondering if anyone felt my same frustrations. Oh ya and good luck studying!! 👍
 
Random, I appreciate your efforts. Your posts are always helpful for me. Thank you and good luck for your finals. Hope to see you around in AZCOM next year🙂.

Thank-you (and thank-you to everybody else), and if this is where you've decided on attending, I'll definitely be around to help out then too. 👍
 
we have the choice and not all of the rotation sites offer the same things - I think it is kind of frustrating, especially because I am not sure (as most first years aren't) of what kind of medicine I am interested -I have an idea but likley it will change and so will the area I want to do rotations in.

It really is a frustrating decision that somehow manages to be both important and unimportant at the same time and I promise you many of my classmates and I had the same thoughts, as do many of your future classmates. Unfortunately, it really is one of those things where we're kind of expected to just make a decision and, more-or-less, stick with it and not figure out if we made the best choice until it no longer matters.
 
randomusername - thanks for always being so helpful on this thread. I had a few questions about the schedule. I've been looking at this: http://www.midwestern.edu/Documents/Registrar/Fall/MS I Fall 2010 Final(0).pdf

Do you have anatomy all three afternoons, or do they have to divide the students up on different days?

Exams - Do you have tests that entire monday morning block? It's confusing because underneath there is an exam schedule for different subjects - do the monday exams cover all classes, or do they alternate each week? And it doesn't really look like all the exams are on mondays - there are random days and times listed.

I guess I'm basically wondering if I'd have to plan to be in lecture/lab 7 or 8 -5 every day, or if there are some afternoons off for studying.
 
For anyone still waiting to hear back, I interviewed yesterday (11/5) and we were told that the committee is meeting on Tuesday.

Good luck everyone!
 
Do you have anatomy all three afternoons, or do they have to divide the students up on different days?

Exams - Do you have tests that entire monday morning block? It's confusing because underneath there is an exam schedule for different subjects - do the monday exams cover all classes, or do they alternate each week? And it doesn't really look like all the exams are on mondays - there are random days and times listed.

I guess I'm basically wondering if I'd have to plan to be in lecture/lab 7 or 8 -5 every day, or if there are some afternoons off for studying.

You will not have anatomy lab all three days. Since the class is so large (~250 DOs + ~30 PODs), they actually divide the anatomy class into three lab groups (A,B,C) and the groups do the dissections in a set order so that A does one dissection, B the next one, C the next, and repeat.

At least during first quarter, after the second week you will essentially have one exam every Monday in either histo/embryo, anatomy, or biochem. There are weeks with multiple exams in first quarter, but the second exam will be either your Human Behavior or OMM midterms or OMM final, or, like this past week for us, you'll have practicals in your OMM and clinical med classes but no exams in any other classes.

Also, most lab days you will be out of lab before 5:00 regardless of if it's anatomy or OMM (anatomy runs 'til 5:00 a time or two, OMM never does). There are also a few histo/embryo drawing labs that occur throughout the quarter which do last until 5:00 also (these are on anatomy lab days), but these drawing labs are not mandatory.

As for starting at 8:00, Thursdays and Fridays you will start class at 8:00, but most other days in most weeks will not start at 8:00 aside from some Monday exams.

I would also like to point out that AZCOM's basic sciences do not have mandatory attendance for anything other than labs/workshops (except histo/embryo drawing labs which, again, are optional) and potentially yourself and definitely a number of your colleagues will begin to take advantage of this fact and begin to skip lectures (lecture seems all-important to many people in your shoes right now, but a number of my classmates and myself have figured out this first quarter that we're much more efficient learners on our own).

So summary: During first quarter most weeks you will just have one exam and most days, you will not start class at 8:00 except for on Thursdays and Fridays, and on most days you will be done before 5:00.

I will however point out that this is strictly regarding first quarter only. It is my understanding that second and third quarters of MS1 year have more weeks with multiple exams and MS2s have had a couple of weeks this quarter in which they've virtually had 3-4 exams in a single week, so hopefully Flushot or one of the other MS2s that occasionally posts will see this and elaborate a bit on everything I've yet to experience.
 
First, I want to thank random for all his valuable information.

Second, from searching a few threads, the consensus seems to be that rotations with hospitals that are part of the Banner Heath System are great. Thus, I'm leaning towards West Phoenix. East Phoenix also has Banner hospitals but do you know anything the Scottsdale Health Systems that makes East a "better" site?

Third, aside from living, is Tucson's site good because of U of A Univ. Med Center or do U of A med students get priority, etc?
 
First, I want to thank random for all his valuable information.

Second, from searching a few threads, the consensus seems to be that rotations with hospitals that are part of the Banner Heath System are great. Thus, I'm leaning towards West Phoenix. East Phoenix also has Banner hospitals but do you know anything the Scottsdale Health Systems that makes East a "better" site?

Third, aside from living, is Tucson's site good because of U of A Univ. Med Center or do U of A med students get priority, etc?

Honestly, we've been told that there is significant overlap between "East" and "West" Valley, depending on who you precept with. I've not really been around Phoenix long enough to give any valuable input as far as SHS goes, and we've not heard much about Tucson in regards to U of A students getting priority or not, however, I want to say the only rotation that's for sure at UMC is the ward-IM and that everything else you do will be dependent on your preceptors and where they work (much like the overlap with East and West Valley).
 
You will not have anatomy lab all three days. Since the class is so large (~250 DOs + ~30 PODs), they actually divide the anatomy class into three lab groups (A,B,C) and the groups do the dissections in a set order so that A does one dissection, B the next one, C the next, and repeat.

Random, I have a question about the anatomy dissections. During the tour, our guide said that one group will have the same cadaver throughout the course. Does this mean that group A, B, and C will each have their own cadaver?
 
Random, I have a question about the anatomy dissections. During the tour, our guide said that one group will have the same cadaver throughout the course. Does this mean that group A, B, and C will each have their own cadaver?

During each quarter (anatomy is fall and winter of MS1) A, B, and C will all share the same cadavers. It is true that within your "dissection-group" (within your lab group, you will be split into groups of 4 that you dissect with the entire quarter) you will dissect on the same cadaver throughout the quarter. It is my understanding that during winter quarter, we will be reassigned dissection groups and new bodies (because not all bodies are created equal and some have really good "everythings" while some have really poor "everythings" and they do this to both mix up the dissection groups to force new interactions and to give people the chance to work with a different body).
 
Thanks Random! That helps clear up my understanding of the anatomy lab groups. Nice to know that we'll have exposure to different bodies and conditions.

To all of my fellow 11/3 interviewees: I was checking MWUNet for open CCOM interview dates...and Matriculation/Payment link under the Post-Accepted section is working!

"The Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine hereby offers to admit Jinobi as a candidate for the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Class of 2015 commencing in the Fall Term of 2011 with the total credit hours of 249.4 subject to the terms and conditions set forth herein."

Accepted AZCOM 2015! I don't know whether these acceptances are going in waves, but it's worth a shot to check it out. 😀
 
^ Congrats!!


quick question, does anyone know when the checklist stuff is due by? The transcripts, and proof of earned degree, etc. Do they want it by Dec. 15, or can we do that later? I would call and ask them, but its Saturday 😀
 
^ Congrats!!


quick question, does anyone know when the checklist stuff is due by? The transcripts, and proof of earned degree, etc. Do they want it by Dec. 15, or can we do that later? I would call and ask them, but its Saturday 😀

I'm pretty sure the only thing you'll have due 12/15 is the deposit, everything else should just be needed by this summer/before orientation. Wouldn't hurt to call and double-check though.

Congrats to everybody that's gotten in over the recent weeks. 👍
 
I'm pretty sure the only thing you'll have due 12/15 is the deposit, everything else should just be needed by this summer/before orientation. Wouldn't hurt to call and double-check though.

Congrats to everybody that's gotten in over the recent weeks. 👍

Hey random, I got a buddy who works at Powell's bookstore in the mall and he can basically special order any book for me. It's a seasonal job that ends after Christmas, so I was hoping I could take advantage and maybe get a book or two that you guys actually use as first years for a lower price. Any recommendations?
 
Hey random, I got a buddy who works at Powell's bookstore in the mall and he can basically special order any book for me. It's a seasonal job that ends after Christmas, so I was hoping I could take advantage and maybe get a book or two that you guys actually use as first years for a lower price. Any recommendations?

I own a number of the books, but the only book I actually use regularly is Rohen's atlas for anatomy. If you have that, living in the cadaver lab before an exam isn't necessary. I'm not really much of a book-reader when it comes to classes (nor was I in undergrad), especially not when there's so much info available online (there are A LOT of resources available with some searching and with the help of useful upperclassmen that bookmark such things on their computers, which certainly my classmates and I will be providing y'all with as next fall approaches). I'm actually going to suggest that if you don't use books now, don't invest in anything other than Rohen's Atlas for anatomy and Wheater's Atlas for histology (I don't use it that much, but it has been quite helpful at times) until you're in class and conclude "OH SHOOT! I can't make it without that book!" If you do use books now, let me know and I'll pm you a list that I compiled from current second and third-year recommendations that were received this past summer.
 
I'm soooo glad you mentioned that. I NEVER used any books during my degree besides maybe in a history class once. That's going to save me tons of money to know the ones that I don't need to bother buying and the ones that are worth it.

I was figuring out my budget today and it makes me feel a bit sick thinking about how much debt I'm going in to.
 
I own a number of the books, but the only book I actually use regularly is Rohen's atlas for anatomy. If you have that, living in the cadaver lab before an exam isn't necessary. I'm not really much of a book-reader when it comes to classes (nor was I in undergrad), especially not when there's so much info available online (there are A LOT of resources available with some searching and with the help of useful upperclassmen that bookmark such things on their computers, which certainly my classmates and I will be providing y'all with as next fall approaches). I'm actually going to suggest that if you don't use books now, don't invest in anything other than Rohen's Atlas for anatomy and Wheater's Atlas for histology (I don't use it that much, but it has been quite helpful at times) until you're in class and conclude "OH SHOOT! I can't make it without that book!" If you do use books now, let me know and I'll pm you a list that I compiled from current second and third-year recommendations that were received this past summer.

Are there any requirements as far as computers go -special systems requirements or software?
 
I'm soooo glad you mentioned that. I NEVER used any books during my degree besides maybe in a history class once. That's going to save me tons of money to know the ones that I don't need to bother buying and the ones that are worth it.

I was figuring out my budget today and it makes me feel a bit sick thinking about how much debt I'm going in to.

I was the same way. I always bought books and regretted it when I first started undergrad. By the time my 3rd year rolled around I bought pretty much nothing, worked from powerpoint and online resources, and only bought the book 2nd week if I actually needed it. The only book I can remember using constantly was my anatomy book, which was stolen out of my room one night by someone in my fraternity. 😡

After my Western rejection it looks like I'll be sending in my deposit to AZCOM this week. Its hard for me to stomach that I'm going to be in 300k+ worth the debt when I graduate. I need to figure out ways to live more frugally and save as much as I can right now haha

Also having second thoughts about having my top choice being LA for my rotations, which I already sent in. Cost of living is higher but I could save some cash by being able to go home for food, etc. on occassion. I wish they would have given us more information about the hospitals we'd be rotating in but if they didn't think that the rotations were up to par they wouldn't have them available I suppose.
 
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Also having second thoughts about having my top choice being LA for my rotations, which I already sent in. Cost of living is higher but I could save some cash by being able to go home for food, etc. on occassion. I wish they would have given us more information about the hospitals we'd be rotating in but if they didn't think that the rotations were up to par they wouldn't have them available I suppose.

Would this link help?

http://www.azcom2012.com/Rotation_Presentation_10.20.09.pdf
 
I was the same way. I always bought books and regretted it when I first started undergrad. By the time my 3rd year rolled around I bought pretty much nothing, worked from powerpoint and online resources, and only bought the book 2nd week if I actually needed it. The only book I can remember using constantly was my anatomy book, which was stolen out of my room one night by someone in my fraternity. 😡

After my Western rejection it looks like I'll be sending in my deposit to AZCOM this week. Its hard for me to stomach that I'm going to be in 300k+ worth the debt when I graduate. I need to figure out ways to live more frugally and save as much as I can right now haha

Also having second thoughts about having my top choice being LA for my rotations, which I already sent in. Cost of living is higher but I could save some cash by being able to go home for food, etc. on occassion. I wish they would have given us more information about the hospitals we'd be rotating in but if they didn't think that the rotations were up to par they wouldn't have them available I suppose.

Yeah -same for me. I sent in LA as my top pick but after I looked at the link Jinobi posted below (and above a while ago) as well as doing some other research on the area, I sent an email to Dr. Speicher asking him if I could redesignate my top choice seeing as they hadn't sent us notice that we had been assigned to anything yet. I haven't heard from him or anyone else so I guess we'll see what happens!

As far as Western -I thought you just received a weird email rejecting your from your interview which you already went on...what happened with that?
 
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