AZCOM Discussion Thread 2011-2012

[AustinLAS]

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I also was accepted to TCOM and will not be accepting my AZCOM offer, but AZCOM is a GREAT school! I had a great interview experience and really bonded with my interviewers. The campus is beautiful and amazing; I felt really at home in Phoenix. I wish TCOM had these beautiful facilities. And AZCOM has a great match list. I was offered interviews at many other OOS DO schools and I think AZCOM is by far superior. Texas is unique because our education is well funded, AZ is not that much more than other private OOS schools. I am choosing TCOM because of the tuition and reputation, but don't diss AZCOM...it's a great school!

 

[WaterDragon]

I guess that the AZCOM's tuition and a large class size are the only minus I see...

I am interviewing there in December and I hope they just didn't invite me to fill up the large class size.

Like Sidabear said above, I found out about the interview invitation on the portal. I never received the email so that made me feel left out a little i.e. no genuine personal contact between the school and the applicant. I hope my perspective will be changed after I finish the interview!

 

[DrWily]

Just withdrew my acceptance. Nice facilities, but not compared to other schools. 50,000 a year?????!!!! Felt like a university of Phoenix to me where you just buy your degree. Also unimpressed that the school was not personal. I found out about my acceptance through checking the portal, and the first contact from the school was a monotone voice telling me that I needed to give them 1000 dollars... oh yeah and congrats. There are better schools out there. If this was the only place I got in I would bite the bullet, but there are better out there. For a lot less. I can do my tuition at TCOM for all 4 years at about the same price for a year at AZCOM.

Hope one of you gets my spot!

Not everyone has the ability to get into TCOM (namely Out of State applicants). Yes TCOM is cheap, way cheap. But if you look at the rest of the nation, they all range from $30-50k in tuition. Is AZCOM's price pretty high? Definitely, but I know that I'll get an excellent education here and it's better for me location-wise. University of Phoenix my ass. AZCOM still has tough admissions standards to get an acceptance, just like any other medical school. When I found out through the portal, it was awesome. It's much better than waiting 2-4 weeks for a letter in the mail (which they also send to you). I also found out the same day I interviewed, so maybe that's why I'm bias'd. Good luck wherever you are going.

 

[IDFsoldierboy]

Not everyone has the ability to get into TCOM (namely Out of State applicants). Yes TCOM is cheap, way cheap. But if you look at the rest of the nation, they all range from $30-50k in tuition. Is AZCOM's price pretty high? Definitely, but I know that I'l; get an excellent education here and it's better for me location-wise. University of Phoenix my ass. AZCOM still has tough admissions standards to get an acceptance, just like any other medical school. When I found out through the portal, it was awesome. It's much better than waiting 2-4 weeks for a letter in the mail (which they also send to you). I also found out the same day I interviewed, so maybe that's why I'm bias'd. Good luck wherever you are going.

+1...Sidabear don't diss another school they each have pluses and minuses...theres no perfect school...and not everyone has access to a state-funded DO school let alone 1 that is around 20k a yr...and i didnt care for the lack of an II e-mail since you should be checking your portal everyday anyways like a good applicant...the speed of everything was nice because it means the admissions knows what they are looking for (~3 days to get an II for me and ~3 days after the interview for acceptance) and as far as class size they are on par with most DO schools (Western matriculates roughly 220, i think DMU was around 200+ etc) this school had nice facilities and the faculty I spoke with were extremely comforting....my friend who is a MS-1 here loves it!

on that note congratz on your guys acceptances to TCOM, i know it has a great reputation and just make sure that no matter what, you go to a school that fits your needs and wants! not 1 based on tuition or class size

 

[sidabear]

AZCOM is indeed a great school.

 

[Juice9]

I got both a letter and a phone call for my acceptance, I felt like AZCOM did a really nice job of staying in touch. The portal is just nice because it lets you know faster than the other methods, much better than the letter from NSU which seemed to take forever.

 

[thumbz]

I am interviewing there in December and I hope they just didn't invite me to fill up the large class size.

I guess all I'll say is a couple thousand applications and a 3.5 avg GPA/29 MCAT make me doubt they have problems filling up the class.

I'll also say that the faculty here are amazing. I've talked to our dean of students on numerous occasions while grabbing a cup of coffee since he likes to walk around campus to see how students are doing. That alone should say a lot about how AZCOM treats its students.

 

[DrWily]

The actual slide presentations are all posted online (as well as additional material like outlines or lecture notes), they should start recording and posting clinical lectures soon, and the student council has finally pressed the administration enough that they are presently working on an agreement to send to the basic science departments to try and work out an agreement to record and post their lectures as well.

Most courses do not have mandatory attendance. Exceptions are labs, MS2 ICM (clinical med) lectures and PCE (patient care experience) meetings, and the MS1 medical jurisprudence course. Also, during MS1 the human behavior course gives you bonus points for lecture attendance and the biochem department has recently started offering to include bonus questions on exams if class attendance is consistently 70% or better in lectures.

RUN (randomusername),

Any idea if this will be implemented before Class of 2016 starts next year? I'd really like to have those recorded lectures for MS1 😍

Also, do they give out big packets of notes for each class or just post online and we have to print them out ourselves?

Thanks
-J

 

[randomusername]

RUN (randomusername),

Any idea if this will be implemented before Class of 2016 starts next year? I'd really like to have those recorded lectures for MS1 😍

Also, do they give out big packets of notes for each class or just post online and we have to print them out ourselves?

Thanks
-J

I would imagine that if the recordings are approved this year, it would be in effect by next year but who really knows. Concerning packets, most courses distribute everything electronically and you have to print it out yourself if you want a copy with you in lecture, exceptions to this are OMM (they give you a spiral-bound copy of the quarter's lectures and labs each term), ICM, and pathology. Biochem did it for my class last year as well but had mentioned potentially stopping by the start of this current year, so perhaps a 2015 student could chime in on whether or not biochem is still providing packets...

 

[thumbz]

I would imagine that if the recordings are approved this year, it would be in effect by next year but who really knows. Concerning packets, most courses distribute everything electronically and you have to print it out yourself if you want a copy with you in lecture, exceptions to this are OMM (they give you a spiral-bound copy of the quarter's lectures and labs each term), ICM, and pathology. Biochem did it for my class last year as well but had mentioned potentially stopping by the start of this current year, so perhaps a 2015 student could chime in on whether or not biochem is still providing packets...

No sir, no packets for us. But honestly, everything is easier to do on my iPad anyways. Being able to zoom in on images and annotate onto them in a rainbow of colors is awesome. I started out trying to do paper notes, but would have been printing 100+ pages a week

 

[DrWily]

No sir, no packets for us. But honestly, everything is easier to do on my iPad anyways. Being able to zoom in on images and annotate onto them in a rainbow of colors is awesome. I started out trying to do paper notes, but would have been printing 100+ pages a week

Thanks you guys for the insight. How do you annotate on the iPad? My girl has one that I could play with. If it's that helpful to you, I may consider picking one up for myself.

 

[senlar]

How do you annotate on the iPad?

The only way I know of is to get the iAnnotate app. It's $9.99, but well worth it.

Any updates with the white coat ceremony? When it is, etc? Also, are they still doing the "two tickets only" policy? I'd kind of like more than 2...

 

[astanley]

Just withdrew my application and cancelled my interview on 2/13 so a slot should open up. Good luck to everyone still waiting!

 

[Juice9]

No sir, no packets for us. But honestly, everything is easier to do on my iPad anyways. Being able to zoom in on images and annotate onto them in a rainbow of colors is awesome. I started out trying to do paper notes, but would have been printing 100+ pages a week

If you could give any info on the annotating on the ipad i would really appreciate it, I'm currently debating between the Ipad and lenovo thinkpad tablet

 

[DrWily]

Juice,

You've been accepted to many awesome schools and withdrew from Western after your AZCOM acceptance.

Why are you choosing AZCOM over any other school so far? (Just wanted to see your reasons)

 

[Juice9]

Juice,

You've been accepted to many awesome schools and withdrew from Western after your AZCOM acceptance.

Why are you choosing AZCOM over any other school so far? (Just wanted to see your reasons)

I could go into a lot of detail, but here's the short of it. My interview was for western nw, which is literally one town over from where I did my ungrad, plus I don't want to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to sit in a movie theater every day. I like Levon-b and nsu, but they are really far away so moving would be really difficult, Davie kinda sucks and the cost of living is high there, and I didnt want to have a rolling suitcase full of books with me whenever on campus. I'm fine with the dress code at Lecom but the no water in the pbl rooms really bothers me, it gets hot in there! I hated Lecom-e. Ccom has great clinicals, but I keep hearing about issues with their pre-clinical years, plus the cost of living is pretty high and the traffic and weather in Chicago aren't my Cup of tea. I really expected dmu to blow me away, but it honestly didn't. Sure their simulation center is nice, but azcom's honestly is almost as nice, plus some of the students told me at the interview that they thought the path dept at dmu was kinda weak. Added to this, you have a pretty good chance of doing your third year in bummville Iowa in some small community hospital.

All of the schools above make you wait until the middle of your second year to find out where you are going to be spending your third year.

Azcom is in a nice area with a low cost of living, it allows me to do my third year in large hospitals and level 1 trauma centers. I will be in west Phoenix for third year so I know I won't have to move Or spend most of it away from my wife. When I was on campus I was really impressed by how happy the students seemed to be and how eager they all were to answer questions, students kept stopping at our table in the cafeteria to talk to us. (some schools seemed to hind us in a corner, so we really didn't get to talk to the students much). I know that board pass rates aren't the best characteristic to compare schools by, but azcom's have been consistently high for at least the last 5 years. Plus my fiancé is in medical sales and her company has an opening in the west phoenix region that they haven't been able to fill. And the biggest factor is my gut is telling me to go with azcom, I was more excited about this acceptance (my 4th) than I was about my first.

I hope that was somewhat coherrent, if you have any questions about any specific schools I kinda breezed by just shoot me a pm

 

[FuturePharm21]

I don't know if I should still submit my secondary here? I got a 23 MCAT, 3.59 cum. GPA and 3.33 science with a lot of volunteering, research, and clinical experience...did anyone with a low MCAT get accepted to AZCOM this year? I wonder if they have a cut-off when giving interviews??

 

[Juice9]

I don't know if I should still submit my secondary here? I got a 23 MCAT, 3.59 cum. GPA and 3.33 science with a lot of volunteering, research, and clinical experience...did anyone with a low MCAT get accepted to AZCOM this year? I wonder if they have a cut-off when giving interviews??

IMHO you really need to retake the mcat, I've seen some lower scores get acceptances but with the breakdown I saw in Lecom page you really really need to get that 4 up. I've heard of a lot of schools have cut-off of 6. Good luck

 

[IDFsoldierboy]

I don't know if I should still submit my secondary here? I got a 23 MCAT, 3.59 cum. GPA and 3.33 science with a lot of volunteering, research, and clinical experience...did anyone with a low MCAT get accepted to AZCOM this year? I wonder if they have a cut-off when giving interviews??

dude you don't need to post this in every single school thread...that being said...raise that MCAT and reapply...at this point in the game especially at AZCOM interviews are already being scheduled in feb so you wouldnt get an interview until late and it would probably be for a waitlist...i say use the money on secondaries for another retake of the mcat and apply next yr with a higher score
sorry bro but keep practicing and youll get the score you need...
if you insist on applying for this year with a 23 this late i feel your only true option is a carib school but thats my honest opinion

 

[DrWily]

Honestly, I agree with the above two ^^. You got into KYCOM with a 23. Anywhere else would automatically reject you with an MCAT that low. That's way below average, below many cutoffs as well (23 is ~35% percentile)


I'd roll with the KYCOM acceptance if I were you. If you know you're not going to be happy at KYCOM, then retake the MCAT.

 

[FuturePharm21]

I didn't get a 4 in any section. I don't know where you got that from, but I but my lowest was a 7, and I got 2 interviews...waitlisted at LMU-DCOM and in at KYCOM. Someone at KCUMB just got in with similar stats, so you never know what happens...

 

[Juice9]

Hmmm, I could have sworn I saw you post a 4,9,10 breakdown somewhere.....I must be losing my mind sorry about that. As for the rest of your post, I don't know what you're trying to achieve here. You asked for our opinion whether or not it is worth submitting a secondary and we gave you our opinions. Congrats on the interviews, and the acceptance... And good luck

 

[SacTu]

My interview's on Dec. 2, probably will arrive on Nov. 30th

Feel free to contact me.

 

[renoadam60]

I received my letter in the mail today........wait for it........waitlist!!!!🙁 I'm super bummed and it was even pre-interview!!

 

[se20001984]

I have a dec 2 interview
Anyone wants it pm me

 

[FuturePharm21]

One of their admissions counselors told me if you don't have higher than a 25 MCAT, don't bother and submit the secondary...they don't give anyone less than that an interview this year...so yeah I thought that was kind of rude. Yeah, it's a low score, but I thought DO schools do a holistic review looking at more than just numbers...guess not.

Just a heads up to anyone with a lower MCAT who was wondering about applying here.
___________

 

[drgioiadds]

One of their admissions counselors told me if you don't have higher than a 25 MCAT, don't bother and submit the secondary...they don't give anyone less than that an interview this year...so yeah I thought that was kind of rude. Yeah, it's a low score, but I thought DO schools do a holistic review looking at more than just numbers...guess not.

Just a heads up to anyone with a lower MCAT who was wondering about applying here.
___________

I was granted an interview with a 25 FWIW. I don't know why you would think its rude. 25 is the mean score. There has to be some sort of screening since the school has thousands of applicants. I was screened out of a few places too, with the 25 MCAT and I have 10 years working in healthcare--I treat patients, prescribe drugs, do minor surgeries.

 

[drgioiadds]

I received my letter in the mail today........wait for it........waitlist!!!!🙁 I'm super bummed and it was even pre-interview!!

It's wait list for an interview. This might change, so update the school with significant changes in your application.

 

[Dr Curitas]

It's wait list for an interview. This might change, so update the school with significant changes in your application.

Thanks for the comment drgioiadds. I am in the same situation, I received a letter yesterday. I will let the admission dept know of classes I plan to take next semester and of my plan to retake the MCAT in March. Good luck to you renoadam60!

 

[DrWily]

Just FYI, March MCAT is too late to be counted towards this current cycle. The latest most schools will accept is the January MCAT for this cycle.

 

[Spatula]

Does AZCOM use the Guyton and Hall Medical Physiology textbook? Even if not would it be advisable to keep my copy instead of selling it back to the bookstore?

 

[randomusername]

Does AZCOM use the Guyton and Hall Medical Physiology textbook? Even if not would it be advisable to keep my copy instead of selling it back to the bookstore?

Unless they've changed since last year, the physiology department uses Costanzo. As far as selling it back to the bookstore goes...depends on if you like being paid 30% of what you paid for the book just so they can turn around and sell it for 30% more than they paid you...If you like the book, keep it. If you don't, you could still keep it or track down somebody taking the same course next year and undersell the bookstore and get more money back.

 

[Juice9]

Unless they've changed since last year, the physiology department uses Costanzo. As far as selling it back to the bookstore goes...depends on if you like being paid 30% of what you paid for the book just so they can turn around and sell it for 30% more than they paid you...If you like the book, keep it. If you don't, you could still keep it or track down somebody taking the same course next year and undersell the bookstore and get more money back.

Do you find the costanzo textbook much better than the board review book. I just got the brs because I had a coupon, should I also get the text book or just use the brs (costanzo) and PowerPoints?

 

[randomusername]

Do you find the costanzo textbook much better than the board review book. I just got the brs because I had a coupon, should I also get the text book or just use the brs (costanzo) and PowerPoints?

I only owned an older copy of the BRS and a I barely even cracked that open. For the most part, the physiology department is pretty good about including anything you'll need to know in their lectures and most "ah-ha" moments for understanding concepts are easily obtained from Wikipedia or other websites.

 

[WaterDragon]

Can someone share their last minute tips for the interview? I have one next week!

It is open-file and 1:3 interview, right?

Any tip is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[931945]

Is it okay to bring luggage with me to the interview? Do they have a locker or something of that sort to store my luggage?

 

[lh027]

Can someone share their last minute tips for the interview? I have one next week!

It is open-file and 1:3 interview, right?

Any tip is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

The interview is open-file and 1:3, which may include a medical student (it did for me). Be sure to prepare for all questions that may be raised based on your resume, and be prepared to expand in response to follow-up questions as well. Have good questions for them, do your research on AZCOM/pay attention during the presentations earlier in the day and show sincere interest. What was really nice was that my interviewers were off-the-bat relaxed and very friendly, so the conversation was great and really sold me at the end.

Hopefully it goes the same for you!

edit: regards to luggage, you could probably keep your luggage behind the administration desk where you check in to get your name tag... I don't see why not?

 

[DrWily]

It's semi-open file. They have all your stuff EXCEPT for your numbers (i.e. they don't know your GPA or your MCAT score).

Be prepared to talk about anything and everything, from what you wrote to off-the-wall questions. I got asked what I thought the next war would be about and the interviewers I had are generally very good at keeping up the pace with follow up questions, and twisting your answers back around to relate them to healthcare and how you would be as a physician.

 

[DrWily]

So I paid my $1000 deposit and I'm ready to apply for housing. Any idea when it opens up? I want a studio with a washer/dryer!

 

[docmedia]

@DrWily: I seem to recall that the housing apps for new residents were due in late January or early February. They are supposed to tell you what you get assigned by the end of March. Apply when it first opens up and you should be in pretty good shape.

 

[Kuddles]

Interview tomorrow 🙂

I'm very nervous. Any last minute tips? Thank you!

 

[randomusername]

Interview tomorrow 🙂

I'm very nervous. Any last minute tips? Thank you!

Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

The interview's laid-back- just be familiar with your primary and secondary apps, show thoughtfulness in your answers (particularly to ethical questions), and as Audioslave once said, "to be yourself is all that you can do."

Other than that, Frankie says "relax, just do it."

 

[Kuddles]

Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

The interview's laid-back- just be familiar with your primary and secondary apps, show thoughtfulness in your answers (particularly to ethical questions), and as Audioslave once said, "to be yourself is all that you can do."

Other than that, Frankie says "relax, just do it."

Haha Thank you.

 

[randomusername]

Haha Thank you.

No problem- good luck on the interview tomorrow.

 

[azhockey]

.

 

[randomusername]

Question for current students:

I have been accepted into class of 2016 and was wondering how is the academic support for students in the first two years? The school is very appealing, but I am not sure how I feel with the large class size (I think I associate a large class size with the undergraduate feel of tons of students, uncaring professors, and incompetent TA's) Are there plenty of resources in place to help you succeed and get you the help you need if your struggling?

Definitely. While I'm not weary of taking shots at the administration, the faculty is excellent and wants to see you succeed. The professors really do have a true open-door policy and I've heard numerous instances of classmates going to go see professors during their office hours and the professors spending an hour or more just discussing and explaining a concept to a student or small group. The head of the physiology department is known for walking around the library on Sundays before physio exams, asking students if they need help with anything. The head of the pharm department came in on a Saturday for several hours in order to help students because she was out of town during her normal Friday hours. They're all very responsive to emails and will actually get back to you after class/lab if somebody had a question they couldn't answer on the spot.

The school also has a gal whose sole function on-campus is helping students that are struggling or needing help figuring out how to better learn/handle the material and I know of a few classmates that have utilized her and been quite happy with their turnaround. Also, the school has a number of tutors for each of the subjects (at least during MS1) and you can get group-tutoring or, if you're sincerely struggling, they'll get you an individual tutor, all of which is already included in your tuition (aka no more money out of your pockets).

Basically, AZCOM is nearly as expensive as you can get- the school likes getting its $51k/year out of people and high attrition rates are bad for the school's reputation and makes it harder to get more students in new classes to pay that $51k, so it's in their best interest to make sure students who are struggling get as much help as they can, so long as the student is willing to seek it out (though, if you fail an exam [especially early on] I've heard one of the deans will get in touch with you and make you see a tutor or something of the sort).

 

[Juice9]

I just wanted to add, out of all the interviews I went to AZCOM seemed to have the happiest students that were most willing to answer questions, very few had anything remotely negative to say. Doesn't provide much info for the question above but definitely says something about the school and makes me really excited to start next summer

 

[azhockey]

.

 

[samiam87]

So I paid my $1000 deposit and I'm ready to apply for housing. Any idea when it opens up? I want a studio with a washer/dryer!

When I was accepted I emailed Jose Ponce, who is in charge of on-campus housing, and asked him about applying for housing. He said: "Housing application for next year will be available on the first Friday of December and is first come first served basis. The sooner you apply the greater the chance to get housing. Thanks

Jose Ponce"

 

[DrWily]

Thanks. I emailed Jose Ponce as well, but didn't get a reply back 🙁