AZCOM students any questions for a current medical student

[HIngram]

Hi,

I'm trying to figure out what my daily schedule (classes. labs, other requirements) will look like for the first 6 quarters of school? I was told the first two quarters are 8:00 to 5:00 M-F, but that after that it changes? What are the specifics?

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[kristing]

Here it is from memory -

classes start at 12 on Monday first quarter. Every other day you start at 8 am. Once exams start, that monday morning will be for tests.

You'll have Anatomy lab 2 out of three days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday) from 3 pm - 5 pm (or thereabouts), and the other day you will go to preceptor (but you're not scheduled until around October, so you'll have one day off in the afternoon for a month or so). Plus, you only officially have to go to preceptor 4 times a quarter, so that's not every week. (Except first quarter - if they get you your preceptor assignment in October like we had, you won't have to go 4 times first quarter).

Fridays you get out at 3 pm.

Second quarter is about the same deal time wise, but you've switched some classes around - fewer hours in biochem and histo, added physio, etc.

Third quarter is AWESOME!!! No more anatomy - so you have a lot more time off. This was by far my most fun quarter.

4th and 5th quarter are 8 to 3, pretty much I think (except the MOnday testing block again) ... there may have been some days that we were out at 1 or so. Shoot, I don't remember exactly. 6th quarter is all screwy because there are these clinical classes that actually add time to the schedule but they're not hard - but they're only for the first half of the quarter.

Hope that helps.

You should get a schedule in the mail. If not, you can always email the registrar and ask her more details. If she doesn't have the "official" schedule yet, ask her if you can have last year's - at least it will give you an idea!

kristin
MS III
AZCOM

 

[DRNickiTay]

How is everyone doing? I wanted to let you all know that I am thinking about you! I am coming back to AZ at the end of this month as soon as I finish my rotation at Mayo. I think we should have a SDN get together. Hope all is well!

Any last minute questions. Please let me know!

 

[jamielehigh]

Hello,
I just was offered an acceptance at AZCOM for fall class of 2007. I have already finished my first week at LECOM and have my first anatomy test tomorrow. I was looking for some advice as to whether or not I should pick up and move despite losing some of my tuition money. Is the education offered at AZCOM really that much better than LECOM?

 

[kristing]

Originally posted by jamielehigh
Hello,
I just was offered an acceptance at AZCOM for fall class of 2007. I have already finished my first week at LECOM and have my first anatomy test tomorrow. I was looking for some advice as to whether or not I should pick up and move despite losing some of my tuition money. Is the education offered at AZCOM really that much better than LECOM?

wow - that's a hard one. Here are some of the things I love about AZCOM:

Open door policy with faculty and administration
Very very helpful faculty and administration
Location
facilities

My main gripe is the crammed schedule - notice you won't start until September and get done mid-May both years. That gives you a big summer break, but it makes those months in school very fast paced and very intense. Plus you will get very little study time for boards at the end. (The class of 2005 had 2 weeks between the end of the quarter and board exams.)

I still am glad I made this choice, though. And I have let administration know (a few times) about how hard the schedule is.

Someone else who knows LECOM better should post, too!

 

[LukeWhite]

Jamie,

I'm in the class of 2007 also, so I can't provide much first-hand info, but from my research and what I've heard, AZCOM is definitely the *happier* school. I've heard of very few unhappy AZCOM'ers, but some LECOMers do seem to have problems with the rigidity of the school.

As for academics, the preceptorship program at AZCOM is unique, and in my mind a step up over the norm. If you do decide to attend AZCOM, though, I think you'll probably experience a more positive environment at the bare minimum. More sun, if nothing else!

 

[brianjc]

Does LECOM have the dress code where you have to go to anatomy lab in a tie? If it does, get the hell out and come to AZCOM!!!

Just think you'll already be ahead at least a week on everyone else!!

 

[jhug]

dress code??? does that seem weird to anyone else? i would feel like i was in an expensive prep school with dances at christmas and valentines day tevas, shorts, and a t-shirt for me--all year long!!!

The preceptor idea is a breakthrough...i talked with a buddy of mine from last year and he told me that in the first month of being with his preceptor he was stiching people up after surgery!!! After the surgery was done the doc turned to him and said..."you have two minutes" My buddy asked him what he meant and the doc said the patient would be waking up soon and that he should get going and that is as a FIRST YEAR!!! We had a third year spend some time in my old clinic who was just getting taking a history down!!

I can't speak for lecom but i can echo what you've heard about azcom being "happy" i havn't heard from anyone that is unhappy here...literally! Of course some have concerns (like the schedule or library hours) but by and large they aren't issues that would change your mind about attending. If the school is anything like it's housing it is awesome!!

 

[DRNickiTay]

JHUG and the rest of your class will be happy to hear they have extended library hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is something my class and others have encourgaed!

Hope all is well!!!!!!

 

[jhug]

dr niki tay!!!! how are you!!! i can't wait to hear about all that you are learning/doing!!

quick question....are the monday mornings that we don't have tests open for us to study (sleep-in)?
i just got the schedule and all it has is exams for that time....
thanks!

 

[DRNickiTay]

Jhug! If you do not have exams on Monday you can do whatever you like sleep or study! It is great to have some time to catch up on things! I am ready to come home. I have been on the road a total of 5 months and need to get back to relax before interviews! I just need to finish up my rotation here in anesthesiology at Mayo. I decided to cancel my next rotation because I can do neuro outpetient at home! Hope all is well! Take care!

 

[jhug]

does anyone know where i can get a good (cheap) haircut? I use to pay $1 at a beauty school and then splurged to $4 at a dollar shop. Thanks....

 

[Azmedstudent]

I looked in the phone book and found these listings foro beauty schools, you could give them a try.
Good Luck.

Phoenix Academy of Beauty
10820 N 43rd Ave # 12
Glendale AZ 85304-4149
Phone623) 937-2749

Artistic Beauty Schools
4533 W Glendale Ave
Glendale AZ 85301-2808
Phone623) 939-8364

 

[Azmedstudent]

I dont know why those frowning faces appeared, I cut and pasted these and when it posted it turned out like that. I have never been to either of these schools so I dont have anything bad to say about them. Again, sorry about the frowns.

 

[jhug]

maybe it is some kind of sign telling me not to go there I'll try it, thanks!!

 

[tedsadoc2002]

Hope everyone is getting settled in and ready for the time of their lives! I'm on vacation so I figured I'd give some moral support and while I was at it browse around.

Hey irish, I must have missed your post somehow, but yeah the residency here in NYC is going great. Last month was toxicology at the NYC Poison Control Center and last 2 weeks were back in the ED, awesome, now for some much needed R and R.

Everybody remember to rest up and try to stay calm. You didn't get to med school just because you were drop dead gorgeous

Best of luck to all,



ted, D.O. (AZCOM grad )

PS I am a native NY'er so living here is old, real old. I can't wait to go back west as an attending or maybe I'll teach

 

[jhug]

teds...it's great to hear from you!
Were you hit by the whole blackout thing?? CRAZY!!
I hope all is well back in NY. I'm going to send you a PM if you don't mind...a quickie i have.
You'r in the ER right? is it a 3 or 4 yr program? Regardless, one down!!!

 

[tedsadoc2002]

You were responded to (sorry it's not a quick read)

Program is THREE years so I'm now in the middle year (wow).

About the blackout; I live on LI in a town that has a separate electric system from the rest of our county so I was without power for an hour during the initial phase of the blackout. I have been on vacation, so I didn't even realize the magnitude of the blackout until my sister came home from work and told me. Then we were out for one more hour later on. For the most part, I was just grateful to have been on vacation because being in the city (at work ) would not have been pleasant (we were in the middle of a "heat wave" 90 degrees with almost equal humidity).

Enjoy reading the novel I wrote for you.


ted, D.O.
Emergency Medicine PGY-2
somewhere in the city

 

[Robz]

I'm bumping this thread cause it has some awesome information that 2008 students can use.

 

[irish79]

Continue to ask any other questions too!

 

[referee]

Why does Harvard suck so much? Go Marengo!

 

[irish79]

LOL! Whatever. Who beat who in football this year?

How did the biochem test go for you?

 

[referee]

Need I remind you of last year's basketball regional, Marengo
66-47. They may have won regular season, but not when it mattered. Biochem test? What biochem test?

 

[DFrancyk]

Hey all,

I have a house (about 2 miles from school) and I am looking for a room mate. Message me if you are interested. Also, if any of the new 2008 students have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Take care,
Dave

 

[lookleft]

Hi, I keep hearing from med students that when your a third or fourth year med student you should do roatations in the field you want to go into at the hospital you want to do your residency.

How does this effect AZCOM students with their different type of rotatins. Suppose I want to go into field x at residency program in California. Will I beable to do my elective rotation in that field at the hospital in Calfiornia or am I limited to becaue of AZCOM's rotation programs.

Thanks

 

[bla_3x]

My understanding is that you can do rotations out of state...a great deal of your rotations for that matter. And from what I hear, no they don't look down on AZCOM students b/c of our rotation style.

 

[VentdependenT]

Originally posted by lookleft
Hi, I keep hearing from med students that when your a third or fourth year med student you should do roatations in the field you want to go into at the hospital you want to do your residency.

How does this effect AZCOM students with their different type of rotatins. Suppose I want to go into field x at residency program in California. Will I beable to do my elective rotation in that field at the hospital in Calfiornia or am I limited to becaue of AZCOM's rotation programs.

Thanks

Yes you will be able to go there. I'm an M4 at AZCOM. I'm doing this whole year, except for match month and didactic month (yes, we get slammed with 3 weeks of didactics in december), out of state. Now I'm back in Chicago catchen up with friends and family. It rocks. I was able to rotate at programs I was interested in without difficulty this year.

3rd year can be a bit tricky....depends how motivated you are to get some outstanding academic experience. I wanted to go to larger hospitals with residents for my training, but it took some persistence. It would be nice if the school forked over some cash to the local big hospitals so we could get our CORE rotations established there, but oh well. There seems to be plenty of excellent clinical opportunities, albeit usually rural, from what I understand.

 

[kristing]

Originally posted by lookleft
Hi, I keep hearing from med students that when your a third or fourth year med student you should do roatations in the field you want to go into at the hospital you want to do your residency.

How does this effect AZCOM students with their different type of rotatins. Suppose I want to go into field x at residency program in California. Will I beable to do my elective rotation in that field at the hospital in Calfiornia or am I limited to becaue of AZCOM's rotation programs.

Thanks

You are more than able to do rotations in the field you will want to specialize in and you will be able to do rotations at the hospitals you will want to go to. This will not be a problem for you. In fact, you will be able to do more rotations in different places in your 3rd year than people at other schools, because you are afforded more opportunity to go different places. You are not stuck doing all of your rotations in one hospital your third year, as most 3rd year med students are.

kristin
AZCOM 2005

 

[MDmiracle]

b.u.m.p'ing. Good info.

 

[bikerboy]

Thing the previous posters neglected to mention, is that you HAVE to do most of your 3rd year rotations away to get any sort of decent inhospital training. Sucks when you have a family or other commitments. And then there is that sinking feeling of paying ever increasing amounts of tuition for less and less service from the school.

 

[AZDOC]

I am a fourth year student at AZCOM and haven't had any problem setting up rotations at the major teaching hospitals in Arizona. I have had great rotation at both Maricopa and Good Sam. I wanted to stay in AZ for residency and did all of my rotations here.

 

[kristing]

Originally posted by bikerboy
Thing the previous posters neglected to mention, is that you HAVE to do most of your 3rd year rotations away to get any sort of decent inhospital training. Sucks when you have a family or other commitments. And then there is that sinking feeling of paying ever increasing amounts of tuition for less and less service from the school.

Not quite true. I got in hospital Ob and IM in the Phoenix metro area. Surgery and Cardio, while not officially in a hospital were mostly in the hospital setting. I will be doing peds out of state this year, but I could have gotten it next year at the beginning of the year in the Phoenix metro area had I wanted to.

 

[kristing]

At Mesa General - Currently a teaching hospital. Unfortunately, the residency program is getting canned next year, so this won't be available there. However, there are still hospital based rotations at Tempe St. Luke in Ob, IM, and Family med.

 

[bla_3x]

Tempe St. Lukes wouldn't work toward Good Sam's 8 week req???

So, since we only are slated for 4 weeks of IM in our 3rd year, we have to either A: use our elective in 3rd year for IM or B: schedule IM 1st in the 4th year and get the IM done that way??

PS. I heard that we can also do hospital IM at John C lincoln, anyone else hear that?

 

[Rock Star]

Hello to the MS1 class,

Ditch Dr. Mihailoff's Neuroanatomy class if you dare, and take in the beautiful AZ sunshine with a beer and some baseball.

My favorite ballpark is the Peoria sports complex. See the speed of Ichiro. Heckle the steroid king Barry Bonds when he comes to visit the Mariners or Padres.

Supposedly the new Ballpark out in Surprise is state of the art.

Now we return to the serious discussion of clinical rotations.

Good luck.

 

[melmc]

Does anyone on campus know if they have finished the cafeteria that was slated to open this spring? Last time I heard there was a location selected, but no sign of construction.

 

[azcomdiddy]

Originally posted by melmc
Does anyone on campus know if they have finished the cafeteria that was slated to open this spring? Last time I heard there was a location selected, but no sign of construction.

No, it's not complete. In fact, I think we would be lucky if they completed it by the start of the fall quarter.

It's not a cafeteria. It will serve pizza, burgers sandwhiches, juice etc. But it's not a true cafeteria that will be serving complete meals. That's still better than having nothing I should say.

 

[melmc]

Excellent, thanks for the update AZCOMDIDDY!

 

[jhug]

it looks like it's going to be super nice! one thing about azcom is that they do things really well (when they actually do it)

 

[irish79]

Ditch Dr. Mihailoff's Neuroanatomy class if you dare, and take in the beautiful AZ sunshine with a beer and some baseball.

Ditch Dr. Mihailoff's Neuroanatomy class and miss all the excitement that neuroanatomy affords at 8:00 a.m. every morning? I can't even imagine...

 

[Globus P]

Originally posted by jhug
it looks like it's going to be super nice! one thing about azcom is that they do things really well (when they actually do it)

Maybe we can get them to serve "Barney Clarks" with "auto-dog" for dessert. I'll explain later. Only a fellow salty Navy guy would understand. Roger wilco, time to hit the rack.

 

[azcomdiddy]

Originally posted by ToddE
Maybe we can get them to serve "Barney Clarks" with "auto-dog" for dessert. I'll explain later. Only a fellow salty Navy guy would understand. Roger wilco, time to hit the rack.

I'm no navy officer but I know who Barney "$ag" is as he was so eloquently referred to by another congressman. I can figure out the rest.

 

[jhug]

I'm no navy officer but I know who Barney "$ag" is as he was so eloquently referred to by another congressman. I can figure out the rest.

azdid...there are times in life when it's best to just say "i don't know what you are taking about"

 

[azcomdiddy]

Originally posted by jhug


azdid...there are times in life when it's best to just say "i don't know what you are taking about"

Sounds a little like the pot calling the kettle black.

 

[subtlewonder]

q

 

[VentdependenT]

Maybe it isn't a medical school. It's a podiatry school!

 

[jhug]

Sounds a little like the pot calling the kettle black.

he's talking about ice-cream and you throw some comment about a congressman?!?!?!

 

[irish79]

I think that list was made in 1995; perhaps since AZCOM had yet to graduate a class and be accredited, they weren't included at that time. Just a thought...

 

[VentdependenT]

School has only been open since 96 I think. 04' is the 4th graduating class.

 

[VentdependenT]

You dirty bastard.....Thats what I git fer not doing my research. Boomer, watch out for graduation....don't be suprised to find cadaver offal inside your car after the ceremony.

Or perhaps a live rooster all jacked up on laxatives and crack.