COMLEX Step 1 Pass Rates By School

[DocEspana]

I see your point, but are you sure that those standards apply with satellite campuses as well? LECOM may be reinvesting a certain amount of its income, but they aren't investing it at Seton Hill. Honestly, I wonder if the investment in every new branch or school falls within the letter of the law as well (using Erie and Bradenton money to finance Seton Hill, using all that money to finance the two new dental schools, etc.). As for inept people being hired, there has been little evidence of any standard of that or any other sort being enforced at my campus. No anatomy lab, no histology lab (not a microscope in the place, actually), few clinical faculty (or competent faculty, for that matter), no research. It seems like cutting corners for economic reasons to me. I do understand that there are theoretically greater constraints put on not-for-profit schools, but I see my own school being run (for whatever reason - growth for its own sake? glory? the mind boggles) under a for-profit paradigm.

Yea, satellite campuses have to follow identical rules and have (Technically) 100% separate accounts, even if the same people own all the accounts the books are kept separate. Its the joy of following the letter of the law a bit too well at Seton Hill. If you do appropriately reinvest the correct amount of money into a brand new school but charge (comparatively) nothing, you have very little to reinvest. Its the same thing that happens at every other school except that it is exaggerated by the much cheaper tuition. A longer established school (LECOM-E) would have built up all the funds it ever needs over years, but a new school would require extra investment to get over the hurdle of not bringing in enough money from tuition alone. Lecom-SH has instead decided to do it in a more unsavory way of making everything distanced learning and letting investment come at the minimum required rate.

Im sorry if i made it sound like being not-for-profit is somehow a proof of valid economic model. It simply prevents many many many other worse things from happening. There are still ways to abuse the system and this is one of them. Having a campus that doesnt generate enough cash flow to be truly independent but can rely on other resources to fill in the gaps while, year-to-year, the infusion of cash slowly allows it to stand on its own.

Thats the way ive had it explained to me at least

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[libo1369]

For what it's worth Bala I appreciate (as an RVU student) that you are holding to a philosophy against something you don't believe in. Very respectable and I appreciate that you demeanor is pleasant. If you don't believe that everyone of us at RVU is just as worried as you about the possibility of cutting corners in our education would be ludicrous. I chose to be in a pioneer program because I liked the educational goals and curriculum. I was impressed by their staff and I loved the location.

In the end I believe that you have a right to your philosophical beliefs of a for profit education being dangerous. I disagree with your philosophy as a capitalist. One point that I will make out is that we do have a board of trustees that own no financial interest in our school but make the decisions for it. I think we can agree that we all need to keep an eye on the for profit school but that doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye to the non-profits.

Medical education is ruled by the same rules whether profit or non-profit we have to meet the same guidelines, uphold the same standards and take the same tests. So while board pass rates are important as it does say that the students were adequately prepared and those wanting competitive specialties should look at where the best prep is going to be it won't make a difference to all. If I was a mediocre student who was afraid of not passing medical school I would want to go to a school that had high pass rates so I could have the best chance of passing.

Side rant: I was one of the unfortunate ones who because of low grades had to wait I appealed and was denied. While I scored higher on the COMSAE when I initially had scheduled my exam the waiting blunted my peak and was study fatigued when it came time to take step 1, Step 2 I was allowed to take on my own time and took it towards the beginning of the available season. I scored over 80 points higher on step 2 so just because RVU is making students wait to take the test doesn't mean that it is artificially adjusting anything. End Rant.

 

[Colodostudent]

For what it's worth Bala I appreciate (as an RVU student) that you are holding to a philosophy against something you don't believe in. Very respectable and I appreciate that you demeanor is pleasant. If you don't believe that everyone of us at RVU is just as worried as you about the possibility of cutting corners in our education would be ludicrous. I chose to be in a pioneer program because I liked the educational goals and curriculum. I was impressed by their staff and I loved the location.

In the end I believe that you have a right to your philosophical beliefs of a for profit education being dangerous. I disagree with your philosophy as a capitalist. One point that I will make out is that we do have a board of trustees that own no financial interest in our school but make the decisions for it. I think we can agree that we all need to keep an eye on the for profit school but that doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye to the non-profits.

Medical education is ruled by the same rules whether profit or non-profit we have to meet the same guidelines, uphold the same standards and take the same tests. So while board pass rates are important as it does say that the students were adequately prepared and those wanting competitive specialties should look at where the best prep is going to be it won't make a difference to all. If I was a mediocre student who was afraid of not passing medical school I would want to go to a school that had high pass rates so I could have the best chance of passing.

Side rant: I was one of the unfortunate ones who because of low grades had to wait I appealed and was denied. While I scored higher on the COMSAE when I initially had scheduled my exam the waiting blunted my peak and was study fatigued when it came time to take step 1, Step 2 I was allowed to take on my own time and took it towards the beginning of the available season. I scored over 80 points higher on step 2 so just because RVU is making students wait to take the test doesn't mean that it is artificially adjusting anything. End Rant.

Well said Libo. I suspect I'm in your class. I do want to clear up this issue of waiting. Most of us were told we had to complete the test by mid July. About 10 students were told they had to complete the test by the end of August, before the beginning of third year rotations.

This is VERY DIFFERENT than alot of the schools out there (and yea, they are non-profit) who will NOT ALLOW students to sit for the exam until they recieve a specific score on COMSAE or some other exam (I never did take a COMSAE exam and neither did many of my classmates).

Different schools have different dates on taking COMLEX I. For something like 10 in our class, this was that they were to take it in August. (By the way, I understand they've done away with that now, and all students must take it by July 15th.)

And yea, the results of our class speak for themselves. Our pass rate, first time takers, all taken by the end of August is 97.3%. It does mean alot, it means this program is working!! At least thats intellectually honest, instead of a school holding someone back to take the exam, so their data looks good!

 

[scotchtapetest]

For what it's worth Bala I appreciate (as an RVU student) that you are holding to a philosophy against something you don't believe in. Very respectable and I appreciate that you demeanor is pleasant.

Thank you for your kind response and I'm starting to like RVU students more and more...lol

I just want to restate, that I hope no RVU student thinks that my problem is with them. I respect all of them as my colleagues (regardless of the pass rate/average). My issue is with the school and its owner (also regardless of the pass rate/average)!

Well said Libo. I suspect I'm in your class. I do want to clear up this issue of waiting. Most of us were told we had to complete the test by mid July. About 10 students were told they had to complete the test by the end of August, before the beginning of third year rotations.

This is VERY DIFFERENT than alot of the schools out there (and yea, they are non-profit) who will NOT ALLOW students to sit for the exam until they recieve a specific score on COMSAE or some other exam (I never did take a COMSAE exam and neither did many of my classmates).

Also, I did not mean to somehow give the impression that I equate being non-profit to infallibility. We (or COCA) should be watching every school very closely (which apparently they are not or at least not at LECOM-Seton Hill as per previous post).

And to directly address your post, IMHO, regardless of their tax status, it is wrong for any school to hold even 1 student back for even 1 day! They have 2 years to teach them whatever they want to teach them and if that is not sufficient they need to revamp their curriculum or admission criteria. Board scores are only worth anything if everyone is on "relatively" equal grounds. If I get X on my boards and someone who had an extra few weeks gets X on their boards then they are not comparable; same idea applies on a larger scale when comparing different schools!