Des Moines University (DMU-COM) Discussion Thread 2013 - 2014

BU Medical Sciences
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CHerm0 said:
Look on the bright side: now you can get Google Fiber and never have to deal with Mediacom!
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It truly is wonderful. Mr. Tp lived in KC for a while and it was great.
 
Eremba said:
OMG yes! Mediacom is the devil.
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YES

Sidenote: if you have automatic payments with them. They do not carry over when you move. You have to redo the whole thing and don't expect it to go through the first pay cycle either so watch your account so you do not get saddled with a late fee. Because Mediacom is the worst
 
Does anyone know when the alt list is ranked? We were asked to confirm our spots by 4/7...so I assume any day now?
 
Fancypants89 said:
Does anyone know when the alt list is ranked? We were asked to confirm our spots by 4/7...so I assume any day now?
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If you look later on in the email body, it says that they will let you know your standing by April 30th.
*Edit after today's (Apr 11th) email* Apparently not until May 2nd now.
 
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I posted this on the Facebook page but thought I would double up.

The DMU Cost of Attendance Budget says we should plan to spend $3,583 on Books/Equipment. I have heard from 99% of DMU students that we do not need to buy books. Can any current student provide a realistic estimate of what they spent on books/equipment/supplies for school and what specifically they used that money to purchase?

Also, if you have your own cost of attendance budgets you made, I would appreciate it if you would share those with me as I depressingly budget for this insurmountable debt in our future.

Thanks,

Raz
 
raztaz86 said:
I posted this on the Facebook page but thought I would double up.

The DMU Cost of Attendance Budget says we should plan to spend $3,583 on Books/Equipment. I have heard from 99% of DMU students that we do not need to buy books. Can any current student provide a realistic estimate of what they spent on books/equipment/supplies for school and what specifically they used that money to purchase?

Also, if you have your own cost of attendance budgets you made, I would appreciate it if you would share those with me as I depressingly budget for this insurmountable debt in our future.

Thanks,

Raz
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Don't buy any books before school starts. During hospital day, some of the club's that you join will give you books as part of joining the club. These include the Netter Atlas and Goljan's for Pathology. I would say that the only books you really need first year are Netter's and First Aid--not to study for boards, but to look into the book and see what correlates between the board book and the class material. Most of the time, each exam is over 10+ lectures and over 500-600 slides, so it can be a challenge to figure out what material is "high yield". With First Aid you get to see which topics are important for whatever class that your are studying for. Plus, there is so much information that you seldom have time to really read any supplemental or "required reading" for each class, so it is really not ideal to buy a bunch of books.

As far a rough estimate for cost...I would say around $1000.
~ 700 for equipment
~ lab gloves, Dr. Khan's dissector, and dissection equipment ~ 100
~ OMM shirts, shorts pants ~ 70
~ Netter & First Aid ~100
 
IH8ColdWeath3r said:
Don't buy any books before school starts. During hospital day, some of the club's that you join will give you books as part of joining the club. These include the Netter Atlas and Goljan's for Pathology. I would say that the only books you really need first year are Netter's and First Aid--not to study for boards, but to look into the book and see what correlates between the board book and the class material. Most of the time, each exam is over 10+ lectures and over 500-600 slides, so it can be a challenge to figure out what material is "high yield". With First Aid you get to see which topics are important for whatever class that your are studying for. Plus, there is so much information that you seldom have time to really read any supplemental or "required reading" for each class, so it is really not ideal to buy a bunch of books.

As far a rough estimate for cost...I would say around $1000.
~ 700 for equipment
~ lab gloves, Dr. Khan's dissector, and dissection equipment ~ 100
~ OMM shirts, shorts pants ~ 70
~ Netter & First Aid ~100
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Sorry to keep bugging you with this topic, but what all falls under the "equipment" title that first years need to purchase? Thanks!
 
mtb1507 said:
Sorry to keep bugging you with this topic, but what all falls under the "equipment" title that first years need to purchase? Thanks!
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BP cuff, Stethoscope, Ophthalmoscope - these are the big three, and the school gives you a big discount on them, so don't jump the gun and go searching for your own before school starts. You will also need tuning forks, a reflex hammer, penlights, and some other things that you can purchase when you purchase all of your equipment. For most people, the cost of everything to around $700-800.
 
SharkBaitOooAha said:
Can any current students comment on what model of computer they received from the school?
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I'm a current first-year and we have the HP elitebook 8470p. I'm not sure if this is the computer you will get, because we have different computers than the second years currently do. Ours are also much nicer, though!
 
CycloneDoctor said:
I'm a current first-year and we have the HP elitebook 8470p. I'm not sure if this is the computer you will get, because we have different computers than the second years currently do. Ours are also much nicer, though!
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Thank you for the info!
 
Has anyone on the alternate list received their quartile ranking yet? last email I have says we should've heard by May 2nd
 
I received the email on Friday with my quartile rank as well.
 
yup i received the ranking email on friday as well. Does anyone know when we can expect movement (if any)? Is there a date accepted students must committ by?
 
I'd like to echo medschool20141's comment: is there a known date when a payment is due to reserve one's spot? Waiting is the worst 🙁
 
Fancypants89 said:
I'd like to echo medschool20141's comment: is there a known date when a payment is due to reserve one's spot? Waiting is the worst 🙁
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Not sure about a deadline to reserve a spot, but there is no deadline for people with multiple acceptance to make a decision. People that have reserved a spot to multiple schools can hold those spots as long as they want. Basically the class is already full beyond the limit, so obviously they expect some people to withdraw. Hopefully those people with multiple acceptance will be nice people and make a decision sooner than later so we don't have to wait too long. Sounds like they don't start pulling people off of the wait list until June. If you're in the first quartile you may hear by the end of June/beginning of July. If you're beyond the first quartile, your chances start to dwindle.
 
Hi everyone!
Is anyone looking for a place to live?

My husband and I are building a new home in West Des Moines and will have an open bedroom in our finished basement. It will include a full private bath. The basement will have an additional living room, as well. We have a 3 car garage, so you would get a spot. We will have cable and internet.

We will be about 15 minutes from DMU with easy access to the interstate.

We are a very laid-back couple, honest, well-educated and hard-working.

We are looking for about $425 per month with utilities. This could be negotiated.

Let me know if you are interested! 🙂
Thanks so much!
 
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I heard from 2nd-years at DMU that 60 people (nearly 25% of the class) failed the practice board exam that they were required to take recently. Maybe some of the changes in faculty and curriculum have caused some problems after all. Kind of making me reconsider my choice to go here.
 
jbay99 said:
I heard from 2nd-years at DMU that 60 people (nearly 25% of the class) failed the practice board exam that they were required to take recently. Maybe some of the changes in faculty and curriculum have caused some problems after all. Kind of making me reconsider my choice to go here.
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Wutttt

Well now I'm freaked out. Can any current students comment?
 
touchpause13 said:
Wutttt

Well now I'm freaked out. Can any current students comment?
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True. However, the comsae they took is notoriously difficult and is up to 100 points off from what their score would actually be on the real comlex (past student comparisons plus info given to students). There was also a handful of people who scored in the 700+ range. Those who failed must not only take the kaplan course but also a 10 day immersion class, and take and pass another comsae before attempting the comlex.

Personally I feel DMU is doing well at making sure those that might have otherwise failed the comlex have all the resources they need to successfully pass it the first time.
 
WusUpDoc said:
True. However, the comsae they took is notoriously difficult and is up to 100 points off from what their score would actually be on the real comlex (past student comparisons plus info given to students). There was also a handful of people who scored in the 700+ range. Those who failed must not only take the kaplan course but also a 10 day immersion class, and take and pass another comsae before attempting the comlex.

Personally I feel DMU is doing well at making sure those that might have otherwise failed the comlex have all the resources they need to successfully pass it the first time.
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That makes more sense. I'd rather fail a practice exam than the actual thing. Do students have to pay for the Kaplan course out of pocket or is that included in tuition?
 
The kaplan class and books are included in tuition but the immersion course is out of pocket ($1000). There are quite a few people who passed the comsae but are still electing to do the immersion course as well.
 
I'm still skeptical. I know people that broke 600 on the comsae and they said it was a lot easier than practices exams they had previously taken. They hadn't broken 600 before on recent tests. They also didn't use any bit of material from DMU to help prepare for boards and kaplan is notoriously a bad prep company (MCAT, boards, whatever). Just seems like students are required to spend a lot of time and money on things that aren't really helping for boards. 100 points seems like a pretty major jump. Even if that is true, adding 100 points to a failing score still doesn't give you a very competitive board score.
 
I agree that hearing 25% failed is alarming, but it is a pre-test. It is meant as a gauge to see what areas they need to focus on in the coming month, and many hadn't put serious dedication into board review before that day since classes finished the day before. Most review to that point had been spent on doing qbanks, not actual subject review. I doubt we'll ever really know if kaplan is beneficial or not but what can 8 days of structured review hurt?

All we can do is see how the actual boards go. If 25% fail that, then there's a problem! But with all the resources available and DMU's history of 90%+ board pass rates, there should be no worry.
 
I wouldn't be too worried about the comsae failure rate. We didn't have to take it last year (thank god!!!!), but I think if I had I would not have done as well as on the real thing. I wasn't able to even start serious studying until after school was done. The end of 2nd yr is not light. Apparently they started this new comsae for 2nd yrs because our class did not do as well on Level 1 as previous yrs, but I did above average with only serious studying after 2nd yr was done. We finished in late May and hde off until end of July ( I think it might even be beginning of Aug now). That is plenty of time for studying and taking the exam. I have talked to other students who agree that with the schedule at the end of 2nd yr it would have been difficult to do really well on a comsae at that time.
 
seap3 said:
I wouldn't be too worried about the comsae failure rate. We didn't have to take it last year (thank god!!!!), but I think if I had I would not have done as well as on the real thing. I wasn't able to even start serious studying until after school was done. The end of 2nd yr is not light. Apparently they started this new comsae for 2nd yrs because our class did not do as well on Level 1 as previous yrs, but I did above average with only serious studying after 2nd yr was done. We finished in late May and hde off until end of July ( I think it might even be beginning of Aug now). That is plenty of time for studying and taking the exam. I have talked to other students who agree that with the schedule at the end of 2nd yr it would have been difficult to do really well on a comsae at that time.
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Most of the second years are taking boards in about a month and you don't find it concerning that nearly 25% of the class failed Comsae???? Especially after reading the thread on the Osteo forums about Comsae and most of the medical students commenting that the test is easier than the real deal and many of them finished with a significant amount of time remaining.
 
IH8ColdWeath3r said:
Most of the second years are taking boards in about a month and you don't find it concerning that nearly 25% of the class failed Comsae???? Especially after reading the thread on the Osteo forums about Comsae and most of the medical students commenting that the test is easier than the real deal and many of them finished with a significant amount of time remaining.
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Isn't ~1 month a LONG time for board studying?

Maybe the test is just there to prime them up for the real thing.
 
chizledfrmstone said:
Isn't ~1 month a LONG time for board studying?

Maybe the test is just there to prime them up for the real thing.
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Maybe if you are just trying to pass? I can't comment because I haven't taken boards, but....the boards are something that you definitely want to do well on. The sooner you understand that grades don't mean JACK S*** and boards matter immensely, the better off you will be as a first year.
 
Well, the good old saying goes that boards follow the rule of 2s. Step 1 - 2 mos, Step 2 - 2 weeks, Step 3 - #2 pencil.

On a serious side, I spoken with many second years as well and very few of them are concerned/upset about failing COMSAE. Main reason -- they had 3-4 days to study for it. Apparently the class load is evil at the end of second year with very little time left to study for boards aside from classes.

Supposedly -- and I am not even sure it is even going to happen -- they are going to adjust schedule for current first years to end classes with a month to spare. However, there is definitely fear that class of 2017 will get overwhelmed by their compressed schedule. (but they should be used to it by now)

To echo the post above -- your grades are almost irrelevant. Yes, all other things equal -- they will matter in -- but that is the very
 
Anybody heard anything about waitlist movement? When do they usually start?
 
What are my chances of getting accepted with a 3.48sGPA, 3.6cGPA and 26 MCAT? Have 3 years experience and tons of volunteering.
 
premed199088 said:
What are my chances of getting accepted with a 3.48sGPA, 3.6cGPA and 26 MCAT? Have 3 years experience and tons of volunteering.
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3 years experience of what?

Numbers are good for a potential interview. However, nothing is guaranteed by speculating over numbers.
 
The average is 3.68 GPA, 28.2

However, if you are nervous about numbers, you can call the school and ask about your chances for a better clue than what you can get here
 
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