Do Western/COMP students help each other?

[Jinyaoysiu]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I know that somehow some people think the students at Western/COMP are competitive or even cut throat. I got that same false feeling when I was applying to schools and browsing SDN, even though I never came accross a thread posted by a student complaining about competitive students. I guess I just assumed it based on its matchlist and hearing people complaining about Biochem(which in reality was not bad at all)

So I just got a private message from someone:

Hi I am considering going to COMP. Do you know if upperclassmen leave their old notes for the class below them at COMP? I saw that at an allopathic school and found it quite appealing how everyone helps eachother there. I haven't got that feeling from the current COMP students. Thanks in advance.

And here's my reply:

Yes we have notes/old exams from upperclassmen all the time and we ourselves send notes and links to each other everyday. It's really an understatement to say that we share because we literally bend over backwards for each other. The MSII's spend their own private time to hold tutoring sessions everyday and we also tutor each other. It's something I never expected in med school and now I can't accept anything less than the type of camaraderie we have now.

I hate to sound like an ad but take a look at Jessica's personal statement on western's website. What she said is all very true. http://www.westernu.edu/prospective/testimonials.xml

Good luck on making your decision

 

[Khenon]

Maybe I lucked out, but the students that gave us our tour, during the interview, seemed super nice and helpful. They had nothing bad to say about COMP, seemed very happy themselves, and gave us the impression that there was minimal competition at COMP. They were realistic in telling us that every school has things about it that students don't like (though they couldn't give me any specific examples, when I asked), and there are going to be "gunners" in every class, but overall everyone cooperated and helped each other. Plus the school administration is very open to students' comments, and the new curriculum was established because students were upset by the excessive class time. I did not get the impression AT ALL that COMP was a bad place to go, or that I would be unhappy there, OR that I wouldn't be able to succeed due to overly competitive people. Because of the great impression I got from these students, I'm really excited to matriculate next fall. 🙂

 

[GoForIt]

"....The MSII's spend their own private time to hold tutoring sessions everyday and we also tutor each other. .."

Correct me if I am wrong. I think that COMP pays its MSII's students to provide private tutoring services to its MSI students. COMP does that to make sure its students understand the lecture materials.

 

[Jinyaoysiu]

"....The MSII's spend their own private time to hold tutoring sessions everyday and we also tutor each other. .."

Correct me if I am wrong. I think that COMP pays its MSII's students to provide private tutoring services to its MSI students. COMP does that to make sure its students understand the lecture materials.

They get paid?? I have no clue. I just get emails from them saying "come to my review session" ...etc. It did not seem like something set up by the school and sometimes you get as many as 100 people showing up. I am aware that there are also private tutors for small groups of people and I thought those are the ones that are being paid.

 

[superflyDO]

Do they pay you to post so much stuff on SDN? It seems like it since every post I have ever seen by you has been about trying to prove your school is so great. What's up with that? The funny part is, it's only you from your 200+ classmates (maybe 1 other that I don't recall) that says such positive things. 😉 It's not any more special than any other school pal. Like that stuff you posted that Western students will outperform LECOM students to the same residency if all else equal... 🙄 you sure pretend to know a lot being just a MSI.

 

[Jinyaoysiu]

Do they pay you to post so much stuff on SDN? It seems like it since every post I have ever seen by you has been about trying to prove your school is so great. What's up with that? The funny part is, it's only you from your 200+ classmates (maybe 1 other that I don't recall) that says such positive things. 😉 It's not any more special than any other school pal. Like that stuff you posted that Western students will outperform LECOM students to the same residency if all else equal... 🙄 you sure pretend to know a lot being just a MSI.

oh yeah, superflyDO, you're the one that said you weren't accepted by COMP and yet you are still interested in COMP enough to read every thread about COMP. And you have a good use of icons such as : 🙄 🙄

I post in reponse to original posters and in this case someone privated me that question and it seemed like a common concern. In the example you used, the OP specifically mentioned his interest in a USC program after choosing to attend LECOM-B. I stuck to the main theme and told him that he'd still have to compete with Western students. As for you, why do YOU post? What does your post have anything to do with the topic of my thread besides expressing your bitterness and your 🙄 🙄 ??? People make postive or negative posts about DO schools on this forum all the time, but for you to make a negative post purely IN REPONSE TO someone's postive comment, this has to be a new low on SDN. It is sick that you have a problem with people feeling positive, especially with your emotional slurs like "It's not any more special than any other school pal." or "every post I have ever seen by you has been about trying to prove your school is so great. What's up with that?"

What is wrong with you?

Anyone that's been following COMP threads(which should include SuperflyDO) knows that there are quite a few of us in class 2008 that have voiced their positive experiences. For someone like SuperflyDO who seems to follow COMP threads religiously, it's strange that he was able to miss all the others. Either he needs to work on his reading comprehension(maybe that's why he wasn't accepted at COMP) or that his judgement has been clouded by strong and unpretty emotions, which are very apparent in his postings.

 

[me454555]

The 2 or 3 tutors that the poster is referring to as holding review sessions do much more work than they are paid for. There are paid tutors who tutor small groups but these guys go above and beyond that. They work their a$$es off for the MS-Is and its something that I hope the MS-Is will continue next year.

There is a lot of competition in medical school and medical students are by nature competitive. While COMP is no different, I have not met anyone who would be willing to go too far I.E. sabatage another student or withold notes from others to be competitive. I think there is a good learning environment created by the students. COMP does have its problems but overly competitive students are definatly NOT one of them.

 

[TheFish005]

During orientation every incoming first year is assigned to a second year as their COMPanion. this is where we will give you everything that was given to us. the old tests are fantastic to suppliment your studying. yes, the tutors get paid, but not very much (minimum wage at best) and they set up thier own hours. one particular tutor gives 1.5-2 hour sessions EVERY DAY (mon-fri, and sometimes even sat and sun). that's above and beyond. the tradition will continue with our class as your upper classmen. didnt want anyone to think that only JIN.... was the only happy first year! hope to see alot of you next year, it's really great here. everyone really does look out for each other.

-E-
COMP 2008

 

[Dr. Don]

During orientation every incoming first year is assigned to a second year as their COMPanion. this is where we will give you everything that was given to us. the old tests are fantastic to suppliment your studying. yes, the tutors get paid, but not very much (minimum wage at best) and they set up thier own hours. one particular tutor gives 1.5-2 hour sessions EVERY DAY (mon-fri, and sometimes even sat and sun). that's above and beyond. the tradition will continue with our class as your upper classmen. didnt want anyone to think that only JIN.... was the only happy first year! hope to see alot of you next year, it's really great here. everyone really does look out for each other.

-E-
COMP 2008

I second that...

 

[FowlersGap]

actually tutors get paid quite a bit and pay varies between small group sessions and large group sessions

OMM TAs however get close to minimum wage

just wanted to clarify

During orientation every incoming first year is assigned to a second year as their COMPanion. this is where we will give you everything that was given to us. the old tests are fantastic to suppliment your studying. yes, the tutors get paid, but not very much (minimum wage at best) and they set up thier own hours. one particular tutor gives 1.5-2 hour sessions EVERY DAY (mon-fri, and sometimes even sat and sun). that's above and beyond. the tradition will continue with our class as your upper classmen. didnt want anyone to think that only JIN.... was the only happy first year! hope to see alot of you next year, it's really great here. everyone really does look out for each other.

-E-
COMP 2008

 

[Toejam]

I'm in the class of 2008 and I didn't read anything in this thread that didn't ring true.

The comraderie in this class is borderline ridiculous. You can count on someone posting some sort of study aid/professor emphasis before EVERY SINGLE EXAM.

The only comment that I would critique would be the administration being open to student's opinions. I do agree that this year's curricula has been altered due to past student's complaints about long lecture hours, but as far as I know, that's been about it.

One thing I'll say about COMP is that they are VERY SERIOUS about your academics. They have very strict rules as to your academic success/failure and are not very sympathetic to your excuses. Biochemistry IS a difficult class. It's not that the professor is bad or a @#$k. It's just that he expects a lot from the students and tests you in that manner. He's actually a great professor. Saying that, I know that he told a friend of mine (paraphrasing) that if he couldn't pass his class he had no business being a doctor.

My advice for anyone coming here is study much harder than you think you need to. The first semester is a bitch and many people get crushed under the deluge. And, trust me, most of them had no idea that they were going to have any trouble.

Ganbatte'

 

[that dr. jack]

Do they pay you to post so much stuff on SDN? It seems like it since every post I have ever seen by you has been about trying to prove your school is so great. What's up with that? The funny part is, it's only you from your 200+ classmates (maybe 1 other that I don't recall) that says such positive things. 😉 It's not any more special than any other school pal. Like that stuff you posted that Western students will outperform LECOM students to the same residency if all else equal... 🙄 you sure pretend to know a lot being just a MSI.

dude, you really need to get over your bitterness about COMP. jin is not the only happy person in our class at all. we're a very tight class and i'm proud as hell to go to COMP. and they didn't pay me anything to say that either, although if pum daddy wants to throw some green this way, i won't complain.

maybe if you would have spent more time on your studies and not having such a $hit attitude you wouldn't have sand in your vagina now over not getting into COMP. and i'll save you the time of writing a cute retort: "i don't even care that i didn't get in. COMP sucks! it's a yucky place and you're all yucky people! i deserved a spot on the cheerleading team!"

see? same transparent $hit we've all said when we were secretly disappointed and bitter about not getting what we really wanted. you don't have a patent on the standard 8th grade pout.

to the OP, we're all dirty hippies here, sharing everything. the tutors get paid like $10 an hour, but work very hard for it. we all try to send out study material or website links for every exam, especially the stuff that no one understood. we've even found a work around for the classes that a lot of people skip- our classmates send out notes with the stuff that was emphasized. in short, our class f*cking rules.