GA-PCOM Biomedical Sciences Program 2010-2011

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congrats! :thumbup: i totally know the feeling ;-) :D

I just got in today..I am so excited. I am still waiting on the official letter in the mail. I do not even know where to begin lol..

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Hey guys, just found I was accepted. Haven't gotten all the literature yet, but from what I've gathered here, it looks like we have classes only in the evenings. For anyone who has done this program before, what was your day like? Do evening classes leave you time for extra-currics, like work or volunteering? Are any volunteering/research opportunities available through the school? Just wondering..thanks in advance!
 
I got into the GA program :) Does anyone need a roommate? I'm looking at a 2-BR apartment in the area.
 
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Punk, if your application is somewhat competitive for osteopathic SMPs then I would try for the Philadelphia campus if you want to stick with PCOM. Their program up there is far more polished compared to the GA one.

Furthermore, if you roughly reason it out in your head, theres about 60 some spots in the GA program and 80-85 seats in the GA campus medical school. Realistically how many do you think they'll let in from the program? They still need to accept a vast majority from traditional applicants. About 14-20 students (counting both first and second years together) from the PA campus get back into PCOM-PA from the MBS and they field around 180 seats for the first years if you want a semi comparison.
 
Punk, if your application is somewhat competitive for osteopathic SMPs then I would try for the Philadelphia campus if you want to stick with PCOM. Their program up there is far more polished compared to the GA one.

Furthermore, if you roughly reason it out in your head, theres about 60 some spots in the GA program and 80-85 seats in the GA campus medical school. Realistically how many do you think they'll let in from the program? They still need to accept a vast majority from traditional applicants. About 14-20 students (counting both first and second years together) from the PA campus get back into PCOM-PA from the MBS and they field around 180 seats for the first years if you want a semi comparison.

Thanks Jslo. I'm planning on applying to both campuses, but GA is closer to home and support. What problems or issues does the GA campus have that would make PA the better choice? You can PM if you don't want to answer here.
 
Should I apply in Jan. but without my MCAT score or should I wait and apply in March or April when I have my MCAT?
 
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=9338804&postcount=174

In general, osteopathic SMPs in my experience cater heavily towards accepting their SMP students back into the host medical school upon completion. The "reputation" factor that is often touted for Georgetown, BU MAMS and other allopathic programs don't necessarily translate over in the same regard therefore I personally (my own opinion) would choose a program that has a high probability and record of taking back in most of their successful students if I wasn't concerned about location, price, etc.

GA's program is just very new and if you want to look back at other "new" SMPs, they usually have problems. Take UMDNJ-Robert Wood MBS as an example. All 3 campuses hold an MBS program yet just the other day I saw a post from a current SMP student there stating how disorganized everything was and that he/she would most likely require another SMP afterward. Another example would be VCOM's post-bacc when it first started where the initial agreement was for most students to matriculate in the Fall only to realize that when the time came, there weren't any spots open. Fortunately most managed to filter back in through the waiting list but still you know? Not only will you most likely have issues with a few of the faculty (they have to develop a curriculum for you as well as their main concern medical students and their own research) but with the administration as well on what "guarantees" are allowed.

As I said which can be supported by many past threads about PCOM on SDN, the PA campus has been around for a long time and as such, the faculty and administration are very "polished" in handling typical problems/procedures. It also holds a better reputation among other peer DO schools according to admissions counselors and other small factors such as learning from cadavers for anatomy and whatnot in PA as opposed to 3D software (?) in GA. But most importantly for me, I see the fact that the MBS program is roughly 3/4 the size of the medical student class which makes me cringe when I wonder how many students are allowed to get back in. If PA only allows about 10-18% average from their MBS class of 60ish with a first year class size of 180, then how many will GA let in with an MBS size of 60 and a first year class size of 85?

I'm at LECOM so you can take my words with a grain of salt I guess but I've talked to several PCOM MBS students as well as spent most of my time in this subsection of the forum. GA's still a good program in my mind but I don't know if it's the best option that you have available to you is what I'm getting at.
 
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=9338804&postcount=174

In general, osteopathic SMPs in my experience cater heavily towards accepting their SMP students back into the host medical school upon completion. The "reputation" factor that is often touted for Georgetown, BU MAMS and other allopathic programs don't necessarily translate over in the same regard therefore I personally (my own opinion) would choose a program that has a high probability and record of taking back in most of their successful students if I wasn't concerned about location, price, etc.

GA's program is just very new and if you want to look back at other "new" SMPs, they usually have problems. Take UMDNJ-Robert Wood MBS as an example. All 3 campuses hold an MBS program yet just the other day I saw a post from a current SMP student there stating how disorganized everything was and that he/she would most likely require another SMP afterward. Another example would be VCOM's post-bacc when it first started where the initial agreement was for most students to matriculate in the Fall only to realize that when the time came, there weren't any spots open. Fortunately most managed to filter back in through the waiting list but still you know? Not only will you most likely have issues with a few of the faculty (they have to develop a curriculum for you as well as their main concern medical students and their own research) but with the administration as well on what "guarantees" are allowed.

As I said which can be supported by many past threads about PCOM on SDN, the PA campus has been around for a long time and as such, the faculty and administration are very "polished" in handling typical problems/procedures. It also holds a better reputation among other peer DO schools according to admissions counselors and other small factors such as learning from cadavers for anatomy and whatnot in PA as opposed to 3D software (?) in GA. But most importantly for me, I see the fact that the MBS program is roughly 3/4 the size of the medical student class which makes me cringe when I wonder how many students are allowed to get back in. If PA only allows about 10-18% average from their MBS class of 60ish with a first year class size of 180, then how many will GA let in with an MBS size of 60 and a first year class size of 85?

I'm at LECOM so you can take my words with a grain of salt I guess but I've talked to several PCOM MBS students as well as spent most of my time in this subsection of the forum. GA's still a good program in my mind but I don't know if it's the best option that you have available to you is what I'm getting at.


Is this the only compliant coming from current and past biomed students from the GA campus? Do the students who do well in the program but don't get accepted to GA or PA campus, are they able to land spots at other DO schools? Both PA and GA are my top choices, but I ultimately just want to get into a good DO program even if its not PA or GA.
 
That's not the only complaint about the GA campus but in general the PA campus has far more positive reviews. I'm sure the students who do well get accepted elsewhere which is probably partially why only 10-20% get back into PCOM from PA. They interview late in March which makes alot of students squeamish about waiting that long. A few students that I talked to chose to attend interviews earlier in Jan or Feb (if they had any) and just ran with the acceptance when they received it. As I said, PCOM MBS is a reputable program amongst the osteopathic schools and is one of the few that carry weight elsewhere besides the host medical school.

The only detractor that I would say is that many students do enter their second year of the MBS (past the 1 year certificate) which makes me wonder if there is a limit to how many students PCOM is willing to take back in. Most of the PCOM MBS students who made it back did so off the waiting list.

The only point I was trying to make is that there are many other osteopathic SMPs which have a far higher matriculation rate back into the host medical school, thus unless you loved PCOM (you have every reason to) or wanted to stay in GA or Philadelphia, it's really worth applying elsewhere for more options.

Try to message Plausible, I believe he used to be a PCOM PA MBS student who is now a PCOM OMS-1 and I think he looked very favorably upon that program.
 
That's not the only complaint about the GA campus but in general the PA campus has far more positive reviews. I'm sure the students who do well get accepted elsewhere which is probably partially why only 10-20% get back into PCOM from PA. They interview late in March which makes alot of students squeamish about waiting that long. A few students that I talked to chose to attend interviews earlier in Jan or Feb (if they had any) and just ran with the acceptance when they received it. As I said, PCOM MBS is a reputable program amongst the osteopathic schools and is one of the few that carry weight elsewhere besides the host medical school.

The only detractor that I would say is that many students do enter their second year of the MBS (past the 1 year certificate) which makes me wonder if there is a limit to how many students PCOM is willing to take back in. Most of the PCOM MBS students who made it back did so off the waiting list.

The only point I was trying to make is that there are many other osteopathic SMPs which have a far higher matriculation rate back into the host medical school, thus unless you loved PCOM (you have every reason to) or wanted to stay in GA or Philadelphia, it's really worth applying elsewhere for more options.

Try to message Plausible, I believe he used to be a PCOM PA MBS student who is now a PCOM OMS-1 and I think he looked very favorably upon that program.

Thanks for a lot the info. I will definitely PM Plausible and pick his brain about PCOM biomed program.
 
To punk med girl,

I am currently enrolled in the Biomed program at the Georgia campus and I absolutely LOVE it. This advice is also for anyone else out there considering the Biomed program here (and at other schools). If you want a quick way to raise your GPA and PREPARE for medical school, then a biomed program is a great idea. The classes we take are pretty much the same ones that the DO students take, just less intense. I've been told by several DO students who looked over my power points that "those are the exact same power points that we use". So just imagine what a wonderful opportunity this is to take virtually the same classes as DO students ahead of time! And imagine how good it will look on your application if you can make good grades in these classes! This is why I highly recommend the biomed program. Sure, the Georgia campus has a few problems compared to Philly campus, but it's a new campus so it's not going to be perfect right away. I would say that these problems aren't big enough to interfere with your education at GA-PCOM. They are minor things that may be annoying, but like I said they are not things that should deter you from getting an education here. To address the cadaver question, I wasn't aware that the Philly Biomeds got to use cadavers, all I know is that our DO students get the cadavers so they can do the full dissection from back to front. I also know that they accept a good portion of the Biomeds into the DO program (I was told about 20 first year and/or second year Biomeds). I also thought I should inform you that the DO class size is being increased to ~130. So this will likely increase the number of Biomeds being accepted as well. A large percentage of past classes got accepted to various medical, dental, pharmacy schools. I don't want to give you an exact percentage because I don't know the statistics, but I do know that GA-PCOM is very good at placing its Biomed students into professional programs. That is what the Biomed program is designed to do. If you have any further questions please feel free to ask!
 
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