Impression of LECOM, Bradenton, PCOM, and DMU

[reaton]

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I have made email and telephone calls to all three schools in the process of applying. PCOM and DMU have been VERY nice and willing to answer all my questions very promptly.

LECOM, Bradenton on the other hand will not even answer emails or telephone calls. The only time they did answer was a short email stating don't contact us, we will contact you.

You would think not being on the high end of the scale they would go out of their way to try and help qualified applicats who are interested in their program.

If this is the way they treat prospective students why would anyone want to go there. If this is not representative of the school maybe the administration might want to know about the extreemly poor customer service their admissions staff provides.

 

[jzeidenb]

thats the kind of treatment ive gotten at over half the MD schools i called as well... makes me like DO even more

 

[scpod]

I have made email and telephone calls to all three schools in the process of applying. PCOM and DMU have been VERY nice and willing to answer all my questions very promptly.

LECOM, Bradenton on the other hand will not even answer emails or telephone calls...

Everyone's experience will be a little different because they have different perceptions and expectations of what thye want. Traditionally, even though it is acknowledged as one of the top DO schools, PCOM has had a poor reputation in the admissions department. That's because they have more applicants than anyone else and are "short-staffed" all the time.

The only time they did answer was a short email stating don't contact us, we will contact you....

Seems reasonable to me. They won't even begin interviewing for a few more weeks because they are still spending a lot of time with the Class of 2011.

You would think not being on the high end of the scale they would go out of their way to try and help qualified applicats who are interested in their program...

Aaaaahhhh.....therein lies part of the problem. They have waaaaaayyyyy more applicants than they need to fill the class-- so does every other school around. They won't be bending over backwards just because they have not been in existence as long as some other schools. They'll generally do a good job but they don't need to try harder to impress people because the class will still be filled with quality applicants. There's a common misconception that schools with lower MCATs and GPAs are easier to get into, and that they'll do anything they can to attract "above-average" students. Not true..[/QUOTE]

If this is the way they treat prospective students why would anyone want to go there. If this is not representative of the school maybe the administration might want to know about the extreemly poor customer service their admissions staff provides...[/ QUOTE]

I think if you polled all the current students you'd be really surprised because an excellent admissions staff was part of the reson why they chose to go there. I'm really sorry that you had a bad experience and I understand your need to vent. Yet, you already answered your own question in a way because people wouldn't go there if they all had the same bad experience. Look at the interview feedback section and gauge the way most people felt about that. Ask the current students; they'll let you know how they feel. Write a letter to the administration and vocalize your problems. Believe me, there are staff members that read this forum but a letter to the administration would be taken seriously. That's one of the things that I really like about Bradenton; they change things quite often based on student feedback.

I wish you good luck wherever you go.

 

[reaton]

You are the one, I believe, that failed to miss the point. From what I have read, PCOM and DMU are considered top notch, but thay take the time to be considerate and polite, just good old fashioned courtsey (they are in the same boat as LECOM as to being busy, so the "busy" just doesn't play into this). LECOM on the other hand can not even offer simple common courtsey.

If LECOM is too busy to just answer an email, at their leisure, then is the school, as a whole, just as uncaring? This is the first impression that I receive. They may be a great school but first impressions are important.

Just to add, TECOM, is another that has gone out of their way to make a good first impression and be helpful.

I gather you are a student there and therefore a bit touchey on the subject of your school?

 

[nlax30]

Just for disclosure I'm also a LECOM-Br student and though I never had a problem while I was applying about contacting them, I did have similiar issues as you had with my (then) local state MD school I was applying to. Definitely was not a good first impression. BUT, that was MY specific experience, and I'm sure there lots of other applicants who had NO trouble with that particular school, so you can't generalize.

Not trying to be a fan-boy here, but there are things I love about this school, and some things I don't, as far as I'm concerned that's going to be the same not matter where I go. This is also the first year for the pharmacy class that just started here only a couple weeks ago so the admin staff has also been busy getting that going smoothly.

So, definitely sorry you had a bad first impression (I really understand how annoying and what a turn off that can be), but if it's of any practical help I've found the faculty and staff (so far at least) to be extremely helpful and caring.

 

[Kuba]

You are the one, I believe, that failed to miss the point. From what I have read, PCOM and DMU are considered top notch, but thay take the time to be considerate and polite, just good old fashioned courtsey (they are in the same boat as LECOM as to being busy, so the "busy" just doesn't play into this). LECOM on the other hand can not even offer simple common courtsey.

If LECOM is too busy to just answer an email, at their leisure, then is the school, as a whole, just as uncaring? This is the first impression that I receive. They may be a great school but first impressions are important.

Just to add, TECOM, is another that has gone out of their way to make a good first impression and be helpful.

I gather you are a student there and therefore a bit touchey on the subject of your school?

Im not a student there, yet I agree with scspod. Everyone has a different experience. I personally thought PCOM's admissions staff was atrocious.

I dont know why people jump on LECOM so quickly. I've heard decent things about Bradenton.

 

[MossPoh]

Im not a student there, yet I agree with scspod. Everyone has a different experience. I personally thought PCOM's admissions staff was atrocious.

I dont know why people jump on LECOM so quickly. I've heard decent things about Bradenton.

Because everyone always jumps on the new school, generally citing reasons that have never been proved. "OMGZ, U'll be a exPerimentz and nev get uh good residancy" (that is how kids today type right?)

Meanwhile, one looks at the matchlist for every new school the last 6 or so years and they've had very good students with matchlists on par with pretty much every school. Medical education is pretty standardized...the hardest part is generally on the administrative side, which most students don't really get touched by. In fact, I almost rather be a class from one of the first few years. You get opening class sizes of about 50-75 oftentimes...and extra attention. One just has to make sure the clinical years are all set up correctly.

 

[theraball]

my experience with LECOM/Bradenton was completely positive; they were very responsive and nice to deal with. The only silly thing was that they required a DO letter before they would make a decision. I had a bunch of excellent letters including one from an MD surgeon who respects me highly but no, that wasn't good enough.

PCOM on the other hand was short on the phone, almost to the point of rude, and they stupidly shelved my application for months without telling me that they were waiting for a "letter of verification" for my bachelor's degree (despite having a masters degree, and my official transcript clearly states that I graduated on such-and-such date).

Generalizations can be dangerous (note I didn't say they always are). LECOM is a fine program and a real bargain tuition-wise. I felt their PBL had some growing pains and I wanted more of a big city anyway but otherwise would have been happy to go there. As for their dress code, well, scrubs are cheap and comfortable.

 

[Ilikescience]

PCOM were the only ones that were rude to me. They do have a ton of apps. Or maybe my voice annoyed them or just the time of day. I'm still not turned off by the school, cause those aren't the people I'll be dealing with for 4 years. But, if I get an interview there and feel the students and faculty are chads then I'll look else where.🙄

 

[Dr. Josh]

I'm thinking of applying to Bradenton; can anyone give me real life experiences of life there or the application process, stats, etc?

 

[Tol]

My experience with LECOM-Bradenton was quite different.

I am in rural Honduras. Traveling to the states, needless to say, is a bit of an operation. I also have no U.S. phone number. After trying to call, they emailed to offer me an interview. I emailed back and got a prompt response. When I called, they were kind and helpful. In the end, they were able to help me get an interview date during a trip I already had planned to FL. It saved me a huge amount of time, energy, and money.

My experiences with the admissions staff were extremely positive. In fact, my experiences with the admissions staff of every school I've dealt with have been positive.

I'm sorry not everyone has had the same experience. I've gotten the impression that there two reasons that things go south in dealings with staff from any institution or company. (This is particularly true with poorly paid customer service folks)
1-They are congenital jerk and nothing you say or do is going to change that. This seems quite uncommon.
2-You get lippy! If you walk in with an attitude or develop one mid-conversation, you will get the short straw every time. If you get demanding or have an air of entitlement, you'll get what's coming.

I'm certainly not implying that the folks here who dealt with less than courteous people are in the second category. But it behooves everyone to be cognizant of how you come across to someone who is dealing with a zillion other comparable phone call/emails.
-Keep it short and sweet.
-Don't expect anything, just ask nicely for it.
-Thank people who help you.
That combo rarely fails.

I wrote this intending to just offer an alternate viewpoint on LECOM-Br. But realized that, working in the hospital, I see an awful lot of medical students and pre-meds with a head the size of a watermelon on their shoulders. We aren't special or entitled to anything because we are going to medical school. Frankly, I can easily imagine that admissions staff at these schools deals with a boat load of ***t every day. I'll bet an awful lot of that is because applicants forget that they are asking a favor of someone when they call. See above rules.
A very similar situation is when calling customer service for your cell phone. Those folks are under-educated, poorly trained, poorly paid, and probably spending most of their day cleaning up the companies mistakes. How does it help to get pissed at them? Following the rules above I've gotten every broken phone replaced for free, a zillion free minutes, contracts changes, etc. Most of it I didn't even ask for, I was just polite. I can't count how many times I've heard, "you know, you are the first polite person I've talked to in a looooong time".
I'm not trying to ring my own bell. I just get frustrated with people being a**holes and then wondering why they don't get what they want. I think this is endemic in our society and the personality type common among pre-meds/med students is one prone to being a bit snooty.

Again, I'm NOT implying that the problems that folks had here are a function of being a jerk. The people in these offices have a lot of applications to deal with and can be pretty short.

Ok, ranted out 🙂
T