Is http://wehatelecom.com/ serious??

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Y

yoohooDO

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
Messages
24
Reaction score
12
Members don't see this ad.
I saw this linked in another thread and looked through it. It's equally horrifying and comedic. Obviously, taking this stuff with a grain of salt but what is really going on at LECOM? I applied here and now I'm wondering if I should even fill out the secondary. Can any experienced adcom members or current/past students reply? Danke.
 
I applied there because I figured that going to LECOM was better than staying home and twiddling my thumbs.

I didn't get accepted, which is fine, because I did get accepted somewhere better. But I would have gone if I had no other choice.
 
All schools have their pros and cons. It's up to the individual to decide what those are. For me, it seems like the cons are heavy at least for the first two years. Haven't looked at anything after that or how they match/score but I'm interested in what other LECOM students have to say about this.
 
Is this serious about a girl that turned in a child predator to the FBI and got hunted down by the administration to the point where she had to hire an attorney? If this is true, LECOM is disgusting and should be sanctioned by the AOA. In fact, anyone involved in attacking her should be promptly fired.
 
It seems so crazy (crazy enough to be untrue) but at the same time I could definitely believe admin trying to cover their butts and make sure that people keep applying to the school ($$$), so trying to cover it up.
 
I had a great time at LECOM. They have rules. They have dress code. They give you a great education for low cost. Their graduates match almost anywhere. The people who bitch about it are those who have never held a job before and don't like having to follow the rules. They give people a chance to be a doctor and train you for the future.
 
I applied, as well. I work with several doctors who are LECOM alumni, and some of them are the best physicians in their respective departments. Anyone can post anything that they want on the internet, whether it has merit or not.

LECOM is my #1 school, above several MD schools. I see it as not only my best choice for an affordable education, but as an institution that produces quality physicians who share my values. I will be irked if I get waitlisted there while someone who thinks of it as nothing more than a safety school takes up a seat during their search for a "better" place somewhere else. Please, don't be that person. However, if you also really want to go to this school, please do apply, and don't let some internet drama dissuade you from it.

I took a few minutes to review this site. I call BS. This is the work of one or two disgruntled students/former students. There are no comments on any of the blog entries. There is very little activity in the "forum." The traffic generated by this thread has probably been the most attention this site has recieved. If the complaints made there were significant, there would be more activity.

EDIT: changed "no activity" to "very little activity." The longest of the dozen or so recent threads is about 7 comments long. Again, I think if something were seriously, systemically, wrong there, there would be a lot more chatter about it.
 
Last edited:
AlbinoHawk DO said:
Is this serious about a girl that turned in a child predator to the FBI and got hunted down by the administration to the point where she had to hire an attorney? If this is true, LECOM is disgusting and should be sanctioned by the AOA. In fact, anyone involved in attacking her should be promptly fired.
Click to expand...
Yeah this is disgusting.
 
correctlywrong said:
I applied, as well. I work with several doctors who are LECOM alumni, and some of them are the best physicians in their respective departments. Anyone can post anything that they want on the internet, whether it has merit or not.

LECOM is my #1 school, above several MD schools. I see it as not only my best choice for an affordable education, but as an institution that produces quality physicians who share my values. I will be irked if I get waitlisted there while someone who thinks of it as nothing more than a safety school takes up a seat during their search for a "better" place somewhere else. Please, don't be that person. However, if you also really want to go to this school, please do apply, and don't let some internet drama dissuade you from it.

I took a few minutes to review this site. I call BS. This is the work of one or two disgruntled students/former students. There are no comments on any of the blog entries. There is very little activity in the "forum." The traffic generated by this thread has probably been the most attention this site has recieved. If the complaints made there were significant, there would be more activity.

EDIT: changed "no activity" to "very little activity." The longest of the dozen or so recent threads is about 7 comments long. Again, I think if something were seriously, systemically, wrong there, there would be a lot more chatter about it.
Click to expand...

Relevant username?
 
chizledfrmstone said:
Relevant username?
Click to expand...

Way to go for the lowest hanging fruit!

It is from a song lyric: "But you know evil is an exact science, being carefully correctly wrong."

Most people secretly hold the absolute certainty that their view of the world and their place in it is the objective truth. "Correctlywrong" is a reminder to myself that I should never be too certain, always open to new information.

Everything I'd heard about LECOM so far had been positive, and I was a little shocked to hear that it had such vocal detractors. Now, I am reading through the site, thinking critically about what is posted there. I may come out with a more nuanced view, but I haven't seen anything yet that turns me off totally. The dress code and not being able to eat in class... really? These are major complaints? Sounds like people have never had real jobs before. There are big egos in administration at the school? I think this is only so evident because it is a relatively small pond. There are also enormous egos at every other school I am considering, but because those schools are so prestigious, no one calls them out on it.

There was a scandal where the administration attempted to punish a student for reporting a sexual predator? If it is accurate, that is whack, but the rest of that story is that the faculty and the student body rose up to support her, and that they were largely successful in doing so. People who are willing to stand up for what they believe in against opposition sound like my kind of folks. Again, I know of incidents at other schools where students or staff were railroaded and no one came out to help them. It just quietly happened, and their peers acted like, well, if you didn't really do something wrong, the school wouldn't be taking action against you.

[EDIT: Speaking of which, some of the complaints begin with an admission that the author was using marijuana or drinking alcohol during the day, and that they were referred for substance abuse evaluation/treatment. Come on! Health care providers are at enormous risk for substance abuse issues. We have access and opportunity, and our impairment can hurt not only ourselves, but our patients. Does anyone really believe that other institutions would ignore such behavior? Not dealing with it makes them liable.]

Also, the site is juvenile, literally. It is filled with GIFs of children making offensive gestures. Is that really how they want to portray themselves? Because that is precisely how most of their complaints read. Maybe there are real problems with the school now, beyond the superficial complaints and references to nearly 20 year old issues from the inaugural class... but the site does not communicate about them in a way that inspires any confidence in its authors. They come off as immature whiners who probably don't have any business being entrusted to practice medicine.

If someone were to write a thoughtful and intelligent critique of the school which demonstrated that it had defects not seen in other schools, I would be grateful to them. I haven't seen anything like that there. Please, correct me if I am wrong.
 
Last edited:
correctlywrong said:
Way to go for the lowest hanging fruit!

It is from a song lyric: "But you know evil is an exact science, being carefully correctly wrong."

Most people secretly hold the absolute certainty that their view of the world and their place in it is the objective truth. "Correctlywrong" is a reminder to myself that I should never be too certain, always open to new information.

Everything I'd heard about LECOM so far had been positive, and I was a little shocked to hear that it had such vocal detractors. Now, I am reading through the site, thinking critically about what is posted there. I may come out with a more nuanced view, but I haven't seen anything yet that turns me off totally. The dress code and not being able to eat in class... really? These are major complaints? Sounds like people have never had real jobs before. There are big egos in administration at the school? I think this is only so evident because it is a relatively small pond. There are also enormous egos at every other school I am considering, but because those schools are so prestigious, no one calls them out on it.

There was a scandal where the administration attempted to punish a student for reporting a sexual predator? If it is accurate, that is whack, but the rest of that story is that the faculty and the student body rose up to support her, and that they were largely successful in doing so. People who are willing to stand up for what they believe in against opposition sound like my kind of folks. Again, I know of incidents at other schools where students or staff were railroaded and no one came out to help them. It just quietly happened, and their peers acted like, well, if you didn't really do something wrong, the school wouldn't be taking action against you.

[EDIT: Speaking of which, some of the complaints begin with an admission that the author was using marijuana or drinking alcohol during the day, and that they were referred for substance abuse evaluation/treatment. Come on! Health care providers are at enormous risk for substance abuse issues. We have access and opportunity, and our impairment can hurt not only ourselves, but our patients. Does anyone really believe that other institutions would ignore such behavior? Not dealing with it makes them liable.]

Also, the site is juvenile, literally. It is filled with GIFs of children making offensive gestures. Is that really how they want to portray themselves? Because that is precisely how most of their complaints read. Maybe there are real problems with the school now, beyond the superficial complaints and references to nearly 20 year old issues from the inaugural class... but the site does not communicate about them in a way that inspires any confidence in its authors. They come off as immature whiners who probably don't have any business being entrusted to practice medicine.

If someone were to write a thoughtful and intelligent critique of the school which demonstrated that it had defects not seen in other schools, I would be grateful to them. I haven't seen anything like that there. Please, correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...

Way to dismiss the stories and accounts of people who actually attended LECOM for every possible reason under the sun that doesn't actually refute their well substantiated message. News flash: those that go to LECOM aren't the best and brightest (let's be honest here) so if you're expecting a well written airing of grievances you're deluded. Put away the ad hominem and listen to those who know what's going on.
 
Jamie561 said:
Way to dismiss the stories and accounts of people who actually attended LECOM for every possible reason under the sun that doesn't actually refute their well substantiated message. News flash: those that go to LECOM aren't the best and brightest (let's be honest here) so if you're expecting a well written airing of grievances you're deluded. Put away the ad hominem and listen to those who know what's going on.
Click to expand...

Wait, did you just bust on LECOM students as not being "the best and the brightest" and then accuse *me* of engaging in ad hominem?

I am basing my opinion of the school upon the reports I have heard of it from more than a dozen of its successful graduates. People who are now residents, and fellows, and attendings, who are well spoken professionals and are among the most admirable physicians in their cohorts. They say that the school has some strict rules for behavior and dress on campus, but that they felt that it was a good environment in which to focus on their education.

I think that the way that someone presents their message matters. The story speaks of its teller. It isn't an ad hominem to say that someone who is not communicating well is not gaining my confidence.
 
There's a lot of negative to say about LECOM. But honestly, I think that they have set up a school that does a decent job educating physicians and accomplishes it at a very low cost.
 
Correctly and Jamie you are both so going about this the wrong way its insane. Correctly, you are dismissing true accusations from past students there. Don't trust admin, don't trust the deans, trust the students, they aren't in it for the money. They are PAYING money to have this experience and thus will give you the most truthful answer.

Jamie... What the F is up with lecom student bashing? Just checked their match lists and they have very bright students and match in about every specialty but plastics and derm (but its not like a terribly large portion of DOs ANYWHERE match those). And even if they didn't match. These are real people... Who got into a US medical school... Calling them "not the brightest" is not only offensive (and I don't even go there) its straight up untrue.

You both are hanging way on the extremes on this stuff. There is definitely a middle ground to be met here.

Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk
 
Will you get a solid education for a cheap cost if attending LECOM? Yes--nobody is disputing that. There are however a myriad of well documented instances where LECOM has bizarrely & inappropriately handled various situations (feel free to surf the forum, check the accounts of current and past students, and use that thing called GOOGLE).

I originally typed up this whole thing about why LECOM sucks but I dont want to excessively bash it, because they do produce some great 'docs. Medical school is pretty personal so go where you think you'll do the best; that said, several students would be utterly annoyed with the senseless policies that make you play dress up and not eat in several areas, so to tell them that their reasons for hatin' are stupid is not your right to say. Just be warned that LECOM kind of doesn't care about their students (the faculty do, but the admin doesn't), and when I applied I had a terrible gut feeling and trusted that enough to withdraw. You should all do what feels right to you
 
Awesome Sauceome said:
Correctly and Jamie you are both so going about this the wrong way its insane. Correctly, you are dismissing true accusations from past students there. Don't trust admin, don't trust the deans, trust the students, they aren't in it for the money. They are PAYING money to have this experience and thus will give you the most truthful answer.

Jamie... What the F is up with lecom student bashing? Just checked their match lists and they have very bright students and match in about every specialty but plastics and derm (but its not like a terribly large portion of DOs ANYWHERE match those). And even if they didn't match. These are real people... Who got into a US medical school... Calling them "not the brightest" is not only offensive (and I don't even go there) its straight up untrue.

You both are hanging way on the extremes on this stuff. There is definitely a middle ground to be met here.

Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

The kingslayer tends to have a thing for talking down to people. Oh... and regicide.
 
MrWonderful said:
Will you get a solid education for a cheap cost if attending LECOM? Yes--nobody is disputing that. There are however a myriad of well documented instances where LECOM has bizarrely & inappropriately handled various situations (feel free to surf the forum, check the accounts of current and past students, and use that thing called GOOGLE).

I originally typed up this whole thing about why LECOM sucks but I dont want to excessively bash it, because they do produce some great 'docs. Medical school is pretty personal so go where you think you'll do the best; that said, several students would be utterly annoyed with the senseless policies that make you play dress up and not eat in several areas, so to tell them that their reasons for hatin' are stupid is not your right to say. Just be warned that LECOM kind of doesn't care about their students (the faculty do, but the admin doesn't), and when I applied I had a terrible gut feeling and trusted that enough to withdraw. You should all do what feels right to you
Click to expand...

Yeah, except that the dresscode and eating policy shouldn't really be a surprise to people. Its made pretty clear all along the way. Its not like they say, yeah dress and eat however you want, then once you walk in to campus they're like, gimme that water bottle and put on this tie. You know what you're getting into. So being an adult and complaining about it after you sign up for it, quite frankly is stupid.

I've posted about that site before. I found it juvenile and seemingly started by a bunch of pharm students. There absolutely are things wrong with LECOM (I'll bet there are some at every school), but there are still many reasons for people to attend. The education is great and PBL is amazing. The price is great and the docs coming out quite frankly do have a great reputation, especially in this area. If its not higher than other schools on your list, so be it, but that's not really a judgement of the school as much as about your personal preferences.

Go wherever you want, pretty much no DO school has trouble filling their class, so just focus on getting what you want out of the deal. Seeing as how LECOM has some of the most applicants than almost any other DO school, is right in the middle of DO matriculants for entrance stats, and has board pass and match rates close to 100%, I doubt they're doing everything wrong.
 
Right, I don't imagine I'd enjoy a shirt & Tie much. But attendance isn't required.. so you know... borderline nude + 80 degree heating during the Erie Winter + streaming is perfectly ok with me.
 
serenade said:
Right, I don't imagine I'd enjoy a shirt & Tie much. But attendance isn't required.. so you know... borderline nude + 80 degree heating during the Erie Winter + streaming is perfectly ok with me.
Click to expand...

You're going to have to wear a shirt and tie from oms3 until you retire. It's not that big of a deal.
 
cliquesh said:
You're going to have to wear a shirt and tie from oms3 until you retire. It's not that big of a deal.
Click to expand...
Every doc I see who's out of residency looks like he picked up the first polo shirt he could find in the closet and that's how they come to work. In fact you can usually tell who the attending is by finding the guy dressed like he's going out for a picnic rather than the guy in shirt and tie
 
correctlywrong said:
Way to go for the lowest hanging fruit!

It is from a song lyric: "But you know evil is an exact science, being carefully correctly wrong."

Most people secretly hold the absolute certainty that their view of the world and their place in it is the objective truth. "Correctlywrong" is a reminder to myself that I should never be too certain, always open to new information.

Everything I'd heard about LECOM so far had been positive, and I was a little shocked to hear that it had such vocal detractors. Now, I am reading through the site, thinking critically about what is posted there. I may come out with a more nuanced view, but I haven't seen anything yet that turns me off totally. The dress code and not being able to eat in class... really? These are major complaints? Sounds like people have never had real jobs before. There are big egos in administration at the school? I think this is only so evident because it is a relatively small pond. There are also enormous egos at every other school I am considering, but because those schools are so prestigious, no one calls them out on it.

There was a scandal where the administration attempted to punish a student for reporting a sexual predator? If it is accurate, that is whack, but the rest of that story is that the faculty and the student body rose up to support her, and that they were largely successful in doing so. People who are willing to stand up for what they believe in against opposition sound like my kind of folks. Again, I know of incidents at other schools where students or staff were railroaded and no one came out to help them. It just quietly happened, and their peers acted like, well, if you didn't really do something wrong, the school wouldn't be taking action against you.

[EDIT: Speaking of which, some of the complaints begin with an admission that the author was using marijuana or drinking alcohol during the day, and that they were referred for substance abuse evaluation/treatment. Come on! Health care providers are at enormous risk for substance abuse issues. We have access and opportunity, and our impairment can hurt not only ourselves, but our patients. Does anyone really believe that other institutions would ignore such behavior? Not dealing with it makes them liable.]

Also, the site is juvenile, literally. It is filled with GIFs of children making offensive gestures. Is that really how they want to portray themselves? Because that is precisely how most of their complaints read. Maybe there are real problems with the school now, beyond the superficial complaints and references to nearly 20 year old issues from the inaugural class... but the site does not communicate about them in a way that inspires any confidence in its authors. They come off as immature whiners who probably don't have any business being entrusted to practice medicine.

If someone were to write a thoughtful and intelligent critique of the school which demonstrated that it had defects not seen in other schools, I would be grateful to them. I haven't seen anything like that there. Please, correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...

correctlywrong said:
Wait, did you just bust on LECOM students as not being "the best and the brightest" and then accuse *me* of engaging in ad hominem?

I am basing my opinion of the school upon the reports I have heard of it from more than a dozen of its successful graduates. People who are now residents, and fellows, and attendings, who are well spoken professionals and are among the most admirable physicians in their cohorts. They say that the school has some strict rules for behavior and dress on campus, but that they felt that it was a good environment in which to focus on their education.

I think that the way that someone presents their message matters. The story speaks of its teller. It isn't an ad hominem to say that someone who is not communicating well is not gaining my confidence.
Click to expand...

Wait, how many interviews have you had so far?

I don't have any issue with their rules. I have nothing against their students. A majority of them were extremely nice and knowledgeable.
 
No interviews yet. I just applied a few days ago. AACOMAS hasn't even received my last transcript yet.

I have met these people in their actual professional lives, not just during brief interviews/campus visits. I encounter the trainees when they are rotating through the clinical site where I work. I participate in the care of patients alongside the attendings. I haven't yet encountered a LECOM grad who wasn't hard-working, humble, kind-hearted, and entirely competent in their areas of medicine. Maybe I have just been very fortunate, or maybe there is a selection bias, so that people who don't have those qualities don't match into the programs where I meet them. Still, it seems to me that physicians who went to that school are generally excellent, and that I would be fortunate to count myself among them.

I don't mind if people mistake me for not being among the best and brightest for wanting to go to school there. Having been a nurse for a few years, I am used to being underestimated. It is to my advantage when I turn out to be better than expected.
 
correctlywrong said:
No interviews yet. I just applied a few days ago. AACOMAS hasn't even received my last transcript yet.

I have met these people in their actual professional lives, not just during brief interviews/campus visits. I encounter the trainees when they are rotating through the clinical site where I work. I participate in the care of patients alongside the attendings. I haven't yet encountered a LECOM grad who wasn't hard-working, humble, kind-hearted, and entirely competent in their areas of medicine. Maybe I have just been very fortunate, or maybe there is a selection bias, so that people who don't have those qualities don't match into the programs where I meet them. Still, it seems to me that physicians who went to that school are generally excellent, and that I would be fortunate to count myself among them.

I don't mind if people mistake me for not being among the best and brightest for wanting to go to school there. Having been a nurse for a few years, I am used to being underestimated. It is to my advantage when I turn out to be better than expected.
Click to expand...

Again, my issue isn't with the minor rules or their students. I don't know why you keep bringing this up but I'm starting to think you're a troll or shill.

Most people secretly hold the absolute certainty that their view of the world and their place in it is the objective truth. "Correctlywrong" is a reminder to myself that I should never be too certain, always open to new information.
Click to expand...

Interview at a few other places and keep your mind open. If you think this is a great place then by all means feel free to attend here. I had quite a few interviews and walked out of here knowing I would rather re-apply than attend this institution.

Let me give you a little example and you can extrapolate this to my entire interviewing experience.

I have interviewed at many of the top 10 DO schools. I have a certain dietary restriction where I can't eat some foods.

At KCUMB I just got a small plate of a few things and just started mingling. Within 5 minutes the student ambassadors came over and asked if everything was OK. I explained to them I had certain dietary restrictions and that it wasn't a major issue. I told them not to worry about it since I didn't want to eat too much before the interview anyway. It would bog down my thinking. They told me they would immediately arrange something or find appropriate substitutes to what was offered. I wasn't really expecting such hospitality.

Same thing at DMU. I'm sitting there and within minutes a student ambassador comes up to me to politely remind me that I can get whatever I want and if something isn't available they will see what they can do. I told them it wasn't a big deal since I was planning on going out after the interview. Honestly, DMU treats their interviewees like royalty.

I had a similar experience at Western U. Very nice atmosphere and hospitable people.

Between these interviews I had an interview at a LECOM campus. I remember sitting there during lunch and I wasn't really hungry so I didn't eat much. Next to me was a girl who couldn't eat gluten. A couple of the students asked if she was OK but that's about it. I stopped eating because I felt so bad for her. Heck, I wanted to buy her lunch because I knew she was probably starving at this point.

It's not about the lunch. It was the attitude LECOM has. Their tuition is cheap for a reason. The attitude is pretty simple "You either like what we give you or you don't take it." If you won't take that as an excuse then it becomes "We know what's best for you. Don't question us!"

I remember after the PBL session one student was so dumbfounded he just blatantly said "The preceptor didn't do anything but push a button. Is this what our tuition will be going towards?" I still laugh when I think about it because I'm sure he knew at that point there was no way he would attend that institution. He probably just thought f*ck it, I don't need a filter between my brain and mouth for rest of the day.

If you like LECOM. Go to LECOM and enjoy your experience. It's just not my cup of tea. I should have left the moment I walked through the doors and the security guard started acting rude. Getting a few hours of sleep would have been much more productive than going through the entire interview day.

BTW, I believe the CEO is against the merger. http://www.saveogme.com/acgme-sword
 
I am neither a shill nor a troll. (SDN thinks EVERYONE is a troll!) I am someone who can't afford to make a mistake about where I spend the next few years of my life, or how much I pay for it. I am significantly older than most applicants and I already have a family that counts on me for support. I have saved for years to make this attempt possible, but I really only have one shot to get this right, and if I blow it, there will be no do overs or try agains.

I'm not telling anyone that they *should* go to LECOM, but someone presented this site as if it gave reasons *not* to go. I have investigated that claim, finding it insubstantial. I have reported that not to convince anyone else of anything, but so that if anyone has more compelling arguments, maybe they will offer them. My engagement is about doing my own due diligence in this matter, not about changing anyone else's mind.

I continue to bring up the people I know who are products of the school because they demonstrate what is possible at the school, despite everything that has been said about it. I brought them up most recently because you asked how many interviews I had been on, and I thought you were asking how I had talked to so many LECOM grads. I didn't realize that your question really was about whether I had experienced interviews at various places. I don't know that I like LECOM, but I do know that I like the people who have gotten their educations there. I am very focused on results, rather than the nature of the experience necessary to attain them. Maybe it really does suck to go there, but if I come out the other end with what I need, that is a win.

That is a recurring theme here. I am focused on outcomes over process. I don't care about the quality of the hospitality extended to me, or about how much I have to teach myself, or that the administration is terrible. All of that is similar to my present situation: I work for a "nonprofit" health system with aggressive, monopolistic business practices and much of my undergrad happened at a community college where the substandard lecturers often provided actually wrong information so that if I weren't teaching myself, I'd have been hosed. I am used to wading through deep BS to get at what I want, so nothing about LECOM sounds more terrible than what I have been through.

If someone has been accustomed to being treated well, to a permissive learning environment, to excellent professors who were reliable experts of the content they taught, then I can see how they could focus on the things that seem so trivial to me. But as long as the complaints are about the process and not the outcomes, they aren't going to change my mind.

If anyone knows of evidence that LECOM grads are unprepared, that they don't do well on boards, that they don't match well, those data points will sway me, and I would be grateful to hear them.
 
verynice said:
SDN scared me away from LECOM.
Click to expand...

I agree, in reading the posts on here I have shied away from applying at either LECOM because of the horror stories I have heard.
 
First, sorry for creating this firestorm.

Second, still looking for an alumni or current student to reply?

Honestly, what I'm expecting is a response something like: "I graduated with a medical degree and now am a practicing physician. If that's your goal, then you can do it here."
 
I interviewed at both campuses this last cycle. There's a lot of miscommunication here. I agree with the "if you don't like the way we do things then don't come here" attitude they have.

However, obviously no one is calling LECOM a terrible education that won't get you anywhere, but I will say LECOM would be the lowest on my list of schools that I would go to to become a physician. No one is doubting the quality of the board prep, residency matching, etc.

At Erie, I talked to a student who actually highly recommended the independent pathway to have more freedom and less contact with the admins. It seemed the most appealing to me personally of all the pathways (I wasn't a fan of the PBL).
 
LECOM probably doesn't compare very well to top tier schools like NSU or PCOM. But if we're comparing paying 45k for WCU or 30k for LECOM it's going to be a win win both educationally and in cost.


Honestly they offer a product and they make sure it works well enough. Compared to many low tier places LECOM is a much better choice. Now whether or not it's the perfect match for everyone is a different story. But honestly, in the game of medical school admissions you either settle and adjust or you die.
 
yoohooDO said:
First, sorry for creating this firestorm.

Second, still looking for an alumni or current student to reply?

Honestly, what I'm expecting is a response something like: "I graduated with a medical degree and now am a practicing physician. If that's your goal, then you can do it here."
Click to expand...


cabinbuilder basically said something along those lines...





Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk
 
No one is saying the students are bad. The students seemed pretty smart and responsible. The type of people who can take their education into their own hands.

I have a feeling the argument always goes that direction because it's the easiest thing for people to defend.

The funny thing is 2 current students PMed me saying how much they agreed with my post. I doubt most disgruntled students will share their views in this thread. I don't blame them. Why risk your education like that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
As an applicant, your goal is first to get in somewhere. Usually it doesn't matter where, because so few people get that far. Then when you get in to more than one place, you have to figure out which will get you what you want and need to succeed. There's going to be pros and cons for each school. That's going to be different for everyone. Ultimately its a personal choice everyone makes.

It doesn't surprise me that some people don't want to go to LECOM. I mean Erie might as well be Siberia with regards to snow, but as I know as a student there are a lot of pluses, and for me specifically there are a lot of personal pluses as well. No student is going to tell you that the admins are warm and fuzzy. They aren't. But in the end of the day, you do come out with a DO degree, low student loans, and generally speaking great board scores and clinical skills.

The truth is that no matter where you go, what matters most is what you put into it. Any current DO school (yes, even Liberty) can get you that degree and if you put in the work you'll get that knowledge and training. Your jobs as premeds are to decide where you can succeed. I will tell you one thing though, everyone on here that ultimately decided to either go to LECOM or not go to LECOM, took it upon themselves to apply, attend an interview and make the decision on their own. They didn't listen to some random website made by a handful of anonymous pharm students or bitter 20-somethings.

Obviously though if wearing a tie and not eating/drinking in lecture for 2 yrs is a problem for you, it makes sense to save the app money.

chizledfrmstone said:
OK, well congrats on being such a resilient person and enjoy your time at LECOM.

You will definitely have lower student loans than I will.
Click to expand...

Quick question, was your interview at Bradenton or Erie? Everyone at my Erie interview was very friendly and sociable, but it was an exam day (I've noticed that for some reason they regularly schedule interviews on exam days) and every student seemed visibly tired.

Gotta be honest, I have dietary restrictions too, and I was not approached once at any of my DO and MD interviews about whether or not I was OK. I never interviewed at KCUMB, DMU or COMP though, and on the interview trail I was generally pretty sociable and talked pretty comfortably with everyone around me, so maybe no one noticed.
 
Last edited:
yoohooDO said:
First, sorry for creating this firestorm.

Second, still looking for an alumni or current student to reply?

Honestly, what I'm expecting is a response something like: "I graduated with a medical degree and now am a practicing physician. If that's your goal, then you can do it here."
Click to expand...
Hey. I worked directly with several LECOM grads who are now attendings (all grads of 5-10 years ago). They are good physicians, and few have real complaints about LECOM other than what you've already seen on SDN about the dress code and strict rules. Actually, the DO that wrote my LoR came from LECOM and he told me this, "When I went to med school, I was already 32 and had worked as a paramedic for 15 years. I needed a school that would let me become a physician in the most direct, cheapest way possible to save me time and money. Sure, I had complaints about LECOM and I didn't like the administration, but what does that matter? I got a good education, a good residency where I met my wife, and now I'm an attending and LECOM is just history. Med school is what you do with it."

I'm not applying to LECOM myself for many reasons, including some that have been listed here, but you can't argue with results. Maybe LECOM won't be the most enjoyable 4 years of your life, but at the end, you'll have a degree for half the cost of say, CCOM, and you'll still be a doctor.
 
I will say though that I've met with an adcom member of LECOM directly and his attitude was the last straw that turned me off this school. I asked him about attrition and he basically said, "Oh, that's not our fault at all, some people just aren't smart enough to handle the curriculum and drop out within a week." I asked what they did for academic remediation and he just went, "Well, if you're not smart enough to handle the work, then you shouldn't be a doctor."

I don't necessarily disagree with either of those comments, but the way he said them really turned me off. It seemed to be a very "LECOM way or bust" kind of attitude... as in the school was doing everything right and the deficits were entirely on the part of the students. Every school has deficiencies, it's not good to just blame it all on the students.
 
polylux said:
I will say though that I've met with an adcom member of LECOM directly and his attitude was the last straw that turned me off this school. I asked him about attrition and he basically said, "Oh, that's not our fault at all, some people just aren't smart enough to handle the curriculum and drop out within a week." I asked what they did for academic remediation and he just went, "Well, if you're not smart enough to handle the work, then you shouldn't be a doctor."

I don't necessarily disagree with either of those comments, but the way he said them really turned me off. It seemed to be a very "LECOM way or bust" kind of attitude... as in the school was doing everything right and the deficits were entirely on the part of the students. Every school has deficiencies, it's not good to just blame it all on the students.
Click to expand...
I think this attitude holds true even when they have bad professors, poor test grades, etc, which has been a big complaint. Its like no matter whose fault it is, they dont trust the students and thus treat the student as if they are some undergrad punks and not adults working on a professional degree.
 
hallowmann said:
Quick question, was your interview at Bradenton or Erie? Everyone at my Erie interview was very friendly and sociable, but it was an exam day (I've noticed that for some reason they regularly schedule interviews on exam days) and every student seemed visibly tired.

Gotta be honest, I have dietary restrictions too, and I was not approached once at any of my DO and MD interviews about whether or not I was OK. I never interviewed at KCUMB, DMU or COMP though, and on the interview trail I was generally pretty sociable and talked pretty comfortably with everyone around me, so maybe no one noticed.
Click to expand...

Why do I bother saying things like "Let me give you a little example and you can extrapolate this to my entire interviewing experience. [...]It's not about the lunch. It was the attitude."

I knew beforehand that people would fixate on the lunch thing yet I still went for it.

It's not like someone would pick a school over what happened at lunch.

There were many other reasons I didn't like the place. I just can't mention the situations because they were very specific to me.

I was getting along well with my fellow applicants. Some of them just noticed I had a smaller plate and wondered if anything was wrong.
 
chizledfrmstone said:
Why do I bother saying things like "Let me give you a little example and you can extrapolate this to my entire interviewing experience. [...]It's not about the lunch. It was the attitude."

I knew beforehand that people would fixate on the lunch thing yet I still went for it.

It's not like someone would pick a school over what happened at lunch.

There were many other reasons I didn't like the place. I just can't mention the situations because they were very specific to me.

I was getting along well with my fellow applicants. Some of them just noticed I had a smaller plate and wondered if anything was wrong.
Click to expand...

Why would you fixate on what I said, as if I was just talking about the types of food offered, when it was obvious in your post that's not what you were talking about? You were talking about the welcoming nature of people because of how concerned they were about you even in a relatively innocuous situation. Your situation was an example. I said, I didn't receive that type of attention at any of my interviews (admittedly none were at the locations you cited) using the identical example. That's all. It wasn't about whether there was food that accommodated my dietary needs (I thought that was as obvious in my post as it was in yours).

polylux said:
I will say though that I've met with an adcom member of LECOM directly and his attitude was the last straw that turned me off this school. I asked him about attrition and he basically said, "Oh, that's not our fault at all, some people just aren't smart enough to handle the curriculum and drop out within a week." I asked what they did for academic remediation and he just went, "Well, if you're not smart enough to handle the work, then you shouldn't be a doctor."


I don't necessarily disagree with either of those comments, but the way he said them really turned me off. It seemed to be a very "LECOM way or bust" kind of attitude... as in the school was doing everything right and the deficits were entirely on the part of the students. Every school has deficiencies, it's not good to just blame it all on the students.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. What blows my mind is that LECOM is very good with remediation (lots of options, people are usually given more than one fair shot at rectifying their mistakes, etc.) and their attrition is on par with DO schools as a whole. That unfortunately doesn't stop some people from being defensive or just generally having a cold attitude (even when the truth is warmer). .

Its more or less the type of attitude you have when the founders have a very specific way they believe things should go and the founders are young enough to still be around 20 years later.
 
Last edited:
hallowmann said:
Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. What blows my mind is that LECOM is very good with remediation (lots of options, people are usually given more than one fair shot at rectifying their mistakes, etc.) and their attrition is on par with DO schools as a whole. That unfortunately doesn't stop some people from being defensive or just generally having a cold attitude (even when the truth is warmer). .

Its more or less the type of attitude you have when the founders have a very specific way they believe things should go and the founders are young enough to still be around 20 years later.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I actually knew about their attrition rates already and I didn't think they were bad, and further digging found me more info about their remediation from recent alumni and students, which made the adcom member's attitude even more like wtf. I just wanted an honest answer.
 
yoohooDO said:
First, sorry for creating this firestorm.

Second, still looking for an alumni or current student to reply?

Honestly, what I'm expecting is a response something like: "I graduated with a medical degree and now am a practicing physician. If that's your goal, then you can do it here."
Click to expand...


You won't find many LECOM students or alumni willing to reply because the administration monitors SDN and punishes those who step out of line.

The point of the absurd dress code and water bottle rules (and yes, enforcing a tie-and-shirt dress code for the dissection of cadavers is absurd and not professional) is to foster a climate of fear and control so they can keep people in line when larger issues arise. Case in point being the student who turned in the child predator.

LECOM does graduate good doctors, but it is despite the administration and not because of it. Those unwilling to tell you the truth about the school do so out of professionalism, respect for their fellow graduates, and fear of the control the Ferrettis hold in the larger osteopathic medical community, especially in Pennsylvania.

I'm not posting this under my usual SDN account as I live under that very reasonable fear myself. I can't keep quiet about it any longer, however. People deserve to know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
  • Locked
DO bias? is it real or is it more nuanced?
Replies
1
Views
477
wysdoc
wysdoc
T
How bad is no research?
Replies
3
Views
590
DrFutureDO
DrFutureDO
hijoules
Why is AACOMAS extending deadlines?
Replies
1
Views
1K
wysdoc
wysdoc
Mr.Smile12
Meritus is open!
Replies
8
Views
3K
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
H
is this cap?
Replies
3
Views
822
tuf13119
tuf13119
Top