Is LECOM-Erie really that bad?

[Dr. Bones123]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I have been accepted to LECOM-Erie and they have a very impressive match list, but I am just concerned about the comments people are posting online. I don't care that we have to wear professional attire or can't eat in class...that's stupid stuff. I am more concerned with the quality of the professors, the tests, and the preparation we have for board exams, along with the number of research opportunities. Can someone please shed some light on this?

I am in the "Lecture" pathway btw. Thanks in advance!

 

[premedpl]

Hi there! I would recommend scrolling down a bit on the Pre-DO forum, someone posted a "Should I Attend LECOM" thread, and lots of good opinions were weighed there. I will try to link it if I find it.

 

[Dr. Bones123]

Hi there! I would recommend scrolling down a bit on the Pre-DO forum, someone posted a "Should I Attend LECOM" thread, and lots of good opinions were weighed there. I will try to link it if I find it.

Yes please! If you could find the link, that would be a life saver, thanks so much!

 

[premedpl]

Yes please! If you could find the link, that would be a life saver, thanks so much!

Should I go to LECOM?

I have been fortunate to have received multiple interviews this cycle. Just recently I got into LECOM Erie for the lecture discussion pathway. While I am happy about the acceptance, I just finished interviewing at DMU and CCOM (Midwestern) recently, and will most likely be hearing back from each...

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Think about it this way, average DO school is ~50k/year. LECOM is about ~30k. Would you take a salary of 20k/year to show up to class professionally and not have the ability to eat while in class? I would.

 

[starjasmine]

Think about it this way, average DO school is ~50k/year. LECOM is about ~30k. Would you take a salary of 20k/year to show up to class professionally and not have the ability to eat while in class? I would.

It is used to be ~30k. It's now closer to 40k. Erie is $37,000 and Elmira is $39,000. I heard that the reason why tuition is cheaper is because you are responsible for pretty much organizing your own clinicals. A 4th year said he had to schedule every single one of his rotations this year. Not even core rotations were provided.

 

[Dr. Bones123]

It is used to be ~30k. It's now closer to 40k. Erie is $37,000 and Elmira is $39,000. I heard that the reason why tuition is cheaper is because you are responsible for pretty much organizing your own clinicals. A 4th year said he had to schedule every single one of his rotations this year. Not even core rotations were provided.

Yikes thanks for the info

 

[skipow22]

It is used to be ~30k. It's now closer to 40k. Erie is $37,000 and Elmira is $39,000. I heard that the reason why tuition is cheaper is because you are responsible for pretty much organizing your own clinicals. A 4th year said he had to schedule every single one of his rotations this year. Not even core rotations were provided.

Twice I heard directly from admissions faculty that students rank their preferred clinical locations for 3rd year and you are placed based on those rankings by the school so they set them up for you. Unsure about 4th year but at least going forward it does not sound like you are on your own for core rotations.

 

[MusicDOc124]

Lots of opinions on this site come from people who did not go there or defending where they currently go/from where they recently graduated.

This place is a double-edged sword in numerous ways.

The admin is terrible. Treat students like poop that was stepped on. The rotations they have - some are okay and some are terrible. Where you get placed is a combination of lottery and school performance. If you have less than a certain GPA, you have a limited list of where you can choose from for the lottery, and then well - the lottery takes place. They are overly strict with their schedule and some people can't rotate in 4th year where they want because of this schedule. Any lecture is required - lecture pathway is a full-time job. PBL even when they have lectures on occasion - all required. They used to take attendance in a variety of ways, and even if you were simply a minute late, you were in trouble.

Will you get a decent education? Likely. But you will have a terrible time while you're there and subject to their BS which isn't worth it. I don't know a single person PERSONALLY who liked it there. I've only seen positive comments online from people I do not know. I went there BTW and later transferred as did another in my class at the time. When I left, I got many messages asking how I did so so that they could try to leave as well, and the school I went to after - like night and day, and it makes a difference. And this is not because of the dress code.

 

[Dr. Bones123]

Lots of opinions on this site come from people who did not go there or defending where they currently go/from where they recently graduated.

This place is a double-edged sword in numerous ways.

The admin is terrible. Treat students like poop that was stepped on. The rotations they have - some are okay and some are terrible. Where you get placed is a combination of lottery and school performance. If you have less than a certain GPA, you have a limited list of where you can choose from for the lottery, and then well - the lottery takes place. They are overly strict with their schedule and some people can't rotate in 4th year where they want because of this schedule. Any lecture is required - lecture pathway is a full-time job. PBL even when they have lectures on occasion - all required. They used to take attendance in a variety of ways, and even if you were simply a minute late, you were in trouble.

Will you get a decent education? Likely. But you will have a terrible time while you're there and subject to their BS which isn't worth it. I don't know a single person PERSONALLY who liked it there. I've only seen positive comments online from people I do not know. I went there BTW and later transferred as did another in my class at the time. When I left, I got many messages asking how I did so so that they could try to leave as well, and the school I went to after - like night and day, and it makes a difference. And this is not because of the dress code.

Thank you so much for this, I made my decesion to drop my acceptances and pay my deposit somewhere else. It’s been a long and hard decision but I’ve been blessed with multiple osteopathic acceptances and will take my education somewhere else.

 

[step2issue]

There are annoying rules; admin is deluded in many ways. Sh** floats to the top generally, and that is present at LECOM, to the frequent frustration of students. However, I suspect LECOM is less bad than many or most other DO programs. Not only is it going to be 50-100k cheaper on average, but the potential to rotate at numerous hospitals that have residencies is superior to many DO schools. I came to LECOM due to its cheaper cost, ability to teach myself via PBL, and relatively good clinical rotations. I have experienced all of those things, as expected, but have classmates that have gotten unlucky and have not.

I did PBL. I would do it again. Sure, there is required attendance, group discussion faculty are hit or miss (more hit than miss in my experience), and you teach yourself a lot of the material- but I knew that going in. It is entirely what I signed up for. A lot of my classmates complain frequently about lack of support. You need to educate yourself going in about the support you will and will not get attending LECOM, or most DO schools for that matter. It is less support than MD schools on average. Should it be like that? Of course not. But it is, you're not going to change it, and boy will you be happier if you understand this ahead of time and focus on internally driven factors to get where you want to be. In my experience, non-traditional students who have experienced work in the real world usually tolerate LECOM better. They understand that the misery is temporary and will usually get them to where they'd like to be. Traditional students on average complain more, have a myopic view of focusing on non-modifiable external factors (ie LECOM's rules), and experience more emotional distress as a result. Not necessarily unreasonable that they do, but it serves limited useful purpose.

Pros of PBL at LECOM (some of these are diminished if you do LDP... I don't understand why anyone would force themselves to do 6-8hrs of lectures per day. Watching a lecture on 1x speed is misery. I struggle with procrastination and self-starting studying but PBL was STILL clearly so much better than LDP):
-Freedom to tailor education to your learning style
-Freedom to focus on studying for board exams for 2 years straight
-Less required attendance
-Less time on campus
-Less time interacting with faculty/admin
-Time to pursue your own extracurricular stuff (ie research)

Cons of LECOM preclinical:
-Limited resources for struggling students
-Actively harmful strategies for struggling students
-Actively harmful board prep courses/perspective from faculty/admin
-Very poor advising
-Lack of acknowledgement that we are adult learners
-OPP at one campus I hear is taught poorly/abusively
-Limited opportunities for networking/research (you have to be a go-getter to do this)

Pros of LECOM clinical:
-Some clinical sites are great. You rotate alongside MD students and have the full attending/resident/student type team experience
-Numerous clinical sites have affiliated residencies
-Some clinical deans are absolute treasures and go to bat for you with schedule changes, rotations, residency connections
-Likely above average clinical experience compared to other DO schools. My experience was very solid and I was not at a highly sought after hospital in the lottery system.
-NBME shelf exams (this is the MD school exam. Some DO schools use NBOME exams, which are objectively worse)
-Some degree of modifiability in your schedule, though this is likely very dependent on which clinical dean is at your site.
-Approaching-reasonable number of interview days in 4th year (not where it should be at, but improved from the past)
-I don't know where the BS of it sucking having to schedule your whole 4th year is coming from. I guess this is true (except for 3-4 that are scheduled for us) but if you are remotely competent you can just ask the med student coordinator at your home site for a doctor in whatever specialty, or directly ask attendings at your hospital, and it's very easy to setup. People that have issues with this are either at a very bad clinical site (see below) or are remarkably poorly organized. Also many DO schools have way more scheduling of rotations fall on the student- it's a relative strength of LECOM that we don't have to do as much of this and that when we do, there are many hospital systems where LECOM students rotate so it shouldn't be that stressful (hasn't been for me, and I'm not the most organized student).
-Relatively little paperwork during rotations/simple eval forms (I have seen students from other programs that have a lot more meaningless tracking to do).
-Proximity to the Midwest. Residencies care about what region you are coming from (maybe increasingly?) and LECOM is close by to a lot of programs in the Midwest and NE. This probably helps with getting interviews at a number of institutions.

Cons of LECOM clinical:
-Some sites have terrible rotations not befitting of a medical school. These are shameful. LECOM won't listen to feedback and students are helpless to fix this. LECOM is probably desperate for clinical sites because they're the biggest med school in the country so has a very high threshold for removing sites.
-Some sites have inadequate exposure to residencies and appropriately formatted clinical teams (ie you work directly with an attending the whole time).
-No anonymous reporting system (this goes for preclinical too)
-If you have a bad clinical dean you will have to tolerate all LECOM's rotation scheduling rules which are too strict and actively harmful to your residency goals.
-There are not enough interview day allowances
-Strict rules about time off that are very unreasonable in the context of personal or family emergencies

All in all, LECOM is paternalistic, frustrating, illogical, inexpensive, inconsistent, and I would absolutely go here again in the context of several other DO school acceptances. Always apply to MD schools your first cycle though. I believe its average student will experience a number of frustrations that would also be experienced at other DO schools, with the possibility of reaping pre-clinical and clinical benefits that are less common at other DO schools. There are also aspects of preclinical/clinical education that should not be present, are pathetic/indicative of greed and a non-responsive admin- if you're unlucky you will experience this disproportionately. Some students are shafted with their clinical sites; bad sites exist. But it hasn't been my experience, and classmates of mine have usually but not always had reasonably good clinical placements as well.

 

[Dr. Bones123]

There are annoying rules; admin is deluded in many ways. Sh** floats to the top generally, and that is present at LECOM, to the frequent frustration of students. However, I suspect LECOM is less bad than many or most other DO programs. Not only is it going to be 50-100k cheaper on average, but the potential to rotate at numerous hospitals that have residencies is superior to many DO schools. I came to LECOM due to its cheaper cost, ability to teach myself via PBL, and relatively good clinical rotations. I have experienced all of those things, as expected, but have classmates that have gotten unlucky and have not.

I did PBL. I would do it again. Sure, there is required attendance, group discussion faculty are hit or miss (more hit than miss in my experience), and you teach yourself a lot of the material- but I knew that going in. It is entirely what I signed up for. A lot of my classmates complain frequently about lack of support. You need to educate yourself going in about the support you will and will not get attending LECOM, or most DO schools for that matter. It is less support than MD schools on average. Should it be like that? Of course not. But it is, you're not going to change it, and boy will you be happier if you understand this ahead of time and focus on internally driven factors to get where you want to be. In my experience, non-traditional students who have experienced work in the real world usually tolerate LECOM better. They understand that the misery is temporary and will usually get them to where they'd like to be. Traditional students on average complain more, have a myopic view of focusing on non-modifiable external factors (ie LECOM's rules), and experience more emotional distress as a result. Not necessarily unreasonable that they do, but it serves limited useful purpose.

Pros of PBL at LECOM (some of these are diminished if you do LDP... I don't understand why anyone would force themselves to do 6-8hrs of lectures per day. Watching a lecture on 1x speed is misery. I struggle with procrastination and self-starting studying but PBL was STILL clearly so much better than LDP):
-Freedom to tailor education to your learning style
-Freedom to focus on studying for board exams for 2 years straight
-Less required attendance
-Less time on campus
-Less time interacting with faculty/admin
-Time to pursue your own extracurricular stuff (ie research)

Cons of LECOM preclinical:
-Limited resources for struggling students
-Actively harmful strategies for struggling students
-Actively harmful board prep courses/perspective from faculty/admin
-Very poor advising
-Lack of acknowledgement that we are adult learners
-OPP at one campus I hear is taught poorly/abusively
-Limited opportunities for networking/research (you have to be a go-getter to do this)

Pros of LECOM clinical:
-Some clinical sites are great. You rotate alongside MD students and have the full attending/resident/student type team experience
-Numerous clinical sites have affiliated residencies
-Some clinical deans are absolute treasures and go to bat for you with schedule changes, rotations, residency connections
-Likely above average clinical experience compared to other DO schools. My experience was very solid and I was not at a highly sought after hospital in the lottery system.
-NBME shelf exams (this is the MD school exam. Some DO schools use NBOME exams, which are objectively worse)
-Some degree of modifiability in your schedule, though this is likely very dependent on which clinical dean is at your site.
-Approaching-reasonable number of interview days in 4th year (not where it should be at, but improved from the past)
-I don't know where the BS of it sucking having to schedule your whole 4th year is coming from. I guess this is true (except for 3-4 that are scheduled for us) but if you are remotely competent you can just ask the med student coordinator at your home site for a doctor in whatever specialty, or directly ask attendings at your hospital, and it's very easy to setup. People that have issues with this are either at a very bad clinical site (see below) or are remarkably poorly organized. Also many DO schools have way more scheduling of rotations fall on the student- it's a relative strength of LECOM that we don't have to do as much of this and that when we do, there are many hospital systems where LECOM students rotate so it shouldn't be that stressful (hasn't been for me, and I'm not the most organized student).
-Relatively little paperwork during rotations/simple eval forms (I have seen students from other programs that have a lot more meaningless tracking to do).
-Proximity to the Midwest. Residencies care about what region you are coming from (maybe increasingly?) and LECOM is close by to a lot of programs in the Midwest and NE. This probably helps with getting interviews at a number of institutions.

Cons of LECOM clinical:
-Some sites have terrible rotations not befitting of a medical school. These are shameful. LECOM won't listen to feedback and students are helpless to fix this. LECOM is probably desperate for clinical sites because they're the biggest med school in the country so has a very high threshold for removing sites.
-Some sites have inadequate exposure to residencies and appropriately formatted clinical teams (ie you work directly with an attending the whole time).
-No anonymous reporting system (this goes for preclinical too)
-If you have a bad clinical dean you will have to tolerate all LECOM's rotation scheduling rules which are too strict and actively harmful to your residency goals.
-There are not enough interview day allowances
-Strict rules about time off that are very unreasonable in the context of personal or family emergencies

All in all, LECOM is paternalistic, frustrating, illogical, inexpensive, inconsistent, and I would absolutely go here again in the context of several other DO school acceptances. Always apply to MD schools your first cycle though. I believe its average student will experience a number of frustrations that would also be experienced at other DO schools, with the possibility of reaping pre-clinical and clinical benefits that are less common at other DO schools. There are also aspects of preclinical/clinical education that should not be present, are pathetic/indicative of greed and a non-responsive admin- if you're unlucky you will experience this disproportionately. Some students are shafted with their clinical sites; bad sites exist. But it hasn't been my experience, and classmates of mine have usually but not always had reasonably good clinical placements as well.

I really appreciate you taking the time to write this out for me and really pointing out all the pros and cons! you are the best. I have been currently accepted to another also more established DO school that, yes, is higher in tuition, but I heard that its rotations are very solid and all have residency programs and they have a lot of research opportunities. I feel it doesn't matter to me to graduate with more loans but just have a normal/slightly above average experience in med school and just try my best. I really want to get to ortho...yes I know its hard and MD is the way to go, and I already got the "talk" lol, but I will just have to push really hard in med school to reach my goal. Thanks again!

 

[hellosnd]

I don't care that we have to wear professional attire or can't eat in class...that's stupid stuff.

It may be stupid but if it affects your quality of life, it will 100% carry over to your grades and boards.

 

[frosted2]

Woah... I guess my school isn't so bad after all. For the PBL stuff, could you theoretically just do B&B, Pixorize, FA, Pathoma instead of focusing on (often) awful in-house lectures?? That would be a huge plus in my book, and anyone who knew the resources available for boards studying and how to use them efficiently.

 

[MusicDOc124]

I just want to re-iterate one thing to consider as you read this thread. Transferring is rare, so nearly everyone has n=1 experience and are comparing based on assumptions and others' experiences, which may be biased.

When I type out what I put, I'm not not saying it's without some sort of bias, but I have n=2 experience. While I can formulate my assumptions of the many other schools, I'm one of few who can give at least of objective comparisons between more than a single school having transferred. I also have a very close friend who transferred from the school and has similar to say about where he transferred. So while that's hear-say, I trust them, and given my experience at the second place, can understand the differences he's expressed to me that he's experienced.

Just bare that in mind. If anyone wants to argue that they're in residency and can compare a second school, then I can compare a 3rd/4th as well. Viewing things as a resident is also different anyway, and other insight to a school from the perspective of a resident is irrelevant.

Take all of this with a grain of salt though, and do your best to sort through the BS.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

I just want to re-iterate one thing to consider as you read this thread. Transferring is rare, so nearly everyone has n=1 experience and are comparing based on assumptions and others' experiences, which may be biased.

When I type out what I put, I'm not not saying it's without some sort of bias, but I have n=2 experience. While I can formulate my assumptions of the many other schools, I'm one of few who can give at least of objective comparisons between more than a single school having transferred. I also have a very close friend who transferred from the school and has similar to say about where he transferred. So while that's hear-say, I trust them, and given my experience at the second place, can understand the differences he's expressed to me that he's experienced.

Just bare that in mind. If anyone wants to argue that they're in residency and can compare a second school, then I can compare a 3rd/4th as well. Viewing things as a resident is also different anyway, and other insight to a school from the perspective of a resident is irrelevant.

Take all of this with a grain of salt though, and do your best to sort through the BS.

I don't necessarily disagree with your comments. I didn't attend LECOM and I think many overlook the importance of fit. I went to catholic school, and also have a Ed. Degree. So wearing a tie would be second nature to me. My school had a dress code and played absolutely no bearing on my attendance. Having said this, half of all med students work VERY hard and graduate in the bottom half of their class. This is VERY stressful to these students which I believe transfers over to their opinion of the school.My wife was an elite student and told UPenn to stick it as she found the interview to be pretentious and everyone she spoke with the same. She loved the interview at the school she graduated from and in the top 10%. If she had gone to UPenn, I believe her opinion med school would be different. Med school, like football is not for everybody.Plenty of big strong athletic people are terrible at football or hate it .Pre clinical is misery for all but the elite students like my wife who would attend class to socialize. I believe that misery is often projected back to the school and frankly don't know anyone who didn't have complaints about their home institution.I picked the school that would best help me achieve my future goals and would counsel anyone to do the same. I would attend LECOM as the rules would not bother me that much, the tuition is cheap in comparison, and they have a good match rate. I agree, it would be a bad fit for many who prefer to study in their jammies and demand all sorts of "accommodations ". There definitely are schools that would be a better fit for them.

 

[MusicDOc124]

I don't necessarily disagree with your comments. I didn't attend LECOM and I think many overlook the importance of fit. I went to catholic school, and also have a Ed. Degree. So wearing a tie would be second nature to me. My school had a dress code and played absolutely no bearing on my attendance. Having said this, half of all med students work VERY hard and graduate in the bottom half of their class. This is VERY stressful to these students which I believe transfers over to their opinion of the school.My wife was an elite student and told UPenn to stick it as she found the interview to be pretentious and everyone she spoke with the same. She loved the interview at the school she graduated from and in the top 10%. If she had gone to UPenn, I believe her opinion med school would be different. Med school, like football is not for everybody.Plenty of big strong athletic people are terrible at football or hate it .Pre clinical is misery for all but the elite students like my wife who would attend class to socialize. I believe that misery is often projected back to the school and frankly don't know anyone who didn't have complaints about their home institution.I picked the school that would best help me achieve my future goals and would counsel anyone to do the same. I would attend LECOM as the rules would not bother me that much, the tuition is cheap in comparison, and they have a good match rate. I agree, it would be a bad fit for many who prefer to study in their jammies and demand all sorts of "accommodations ". There definitely are schools that would be a better fit for them.

What I’m commenting on is not the rules. I’m commenting on the treatment of students by administration. They treat students poorly and bully students. They’ve had ADA violations, discuss your personal stuff in front of others/HIPAA-esque type of stuff.

Your entire comment is on rules. Not on the actual treatment of students. I agree if it was based on peoples thoughts on the rules, but this is beyond that.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

What I’m commenting on is not the rules. I’m commenting on the treatment of students by administration. They treat students poorly and bully students. They’ve had ADA violations, discuss your personal stuff in front of others/HIPAA-esque type of stuff.

Your entire comment is on rules. Not on the actual treatment of students. I agree if it was based on peoples thoughts on the rules, but this is beyond that.

Agreed. Hippa and ADA are serious and need to be followed and respected. Breeches should be followed up.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

I have a bunch of friends who have gone to and graduated from LECOM, the n is small but not a single one of them has fond memories of the institution and its policies. That being said, they got through it and are a doctor now and that is what is most important. If you have an acceptance elsewhere, consider it, but if this is your singular pathway to becoming a doc, take the gift horse.

David D, MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[MusicDOc124]

^this

 

[ortnakas]

I’m a LECOM grad (LECOM-SH). Not a fan of admin, but it got me where I needed, clinical education included. All of my co-residents who were grads from other campuses felt similarly. I’m not going to sing their praises or donate them money, but If I again was in a situation where it was my best financial or only other option, I’d attend without hesitation.
Edit: fixed typo

 

[Angus Avagadro]

I’m a LECOM grad (LECOM-SH). Not a fan of admin, but it got me where I needed, clinical education included. All of my co-residents who were grads from other campuses felt similarly. I’m not going to sing their praises or donate them money, but If I again was in a situation where it was my best financial or only other option, I’d attend without hesitation.
Edit: fixed typo

f^^^This is the salient point. It got you where you wanted to go. Somehow this point gets lost in the big picture. I have no love for my school nor my wife's, but they got us where we wanted to go. Med school goes fast and pre clinical which is the worst part is like 18 to 20 months. Clinical flies by and before you know it you are applying to residencies early in your 4 th yr. Everybody gets worked up over relatively unimportant things like dress codes and food in the auditorium. Fit is certainly important, and if a school is not a good fit, then go somewhere else. Otherwise the particular school is a means to an end. My wife told UPenn no because her interview day was miserable and everyone she talked to wanted to talk about themselves. She would have done very well anywhere, but was much happier where she attended.

 

[petomed]

f^^^This is the salient point. It got you where you wanted to go. Somehow this point gets lost in the big picture. I have no love for my school nor my wife's, but they got us where we wanted to go. Med school goes fast and pre clinical which is the worst part is like 18 to 20 months. Clinical flies by and before you know it you are applying to residencies early in your 4 th yr. Everybody gets worked up over relatively unimportant things like dress codes and food in the auditorium. Fit is certainly important, and if a school is not a good fit, then go somewhere else. Otherwise the particular school is a means to an end. My wife told UPenn no because her interview day was miserable and everyone she talked to wanted to talk about themselves. She would have done very well anywhere, but was much happier where she attended.

True, but to a point. A school shouldn't drag its students through the mud and lean on 'the ends justify the means'. Nor should the school be rainbows and butterflies while they leave you utterly unprepared to match. I'd err on the end of being adequately prepared and dealing with terrible policies, but not at the expense of my left arm.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

True, but to a point. A school shouldn't drag its students through the mud and lean on 'the ends justify the means'. Nor should the school be rainbows and butterflies while they leave you utterly unprepared to match. I'd err on the end of being adequately prepared and dealing with terrible policies, but not at the expense of my left arm.

I think we are talking about the same thing. Lecom has good board scores and a good match list. Administrative crap dumped on student occurs at every school,, some worse than others.. The price of this, in your case, is your left arm. Only you can decide if the price is right. My wife would have done well at UPenn, but would have been unhappy. Problem is, unlike my wife who had was accepted everywhere she applied, most students have only a single acceptance. I guess the lesson here is to be careful what you wish for. Don't apply to a school you don't want to attend.

 

[petomed]

I think we are talking about the same thing. Lecom has good board scores and a good match list. Administrative crap dumped on student occurs at every school,, some worse than others.. The price of this, in your case, is your left arm. Only you can decide if the price is right. My wife would have done well at UPenn, but would have been unhappy. Problem is, unlike my wife who had was accepted everywhere she applied, most students have only a single acceptance. I guess the lesson here is to be careful what you wish for. Don't apply to a school you don't want to attend.

Absolutely. I don’t pretend to stand in the shoes of those who truly do know in this instance. But I’d say life is often times how you play your cards, not simply the hand you’re dealt. Disappointment and surprise are those gaps between expectations and reality. Forums like this are great for aligning those two things.

 

[OsteopathPeds]

As a former LECOM student 2 years ago, I made the ultimate decision to transfer to a different school for a few personal reasons, but I have to give my two cents on my experience between this school and the new school I went to when I completed my degree. Admittedly, I was DEPRESSED at LECOM. Anyone can say "it's med school, suck it up," but granted, NOT every school is run the same.

During my first year at LECOM, my classmates and I were taunted and ridiculed for the craziest things, one of them for asking questions via email. Guys, I kid you not, the faculty here (not all of them) will pinpoint the smallest things as an excuse to scold you and make you feel worse about yourself. So many of the faculty have some kind of ego and prowess, so if you are to dare include other professors in your emailed question, they will yell at you and ask if you don't trust their expertise. The anatomy teacher even pimped a student in my class and then asked if she was a grade schooler for her incorrect response. It made her cry in the lecture hall!

The level of unprofessionalism at this school is atrocious, and yet they expect us students to be on their A game all the time when they themselves can't. Another thing I did not like about this school is how cold they are to struggling students. Trust me, if you are to fail a class and have to remediate, good luck with that, especially in 2nd year during systems courses. I get that the clinicians that lectured these systems courses do not have the time to properly give us remediation courses (like in first year did for classes like Anatomy and Neuro), but come on... at least guide students and not make them go through directed study without any pointers whatsoever for their cumulative remediation! And no, the percentage breakdown is not enough. I bet this all hasn't changed much since then either. I lost a lot of my good friends in 2nd year over this! The material is rigorous, I know, but when a school does not provide proper support to help their struggling students and instead makes them feel forgotten to fend themselves, that's the school's flaw, NOT the students. ALSO if you end up having to repeat the year for failing even one course, you have to take out private loans for that repeat year as federal loans are off limits. I don't know about all the med schools in this country, but I know of a handful that don't punish students severely for repeating and still extend their year using federal loans, not private!

My personal incident that led to my transfer happened in my 3rd year but in hindsight, I am SO GLAD it did because it got me to the other side to see how another school treats their students. The difference felt like night and day, and I am not exaggerating. To the people who never stepped foot at this school and tells us survivors to "suck it up," you don't know how we are feeling. Yes, getting the degree is the ultimate goal but if you can avoid a totalitarian school like LECOM, I highly suggest it. Ask anyone currently attending the school if they love it there and I can bet you, they'll pull you aside to tell you that or something bc we were eyed on like a hawk at that school. NO ONE LOVES IT THERE AND IT'S NOT BC OF THE DRESS CODE OR NO WATER RULE. We have far moved past that. It's the lack of respect for us as students, treating us like dog crap, and expecting us to live in a rigid environment that doesn't allow us to grow.

Lastly, y'all wanna know why LECOM seems to be one of the country's "cheapest med schools"? It's because they barely give you enough funds back to support yourself, especially during clinical rotations! I swear, this school is not for their students but for the MONEY. That's why I'm also not surprised why they are expanding and adding newer programs. It's a checkbox for them!

The most I can say is that the success rates and good board scores are accomplished DESPITE the school, not because of them. Students are studying their butt off while tackling a curriculum that doesn't even allow you to breathe, let alone feel encouraged. To the current students out there at this school, my salute to y'all as strong soldiers. You're here, so finish the degree so you can go as fast as you can!!!

BUT to my aspiring doctors / pre-meds, please really dig deep before you sign up. I, myself, wished I listened to the SDN and Reddit posts before I got here. Thank God I left when I did. Most, if not all, of the bad rumors you hear about LECOM is true. YOUR environment does make or break you. Choose wisely and good luck.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

As a former LECOM student 2 years ago, I made the ultimate decision to transfer to a different school for a few personal reasons, but I have to give my two cents on my experience between this school and the new school I went to when I completed my degree. Admittedly, I was DEPRESSED at LECOM. Anyone can say "it's med school, suck it up," but granted, NOT every school is run the same.

During my first year at LECOM, my classmates and I were taunted and ridiculed for the craziest things, one of them for asking questions via email. Guys, I kid you not, the faculty here (not all of them) will pinpoint the smallest things as an excuse to scold you and make you feel worse about yourself. So many of the faculty have some kind of ego and prowess, so if you are to dare include other professors in your emailed question, they will yell at you and ask if you don't trust their expertise. The anatomy teacher even pimped a student in my class and then asked if she was a grade schooler for her incorrect response. It made her cry in the lecture hall!

The level of unprofessionalism at this school is atrocious, and yet they expect us students to be on their A game all the time when they themselves can't. Another thing I did not like about this school is how cold they are to struggling students. Trust me, if you are to fail a class and have to remediate, good luck with that, especially in 2nd year during systems courses. I get that the clinicians that lectured these systems courses do not have the time to properly give us remediation courses (like in first year did for classes like Anatomy and Neuro), but come on... at least guide students and not make them go through directed study without any pointers whatsoever for their cumulative remediation! And no, the percentage breakdown is not enough. I bet this all hasn't changed much since then either. I lost a lot of my good friends in 2nd year over this! The material is rigorous, I know, but when a school does not provide proper support to help their struggling students and instead makes them feel forgotten to fend themselves, that's the school's flaw, NOT the students. ALSO if you end up having to repeat the year for failing even one course, you have to take out private loans for that repeat year as federal loans are off limits. I don't know about all the med schools in this country, but I know of a handful that don't punish students severely for repeating and still extend their year using federal loans, not private!

My personal incident that led to my transfer happened in my 3rd year but in hindsight, I am SO GLAD it did because it got me to the other side to see how another school treats their students. The difference felt like night and day, and I am not exaggerating. To the people who never stepped foot at this school and tells us survivors to "suck it up," you don't know how we are feeling. Yes, getting the degree is the ultimate goal but if you can avoid a totalitarian school like LECOM, I highly suggest it. Ask anyone currently attending the school if they love it there and I can bet you, they'll pull you aside to tell you that or something bc we were eyed on like a hawk at that school. NO ONE LOVES IT THERE AND IT'S NOT BC OF THE DRESS CODE OR NO WATER RULE. We have far moved past that. It's the lack of respect for us as students, treating us like dog crap, and expecting us to live in a rigid environment that doesn't allow us to grow.

Lastly, y'all wanna know why LECOM seems to be one of the country's "cheapest med schools"? It's because they barely give you enough funds back to support yourself, especially during clinical rotations! I swear, this school is not for their students but for the MONEY. That's why I'm also not surprised why they are expanding and adding newer programs. It's a checkbox for them!

The most I can say is that the success rates and good board scores are accomplished DESPITE the school, not because of them. Students are studying their butt off while tackling a curriculum that doesn't even allow you to breathe, let alone feel encouraged. To the current students out there at this school, my salute to y'all as strong soldiers. You're here, so finish the degree so you can go as fast as you can!!!

BUT to my aspiring doctors / pre-meds, please really dig deep before you sign up. I, myself, wished I listened to the SDN and Reddit posts before I got here. Thank God I left when I did. Most, if not all, of the bad rumors you hear about LECOM is true. YOUR environment does make or break you. Choose wisely and good luck.

@Goro is fond of saying med school is a crucible. I agree and will add that it will challenge to the max , all but the elite students. My wife was one, and went to class to drink coffee and socialize, graduating in the top 10% of her uni. Few students will say they enjoyed their first 2 yrs. Because of this, underlying emotional and psychological issues are magnified during the 1st 2 yrs. Many students were used to being tops in their class and getting less than all A's is a huge source of stress to many. 95% of students admitted have the academic chops to successfully complete the program and graduate. Congrats on getting your degree. Good luck and best wishes with residency and your career!