The SDN's LECOM hatred is real
1) Dress code. I gotta admit it was a bit of a nuisance at first having to dress up for class everyday, but I can guarantee you after the first 2 weeks the routine will become second nature to you. For men, it means having 4 non-iron dress shirts, 4 ties, 3 pairs of khakis; for the ladies, it's even a lot simpler as the dress code is pretty lax for them. For MD and other DO schools, you will have to dress up for clinical events as well so dressing up is unavoidable when it comes to medical schools (once a week for other medical schools vs. 4 times a week for LECOM- yeah on OMT day you get to wear your favorite sweatpants to class)
2) No food or drink in the lecture halls means no people snacking during lectures (pita chips, carrots, protein bars, loud crunchy food etc. see when I am going with this?), no sticky desk surface with questionable substances when you lay out your learning equipment. This is a huge plus for me as I went to a large public undergrad and it was not uncommon for people to leisurely chow down a 3 course take-out during a 50 minute lecture. There is a water fountain every few hundreds feet so don't worry, you won't be dying of thirst.
3) ID in, ID out, cameras in the library and hallways means I don't have to worry about losing my laptop to petty theft in class or in the library or more seriously, being gunned down by some psychopaths. Who would oppose a safe learning environment?
4) Setting up your own elective and selective rotations. Isn't this the case for the majority of medical schools (via cold calling or through VSAS) ? How has this become a LECOM thing?
5) It's 18-20k cheaper than other private DO schools and despite what others have said about the school, I don't feel oppressive at all being at LECOM. Heck, for 100k, I wouldn't mind being oppressed a little for 2-ish years even if that were the case.
LECOM gives you 3 different learning pathways: LDP, DSP, PBL. If you don't like mandatory lectures, go with PBL. They have PBL at 3 different locations: Erie, Brandenton, Seton Hill. If mandatory attendance bothers you, by all means, do not commit to LDP. You will be a lot happier at some other schools (then again I would put up with it for 100k).
When I first came to LECOM, I was a bit skeptical as well because of what I read on here regarding the school. After being at LECOM-E for 7 months, I can positively guarantee you that the school is legit and the complaints on here are being blown out of proportion.
I agree completely with 1-2.
3 really isn't a big deal to me. There are video cameras and ID badging in hospitals and pretty much everywhere nowadays. If you're working in any sort of professional environment or have ever worked in a hospital/research lab this is nothing new. I could see where people get annoyed, but its not really an issue, and is really something you should get in the habit of doing. Being late to class because you forgot your badge is much better than being late to a shift on your rotation, because you forgot your badge and haven't been in the habit of using/wearing one.
4, this is definitely NOT unique to LECOM. LECOM gives you some 3rd year electives, which aren't very common, but definitely happens at other schools.
The schedule for clinicals at LECOM is rigid though. You're only allowed 5 excused days off per rotation (this includes holidays), and you only get a max of 10 "official" days off total for 4th year interviews. You get a day off for Level 2 CE & PE, as well as traveling time, and you also get a day off for Step 2-CK/CS, if you take them, but no traveling time. You can only schedule 4wk rotations during actual assigned rotations, but you can fit in shorter ones during vacation months if you want. I don't know how it is for many other schools, but days off, I recall being similar, but friends of mine definitely have more interview days than LECOM gives out. Most people get around this limit by scheduling interviews during vacations, weekends, or by working out time with their preceptor/other students to make up days "unofficially".
5 is a big deal, especially since I think average DO graduate debt is like $220k now. If I recall correctly, average DO public school debt is like $195k, average DO private school debt is $227k, and LECOM graduate debt is something like $186k. Still high, but below even the public school averages.
Yuck. I find the idea of a water from a water fountain as on the unsanitary side. Plus it s not convenient for those that need to stay on top of hydration. But worse comes to worse, I'd just have to go to the BR to "pee" a lot...unless they would also be checking women's purses for water bottles. Seriously. That's on the draconian side of things. Geez even my place of worship allows contained water in our sanctuary. It's kind of strange to me.
No hate from me. It's just strange. I've taught students as well. Not allowing contained water is kind of extreme.
Also, I don't care where the cameras are, I'm not leaving my laptop or anything else. My stuff, my responsibility.
Don't care about setting up the electives, but excessive jumping for standard rotations is less than ideal IMHO.
You may well have a point about the 3 different approaches to learning, so got to give you that.
Nobody is searching your bag for water bottles, and honestly most people don't care if they see it, but you shouldn't make it obvious. Also, its not like you're locked in a room for 8 hours straight. Even in LDP there are rarely times where you go more than 50 min-1 hr without a break, and obviously people take bathroom breaks regularly. In PBL, you might spend a total of 4 hours across 3 days actually at school, and maybe 4-6 the other 2 days of the week.
Not sure what you mean by excessive jumping for core rotations. This, I believe, is only the case in Bradenton, as Erie/SH has cores in a regional site. Like I said, some people opted to move up north to go to one of the Erie/SH rotation sites. Also, when it comes to affiliates, many have housing. You still have to deal with the same issues at any DO school, like a dropped rotation every once and a while, but this is not unheard of, and your fellow students are pretty good at helping people out when it comes to suggesting places to do rotations.
Honestly scheduling your own rotations may sound stressful/like a pain for the average person, but you could really make it an incredible learning experience if you set up the right rotations and are proactive about it.
