Kansas City University (KCU-COM) Discussion Thread 2015 - 2016

[Misch Ievus]

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Nope. It's 4 weeks on Friday and still nothing. Kinda annoying but I can't really complain

I called them as soon as my 4 weeks were up, because I hadn't heard back from them. They put me on hold for a minute, then told me they would be sending an II later that day (and they did). You should call them on Monday.

 

[Prairiepalmeri]

Do they send complete emails? I submitted my secondary in October and haven't gotten a complete email


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[chizledfrmstone]

Do they send complete emails? I submitted my secondary in October and haven't gotten a complete email


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Contact them.

 

[AlteredScale]

My review of the school is found here.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Do they send complete emails? I submitted my secondary in October and haven't gotten a complete email


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Same thing happened to me. So contact them.

 

[AzizImSorry]

My review of the school is found here.

Didn't seem like the "shining" review I was expecting (although the report card at the end suggested otherwise) but very informative haha thanks.

 

[AlteredScale]

Didn't seem like the "shining" review I was expecting (although the report card at the end suggested otherwise) but very informative haha thanks.

Hahaha hey you know I'd rather give a "real" review then an unfair and biased one. Don't get me wrong, I love the school but there's always room for improvement. Nothing wrong with that!

 

[medhopeful82]

Hahaha hey you know I'd rather give a "real" review then an unfair and biased one. Don't get me wrong, I love the school but there's always room for improvement. Nothing wrong with that!

What is the class attendance and dress code policy?

 

[AlteredScale]

What is the class attendance and dress code policy?

More than 50% of the class needs to be present. Though this isn't much of a hard and fast rule. Essentialy, if the professor wants, they can take attendance via iClicker and see how many people are there. If it's less than 50% they have the right to withold from posting the lecture recordings on medasite.

Dress code policy is discussed above in my review.

 

[Bbutterfly]

Didn't seem like the "shining" review I was expecting (although the report card at the end suggested otherwise) but very informative haha thanks.

You need to try Town Topic Burger! less than 10 minutes from school! Then come back and report 😉 http://www.towntopic.com/

 

[AzizImSorry]

You need to try Town Topic Burger! less than 10 minutes from school! Then come back and report 😉 http://www.towntopic.com/

I really like the school and area, just giving @AlteredScale a hard time haha. I plan on making that one of my first stops next time I'm in KC, thanks for the tip 👍

 

[AzizImSorry]

Are any current students willing to comment on how the media site works with posting lectures? Are the videos downloadable (for offline use) or are they purely for streaming? For how long do the lectures stay up on the site?

 

[AlteredScale]

Are any current students willing to comment on how the media site works with posting lectures? Are the videos downloadable (for offline use) or are they purely for streaming? For how long do the lectures stay up on the site?

The videos are maintained on medisite. You get access to them once you get your KCU login information. I have not heard of a downloadable feature.

The lectures stay up essentially all the time for your to review anything you needt review.

 

[Dr. Class]

KCU emphasizes on early patient interaction. Do students get any opportunities to precept with physicians first and second year? I figure with the curriculum you don't have enough time but just curious.


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[AlteredScale]

KCU emphasizes on early patient interaction. Do students get any opportunities to precept with physicians first and second year? I figure with the curriculum you don't have enough time but just curious.


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We have some very high expectations through standardized patient interviewing. I think in essence, thats what KCU means in terms of getting us involved with early clinical exopsure. We also utilize Score 1 as well as othervrious student org events that allow you to perform clinical duties and gain clinical exposure.

I haven't heard of students precepting faculty since in first year, most of your faculty is basic science and those who are clinicl are strongly in academics/admin and don't really act within a hospital. There are some clinical faculty that would probably allow you to shadow them though.

 

[Dr. Class]

Awesome! Thanks so much!


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[AlteredScale]

Awesome! Thanks so much!


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Glad to help!

 

[Dr. Class]

Awesome! Thanks so much!


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[Bbutterfly]

I really like the school and area, just giving @AlteredScale a hard time haha. I plan on making that one of my first stops next time I'm in KC, thanks for the tip 👍

That was actually meant for @AlteredScale since he mentioned that there was no good burger joint around here. But yeah you should give it a try

 

[AlteredScale]

That was actually meant for @AlteredScale since he mentioned that there was no good burger joint around here. But yeah you should give it a try

LOl I thought that was a weird response. We have tried Town Topic and it's pretty good! In n Out is just on a different plane though haha.

 

[Bbutterfly]

Are any current students willing to comment on how the media site works with posting lectures? Are the videos downloadable (for offline use) or are they purely for streaming? For how long do the lectures stay up on the site?

If you have the RSS feed app, you can download the lectures, but it's just an audio version. Good for listening when you work out or in the car

 

[AzizImSorry]

That was actually meant for @AlteredScale since he mentioned that there was no good burger joint around here. But yeah you should give it a try

Makes more sense haha

 

[Misch Ievus]

Interview coming up; can't wait! What kind of questions should I expect? SDN Interview Feedback doesn't have anything recent. Any other tips? Feel free to PM. Thanks 🙂

 

[Dr. Class]

Interview coming up; can't wait! What kind of questions should I expect? SDN Interview Feedback doesn't have anything recent. Any other tips? Feel free to PM. Thanks 🙂

Honestly, it's very relaxed. My interviewer asked me one question. The entire interview was a friendly conversation. Just relax and enjoy the day!


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[Mavs88]

Interview coming up; can't wait! What kind of questions should I expect? SDN Interview Feedback doesn't have anything recent. Any other tips? Feel free to PM. Thanks 🙂

One thing I would mention is that you should be mindful of your actions, words, demeanor, etc throughout the day, not just in the interview. You'll be in the vicinity of various admission staff members throughout the day, so you never know who is watching! Don't check your phone while you're in that lounge waiting for your interview lol. But yeah, it was a very enjoyable interview day and interview itself. Ask the students lots of questions!

 

[exodian1]

Should I prepare anything beforehand? I have heard its very conversational, but I don't want to go in unprepared.

 

[cafeverona]

Should I prepare anything beforehand? I have heard its very conversational, but I don't want to go in unprepared.

I personally prepared more than I had done for any other interviews (prob because I thought Goro was one of the admin at this school and I've heard his school can give difficult interviews)--I think it helped a lot. My interviewer was sort of to-the-point and I'm glad I had answers prepared. My interview was less conversational and felt more like question, answer, question, answer, repeat.

 

[exodian1]

I personally prepared more than I had done for any other interviews (prob because I thought Goro was one of the admin at this school and I've heard his school can give difficult interviews)--I think it helped a lot. My interviewer was sort of to-the-point and I'm glad I had answers prepared. My interview was less conversational and felt more like question, answer, question, answer, repeat.

Oh good to know. Would it be worthwhile to prep some ethics questions as well or something about the Affordable Care Act?

 

[Mavs88]

Oh good to know. Would it be worthwhile to prep some ethics questions as well or something about the Affordable Care Act?

I would review your secondary essays for KCU if you have them.

 

[cafeverona]

Oh good to know. Would it be worthwhile to prep some ethics questions as well or something about the Affordable Care Act?

Yes to ethics and yes to ACA--though I didn't get questions about the latter, I think it's useful still

 

[MidwesternGirl]

Got a letter in the mail saying I was ACCEPTED!! First acceptance of the cycle! Very excited!

 

[Dr. Class]

Does having only a month off in summer hurt your chances of getting into a research program or so? From my understanding competitive residencies expect some research? Just asking! Thanks!


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[justkeepswimming]

Hey, for the dual degree programs (ex DO-MBA), I'm just curious what the additional tuition costs will be as compared to doing just the DO. Is it as simple as adding the tuition for each of the programs separately? Any current students know?

Current DO/MBA second year here. For the MBA program, tuition is a little more than $30K for the entire program, split into 3 payments of around $10K (one the summer after first year, one the middle of third year, and one the middle of fourth year...or something like that). You take out private loans to cover the cost if you can't do it on your own and/or have maxed out your federal loans for KCU, which I thought initially was a bad thing but I actually ended up finding a private loan provider that offered a lower interest rate than the Feds.

Also, just to chime in on the research questions- I did research my first year and it was HARD. Bench research sort of requires you to have the time to make mistakes and tweak experiments, and you just don't have the spare time you need to really do it well. I stopped this year because I didn't want to keep telling my PI I'd finish Western blots when I knew I couldn't. That said, I have heard of people doing research their third year, so just because you can't squeeze it in as an M1 or M2 doesn't mean you'll never do it. The PIs here are very willing to work with students, so if you want to make research your priority in your first couple of years then go for it! 🙂

 

[AlteredScale]

Does having only a month off in summer hurt your chances of getting into a research program or so? From my understanding competitive residencies expect some research? Just asking! Thanks!


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Research programs like hhmi or nih usually require 8 weeks commitment as well as previous productive research experience in undergrad as well as successfully finding a PI sponsored by the program. In KC there 5-6 HHMI investigators and they are located at Stowers and KU making the task of doing summer research a red tape nightmare. I would stick with KCU to conduct internal research.

The curriculum sacrifices research time for a highly intensive curriculum that is meant to boost board scores well beyond the average. Competitive programs want to see research experience but no amount of research will excuse a mediocre board score. Plain and simple.

 

[Dr. Class]

Research programs like hhmi or nih usually require 8 weeks commitment as well as previous productive research experience in undergrad as well as successfully finding a PI sponsored by the program. In KC there 5-6 HHMI investigators and they are located at Stowers and KU making the task of doing summer research a red tape nightmare. I would stick with KCU to conduct internal research.

The curriculum sacrifices research time for a highly intensive curriculum that is meant to boost board scores well beyond the average. Competitive programs want to see research experience but no amount of research will excuse a mediocre board score. Plain and simple.

Awesome. That's the plan, and the main reason I am choosing KCU. The curriculum is structured for success on boards and from my understanding that is the most important thing!


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[eyesfeeltired]

just put down my deposit!!

 

[DonMiko]

Anyone who interviewed 11/18 hear back yet?

 

[reunic]

Anyone who interviewed 11/18 hear back yet?

Not yet (I think). I was suspecting it would be longer because of the holiday. Not sure if they met during Thanksgiving week. So, hopefully late this week or next week, but it seems most emails have been going out early in the week.

Good luck! I'm hopeful, but nothing is ever guaranteed!!!

 

[lemmonhead]

Can anyone speak to the quality of the 3rd year rotations at Doctor's Hospital in Columbus? How about in Florida, specifically West Palm Beach? It looks like those rotations are ward based and the hospital has multiple residency programs. I'm early in the process but it seems like that would be a big positive in terms of getting exposure.

 

[AlteredScale]

Can anyone speak to the quality of the 3rd year rotations at Doctor's Hospital in Columbus? How about in Florida, specifically West Palm Beach? It looks like those rotations are ward based and the hospital has multiple residency programs. I'm early in the process but it seems like that would be a big positive in terms of getting exposure.

One of the graduate who is now at a academic university hospital went to WPB and said ut was really good. dont know much about doctors hospital.

 

[AzizImSorry]

One of the graduate who is now at a academic university hospital went to WPB and said ut was really good. dont know much about doctors hospital.

Do you happen to know if they stayed at WPB for the full year? The KCU rotations site says this about WPB "This site schedules clinical experiences in one-month increments." (as do other rotation sites). Does this mean you could be there for 1 block and not the others in the core clerkship? I thought I read somewhere on here that all the core clerkships are year-longs...

 

[lemmonhead]

One of the graduate who is now at a academic university hospital went to WPB and said ut was really good. dont know much about doctors hospital.

Do you know in what specialty?

 

[cafeverona]

I have a similar question about the OMM fellowship--sounds super interesting and the guy that talked to us about it at the interview made me even more interested.

 

[AlteredScale]

Do you happen to know if they stayed at WPB for the full year? The KCU rotations site says this about WPB "This site schedules clinical experiences in one-month increments." (as do other rotation sites). Does this mean you could be there for 1 block and not the others in the core clerkship? I thought I read somewhere on here that all the core clerkships are year-longs...

you stay there. but youll get your rotation schedule about one month increments.

 

[AlteredScale]

Do you know in what specialty?

Internal Medicine!

 

[Dr. Class]

Random question. I have an engineering background (but have obviously done all the pre MED courses). Does KCU do a decent job bringing up everyone to code in the first couple weeks with the basic science curriculums?


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[AlteredScale]

Random question. I have an engineering background (but have obviously done all the pre MED courses). Does KCU do a decent job bringing up everyone to code in the first couple weeks with the basic science curriculums?


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There are peope with non-science majors who are doing just great here. They take it pretty easy on you startin the semester. It'll rev up come immunology and MSK will be full throtle.You'll be good!

 

[AlteredScale]

For those asking about the anatomy and OMM fellowships. I'm not too sure how comp it is 🙁 sorry!

 

[justpedsthings]

For those asking about the anatomy and OMM fellowships. I'm not too sure how comp it is 🙁 sorry!

I don't know anything for certain but from what I've heard from previous classes, it's only as competitive as the number of people who want the position and that varies every year. Plus they added 2 OMM positions this year and I believe they are planning on splitting PCM and OMM fellowships in the next year or two so that would open up even more positions depending on which class you prefer to help out with. I would guess it has a lot to do with GPA and being on good terms with the department, and for anatomy it seems like the "best anatomy tutors" are usually near the top of the list of candidates haha. Hope that helps some!

 

[madpin21]

Random question. I have an engineering background (but have obviously done all the pre MED courses). Does KCU do a decent job bringing up everyone to code in the first couple weeks with the basic science curriculums?


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Hey! Different perspective here -- I'm a first year and former English major. And I also took only the required classes to get into KCU!

Unfortunately, there's really no such as thing as being "brought up to speed." The hardest thing for me has been anatomy -- we had a professor who literally said "I'm not going to teach you the pathway of blood through the heart, since you guys all learned that in undergrad" I hadn't, because I was busy studying feminist literature or something. Anyway.

The first 3 units of med school are going to be really hard. For me, it wasn't the ability to pass -- I've been lucky and gotten through everything -- but it's the feeling like you're a million steps behind. EVERYBODY feels this way, though. There are biochem majors who fail biochem. I didn't even know what a white blood cell was before med school, and I scored above average in immunology.

The lesson: medical school is completely random. You're going to feel utterly out of control all the time. You're going to worry about failing, and sometimes you will -- a quiz, an OS competency, even a test. It's going to suck. But then you're going to finish MSK in mid-October and realize that you CAN do this. And you can have fun doing it! AlteredScale, mamit1001 and I were all giggling so hard in Renal today we almost had to leave the room. You'll be stressed and tired beyond belief, but you'll also be surrounded by the best friends you've ever had.

You'll NEVER be up to speed -- but you'll get through! Promise 🙂