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

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AlteredScale said:
It's pretty hard down here in SoCal that's for sure. UCSD took their first DO into their EM program. Scripps Green doesn't even accept DO's for their IM program.

USC, UC Irvine, UCLA-Harbor, UCSF Fresno take DO's yearly into some non-PC programs like GenSurg.
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Hey, I work across the street from Scripps Green.
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"Your application has been verified by AACOMAS and sent to Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences – College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCU-COM). We will begin processing applications on July 15, 2015. We apologize for the delay and appreciate your patience as we acclimate to the new AACOMAS system. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email our office at[email protected]."

SERIOUSLY 😡
 
Huh. I'm surprised they pushed it back. Maybe because they filled up so quickly this year?

If it's any consolation, I think I only got my secondary app the first week of July and then they responded with an interview invite a few weeks later. And I applied the first day available for both primary and secondary applications and subsequently went to the first interview day haha. You guys will be fine. Good luck!
 
mamit1001 said:
Huh. I'm surprised they pushed it back. Maybe because they filled up so quickly this year?

If it's any consolation, I think I only got my secondary app the first week of July and then they responded with an interview invite a few weeks later. And I applied the first day available for both primary and secondary applications and subsequently went to the first interview day haha. You guys will be fine. Good luck!
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In all reality, it's probably because of AACOMAS. My MCAT score isn't even loaded yet.

Welp. Spoke too soon.
 
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Also for everyone applying, in the future, be wary of into what folder KCU's emails are being delivered. My interview invite went into my spam folder, I didn't know I got an interview until they sent me a reminder to schedule one or I would lose my spot at the end of the week :smack:. I know there's a bit of time until invites are sent out but just a heads up!
 
Brownman55 said:
Also for everyone applying, in the future, be wary of into what folder KCU's emails are being delivered. My interview invite went into my spam folder, I didn't know I got an interview until they sent me a reminder to schedule one or I would lose my spot at the end of the week :smack:. I know there's a bit of time until invites are sent out but just a heads up!
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I never actually got an email.

Luckily I called in to check my status after 3 weeks. Found out that I had an II!

Can't believe they haven't fixed this after 2 cycles.
 
Does anyone know if their GPA screen is a hard screen? I'm at cGPA 3.01 and sGPA 3.23
 
chizledfrmstone said:
I never actually got an email.

Luckily I called in to check my status after 3 weeks. Found out that I had an II!

Can't believe they haven't fixed this after 2 cycles.
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That's crazy... I'm guessing you're glad you called 😛

Stephanopolous said:
Does anyone know if their GPA screen is a hard screen? I'm at cGPA 3.01 and sGPA 3.23
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GPA minimums are 3.25 for both cGPA and sGPA with a 24 MCAT minimum with a 7 in each subsection. I'm pretty sure they screen for these criteria before even sending secondaries. If you are offered an interview you have a pretty decent chance of being accepted. More so than at other schools. If someone else can chime in and either confirm/deny that'd be cool, I don't want to give out wrong information
 
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Does anyone know how they review MCAT scores here (aside from the subsection cutoffs, i.e. average, most recent, composite)? My 1st attempt was a 27 (8/10/9), my 2nd was a 23 (5/9/10) (I know, I shouldn't have retook), my new score is in the 54-64% range (I think that's about a 27 again). I really like this school and am hoping my ECs and GPAs may make up for my MCAT errors.

My cGPA is a 3.55 and my sGPA is a 3.77. I have good LORs (3 sci, 1 DO, 1 MD), 2+ years research experience, 3+ years of volunteer/shadow experience, and 2 years medical assistant in rural clinic.
 
Camacho Mt. Dew said:
Does anyone know how they review MCAT scores here (aside from the subsection cutoffs, i.e. average, most recent, composite)? My 1st attempt was a 27 (8/10/9), my 2nd was a 23 (5/9/10) (I know, I shouldn't have retook), my new score is in the 54-64% range (I think that's about a 27 again). I really like this school and am hoping my ECs and GPAs may make up for my MCAT errors.

My cGPA is a 3.55 and my sGPA is a 3.77. I have good LORs (3 sci, 1 DO, 1 MD), 2+ years research experience, 3+ years of volunteer/shadow experience, and 2 years medical assistant in rural clinic.
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The 23 looks really bad especially since our new Dean likes higher MCAT scores.

Your username is awesome though!
 
chizledfrmstone said:
The 23 looks really bad especially since our new Dean likes higher MCAT scores.

Your username is awesome though!
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Haha thanks. Yea I know the 23 is no good and I was experiencing some home life issues during that time, so I probably was not in the right state of mind at the time I took that MCAT, which I realize is still my fault for going through with the exam and taking it so I will not try to justify that. I just had some hopes as I do like the school quite a bit and from what I've read on the admissions web site the average there is about a 27.6, so I'm hoping with my initial score of 27 and my most recent score I can show the admissions committee that the 23 was not representative of my test taking abilities. Plus my sGPA is above the average of 3.6, so I hope that works in my favor.
 
Camacho Mt. Dew said:
Haha thanks. Yea I know the 23 is no good and I was experiencing some home life issues during that time, so I probably was not in the right state of mind at the time I took that MCAT, which I realize is still my fault for going through with the exam and taking it so I will not try to justify that. I just had some hopes as I do like the school quite a bit and from what I've read on the admissions web site the average there is about a 27.6, so I'm hoping with my initial score of 27 and my most recent score I can show the admissions committee that the 23 was not representative of my test taking abilities. Plus my sGPA is above the average of 3.6, so I hope that works in my favor.
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It's always worth a shot.

Rumor is that the avg is higher for c/o 2019.
 
ChiTownBHawks said:
Well, I think getting a 27 again ( errr 59%????) may be your saving grace. I'm not sure what KCU's mcat policy is (average, highest, most recent, etc.). If it's highest or most recent then I think you'll be in decent shape (27 mcat + 3.8 sGPA). So, find out how they view multiple mcats and move on from there.

GL!

EDIT: was your second mcat a 23 or a 24????
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Sorry 23 (5/8/10).
 
chizledfrmstone said:
You have a chance.

Any highlights of your application you're willing to share?
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Well I have a lot of volunteer hours, research for 3+ years, lots of shadowing hours, nontrad with 300+ clinical hours of phlebotomy and now I quit my phleb job to work as medical scribe in my hometown. (Commuting 80 mins a day is not fun). There is a lot more EC's but I'd rather not list everything.

Why do you ask?
 
Gandy741 said:
Well I have a lot of volunteer hours, research for 3+ years, lots of shadowing hours, nontrad with 300+ clinical hours of phlebotomy and now I quit my phleb job to work as medical scribe in my hometown. (Commuting 80 mins a day is not fun). There is a lot more EC's but I'd rather not list everything.

Why do you ask?
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Schools look for certain things in applicants.

- Not having been out of school for more than 2 years.
- Having taken a upper division biology course within the past year or so.
- Showing that you are capable of managing multiple things at once (research, school, job).
 
chizledfrmstone said:
Schools look for certain things in applicants.

- Not having been out of school for more than 2 years.
- Having taken a upper division biology course within the past year or so.
- Showing that you are capable of managing multiple things at once (research, school, job).
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Hmm, I've been out of school for 3 years now, but a large part of that is because of personal issues. Also I made a thread about doing a SMP or a postbacc on these forums.
A few of the adcoms and various other med students on here said it would be a bad idea to do that with a 3.7 gpa. "Poor Decision Making" they said. Which makes sense to me.

I definitely was doing various things while I was in school. Was doing research pretty much the whole time I was in school, and various other activities.
 
Gandy741 said:
Hmm, I've been out of school for 3 years now, but a large part of that is because of personal issues. Also I made a thread about doing a SMP or a postbacc on these forums.
A few of the adcoms and various other med students on here said it would be a bad idea to do that with a 3.7 gpa. "Poor Decision Making" they said. Which makes sense to me.

I definitely was doing various things while I was in school. Was doing research pretty much the whole time I was in school, and various other activities.
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Try and contact schools to see how they will respond to you being out of school for a while.

I was in a similar situation. I had been out for about 3 years but kept myself busy. After the cycle ended I called up a bunch of schools just to see why they hadn't interviewed me.

Imagine spending all that time and money just to hear the line "you haven't taken classes in a while". There was a 1 minute awkward silence as I waited to hear the second reason. There was no other reason. If I had known that I would have taken a few UD biology courses to show them I didn't forget how to read or anything.

KCU, DMU, and WesternU didn't mind but administration at KCU changed 1 month after I was accepted.

The new dean is from RVU and I have a feeling he doesn't like students who have taken a break from school.
 
chizledfrmstone said:
Try and contact schools to see how they will respond to you being out of school for a while.

I was in a similar situation. I had been out for about 3 years but kept myself busy. After the cycle ended I called up a bunch of schools just to see why they hadn't interviewed me.

Imagine spending all that time and money just to hear the line "you haven't taken classes in a while". There was a 1 minute awkward silence as I waited to hear the second reason. There was no other reason. If I had known that I would have taken a few UD biology courses to show them I didn't forget how to read or anything.

KCU, DMU, and WesternU didn't mind but administration at KCU changed 1 month after I was accepted.

The new dean is from RVU and I have a feeling he doesn't like students who have taken a break from school.
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How many schools did you apply and how many did you receive II to?
 
mathnerd88 said:
How many schools did you apply and how many did you receive II to?
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Probably applied to 18 schools. I don't remember the number of IIs but I remember planning 1 interview per week in OCT, NOV, JAN before I stopped. Then 1 in March because it was within driving distance and I wanted a free lunch.

So ~12 interviews.
 
chizledfrmstone said:
Probably applied to 18 schools. I don't remember the number of IIs but I remember planning 1 interview per week in OCT, NOV, JAN before I stopped. Then 1 in March because it was within driving distance and I wanted a free lunch.

So ~12 interviews.
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So it sounds like for most DO schools, taking years time off doesn't make much of a difference.
 
chizledfrmstone said:
Schools look for certain things in applicants.

- Not having been out of school for more than 2 years.
- Having taken a upper division biology course within the past year or so.
- Showing that you are capable of managing multiple things at once (research, school, job).
Click to expand...

Come on now, we know KCU doesn't care about that as long as you're being productive. Our average class age was 26 coming in.

I also think that's much more common in the MD world, most DO schools I looked into (mostly midwest and east) seemed very positive towards older applicants.
 
Stagg737 said:
Come on now, we know KCU doesn't care about that as long as you're being productive. Our average class age was 26 coming in.

I also think that's much more common in the MD world, most DO schools I looked into (mostly midwest and east) seemed very positive towards older applicants.
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DO schools used to cater to non-trad students a few years ago but things are changing. Quite a few of our professors took time off between college and medical school to dabble in other sectors. The rise in applicants gives admissions a younger crowd to work with. The prime age for learning is early-mid 20s.

A majority of the schools that preferred traditional students were the public schools. OSUCOM told me to take some UD classes and reapply.

RVU was one of the private schools that rejected me. They said studies showed that students who had been out of school for a while had a rough time adjusting to med school. Sounds like something Dr. Dubin would implement.

You have to remember he came in towards the end of the application cycle. I'm pretty sure he revamped things after 2014 because when I interviewed they were telling us how good the Genesis curriculum was.

Dr. Dubin likes higher MCAT scores and students who have kept up with their studies. I have a feeling those preferences will show up in the c/o 2019 class profile.

Heck, c/o 2018 jumped up from 25-26-> 27 in 1 year. Rumor has it c/o 2019 is at 28. That's a pretty quick jump IMHO.
 
chizledfrmstone said:
DO schools used to cater to non-trad students a few years ago but things are changing. Quite a few of our professors took time off between college and medical school to dabble in other sectors. The rise in applicants gives admissions a younger crowd to work with. The prime age for learning is early-mid 20s.

A majority of the schools that preferred traditional students were the public schools. OSUCOM told me to take some UD classes and reapply.

RVU was one of the private schools that rejected me. They said studies showed that students who had been out of school for a while had a rough time adjusting to med school. Sounds like something Dr. Dubin would implement.

You have to remember he came in towards the end of the application cycle. I'm pretty sure he revamped things after 2014 because when I interviewed they were telling us how good the Genesis curriculum was.

Dr. Dubin likes higher MCAT scores and students who have kept up with their studies. I have a feeling those preferences will show up in the c/o 2019 class profile.

Heck, c/o 2018 jumped up from 25-26-> 27 in 1 year. Rumor has it c/o 2019 is at 28. That's a pretty quick jump IMHO.
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Taking an MCAT 4 years after graduating and getting a decent score is actually pretty impressive in my opinion. I know some adcoms might prefer applicants who were fresh out of college or have taken classes recently, but I feel like the reason why adcoms want the MCAT taken within the past 2-3 years is to show recent mental competency before matriculation.

In fact, I have been doing research in the past 5 years, and I feel like my mind is being exercised constantly.
 
Maybe goro can enlighten further.

@Goro What is your assessment of taking years off between undergrad and DO medical school? Isnt taking an SMP or a postbacc a "poor decision" if you have a relatively high gpa ? (>3.6)
 
chizledfrmstone said:
Try and contact schools to see how they will respond to you being out of school for a while.

I was in a similar situation. I had been out for about 3 years but kept myself busy. After the cycle ended I called up a bunch of schools just to see why they hadn't interviewed me.

Imagine spending all that time and money just to hear the line "you haven't taken classes in a while". There was a 1 minute awkward silence as I waited to hear the second reason. There was no other reason. If I had known that I would have taken a few UD biology courses to show them I didn't forget how to read or anything.

KCU, DMU, and WesternU didn't mind but administration at KCU changed 1 month after I was accepted.

The new dean is from RVU and I have a feeling he doesn't like students who have taken a break from school.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I will go ahead and give the schools I'm applying to a call indeed. But this is the first time I've heard this so this is why I am confused.
 
chizledfrmstone said:
If you're applying to RVU, OSUCOM, MSUCOM, or OH then definitely give them a call.
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The only one I'm applying to out of those is RVU, but KCUMB is higher up on the list for me than RVU is.

Regardless I'll call both KCUMB and RVU.
 
I still think you should be fine for KCU, however I can ask some people in student affairs if they have any idea about this.

chizledfrmstone said:
Dr. Dubin likes higher MCAT scores and students who have kept up with their studies. I have a feeling those preferences will show up in the c/o 2019 class profile.

Heck, c/o 2018 jumped up from 25-26-> 27 in 1 year. Rumor has it c/o 2019 is at 28. That's a pretty quick jump IMHO.
Click to expand...

They might, though I currently know quite a few people coming in that are over 25. It'll be interesting to see what happens, though I think the greater concern at this point is stats, not age.

Our class average was actually ~28. Incoming class average for the MCAT is 29.1, or at least that's what admissions has said. So I think you're right about that stats part.
 
Stagg737 said:
I still think you should be fine for KCU, however I can ask some people in student affairs if they have any idea about this.



They might, though I currently know quite a few people coming in that are over 25. It'll be interesting to see what happens, though I think the greater concern at this point is stats, not age.

Our class average was actually ~28. Incoming class average for the MCAT is 29.1, or at least that's what admissions has said. So I think you're right about that stats part.
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Yea, if you can see what you find out, that would be great.

Im not too worried about stats for this school though because when I called admissions they said they take the highest MCAT score into consideration.
 
Gandy741 said:
Maybe goro can enlighten further.

@Goro What is your assessment of taking years off between undergrad and DO medical school? Isnt taking an SMP or a postbacc a "poor decision" if you have a relatively high gpa ? (>3.6)
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Do you call MD schools, "MD medical school"?

Just curious, seems superfluous to state it as you did (no offense).
 
ChiTownBHawks said:
Do you call MD schools, "MD medical school"?

Just curious, seems superfluous to state it as you did (no offense).
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DO medical schools have slightly different policies for non trads than MD medical schools though therefore the distinction.
 
Gandy741 said:
DO medical schools have slightly different policies for non trads than MD medical schools though therefore the distinction.
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Fair enough. Good luck to you, man. You have solid stats so I'm sure you won't have any problems. I had quite a few interviews when I applied and there was always a good mix of traditional/ non-traditional interviewees (including KC).
 
ChiTownBHawks said:
Fair enough. Good luck to you, man. You have solid stats so I'm sure you won't have any problems. I had quite a few interviews when I applied and there was always a good mix of traditional/ non-traditional interviewees (including KC).
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Thanks man. I hope you are right.
 
If it's to fill in a gap in your CV, like GPA repair or to get ECs, then it's a good idea.

Doing a post-bac/SMP with an already high GPA is foolish, if not outright stupid, and a candidate would be treated as such.

What is your assessment of taking years off between undergrad and DO medical school? Isnt taking an SMP or a postbacc a "poor decision" if you have a relatively high gpa ? (>3.6)
 
Goro said:
If it's to fill in a gap in your CV, like GPA repair or to get ECs, then it's a good idea.

Doing a post-bac/SMP with an already high GPA is foolish, if not outright stupid, and a candidate would be treated as such.

What is your assessment of taking years off between undergrad and DO medical school? Isnt taking an SMP or a postbacc a "poor decision" if you have a relatively high gpa ? (>3.6)
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That's what I've been told. Thanks for clearing that up again goro
 
chizledfrmstone said:
Hmm, maybe I'm wrong.

Let me know how it goes.
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Eh I'm not saying you are wrong. You still got 12 interviews for DO schools even though you were out for 3 years so at least thats a good sign.

What were your stats if you dont mind me asking?
 
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