LDS (especially RM) D.O. students (or applicants)

[smc927]

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I realize there is a risk even mentioning religion in a post but this has a specific purpose so hopefully it will be tolerated by non LDS users (many, many of whom have been extremely helpful in my journey).

I am married, have a 2-1/2-year-old daughter and we're expecting another. I'll take the MCAT in August and will be applying this year.

To those who are LDS, especially those who have served an LDS mission:

If you are currently applying, how have you worked your mission (or other church) experiences into your applications and interviews? Has it been especially helpful or harmful to you?

To those who have already been accepted, I pose the same questions in retrospect.

Also, any of you married with kids? I'm especially interested to hear from current med students on how their particular school may accomodate family med students. Do you recommend any particular school?

My bishop is a doctor and he tells me the only two significant questions posed to him at his interview were asking him about his Eagle Scout ranking and his LDS mission.

 

[kendahoe]

smc927

Hey dude, we are float'n the same boat. I have 2 kids (twins) and served in AK over 7 years ago. In fact I work full time at the MTC doing PT on all the injured missionaries. I was accepted to a number of DO schools and never hesitated to mention any experiences that contributed to my desire to be a physician and more importantly a DO. It was two years of service and that is of coarse good to mention, but I NEVER once tried to over emphasize my denomination. I had to explain at every interview what the MTC was. I know some schools where there is alot of competition against the "goody tooshoos" that won't go and study with the others at the bar. At this school the student in the interview grilled me about "how I thought I could interact with others of a different denomination" as though I was some kind of alien. For others reading - I don't drive a UFO. You will find that most of the DO schools have a crap load of married students with kids. This is no big whoop. I am finding that I am fairly young at 28, and that a ton of the students have kids. Most schools that I interviewed at were accomodating to families, especially KCUMB. PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[Ryan]

Hey, I am a new MSI at COMP (currently registered in a summer program to prep me for medical school). While this is a great school for your career, and they seem very supportive (the assistant dean came and had lunch with us yesterday), it is VERY expensive to live here. However, it is not impossible. Every year there are quite a few LDS med students here and many students, both LDS and of other faiths, that have kids and make it happen mainly because this is the school they really want to go to. As for the application question... I wouldn't try to force your mission into your PS, even though serving as a missionary for two years can be a life changing experience. If it flows into it easily and truly shows something about why you want to be a DO, or what will make you a great DO, use it. If it doesn't, throw it out. If you want to, I can help do a primary editing to your PS. I have read many PSs. My PS was a key factor in my acceptances to both DO and MD schools. I?m not trying toot my own horn, just assuring you that I do have some experience in this. More than one interviewer complemented me on my statement and secondary responses. If you know several key things, than anyone can write a great PS. Anyhow, just PM me if you are interested. I can also help ya? out with finding a school that is family friendly. VCOM comes to mind, sure it is new but the people there are happy and the professors are very experienced and outstanding. Mark my words, VCOM is going to be one of the best schools in nation in the next several years.

-Ryan

 

[1viking]

Fun to hear that you are interested in knowing about this! I just milked the mission in my apps. I was asked about it--mainly what I learned. The med schools I interviewed at were VERY familiar with the mission. I would talk about what you learned instead of what you did. Don't hesitate one bit. If you went at 19, 2 years would be almost 10% of your life. You better dang well explain it! Leaving it out would be a tragedy. It was the best part of my interviews.

About schools, you will hear many people on this forum talking about different schools. Fact of the matter is, this forum is biased by the people that post on it. So, here is my bias.

KCOM (I will attend KCOM--k is for Kirksville, MO) is chock full of LDS students. Every class generally has 30-40 LDS students. People down there call it Little Provo. I have some buddies already that are down there. Rumor is, if you are LDS and you apply to KCOM, you are in. I think that they enjoy the fact that most LDS students won't get smashed on the weekend and then do something dumb and wind up in jail, etc... (Non-LDS, I'm not saying that you will, please don't misunderstand me. There are wonderful people everywhere. If you don't know about our beliefs, you probably wouldn't understand why we won't end up in jail). Anyway. Enough of the LDS soapbox.

I would definately say apply there. The ultimate factor that helped me decide was the schedule. KCOM has a 1 month summer holiday--which means they have a slower class schedule than some schools such as AZCOM (4 month summer break). This makes classes easier because they are slower(spring/summer term vs. fall/winter). Also, classes are normally done by noon, unless you have labs (OMM, histo, etc...) so that you can spend more time with the family in the evening. This is great for family life. Also, the school has random holidays so that the students can spend time with their family. There are sooo many non-traditional students that the administrators, I feel, want to keep them and their families happy. They provide free day care on these evenings so that the couples can go on a date. Pretty cool! My baby was born 6 weeks ago, so I knew that I would need a school that understood my family's needs. That is KCOM.

You will have to deal with the rural town feel, however. But everybody that I have spoken with says it is perfect for studying--very few distractions. Also, you get cheap rent! There is a Wal-Mart, though!

Sorry this is so long-winded. I just don't think that KCOM gets the respect that it deserves on this board (we have our own private board, so very few KCOMers post here). If there aren't people biased about the school posting on the board, how will anybody ever post about it?

Hope this helps. PM me, if you want to talk over Yahoo or MSN messenger.

 

[LloydDObler]

Fun to hear that you are interested in knowing about this! I just milked the mission in my apps. I was asked about it--mainly what I learned. The med schools I interviewed at were VERY familiar with the mission. I would talk about what you learned instead of what you did. Don't hesitate one bit. If you went at 19, 2 years would be almost 10% of your life. You better dang well explain it! Leaving it out would be a tragedy. It was the best part of my interviews.

About schools, you will hear many people on this forum talking about different schools. Fact of the matter is, this forum is biased by the people that post on it. So, here is my bias.

KCOM (I will attend KCOM--k is for Kirksville, MO) is chock full of LDS students. Every class generally has 30-40 LDS students. People down there call it Little Provo. I have some buddies already that are down there. Rumor is, if you are LDS and you apply to KCOM, you are in. I think that they enjoy the fact that most LDS students won't get smashed on the weekend and then do something dumb and wind up in jail, etc... (Non-LDS, I'm not saying that you will, please don't misunderstand me. There are wonderful people everywhere. If you don't know about our beliefs, you probably wouldn't understand why we won't end up in jail). Anyway. Enough of the LDS soapbox.

I would definately say apply there. The ultimate factor that helped me decide was the schedule. KCOM has a 1 month summer holiday--which means they have a slower class schedule than some schools such as AZCOM (4 month summer break). This makes classes easier because they are slower(spring/summer term vs. fall/winter). Also, classes are normally done by noon, unless you have labs (OMM, histo, etc...) so that you can spend more time with the family in the evening. This is great for family life. Also, the school has random holidays so that the students can spend time with their family. There are sooo many non-traditional students that the administrators, I feel, want to keep them and their families happy. They provide free day care on these evenings so that the couples can go on a date. Pretty cool! My baby was born 6 weeks ago, so I knew that I would need a school that understood my family's needs. That is KCOM.

You will have to deal with the rural town feel, however. But everybody that I have spoken with says it is perfect for studying--very few distractions. Also, you get cheap rent! There is a Wal-Mart, though!

Sorry this is so long-winded. I just don't think that KCOM gets the respect that it deserves on this board (we have our own private board, so very few KCOMers post here). If there aren't people biased about the school posting on the board, how will anybody ever post about it?

Hope this helps. PM me, if you want to talk over Yahoo or MSN messenger.

As a non-LDS KCOMer I thought I would address some of these comments. Yes, there are many LDS students. I counted about 15 in my class of 150. They all seem to be well supported by each other and the church in Kirksville ( I think there's two wards?? I don't know the lingo).

I would have to disagree, though, about our schedule. We got 5 weeks off this summer because of all of the military students needing to do their officer training. This break is variable every year, apparently, and it's the only summer break we get. Next summer we get two weeks to study for boards and that's it. I don't know that our schedule is lighter year round because of this, because I have never seen another school's schedule. We're in class b/w 27-35 hours a week.

I am not sure what you mean by "random holidays". We had had 2 unusual days off this past year. Everything else is the standard Thanksgiving/Christmas type stuff.

I know that free daycare is occasionally provided, but I thought that was actually through a local church and not through KCOM. I know that there is consistent free daycare for a few hours on some weekday mornings at the workout place for the parent staying at home to get some time to her/hiself.

I am not sure why there are so many LDS students here. I heard there was a dean who used to work here who now works at BYU, and he's getting the word out. It seems pretty unusual, though, to have such a consistently strong LDS population. Maybe I have missed the reason because I have been in and out of jail so much.

Anyway, I think KCOM is FABULOUS. I would definitely recommend that an LDS person apply here because it seems you will be well supported. I just wanted to clear up a few of the previous posters assertions.

Good luck!

 

[1viking]

I just wanted to clear up a few of the previous posters assertions.

Thanks for the info. I am not a school there yet, so I am not as informed. Listen to Lloyd. I guess I must have miss understood the statements by some. The LDS numbers were from a post by a current KCOM student on our ATSU forum. My good high school buddy at AZCOM said that they are in class from AT LEAST 8-5 every day. It seems to me that if you have a 4 month holiday compared to a one month or 2 weeks, it will be more intense during the year--you need to do the same material in half the time.

 

[Azcomstud]

Just thought I'd add my two cents too. I am starting my second year at AZCOM in August and I have two kids (2 1/2 year old boy and 6 month old boy). For me personally, I've had more time to spend with my family during med school than undergrad at BYU. It helps that I don't have to work and that I do well studying at home.

The class of 2007 has 32 LDS out of the 148 students in our class. I know the class ahead of me also had a lot. The school has a "family matters" club where families meet (usually once a month) for a potluck and games. I would say that maybe 1/4 of our class has kids. There's a guy I know with 5 kids and he seems to be doing fine. My wife has also been involved in many play groups and there are at least 15 couples in our ward that attend AZCOM.

As far as breaks go, first years start in late August and get two weeks off for Thanksgiving, two weeks for Christmas, two weeks between winter and spring quarter and then 4 months off for the summer. After experiencing first year for myself, AZCOM does move at a fast pace. I liked having to work really hard and then getting a break.

I recommend mentioning your mission. I served 5 years ago in Germany and one of my interviewers had lived there for sometime. He actually started up a conversation with me and was impressed that I really could speak german. They are impressed that you'd give up 2 years of your life. Let ma know if you have any ?s

 

[ItsGavinC]

KCOM (I will attend KCOM--k is for Kirksville, MO) is chock full of LDS students. Every class generally has 30-40 LDS students. People down there call it Little Provo. I have some buddies already that are down there. Rumor is, if you are LDS and you apply to KCOM, you are in.

I'm down here at the Arizona School of Dentistry (which is a school under AT Still University, just like KCOM) and we are no different.

Our inaugural dental class has 52 members and 24 are LDS. Nearly half.

 

[LloydDObler]

Thanks for the info. I am not a school there yet, so I am not as informed. Listen to Lloyd. I guess I must have miss understood the statements by some. The LDS numbers were from a post by a current KCOM student on our ATSU forum. My good high school buddy at AZCOM said that they are in class from AT LEAST 8-5 every day. It seems to me that if you have a 4 month holiday compared to a one month or 2 weeks, it will be more intense during the year--you need to do the same material in half the time.

It's probably true that AZCOM studies are more intense if they have a 4 MONTH HOLIDAY!!! That's crazy to me!! I am stir crazy after 4 weeks. I'd be curious to see their schedule... Anyway, if a current student is saying that there's more LDS students here than I am saying, perhaps he/she is privy to info I am not. Nevertheless, you'll be supported! There is also an active Christian group that does a yearly mission trip, etc...

 

[Aloha Kid]

Hey,

I'm part of AZCOM 2005. Out of 142 students, we had about 34 who were LDS. That's greater than 30%.

Your mission experiences are vital to explaining you character. For the most part DO schools want to know more about you than just grades etc. Most Medical schools really look on maturity in their applicants. I second everyones opinions, don't be afraid to mention you experiences.

I have received nothing but complimets from some of my peers regarding LDS students. For the most part, we all study hard, don't get into trouble, & are not hung over the next day after heavy exams etc. etc.

Regarding AZCOM being more intense?? I thought it was pretty cruise. Classes are probably more efficient in what they teach. Our board score pass rates are top notch. Scores are also extremely high. I haven't run into one person yet in my class who did under 50%. Furthermore, How intense can it be when you get a four month summer break after your first year. Along with two week holiday breaks every quarter. I can vouch that the first two years of medical school at AZCOM are awesome.

In the long run all that really matters is 1. You get a good enough education to not look stupid on rotations. 2. You nail the boards. 3. You get into a residency of your choice. 4. Most importantly, you have time for family and church.

👍 👍 👍

 

[San_Juan_Sun]

I mentioned my mission in my personal statement. I specifically talked about two things:

1. service provided
2. how a mission contributed to my personal development

At my interviews, everyone already knew all about missions. In fact, several (knowing that I went to BYU) asked right off "So, where did you serve?" I don't know why they didn't just read that in my PS. 🙂

I'm in school at AZCOM, as previously mentioned we have over 30 LDS students in our class. About half are from BYU, with several from the U. of Utah, Utah State, ASU, U. of Idaho, etc. The 2006 class has similar numbers, and it seems that the 2008 class will have quite a few as well.

We're pretty fortunate to have such great representation in the medical and dental fields. On another note, many LDS individuals are ending up going DO because of limited enrollment at smaller medical schools in the western US. In 20 years, I'd imagine that there will be a very strong base of Mormon DOs, especially in the western US. Add to that our allopathic brethren, and you've got a lot of Mormon docs.

In almost all instances, reactions to my religion have been very positive. I have one good friend with a negative reaction from an allopathic school (not that it means anything). One of our professors at AZCOM (one of the basic science faculty) asked why so many LDS guys go to osteopathic schools. This instructor thought all of us religious folks were really into it for the mind-body-spirit and the OMM. 🙂 Of course, there are several in my class who really like OMM, but for many of us, we just want to be docs for a variety of reasons.

I can't speak towards any other school, but I've been pleasantly surprised at how family-friendly AZCOM has been. I've always been able to fit Church stuff into school, and my family has always been able to remain priority #1. Several of us have had kids during finals, and the faculty have been outstanding in working around births and exams.

I think the main reservation adcoms and your classmates will have is wondering about how you might proselytyze (sp?) them. For many people, medical school is the first contact with Mormons they've ever had. I know for a fact that saying stuff like "I want to be a doctor so that I can convert people to my religion" is going to get you headed towards the REJECT pile pretty quick. Of course, if you have any sense, you already know that. And, in my own opinion, any person who wants to go into medicine for that reason doesn't understand how paternal that might be. We all know how important agency is.


*** One not-so-important note: we get 3 months off during the summer. End finals in late May, and start up again in late August.

 

[1viking]

Anybody know why there are so many LDS students at AZCOM and KCOM/ATSU and not at other schools?

 

[San_Juan_Sun]

Anybody know why there are so many LDS students at AZCOM and KCOM/ATSU and not at other schools?

Location, location, location. For AZCOM at least. Lots of people like to be within a day's drive of being home.

From what I understand, there are a significant number of LDS at COMP, TUCOM, and DMU. I know a few people at these schools, but have no idea about absolute numbers.

KCOM also does a good job at recruiting LDS students. And because many LDS students have enjoyed KCOM, Word-of-mouth adverstising comes into play.