LECOM-Bradenton 2015

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Hey everyone! Again its early but so are the acceptances this year! Congratulations to the class of 2015! Let's use this to connect before we start next year...
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Im officially in. Ill see everyone down there!!!!!
 
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congrats to all those accepted into LECOM-Bradenton Class of 2015! I am currently a 4th year student there. Please don't hesitate to post or pm me questions. Ill do my best to answer them.
 
It feels good to post in this thread. As I have previously started in the LECOM Bradenton 2010-2011, I wanted to continue the growing list of things students will need. So far:

1. rolling case (to haul books)
2. laptop (mine is almost 3 years old)
3. coffee maker (no more starbucks, must save money)

A few questions to LECOM students.

1. For OMM, is there a uniform or do we buy whatever we would like to wear?
2. Do we need scrubs? I didn't see anyone wearing them during the interview but just curious.
3. Please suggest anything else we need.

Thanks!
 
FenixAlexander said:
1. rolling case (to haul books)
2. laptop (mine is almost 3 years old)
3. coffee maker (no more starbucks, must save money)
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That's a good start. As far as the laptop, they include an extra $1000 in your cost of living for first year that's meant to cover the cost of a laptop. And the nearest Starbucks to school actually gives us a 10% discount with our ID, but yeah, you're better off making it at home. Getting a $3.60 cup of coffee instead of a $4 cup of coffee isn't that great a deal.

FenixAlexander said:
A few questions to LECOM students.

1. For OMM, is there a uniform or do we buy whatever we would like to wear?
2. Do we need scrubs? I didn't see anyone wearing them during the interview but just curious.
3. Please suggest anything else we need.

Thanks!
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It's kind of lame, but you're only supposed to wear officially sanctioned LECOM shirts/shorts for OMM lab on Thursdays... on the up side, you can wear it all day on Thursday, even if you're taking an exam or have other lectures that day. The clubs will sell you this stuff in the first week of class. They were getting kind of lax about enforcing the "only official shirts" rule, and people were showing up wearing random school shirts and whatever, but we just got a nastygram last week saying they're going to start cracking down again. Lame, but those are their rules.

The surgery club sold some official LECOM scrubs as a fund-raiser either late last year or early this year, and you can wear those to OMM if you want. But don't worry about buying scrubs, you wouldn't be able to wear them during business hours anyway. You'll need a white lab coat for anatomy lab, but that's another thing you can buy once you're here. A local uniform shop sells cheap ones for ~$18-20. The school will give you one short white coat for clinicals at the white coat ceremony in January, so that's a separate deal.

You'll get a different suggestion from each person you ask about other stuff. Don't worry about books until your official book list comes out in May/June of next year. If you want to slowly build up a stock of dressy clothes over the coming months so you don't have to do laundry every other day when classes start, that's about the most practical thing I can think of.
 
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AWESOME. Thank you so much Altruist!

I have been slowly building my wardrobe. I bought most of my button up shirts from the thrift store that I volunteer at every Saturday. All the proceeds go to The Children Home of Tampa...so guilt free shopping. Hehe. For anyone who wants to save a LOT OF MONEY, check out thrift stores near you for some clothes. It's a lot of hard work but finding $2.00 shirts that would have been $40.00 in the dept store makes me happy. :)

I wore a blazer for my interview in LECOM that I found in another thrift store for $2.50. It fit better than the ones in the mall that were selling from $50-$90.

I recall seeing a Goodwill in a plaza near LECOM.
 
Count me in, Bo Diddleys! <chest bump/butt smack> :laugh:
 
hi. You said you are a 4th year medical student at LECOM Bradenton. What has your experience been like, and your overall impression of the school, campus, and surrounding area.
 
mprover said:
congrats to all those accepted into LECOM-Bradenton Class of 2015! I am currently a 4th year student there. Please don't hesitate to post or pm me questions. Ill do my best to answer them.
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Hi. What is your general impression of the school, campus, and surrounding area.
 
jackie89 said:
Accepted today :)
I'm so excited!!
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Congrats!!!

Anybody have thoughts on the living situation? I recently took a quick trip to check out the housing availability. They gave us a list of apartments but I didn't want to limit myself to those. I saw some townhouses and condos available for rent. I'm leaning towards Colonial Grand. It's nice, just down the road, and it's gated. However, it's expensive. The choices are slim since the Lakewood Ranch area is just being developed.

Questions for current students:
1. Where do you guys live?
2. How do you like it?
3. How minutes, with morning traffic, does it take to get to LECOM?

Thanks in advance.
 
Hey guys,

I was recently accepted to LECOM-B, and I'm pretty sure that I will end up attending next year. I had some questions about rotations for some of the 3rd and 4th years. Is it true that Erie gets priority for the northern states in terms of choosing rotation sites? Is there still the possibility of us LECOM-B's going up north for some rotation sites, or are we all restricted to the south?

Lastly, do we switch sites after each rotation (say, for example, after our emergency medicine rotation we move to another hospital to begin a surgery rotation), or do we have the option of staying in whatever site for multiple rotations? I may be getting ahead of myself (ie: should be worrying more about the preclinical years first), but if anyone can comment on how the rotation process works during our 3rd and 4th years, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys!
 
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FenixAlexander said:
Questions for current students:
1. Where do you guys live?
2. How do you like it?
3. How minutes, with morning traffic, does it take to get to LECOM?
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I can't complain too much about my living situation down here. No doubt Colonial Grand is nice, but you can easily end up paying 300/mo more for a 1-bedroom than you would at some of the places up on SR 64. All of the apartment complexes I can think of (Springs apartments, Yacht Club, and Carlton Arms) are gated. Pretty much all of them have pools, though I don't know a whole lot about Yacht Club.

I live at Springs and like it. Carlton Arms is cheaper and it shows (IMO, at least). Yacht Club I don't really know about, but I'm pretty sure it's more in the range of Colonial Grand. I heard some bad things about it when I moved down here, but there's definitely a crew of students who live there so it can't be all bad.

From Springs, it's between 10 and 15 minutes to school on a busy morning. Carlton arms is probably a little more, maybe 20-25, and Yacht club may be a little less or about the same. Colonial Grand is probably a bit further away. (EDIT: I meant further away than springs is, so ~20 minutes from school?)

The most cost-effective thing to do is find a house/condo to rent with some fellow students, and that's what I'd recommend doing over an apartment. A 3 bed-room might run you 500/mo each but your living situation will be better.

JerseyDoc2B said:
I was recently accepted to LECOM-B, and I'm pretty sure that I will end up attending next year. I had some questions about rotations for some of the 3rd and 4th years. Is it true that Erie gets priority for the northern states in terms of choosing rotation sites? Is there still the possibility of us LECOM-B's going up north for some rotation sites, or are we all restricted to the south?

Lastly, do we switch sites after each rotation (say, for example, after our emergency medicine rotation we move to another hospital to begin a surgery rotation), or do we have the option of staying in whatever site for multiple rotations? I may be getting ahead of myself (ie: should be worrying more about the preclinical years first), but if anyone can comment on how the rotation process works during our 3rd and 4th years, it would be greatly appreciated.
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Erie gets first pick up north, and we get their left-overs. We get first pick of the rotations in Florida, and Erie/Seton Hill gets what's left of those. There were a few year-long spots at some hospitals up in PA that were offered to us, so it is possible to do rotations up there, but you have to have a 3.0 GPA and that seems to be a competitive process. There are also year-long spots at hospitals in Florida, but there are fewer spots than there are people who want them, and again, they require you have a 3.0 GPA to get one of those.

The process for assigning rotations seems like a mess to me right now. Most of my fellow 2nd years are freaking out from the uncertainty of it all. Right now, we're not sure where we'll be next year, but we've submitted our rotation preferences and will have our tentative assignments in December. The 3rd years I've talked to say they've been able to pretty much stay where they wanted, but those are folks who've stayed around Bradenton and got what they wanted.

Hopefully one of the 3rd/4th years can give you a better perspective on how things work.
 
Question for current students:

I saw the book list in the portal and I was wondering if there are any books we can get ahead of time to read and browse for pretty pictures. I saw last year's schedule and noticed the anatomy bootcamp the ambassador's mentioned during the tour. I was thinking of doing a light refreshing of anatomy.

Also, do you guys recommend anything else to read prior to starting the first year? Books? Websites?

Currently have Epocrates and iTriage on my phone. I'm totally in love with the Epocrates app. I saw how both apps can be useful supplement resources during PBL sessions.
 
FenixAlexander said:
Question for current students:

I saw the book list in the portal and I was wondering if there are any books we can get ahead of time to read and browse for pretty pictures. I saw last year's schedule and noticed the anatomy bootcamp the ambassador's mentioned during the tour. I was thinking of doing a light refreshing of anatomy.

Also, do you guys recommend anything else to read prior to starting the first year? Books? Websites?

Currently have Epocrates and iTriage on my phone. I'm totally in love with the Epocrates app. I saw how both apps can be useful supplement resources during PBL sessions.
Click to expand...

The general wisdom on SDN is, don't bother. There's good reason for that. It's hard to hold yourself to the same kind of standard you'll have to once you're here. If there's anything at all that's non-medically-related that you want to get done, do that instead. Read a couple of novels, work out... whatever.

That said, some people still want to know what they can do, no matter what anyone says. My old job left me with enough downtime at work that I got through the entire anatomy coloring book (the Wynn/Kapit one) and most of the Physiology one by the same people before I quit work and started school. I'm not sure how much it really helped me once classes started, but if you're looking for an anatomy refresh, you could do worse. Coloring is dorky, but it also doesn't feel like studying while you're doing it, so it wasn't quite so tedious for me.

Don't worry about the books until you get your booklist. Seriously. Odds are that they'll change at least one or two of the books, or a new edition will come out, or something like that between now and May/June when you can expect the official book list for your class. Until then, if you're really, really without anything else to do, see what you can find in the library nearest you if you want to see what's in the books.

For medically-related stuff that's more interesting than most textbooks, go to gawande.com and read some of Atul Gawande's articles. His article, "Letting Go," about death and hospice care is especially good. He has a few books out, too. "Better" and "Complications" were decent reads, I thought.

Just my advice, not wisdom handed down from on high. Your mileage may vary.
 
Thanks for everything so far, Altruist. It's all been really helpful. Btw, did anyone receive their acceptance packets/info/forms after sending in their deposit? If so, can anyone let me know how long it took after LECOM receiving the deposit?
 
I am currently a 4th year student at LECOM-Bradenton. I have a 2br/2bath condo that I will have available to rent for the upcoming year at The Harborage on Braden River . Its about a 10 minute drive to campus in traffic, in a quite community. If you are interested, I can offer this partially furnished (everything except for a bed in the second bedroom). If you are interested, please email me at [email protected] or PM me. Congrats, and best of luck next year!
 
Just sent in my deposit! Congrats to all those accepted and I'll see you in July!
 
congrats to you all! I'm wrapping up my first semester and PBL is pretty sweet. I was waitlisted at another school and remember being excited for PBL when I saw it, but I was def intimidated by the no class thing. In the end I decided on LECOM-B and have not regretted a moment of it. send me a msg or whatever if you have any questions...I don't know too much about rotations, but am more than happy to talk about first year, places to live, the area..etc
 
I've been accepted, dont know if I'll be matriculating yet. I was really hesitant regarding the whole rotation situation. Does anyone have more information about LECOM-B rotation sites?
 
Congrats to everyone whose been accepted! I just received my letter today! I'm really excited. I am pretty sure I am going to send in the matriculation fee but I have to admit I am a little nervous about PBL as well as the rotations at LECOM-B. I am from NY and I was hoping to do rotations closer to home.
 
samuraiR said:
I've been accepted, dont know if I'll be matriculating yet. I was really hesitant regarding the whole rotation situation. Does anyone have more information about LECOM-B rotation sites?
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I've been finding that it is quite the task to get solid information on the clinicals, like many this is the one thing about LECOM-Bradenton that makes me hesitant. I absolutely know I would mesh perfect with the PBL curriculum, I'm just worried about rotating throughout the state while being married.
 
I got accepted last week at LECOM-Bradenton for the Class of 2015! So excited! Now I just need to send in my deposit. My twin sister also got accepted so we're going to be roommates. Now, I need to revamp my wardrobe & start looking for apartments. Any suggestions?
 
gperez2989 said:
I got accepted last week at LECOM-Bradenton for the Class of 2015! So excited! Now I just need to send in my deposit. My twin sister also got accepted so we're going to be roommates. Now, I need to revamp my wardrobe & start looking for apartments. Any suggestions?
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I think they'll send us packets with local areas to live and whatnot. Additionally if you just scroll up a few posts in this thread there is a pretty good discussion of some of the areas.
 
I got the acceptance letter today.
I advice for books I can read for a head start
 
Just sent in mine as well, next day express. They should get it tomorrow at noon.
 
I just wanted to say congratulations to those of you who will be attending LECOM-B. I graduated in 2008. Currently, I am in my 3rd year of residency in radiology. LECOM-B did a fantastic job preparing me for both rotations and residency. PBL is definitely the way to go. Trust the process, put in the work and feel secure knowing you are getting a great education.

Best of luck!
 
I was wondering how much funds I should come in with when I get to LECOM. I know that it takes a little time for loans to come in. I am thinking that I should have enough for the rent deposit and first months rent. Is there any other financial burden I should look into like books and such, or do most people wait until the loan money comes in to make those purchases. What do you guys think? What is a good ballpark figure in terms of a start up funds when coming to LECOM?
 
You need 1 book to start. Anatomy - Netters.
 
What about other stuff like health insurance and the likes
 
"What about health insurance and others?"

I'm sorry it was 7 years ago and I can't remember what I did for health insurance. Contact the school they definitely will be able to answer that question.
 
WhocaresMD said:
I was wondering how much funds I should come in with when I get to LECOM. I know that it takes a little time for loans to come in. I am thinking that I should have enough for the rent deposit and first months rent. Is there any other financial burden I should look into like books and such, or do most people wait until the loan money comes in to make those purchases. What do you guys think? What is a good ballpark figure in terms of a start up funds when coming to LECOM?
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You need enough to last you 2 weeks into the first semester, when your financial aid check comes in. What you need to get you there depends on you, and when you're going to come down here. There's the cost of moving, your deposit, rent for part of July and all of August, money for groceries and any furniture you want before school starts, and probably you'll want something set aside for a drink or two with your new classmates.

If you're doing the school's insurance, it's taken out of your financial aid check.

The school will send you the book list in May/June if history is any guide. They change books every year, so wait until you get that before you buy. The first day, you'll probably want whichever anatomy text they decide to use, an anatomy atlas, and probably the histology book. They'll tell you that you need ALL the books for your first PBL session, but you could probably get by borrowing books from people & checking out of the library until you get your financial aid--so long as all of your classmates don't have the same idea.
 
I'm in also!! See you all in July!! :)

Wondering if current students could comment on rotations in florida, particularly Tampa or Orlando?
 
Any current students or someone you know worked through the first two years of medical school here? Wonder if this is doable, or even allowed for that matter. I wouldn't think of trying it during anatomy, but what about after? I'd probably cap my max hours a week at 24.
 
I know of two students personally doing it at UFCOM. Its doable but I wont try it with PBL curriculum, too much reading from what I have heard from current students.
 
EpiDoc10 said:
I'm in also!! See you all in July!! :)

Wondering if current students could comment on rotations in florida, particularly Tampa or Orlando?
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There are four spots at Florida East Hospital in Orlando for year-long rotations during 3rd year. Beyond that, I know of one person who's setting up rotations in Orlando outside of that process. USF pretty much has a lock on Tampa itself, but there are yearlongs in Brandon (suburb east of Tampa), plus semi-yearlongs in Largo (southwest of Tampa) and other rotations in St. Pete (next to Largo).

Our rotations are not completely finalized yet, but as things stand most people I know got most of what they wanted. The good thing is that you have so much freedom. The bad thing is that you have so much freedom, a lot of the work of arranging rotations falls on you and your classmates, and the process is generally a cluster****. Upperclassmen could fill you in more about the rotations themselves, which vary pretty widely by location.

MLT2MT2DO said:
Any current students or someone you know worked through the first two years of medical school here? Wonder if this is doable, or even allowed for that matter. I wouldn't think of trying it during anatomy, but what about after? I'd probably cap my max hours a week at 24.
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During anatomy, definitely don't. After that, I wouldn't recommend it but if you really, really want to spend what little free time you have working a job that won't make a dent in your loans and won't add anything substantial to your residency application, you probably could. But even if you're the kind of person who could do well in school while working, 24 hours a week is almost certainly too much.

I know of 2 people who've worked outside of school: one was a bartender (and I don't think he does it any more) and the other is a nurse practitioner who has worked a few shifts at an urgent care. I also know 3 people who work in the library evenings and weekends, and that's probably the most practical job you could have, since you can sit and study much of the time you're there. In general though, most people, including me, have decided it's not worth it.

There was a crazy dude (I think he graduated last year) who taught anatomy at a community college his first two years here... so I'm not saying you can't do it, but the sacrifices you have to make aren't worth it for most people. Even if you're set on working during school, don't make the decision to do it before you get here and see what the pace and the atmosphere are like, and how you respond to them.
 
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Altruist said:
During anatomy, definitely don't. After that, I wouldn't recommend it but if you really, really want to spend what little free time you have working a job that won't make a dent in your loans and won't add anything substantial to your residency application, you probably could. But even if you're the kind of person who could do well in school while working, 24 hours a week is almost certainly too much.

I know of 2 people who've worked outside of school: one was a bartender (and I don't think he does it any more) and the other is a nurse practitioner who has worked a few shifts at an urgent care. I also know 3 people who work in the library evenings and weekends, and that's probably the most practical job you could have, since you can sit and study much of the time you're there. In general though, most people, including me, have decided it's not worth it.

There was a crazy dude (I think he graduated last year) who taught anatomy at a community college his first two years here... so I'm not saying you can't do it, but the sacrifices you have to make aren't worth it for most people. Even if you're set on working during school, don't make the decision to do it before you get here and see what the pace and the atmosphere are like, and how you respond to them.
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Yeah, I wouldn't secure a job until I knew I could handle the workload just fine. I was asking because for my job I would have to apply for a FL state liscenses. If I did work it'd be in a lab part time, probably weekend/evenings where it was slow enough and they wouldn't mind me studying...if this situation didn't exist I wouldn't do it. If I logged ~20 hours a week I could resonably bring in 15k after taxes and that is about half the price of tuition.

I was just curious of any stories, thanks for the heads up. More than likely I'll just concnetrate on my studies and enjoy life with my wife as residency will take away time with her?
 
Hmm...got another question for current students or anyone else from around the Bradenton/Lakewood Ranch/Sarasota area. Does anyone know of condo's/townhomes where 4 pets are allowed. My wife and I have 2 cats and 2 dogs (small breeds), and all apartment complexes seem to have a "only 2 pets allowed" policy, even though our pets are cleaner and quieter than most any kids.

The last thing we want to have to do is give our two cats away to the mother-in-law. Is renting a home going to be our only option?
 
Does anyone know the start date for orientation/classes? I was trying to find a 2011-2012 academic calendar online, but no relevant results.

Thanks.
 
mastamind518 said:
Does anyone know the start date for orientation/classes?
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If they keep things as they've been, 1st years will have pre-or (come get your ID picture taken and make sure your paperwork is all set) on July 21st-22nd. You only have to be there one of those days, and only have to stay until all your stuff is done. Classes for 1st years will probably start July 25th, and August 1st for 2nd years.

Wait until they give you the official schedule before you make definite plans, but this should give you some idea of what you're looking at.
 
mastamind518 said:
Does anyone know the start date for orientation/classes? I was trying to find a 2011-2012 academic calendar online, but no relevant results.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Registration begins July 21st for last names A-M and July 22nd for N-Z
Classes and orientation begins the 25th.
 
Fellow Class of '2015-ers, I'll see you there! Very excited to be accepted to LECOM-B.
I'm mostly concerned right now about getting financial aid going - I've got my FAFSA all ready, but do people generally start the process sooner than now? Are any of you just getting started? Any tips?

Also, I'd rather live in a house myself w/ a couple of other people - so if anyone is interested, feel free to PM me. Any 3rd/4th years who will be renting their house/condo?

Congrats, fellow classmates :D
 
Fellow 2015ers, congratulations! I can't wait to join you all in the near future. I am currently in the midst of preparing my matriculation packet.

I was wondering if any 2015ers would be interested in being roommates and splitting an apartment (preferably male roommate, because that is what I am familiar with-and yes I am a guy) . If so, please PM me, I would really appreciate it!

Again, congrats to everyone.
 
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Congrats everyone! I will most likely be joining you at bradenton for the 2015 school year. Once I've made my decision on where to go I will definitely be looking for roommates who want to live in a nice place. Look forward to meeting all of you!
 
I was just accepted and am looking to find a potential roommate. Preferably in Colonial Grand or Yacht Club, but I'm open to a house or something with more roommates. PM me if anyone is interested! Congratulations everyone!
 
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