LECOM Bradenton Discussion Thread 2011-2012

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Just a quick question about the portal's status pre-interview:

Is there a difference between "Your file is under review by the Admissions Committee. We will notify you as soon as a decision has been made." and "Your application is under review"?

A bit neurotic, but I'm trying to decipher if one message is more probable for an interview invite than the other.

Thanks in advance!
 
I really want to attend LECOM Bradenton, however, my MCAT scores were not good at all. I got a 21. Should I finish my application and state that I am retaking it? Is it too late? I have volunteering work, and have shadowed a DO.
 
interviewed on 10/3 just got the alternate letter. I thought the interview went well and my stats I thought were competitive (29M, 3.7sGPA, 3.4cGPA) I was really digging this school and the PBL also, kinda sux.

Congrats to all those who were accepted
 
Does anyone know what the apartments being built across from LECOM are called or when they will be finished? Also, for those who are going to matriculate for the c/o 2016, we should start a facebook page! Congrats to everyone who have been accepted!
 
got a letter in the mail from LECOM... no interview 🙁
good luck to you all
 
Does anyone know what the apartments being built across from LECOM are called or when they will be finished? Also, for those who are going to matriculate for the c/o 2016, we should start a facebook page! Congrats to everyone who have been accepted!

www.mylostcreekapartment.com



Apartment Living made Simple and Elegant
11140 Lost Creek Terrace www.MyLostCreekApartment.com
Bradenton, FL 34211 www.facebook.com/LostCreekResort
Phone Number (941) 567-4008 Text Number (941) 301-8567
Rental Rates
The Maverick without balcony: 877 sq. ft. $950.00
1 Bed/1 Bath balcony not available
The Sundance without balcony: 877 sq. ft. $950.00
1 Bed/1 Bath with balcony: 942 sq.ft. $990.00
The Bowie without balcony: 1,142 sq. ft. $1,150.00
2 Bed/2 Bath with balcony: 1,206 sq.ft. $1,190.00
The Dillon without balcony: 1,142 sq. ft. $1,150.00
2 Bed/2 Bath with balcony: 1,206 sq.ft. $1,190.00
The Remington without balcony: 1,374 sq. ft. $1,450.00
3 Bed/3 Bath with balcony: 1,439 sq.ft. $1,490.00
Deposits and Fees
Move-In Package (non-refundable after 72 hours)………..…….………………………..…$299.00
Includes app fees for 2 people (additional apps $25 per person), administration fee, and $150 refundable security deposit
Pet Fee………………………………$300 per pet non-refundable plus $20 per month, limit 2 pets
Breed restrictions include, but are not limited to, Pit Bulls, Dobermans, Rottweiler's, Chows, and German Shepherds
Gate Card Deposit/Fee……………………$50 for 1st card ($25 refundable with return of all cards)
$25 all additional cards, non-refundable

Premiums
First Floor: $40.00 monthly Storage (optional): $30.00 per month
Location/View: $20.00 monthly Garages (optional): $100.00 per month
Non-Smoking Buildings: Buildings 8 and 9
Residents are responsible for Electric, Phone, Internet, Cable, Trash and Water/Sewer.
Full Size Washer and Dryer Included!
Prices and Specials are subject to change without notice. 08-1-2011
 
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For those who are here for the 10/17/11 interview, I'm staying at the Wingate and open for dinner plans if anyone's interested.

Send a message, I'll keep my computer on.

Otherwise, Good Luck!
 
LECOM-B 3rd year here... I was a paramedic in my past life, and here's my opinion on learning skills the first 2 years: Meh.

I know everybody wants to get in there and do stuff, but skills are far from the most important thing to cram into the pre-clinical years. As Digitl says, the first two years are best spent hitting the books and learning to do a good H&P (and the specialty exams like eye/neuro/musculoskel/etc). Then, in 3rd year, you're expected to know how to do an H&P well, and they'll guide you through the skills as they come (and if, based on your H&P's & demeanor, you seem to be able to doctor your way out of a paper bag). If you think somebody's going to hand you a laryngoscope in the hall on your first day of 3rd year and say, "Go intubate this lady for me--I'll be in the break room if you have any questions," then med school will be a little different from how you've imagined it. Your first few skills (even with prior experience) are likely to be be heavily supervised.

The EM club has IV arms and an intubation dummy; and they've put on skills clinics the past couple of years to introduce all the 2nd years to IV's, intubation, etc. The surgical club runs suture clinics every year, and last year did a "intro to sterile technique & scrubbing in" clinic as well. If you take advantage of these opportunities, you'll have a good, basic intro to the most important skills to know for 3rd year. In a perfect world, there would be more formal instruction in skills, but given that there's only a certain amount of time, that's time that would come at the expense of something else. (When you have an exam coming up, anything else you have to do--even a 20-minute encounter with a standardized patient--is a mildly annoying distraction, especially if you like to study at home and have to come back to campus just for that.)

Incidentally, last spring, the school entered into some kind of agreement with a college in Sarasota that opened up a skills lab for their nursing program. My understanding was that LECOM students would get to go over there a few times, and in return the nursing students would get to see some of our standard patients; but I haven't kept up with the on-campus news, what with all the H&P's I've been doing.

Specifically relating to defibs and intubations, you will go through BCLS (CPR & AED) in first year and ACLS at the end of second year, so you'll be introduced to those things and even get a couple of wallet cards to prove it. 🙂

Any questions, let me know. Good luck to all of you applying.


Since you were already a paramedic (as am I) before getting into medical school and had the certifications, did you have to sit through the whole classes again or could you just do a refresher? Just curious. 🙂
 
Can Any LECOM-B Students please pitch into this question.

How is LECOM-B in terms of student integration? When I interviewed, I felt that many of the students had a repetitive schedule of going to PBL, going to a lab and then going home to study. Then repeat again and again. Do students get to know each other by after hours group studying, hanging out? Does the offer of student affairs promote student unity in any way?

Also, How is the town of Bradenton? Since I only had two days, I didn't get a chance to explore much. I tried looking for restaurants (like outback, chilis, etc.) and ended up with BK. Are there movie theaters? Night life?

The curriculum looks great and the school is my prime choice but I'm just a little curious about what there is outside of the curriculum. I see that there is a lot of work (which there should be), but how is the play?

Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!

I have lived in Bradenton all my life and unfortunately there is not much in terms of night life. There are a couple decent bars downtown, but that's about 25 minutes from the LECOM campus. There is one country bar with music and line dancing about 35 minutes from the campus. There are Applebee's on SR 64, SR 70 and University Parkway which are all close. Needless to say this is not a big area. We do have movie theaters, LWR is the closest to LECOM and the ticket prices and snacks are cheaper 🙂. If you need to know anything else about the area feel free to ask. I am hoping in the near future I will be where you guys are 🙂 Good Luck
 
Since you were already a paramedic (as am I) before getting into medical school and had the certifications, did you have to sit through the whole classes again or could you just do a refresher? Just curious. 🙂

I wouldn't worry too much about the skills. As a 4th year, having gone through most of the clinical side of medicine, I can say that you will rarely have to do that many "skills".

You will get PLENTY of practice at suturing during your surgery and ER rotations. Plenty of injection practice during FM and Peds. Hardly anyone does a central line anymore without radiology guidance, pretty much all the hospitals I worked at had special teams for things like that. You can set up IV's if you want, but it's usually left for the nurses or the IV team, if it's a hard stick. You'll do a lot of minor procedures, but they're mostly so easy that a trained monkey could do them, or they're a minor variation on a more complicated procedure. If you're a go-getter you'll probably get plenty of chances to practice intubation on your surgery rotation too (I did it a bunch).

My advice is to spend the first two years on what they're for: Basic Sciences. Put the clinical stuff out of your mind temporarily and focus on the stupid biochem pathways and other crap you'll never have to know, except for step 1.


I have lived in Bradenton all my life and unfortunately there is not much in terms of night life. There are a couple decent bars downtown, but that's about 25 minutes from the LECOM campus. There is one country bar with music and line dancing about 35 minutes from the campus. There are Applebee's on SR 64, SR 70 and University Parkway which are all close. Needless to say this is not a big area. We do have movie theaters, LWR is the closest to LECOM and the ticket prices and snacks are cheaper 🙂. If you need to know anything else about the area feel free to ask. I am hoping in the near future I will be where you guys are 🙂 Good Luck

I never felt like we lacked for stuff to do. My class was very social with each other. There are a number of bars/restaurants in LWR that are plenty of fun if you're with a group of friends. If you want to go dancing, there are some ok places downtown. I hear it's not a great place for the singles "pick-up" scene, but does anyone seriously want that...

We had plenty of group outings at the beach, each other's houses (probably the funnest option, honestly), local bars/restaurants, etc. Occasional special trips up to Tampa or Orlando on the weekend. Baseball, football, hockey, basketball, etc. I always felt like there wasn't enough time to do all the things we wanted to do!
 
Interviewing here on October 31st!

I was wondering if someone could direct me to more information about the types of questions they ask in interviews?

Also, information about how interview day was in general? I still haven't received a schedule for the day!

And...I am also curious as to whether choosing to defer your decision until December will hurt your chances or not?
 
Interviewing here on October 31st!

I was wondering if someone could direct me to more information about the types of questions they ask in interviews?

Also, information about how interview day was in general? I still haven't received a schedule for the day!

And...I am also curious as to whether choosing to defer your decision until December will hurt your chances or not?

The interviews (1x single and 1x group) are pretty relaxed. I don't think there are really any "difficult" interview questions to worry about and it didn't seem to me like they had any specific questions they were working through. I was asked a couple things like "why medicine", "how do you handle stress", etc. Pretty straightforward stuff, which I appreciate.

My schedule was this:
Start out with a brief introduction to the school
Break out for 1 on 1 interviews
Go watch a PBL session for an hour
Group Interview (maybe 8 or so people in a group, can't remember)
Meet up to talk about financial aid type stuff
Lunch with a couple current students.

My regret about the day was that you didn't get to watch the PBL session first, which would have changed what I would have said during my personal interview. I really liked what I saw in PBL and didn't feel I was necessarily a good fit for the school until the session, which is something I wanted to let them know about but since my interview was already done it was too late. I was accepted though, which means they thought I was a good fit anyway. 😀

Still though, overall a very relaxed atmosphere IMO.
 
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Thank you Loudster! That was really helpful!

For those of you that have interviewed- I'm trying to make a decision about whether to defer my admissions decision until December or to ask to hear right away. I have a question about their process for asking this question.

Do they ask verbally, or do you write it down?

I would imagine that if you write it down...and the admissions committee is completely fair...they could make their decision about you BEFORE looking at your decision.
But, if they ask it verbally at the end of the interview, it may be that they are trying to see your interest level in the school.

Just a thought! But I'd appreciate any feedback about this issue!
 
Thank you Loudster! That was really helpful!

For those of you that have interviewed- I'm trying to make a decision about whether to defer my admissions decision until December or to ask to hear right away. I have a question about their process for asking this question.

Do they ask verbally, or do you write it down?

I would imagine that if you write it down...and the admissions committee is completely fair...they could make their decision about you BEFORE looking at your decision.
But, if they ask it verbally at the end of the interview, it may be that they are trying to see your interest level in the school.

Just a thought! But I'd appreciate any feedback about this issue!


You write it down. And no, they look at what you choose before making their decision because if you choose to defer they will put your file away until December, THEN look at you to decide (when seats are more limited, but they did indicate that the class is 'nowhere near full' at that point)
 
There are plenty of people in my class that were accepted after the new year, so I wouldn't worry too much about deferring the decision. It will be a little more limited but there are still going to be a bunch of spots open.
 
I was accepted at Erie. I would rather go to Bradenton. Any thoughts about me calling Bradenton and asking what I can do to have an acceptance versus a waitlist?
 
Interview tomorrow Oct 24th! I'm really excited, I've been reading what they sent me about PBL and from the website. Not sure what I think about the area but Clearwater and Tampa aren't far away. Definitely can't argue with the weather though, people are complaining that it is too cold at 65 degrees +pity+.
 
I was accepted at Erie. I would rather go to Bradenton. Any thoughts about me calling Bradenton and asking what I can do to have an acceptance versus a waitlist?

It probably won't do you any good. For most purposes(including almost everything with admissions) they operate as 2 different schools.
 
whats up guys.. im interviewing this friday. anyone else on here gna be there?
 
It probably won't do you any good. For most purposes(including almost everything with admissions) they operate as 2 different schools.

That's not what my assumption is... it's that I am wondering if it is worth calling bradenton to see if I can do something to get off the waitlist...
 
That's not what my assumption is... it's that I am wondering if it is worth calling bradenton to see if I can do something to get off the waitlist...

I doubt it would help...but I guess you could try...

I would at least let them know how interested and serious you are, and stay in touch.

Keep some hope though, a good number of people do get in off the wait list...
 
I'm not giving up an acceptance to Erie for a maybe at Bradenton. That is stupid. I either can do something to get off the waitlist now, or I go to Erie. Until I had the acceptance, I had some time to work with, now I don't. I would prefer to live in FL for 2 years and have way more flexibility in my rotations, but in is in. I'm not risking my acceptance unless I have a solid acceptance somewhere else...
 
I'm not giving up an acceptance to Erie for a maybe at Bradenton. That is stupid. I either can do something to get off the waitlist now, or I go to Erie. Until I had the acceptance, I had some time to work with, now I don't. I would prefer to live in FL for 2 years and have way more flexibility in my rotations, but in is in. I'm not risking my acceptance unless I have a solid acceptance somewhere else...

Oh no, definitely don't do that. But, if you get accepted to Bradenton, you can always drop your Erie acceptance later, if/when that happens.

Good luck!
 
And throw out 1500$... Not sure I want to do that either!
 
Regarding the choice to find out your admissions status in December or 1 week, if you want to find out in 1 week instead is it like early decision where you have to accept their offer and pay the $1500 deposit regardless?
 
waitlisted 9/13/2011

didn't like PBL after sitting in on a session

guess it showed during my interview
 
They will let you transfer money from one branch to another. I did it last year.

Ohhhhh, Fricken sweet! Is that something commonly done or is that something I'm going to have to fight about?
 
Ohhhhh, Fricken sweet! Is that something commonly done or is that something I'm going to have to fight about?

They didn't put up a fight about it with me. I had paid my erie deposit by the time I got a decision from bradenton and they told me they would just drop my spot in erie and transfer the deposit to bradenton.
 
They didn't put up a fight about it with me. I had paid my erie deposit by the time I got a decision from bradenton and they told me they would just drop my spot in erie and transfer the deposit to bradenton.

Hope that holds true for me! Hopefully I get off the waitlist!
 
waitlisted 9/13/2011

didn't like PBL after sitting in on a session

guess it showed during my interview

Fail. What didn't you like about it? I guess my take is, like it or not, there is very good evidence that it works. LECOM-B has been near or at the top of the board scores list since it's second year of being open, so the way they do PBL works.

You do realize that very little of your learning takes place during the PBL session, right?
 
hi guys, congrats on your acceptance.

Question: how long did it take LECOM-B to email you whether or not you are getting an interview after you submit your secondary? It's been almost a couple weeks for me, and I am getting a little nervous! Thanks
 
I called today to see what I should send for a LOI, to try to get off the waitlist, and wow... disappointed in the admissions staff. I hope the committee gives my app a more thorough review than the woman I spoke with. I was NOT impressed in her response, or her attitude. She was snippy, she clearly doesn't understand how to read an application, and just doesn't impress me... She implied that I've only worked part-time in retail, and I said "no, I worked two jobs full-time in biotech and part-time in retail, while taking courses, and pulling in high scores." She said "oh, well then I guess your LOI should reiterate your commitment to being a physician" umm... thanks... I am glad that I have other info to base my decision on, if it was solely on her, I'd walk... I'm also happy that once I'm admitted I probably won't have to deal with her!
 
I called today to see what I should send for a LOI, to try to get off the waitlist, and wow... disappointed in the admissions staff. I hope the committee gives my app a more thorough review than the woman I spoke with. I was NOT impressed in her response, or her attitude. She was snippy, she clearly doesn't understand how to read an application, and just doesn't impress me... She implied that I've only worked part-time in retail, and I said "no, I worked two jobs full-time in biotech and part-time in retail, while taking courses, and pulling in high scores." She said "oh, well then I guess your LOI should reiterate your commitment to being a physician" umm... thanks... I am glad that I have other info to base my decision on, if it was solely on her, I'd walk... I'm also happy that once I'm admitted I probably won't have to deal with her!

Hmm. The lady who did admissions when I came in 4 years ago was awesome, but is no longer there. That being said, you have almost zero contact with the admissions staff after admission, so it doesn't really matter too much how grumpy they are...

I'm not sure how much input the admissions coordinator has really. I know the last lady got a very small amount of pull after many years there, but she was something special. I doubt the current person has that much contact with the actual applications. She probably just answers emails and phone calls, and contacts people selected for an interview. She may not even have seen your application prior to your call...who knows...

Personally, I don't know how much a LOI really helps. I think some friendly emails saying how much you loved the program probably go farther, honestly. As long as they know that you're sincerely VERY interested in the program, and they actually WANT you to be there, that's all that really matters.

If they don't want you there, I doubt any LOI is going to change that. So all you can really do is inform them that you want to be there, and let them make their own decisions from there.

This whole process (and residency apps are only marginally better) is such a 100% crap shoot. You just have to trust that you'll wind up at the place where you're meant to, when you're meant to. When we came down here, LECOM-B was my 3rd choice (after my #1 state MD school where I didn't even get an interview, and my #2 state MD school where I was waitlisted). Although it was a close race between #2 and Lecom-B. Now, this was CLEARLY the right choice. The other places simply weren't right for me, and I'm soooo happy they didn't work out. Whether is was luck, guidance, or the schools themselves seeing something in our relationship that I didn't doesn't really matter. It worked out amazingly well in the end.

Good luck!!!
 
Fail. What didn't you like about it? I guess my take is, like it or not, there is very good evidence that it works. LECOM-B has been near or at the top of the board scores list since it's second year of being open, so the way they do PBL works.

You do realize that very little of your learning takes place during the PBL session, right?

Not wanting to risk stepping on anyone's toes, I'll rather keep this general. Every applicant needs to determine his/her learning style. After dealing with the administration, visiting the campus, sitting in on a PBL session, finding out more info about all the rules, and talking with the students, I realized that the school *probably* wasn't going to be a good fit for me.

The main issue is that there's only PBL here. There's no option to switch into LDP if someone changes their mind.
 
Well, I've changed jobs since this interview, and I changed into a CHC, I think that's a big issue. So, a LOI, might help, but I know you're right, maybe it helps, maybe it doesn't! I have an acceptance, so I'm going to be a Dr... and that's all I care about 😉
 
I called today to see what I should send for a LOI, to try to get off the waitlist, and wow... disappointed in the admissions staff. I hope the committee gives my app a more thorough review than the woman I spoke with. I was NOT impressed in her response, or her attitude. She was snippy, she clearly doesn't understand how to read an application, and just doesn't impress me... She implied that I've only worked part-time in retail, and I said "no, I worked two jobs full-time in biotech and part-time in retail, while taking courses, and pulling in high scores." She said "oh, well then I guess your LOI should reiterate your commitment to being a physician" umm... thanks... I am glad that I have other info to base my decision on, if it was solely on her, I'd walk... I'm also happy that once I'm admitted I probably won't have to deal with her!

I think I talked to the same lady today. She does not sound happy and does not have the common courtesy to work in an admissions office
 
As of right now, I CANCELLED my interview for 10/31/2011 (this monday). If anyone wants the spot for this upcoming monday, you can take mine. Good Luck :luck:
 
Not wanting to risk stepping on anyone's toes, I'll rather keep this general. Every applicant needs to determine his/her learning style. After dealing with the administration, visiting the campus, sitting in on a PBL session, finding out more info about all the rules, and talking with the students, I realized that the school *probably* wasn't going to be a good fit for me.

The main issue is that there's only PBL here. There's no option to switch into LDP if someone changes their mind.

I think he was coming more from the you only didn't like it because you weren't accepted angle. I'm not going to name names but I have seen a few people talk about how much they love a school and how awesome it was after the interview, but when they get the WL or rejection then all of a sudden its "that school wasn't right for me" and "it wasn't high on my list anyway" and that kind of thing. I'm not saying thats what happened with you, but I think thats where digital was coming from.
 
I think he was coming more from the you only didn't like it because you weren't accepted angle. I'm not going to name names but I have seen a few people talk about how much they love a school and how awesome it was after the interview, but when they get the WL or rejection then all of a sudden its "that school wasn't right for me" and "it wasn't high on my list anyway" and that kind of thing. I'm not saying thats what happened with you, but I think thats where digital was coming from.

ah I completely understand. I believe I remember who you're referring to. At least for me, it wasn't like that. I attended the interview with an open-mind about PBL and the school, despite some of the negative aspects posted on SDN.

The PBL session was before the group interview, and by then, I had already felt that PBL probably wasn't the best fit for me. Without LDP available, I wasn't going to risk this. So, I basically just loosened myself up during the group interview. I went with completely honest answers to the ethical questions, regardless if the interviewers would respond negatively.
 
I think he was coming more from the you only didn't like it because you weren't accepted angle...I'm not saying thats what happened with you, but I think thats where digital was coming from.

Oh, not at all. I'm really just curious what you didn't like about PBL specifically.

ah I completely understand. I believe I remember who you're referring to. At least for me, it wasn't like that. I attended the interview with an open-mind about PBL and the school, despite some of the negative aspects posted on SDN.

The PBL session was before the group interview, and by then, I had already felt that PBL probably wasn't the best fit for me. Without LDP available, I wasn't going to risk this. So, I basically just loosened myself up during the group interview. I went with completely honest answers to the ethical questions, regardless if the interviewers would respond negatively.

Not wanting to risk stepping on anyone's toes, I'll rather keep this general. Every applicant needs to determine his/her learning style. After dealing with the administration, visiting the campus, sitting in on a PBL session, finding out more info about all the rules, and talking with the students, I realized that the school *probably* wasn't going to be a good fit for me.

The main issue is that there's only PBL here. There's no option to switch into LDP if someone changes their mind.

I definitely think everyone needs to pick the place (and curriculum) that is the best fit for them. I'm just curious about why you don't think PBL is for you. Mostly because it's a foreign concept to me to want to sit in lecture instead, hahaha...but also because I want to see if you got a good perception of how it works from that little group.

It's very easy to be intimidated by PBL. Most people have never learned that way before, so it's quite a change. Despite this, pretty much everyone has adapted by the end of 1st semester, and by the end, most of us can't imagine going back to the "old way" of doing this.

I was lucky, in that I had some PBL during my Organic Chemistry class, so I already knew it worked for me (although that was "guided PBL" and a bit more structured that LECOM-B's system, which I personally prefer, but I subscribe to the "don't fix it if it ain't broke" school of thought, and LECOM-B is crushing everyone else in board scores, so...). Incidentally, my orgo teacher was doing research on the different methods, and found that students who learned Orgo using her PBL curriculum learned more, and RETAINED the knowledge at a MUCH higher rate than the students in the lecture curriculum. Much of the education literature agrees with this, so it's not surprising to those who study education.

Anyways, I'd love to hear your thoughts on why it wasn't for you. Not expecting to change your mind, just curious!
 
Anyways, I'd love to hear your thoughts on why it wasn't for you. Not expecting to change your mind, just curious!

If you want, I can PM you with the specifics.

It's ironic though, because LECOM-Erie assigned me PBL, even though I marked LDP as my #1 choice :laugh:
 
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