Hello,
I'm a current first year at Lecom-SH, and I decided to take a break from my studies to check out SDN (haven't looked at this in 6 months and it's so strange to be the one offering advice now...).
I'm from Chicago but I attended USC, so I understand your anxieties about the East Coast weather. LA has spoiled me to the point where I can't see myself living anywhere else besides SoCal, so I'll make my way back there one day. The weather in Greensburg is mild compared to what I was used to in Chicago. It's not as windy or cold, and when it snows, they do a great job plowing the roads and street leading up to our school on the hill.
I know a bunch of my classmates who use Macs and IPADs during lecture and PBL sessions. Our IT guy at Lecom may not be an expert with Mac, so maybe that's the only reason why they are discouraging it.
One of my classmates owns a dog and lives in/near downtown Greensburg, so if you look really hard, I hope you can find a pet-friendly place. I'm currently living with 3 classmates in a house/duplex owned by the Greensburg YMCA. Rent is dirt cheap for me = $300/mo., no annual contract, and furnishing and all utilities paid for . I love my location because it's walking distance to the Seton Hill shuttle that takes you right up the hill to school. But most people pay about $500-600 a month for a 1 bedroom apartment.
Yes, from what I've heard, commuting from Pitt would be terrible for 1st years. Most of my classmates live in the area or in Monroeville. Your first semester, you will be swamped with Embryo/Histo crash courses (first 3 weeks), Anatomy (Aug-mid October), PBL, OMM, HP, and occasional electives like EKG and Healthcare management. So you'll pretty much need to be on campus 5 days a week with some 3 day weekends every now and then.
We're in our 2nd semester now, and our schedule is so much better! PBL 2 hours per day M/W/F....OMM and lab 3 hours on Tue, and HP and lab 3 hours on Thursday. We just finished our intro Path elective (independent studying) and all of our PBL cases for the first exam which will be on Feb 21st. So that means we'll only have class on Tue and Th for the next 3 weeks! I feel much more relaxed now without Anatomy and doing case studies with PBL is really awesome.
Regarding Anatomy, our class scored 528 on the National Shelf exam compared with the national average of 494 for MD/DO schools. Most med schools don't really put much emphasis on this exam so maybe that's why the national avg is lower. However, you really will learn so much with Anatomy if you put in the crazy amount of effort (yes, even without cadavers).
Lastly, I highly encourage everyone to read the first few chapters in both Histo and Embryo before you start school. Those courses will hit you hard, you will only help yourself if you can start beforehand. If you need any other advice about anything, please feel free to let me know! Congrats, and good luck!
I'm a current first year at Lecom-SH, and I decided to take a break from my studies to check out SDN (haven't looked at this in 6 months and it's so strange to be the one offering advice now...).
I'm from Chicago but I attended USC, so I understand your anxieties about the East Coast weather. LA has spoiled me to the point where I can't see myself living anywhere else besides SoCal, so I'll make my way back there one day. The weather in Greensburg is mild compared to what I was used to in Chicago. It's not as windy or cold, and when it snows, they do a great job plowing the roads and street leading up to our school on the hill.
I know a bunch of my classmates who use Macs and IPADs during lecture and PBL sessions. Our IT guy at Lecom may not be an expert with Mac, so maybe that's the only reason why they are discouraging it.
One of my classmates owns a dog and lives in/near downtown Greensburg, so if you look really hard, I hope you can find a pet-friendly place. I'm currently living with 3 classmates in a house/duplex owned by the Greensburg YMCA. Rent is dirt cheap for me = $300/mo., no annual contract, and furnishing and all utilities paid for . I love my location because it's walking distance to the Seton Hill shuttle that takes you right up the hill to school. But most people pay about $500-600 a month for a 1 bedroom apartment.
Yes, from what I've heard, commuting from Pitt would be terrible for 1st years. Most of my classmates live in the area or in Monroeville. Your first semester, you will be swamped with Embryo/Histo crash courses (first 3 weeks), Anatomy (Aug-mid October), PBL, OMM, HP, and occasional electives like EKG and Healthcare management. So you'll pretty much need to be on campus 5 days a week with some 3 day weekends every now and then.
We're in our 2nd semester now, and our schedule is so much better! PBL 2 hours per day M/W/F....OMM and lab 3 hours on Tue, and HP and lab 3 hours on Thursday. We just finished our intro Path elective (independent studying) and all of our PBL cases for the first exam which will be on Feb 21st. So that means we'll only have class on Tue and Th for the next 3 weeks! I feel much more relaxed now without Anatomy and doing case studies with PBL is really awesome.
Regarding Anatomy, our class scored 528 on the National Shelf exam compared with the national average of 494 for MD/DO schools. Most med schools don't really put much emphasis on this exam so maybe that's why the national avg is lower. However, you really will learn so much with Anatomy if you put in the crazy amount of effort (yes, even without cadavers).
Lastly, I highly encourage everyone to read the first few chapters in both Histo and Embryo before you start school. Those courses will hit you hard, you will only help yourself if you can start beforehand. If you need any other advice about anything, please feel free to let me know! Congrats, and good luck!