LECOM-Seton Hill or reapply?

[886]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

.

 

[Goro]

If you're a good self-learner/studier, then go for it. A bird in the hand, after all, is worth...

You apparently have displayed a good talent for turning a silk purse (your SMP performance) in a sow's ear (poor interview skills). Unless you can fix the latter, it seems to be a big risk to me to throw away an acceptance. There will be plenty of people only too happy to take your seat.

Did you know LECOM/SH's negatives before you interviewed?

I was in an SMP this past year that had very high linkage to their MD program. I did excellently in the program but one of my two interviews at the end of the year was iffy and I wound up low waitlisted. I applied to several DO schools during the year and ended up interviewing at 3, and accepted at two (rejected at the other). I wasn't really crazy about either of the two schools (LECOM-SH and Touro-NY) that accepted me but ended up paying the deposit for LECOM-SH around december. I applied to 10 other MD schools very late (around November/December) and got 1 interview and waitlist.

Around January I was thinking about going to some of my other DO interviews, but my mom said it would be a waste of money to travel to other interviews and spend more on deposits when I already was in somewhere and had a safety net. I honestly did not feel like traveling to other interviews and felt really confident about getting into this MD school so I foolishly let her talk me out of it.

For background info, I finished undergrad in 3 years with a 3.18 gpa, and ended up spending a year in a master's program designed for premed GPA boosting (it was NOT an SMP) and got a 4.0 in it, finishing in 2011. During a very sloppy application cycle, from Jan-March of 2012 I interviewed at 5 DO schools, and got 3 rejections, 1 hold and 1 waitlist. I did not attend another 3 interviews that I received nor did I apply to any MD schools. Knowing my numbers were still low for MD, I decided to take a leap of faith and attend an SMP that had very high acceptance rate into the MD school. I researched the program before hand, talked to students, and found out that those that did not get into the MD program either had low grades in the classes, very low MCAT, DUI, or no faculty LOR. None of these wound up being the case for me.

I have extremely high stats (with grade replacement, 3.6 UG and 3.9 Grad, 33 mcat) for DO schools. I decided to submit AACOMAS a few days ago incase I decide to reapply. However I am terrified of still not getting in due to interviews, and I am worried that the two master's programs might look like a red flag. My father cautioned me that I will be risking a medical career if I choose to turn this acceptance down and reapply.

I am now in $65k of debt and in between a rock and a hard place. It has honestly been the most upsetting and devastating experience not getting into this MD school after putting in so much work and sacrifice and feeling so close (not to mention nearly all of my friends got in). But at the same time, I am very worried about the risk not getting into another school next year and still being stuck with the debt. And just my luck, this is one of only 4 DO schools that does NOT allow deferrals.

LECOM SH

Pros-
Doctor in 4 years
be able to defer and eventually pay off loans
low tuition/fees and COA

cons-
-questionable quality of education, both preclinical and clinical
-poor to lukewarm reviews from students
-would graduate before likely 2018 merger/combined match? (not sure if this is a con or not)
-strange process for setting up clinical rotations (unlike most schools that seem to use "lotteries") that students do not seem to like
-rules galore
-you have to do a lot on your own at this school
-not sure if I will be happy at this school

Reapply

pros-
be able to reapply to MD and other DO schools that I would like better
would possibly graduate in time for merger/combined match?
would have time to unwind from this experience and not have to rush into medical school (SH starts in 2 weeks)
am still very competitive for DO (will probably get interviews from about every school I apply to) and more competitive for MD

cons-
real risk of not getting in (not a good interviewer)
would have to find something to do during the year
would have to start repaying loans by February
might be considered a reapplicant at a number of schools that I turned down interviews from
would have to explain two master's degrees?

what are your thoughts? I have to make a decision soon 🙁

 

[pattr]

I don't know very much at all about LECOM-SH but I empathize with your situation; I can imagine how it can be very frustrating. But hey, count your blessings. You are accepted into medical school right now. That definitely counts for something. There're probably hundreds of people waitlisted at other schools right now that would be dying to be in your situation.

In the end, this is about whether you want to spend another year applying to schools with the big question of whether you'll get in. Based on your history of getting interviewed but then getting rejected, this is a big risk. Despite your strong stats, this will always be a hurdle for you unless you get better at interviewing.

Like the poster above me, I would say, if you are a good self-initiater, you can be a great doctor wherever you go to school. If you study a lot, and try really hard, you can rock boards no matter where you go. If you aren't a strong student or you don't feel confident in your test-taking ability (you got a 33 on the MCAT so you should be a good test-taker), then that's another thing.

I would recommend you look at match lists from previous years like [post=14116599]this one from 2013[/post] and see what is realistically obtainable for residency for students from LECOM and see if that is consistent with your goals. If you want to be a surgical sub-specialist at a big-name university hospital, DO isn't for you. If you're okay with an AOA residency or an ACGME residency in PM&R/FM/IM/Peds/Anesthesia/Neurology/Psych/EM/OBGYN (and to a certain extent rads and gen-surg) then the differences between MD and DO are minimal in terms of what residencies are available to you.

 

[Temperature101]

I was in an SMP this past year that had very high linkage to their MD program. I did excellently in the program but one of my two interviews at the end of the year was iffy and I wound up low waitlisted. I applied to several DO schools during the year and ended up interviewing at 3, and accepted at two (rejected at the other). I wasn't really crazy about either of the two schools (LECOM-SH and Touro-NY) that accepted me but ended up paying the deposit for LECOM-SH around december. I applied to 10 other MD schools very late (around November/December) and got 1 interview and waitlist.

Around January I was thinking about going to some of my other DO interviews, but my mom said it would be a waste of money to travel to other interviews and spend more on deposits when I already was in somewhere and had a safety net. I honestly did not feel like traveling to other interviews and felt really confident about getting into this MD school so I foolishly let her talk me out of it.

For background info, I graduated undergrad in 3 years with a 3.18 gpa, and ended up spending the 4th year in a master's program designed for premed GPA boosting (it was NOT an SMP) and got a 4.0 in it, finishing in 2011. During a very sloppy application cycle, from Jan-March of 2012 I interviewed at 5 DO schools, and got 3 rejections, 1 hold and 1 waitlist. I did not attend another 3 interviews that I received nor did I apply to any MD schools. Knowing my numbers were still low for MD, I decided to take a leap of faith and attend an SMP that had very high acceptance rate into the MD school. I researched the program before hand, talked to students, and found out that those that did not get into the MD program either had low grades in the classes, very low MCAT, DUI, or no faculty LOR. None of these wound up being the case for me.

I have extremely high stats (with grade replacement, 3.6 UG and 3.9 Grad, 33 mcat) for DO schools. I decided to submit AACOMAS a few days ago incase I decide to reapply. However I am terrified of still not getting in due to interviews, and I am worried that the two master's programs might look like a red flag. My father cautioned me that I will be risking a medical career if I choose to turn this acceptance down and reapply.

I am now in $65k of debt and in between a rock and a hard place. It has been a pretty terrible experience not getting into this MD school after putting in so much work and feeling so close (not to mention nearly all of my friends got in). But at the same time, I am very worried about the risk not getting into another school next year and still being stuck with the debt. And just my luck, this is one of only 4 DO schools that does NOT allow deferrals.

LECOM SH

Pros-
Doctor in 4 years
be able to defer and eventually pay off loans
low tuition/fees and COA

cons-
-questionable quality of education, both preclinical and clinical
-poor to lukewarm reviews from students
-would graduate before likely 2018 merger/combined match? (not sure if this is a con or not)
-strange process for setting up clinical rotations (unlike most schools that seem to use "lotteries") that students do not seem to like
-rules galore
-you have to do a lot on your own at this school
-not sure if I will be happy at this school

Reapply

pros-
be able to reapply to MD and other DO schools that I would like better
would possibly graduate in time for merger/combined match?
would have time to unwind from this experience and not have to rush into medical school (SH starts in 2 weeks)
am still very competitive for DO (will probably get interviews from about every school I apply to) and more competitive for MD

cons-
real risk of not getting in (not a good interviewer)
would have to find something to do during the year
would have to start repaying loans by February
might be considered a reapplicant at a number of schools that I turned down interviews from
would have to explain two master's degrees?

what are your thoughts? I have to make a decision soon 🙁

Can you ask for a deferment for next class and apply this year to see how it goes..?

 

[886]

Can you ask for a deferment for next class and apply this year to see how it goes..?

LECOM said they do not give deferments, not even for educational reasons. Almost every school except LECOM (Touro included) allows them 🙁

 

[Buckeye1992]

With an acceptance in hand, I don't see why you should chance missing out on medical school three years in a row when you have no guarantee of getting accepted. I imagine you were probably pretty upset when you didn't get in last cycle, imagine how devastating it would be to not get in next year after having this oppurtunity right now. Just my 2 cents but I think it is important to think about.

 

[whatbout2morrow]

Can you ask for a deferment for next class and apply this year to see how it goes..?

I thought that if you are to defer, most schools make you sign an agreement that you will not reapply or matriculate elsewhere.

 

[deleted480308]

You already needed an smp to get this close.....you are barely in, take your spot

 

[Temperature101]

I thought that if you are to defer, most schools make you sign an agreement that you will not reapply or matriculate elsewhere.

I was not aware of that policy.

 

[advair250]

Obviously if they let you defer, they aren't going to let you do it so you can apply to other schools.

 

[886]

can any seton hill students chime in?

 

[hallowmann]

With an acceptance in hand, I don't see why you should chance missing out on medical school three years in a row when you have no guarantee of getting accepted. I imagine you were probably pretty upset when you didn't get in last cycle, imagine how devastating it would be to not get in next year after having this oppurtunity right now. Just my 2 cents but I think it is important to think about.

This.

OP, you've already admitted being a poor interviewer. Unless that changes anytime soon, I would not give up a seat at a medical school. Like pattr said, you have a bad record of post-interview rejections, and that's at not just an MD school with good linkage to your SMP, but also at DO schools even with your high stats. The idea of risking what you have given your record would be very alarming to me.

Also, despite your pros and cons list, you are missing a few things: LECOM is affiliated with a number of academic medical centers, Pittsburgh itself (a mere 30 miles from Seton Hill) has a TON of medical opportunities (research, volunteering, etc.), and PBL means you will be spending 2 full days on campus in labs and only 2 hrs a day the other days of the week in group discussion. Did I mention that LECOM is one of the cheapest DO schools and private medical schools in the country? Sure there are some pretty big cons, but there are also more pros than you listed.

Also, unless you genuinely believe you won't do well in a self-directed study environment, I wouldn't be worried about the basic sciences curriculum. I have friends at MD and DO schools all over, and I've repeatedly heard how terrible lectures are and how most people are just studying on their own.

You already needed an smp to get this close.....you are barely in, take your spot

It sounds harsh, but its true. Those post interview rejections are a testament to that.

I was not aware of that policy.

This is the case at most schools that offer deferment. Obviously they would rather you not attend and give the spot to someone else who wants to be there, then defer you and let you try to get into a school that you really want to go to.

 

[iololiol]

Go on with your life as a becoming a doctor and use what you learned in your grad programs to exceed in med school. The stress of reapplying is not worth it.

 

[preDoGuy24]

can any seton hill students chime in?

You can PM me if you want, I can help with LECOM stuff