Lecom Vs Nova? Is lecom really that bad??

BU Medical Sciences
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I don't see a point in applying with a 499 unless you apply very broadly.
 
Fat_Albert said:
I just wanted people's opinion on this situation - I'm a FL resident that is planning on applying this cycle with a 3.8 and a 499 mcat (probably going to retake since I got a 120 in cars fml). Now my mcat score makes lecom really appealing since ik a few ppl personally that had a similar mcat score as me and still got in. I know I'm definitely foreshadowing since I may not even get an interview given my stats.

What scares me is the label on here how you should avoid lecom at all cost, but compared to nova they have better board scores and way cheaper tuition + cost of living, both of which are pretty important. My gf of 3 yrs also attends Lecom in one of their programs so I could potentially split an apartment with her. I prefer to stay in state since I think I'll do better living closer to home.

Summary: Should I go ahead and just apply to Lecom and Nova, while I study for a retake? Also, is Lecom really that bad compared to nova?
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LECOM: required dress code and lecture attendance.


Nova: three of the four last years have declining first-time COMLEX pass rates. They're now at ~85% and on top of this, some 7% of their 2018 grads failed to match. This was the second worst match rate among all the COMs (only WCU did worse). These are things you expect from a new school, not a veteran. Something is very wrong there.
 
Goro said:
LECOM: required dress code and lecture attendance.


Nova: three of the four last years have declining first-time COMLEX pass rates. They're now at ~85% and on top of this, some 7% of their 2018 grads failed to match. This was the second worst match rate among all the COMs (only WCU did worse). These are things you expect from a new school, not a veteran. Something is very wrong there.
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To piggyback off of Goro, I believe it's only the traditional lecture pathway that requires attendance at lecom. The pbl and dsp pathways seem to be less structured. If you're referring to lecom Bradenton they only offer pbl, so I don't know there is mandatory attendance. From what I've read lecom Bradenton has weaker rotation sites for third and fourth year, whereas nova is known to have stronger sites. I'm by no means an expert so take my analysis with a grain of salt.
 
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JDsfloatingheadDr said:
To piggyback off of Goro, I believe it's only the traditional lecture pathway that requires attendance at lecom. The pbl and dsp pathways seem to be less structured. If you're referring to lecom Bradenton they only offer pbl, so I don't know there is mandatory attendance. From what I've read lecom Bradenton has weaker rotation sites for third and fourth year, whereas nova is known to have stronger sites. I'm by no means an expert so take my analysis with a grain of salt.
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With your MCAT score I think the question you should be asking is "Which DO schools should I apply to so that I can make it into med school this cycle?" rather than, should I choose between LECOM or NOVA?

You don't even have the luxury of an acceptance at this point
 
Fat_Albert said:
Ya I stated that in the beginning. But I know a solid amount of people personally that gotten into Lecom with my stats or lower which is why I asked. Don’t take this thread seriously as I posted this after my freak out
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@Fat_Albert , I'm interested in applying to lecom-b. Have you heard anything about the school from your friends?
 
Goro said:
LECOM: required dress code and lecture attendance.


Nova: three of the four last years have declining first-time COMLEX pass rates. They're now at ~85% and on top of this, some 7% of their 2018 grads failed to match. This was the second worst match rate among all the COMs (only WCU did worse). These are things you expect from a new school, not a veteran. Something is very wrong there.
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Interesting stats. Where did you get the data from?
 
I think you need to come back to us once you have an acceptance from both schools. At this point all of your comparisons are hypothetical scenarios.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Goro said:
some 7% of their 2018 grads failed to match. This was the second worst match rate among all the COMs (only WCU did worse)
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What??? That's insane. That makes me feel slightly better with my internal 'should I have stayed home and gone to Nova' crisis 😕
 
Fat_Albert said:
Ya I stated that in the beginning. But I know a solid amount of people personally that gotten into Lecom with my stats or lower which is why I asked. Don’t take this thread seriously as I posted this after my freak out
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I think you should wait until you interview at each school and make your decision based on where you know you’ll get the best education. When I interviewed there over 2 yrs ago, I preferred and out my deposit down at Nova. I heard multiple bad things about LECOM from the students there. But the stats that Goro mentioned from Nova weren’t the case while I was interviewing...something to think about.
 
I don't know anything about Nova (sorry, I never really paid attention to other schools that much), and I don't know which LECOM campus you were planning on applying to, but as people have mentioned before, mandatory attendance is only at the Erie LDP pathway. Seton Hill and Bradenton both utilize the PBL pathway, which leaves less mandatory attendance time and more self-learning. But they will require more discipline and good time management.
Something you might want to consider though (and it does seem like you are, since you plan on retaking the MCAT), is that LECOM's acceptance averages does seem to be getting higher. I don't really know how the new MCAT scores work (since I got in with the old MCAT scores), but I think that many people accepted this past cycle seem to be getting around the 504-505 ranges and such? Every year, the average stats just seem to get a little higher. That being said, sometimes the admissions works in wondrous ways, and many people do get into different schools even if they do not technically meet the grades or test scores, so I can't really comment on your chances.
LECOM, at least to me, was a solid school. Were there drawbacks and stuff that I thought could be improved on? Definitely. But many of the things that I read on sdn seemed to be overblown (or maybe I'm just not affected by many of the things in general), and I know that no school is perfect. I dealt with the mandatory attendance and dress code just fine. The cheap tuition was great and I think that the curriculum was solid (or at least solid enough to give me a good baseline understanding to go off of for board studying and get the scores I needed). They are making changes as well, which I think will benefit this incoming class too. If you need more info, just PM me! Best of luck with your decisions!
 
LECOM most definitely has a better first time board pass rate. Friends have told me it is around 92% globally across campuses. Remember, not all the MD students pass the Step 1 the first time. In the end, it is not so much where you went to school, but how hard you worked to be an excellent applicant for the residency of your choice. Getting a residency is like getting into med school again, you need the extracurriculars, research, class rank, board scores etc., to be considered for the more competitive residencies, like ortho, neurosurg, surg,plastics, CV, etc.. Primary care, peds, ob,im have many more slots available. Good luck with your decision choices, hope this helps.
 
I don't see the problem with a strict dress code. Can it be any more strict than a typical uniform required by primary schools? When I went to Saint Stanislaus, they inspected our uniforms every single day, and we were punished if they weren't according to standard. I can't see a medical school being that thorough. Even in nursing school, all they did was inspect fingernails before clinicals, socks, shoes, and general appearance.
 
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