Hey Guys,
I am by no means an authority in this school. I was accepted last cycle and decided to defer. I will be starting with the 2019 class next August. It was a real hard decision to defer but my family comes first and having a third baby in June took precedence over starting class this fall hence my deferment. I'll tell you guys about my application and hopefully I'll help some of you guys in this crazy process:
I applied in November 2013, received a secondary in December and received an invite in Jan 2014. When they send you an ii, school will give you a set of dates to choose from in order to schedule the interview.
A good friend of mine told me about LUCOM and I was literally blown away by the school! I'm from Miami and I interviewed on 2/4/14. There were so many amazing applicants that I felt a bit intimidated by them. I'm non-trad student, married with two kiddos. As soon as the presentation began, however, I forgot any prior inhibitions about my application (24MCAT/3.3 uGPA/ 3.2 gGPA) and the school itself. I don't know how they do it but man these people really go out of their way to make you feel wanted. After lunch I had an hour before my interview, so I spoke to a few staff members. One of the people I had the pleasure of speaking with was Ben Smith. We spoke about the school and the city itself. I told him about my family and Miami. Without a thought, he offered to take me around the city after the interview. For me that was the selling point. I took a whole bunch of pics to sell the school back home to my fam - it's not easy leaving the beautiful city of Miami for a small town in Virginia but I'm sold.
The interview process was exactly how everyone prior to the interview told us it would be like: 2 sessions of 30 minutes each to find out about you and the school itself. As you are interviewed, they really get a sense of who you are and how you would meet LUCOM's mission’s statement. The school has no problems telling you from the beginning about their Christian believes and how they expect all of the students to be mindful and respectful of that fact. If you respect their principles, they respect yours. I was interviewed with a few non-christians applicants and the staff never brought up any religion aspect/opinion. We did not pray nor did we talk about our own individual believes like previous post have said. I actually was the only one who prayed silently before our lunch was served.
Most of the questions before and during the interview circled around you as an individual instead of your numbers. On both interviews, if you go over the 30 minutes, the interviewer will politely ask you to finish since there are a few other candidates waiting to be interviewed. I honestly could have stay with Dr. Ianuzzo for a good 2 hours talking about his research and medical ethics. The staff this school has recruited is amazing!
I interviewed with Dr. Gish and Dr. Ianuzzo. Dr. Gish was very direct and ask about my grades , my post bacc experience, about other schools I had applied to and why LUCOM. He also asked me about life and the value I place on it. The last question was very abstract and I babbled for about a minute before I realized how simple the answer was. We talked about OMM and the half hour was up.
With Dr. Ianuzzo, I felt as though I was talking to a long lost friend who I had not seen in the last 10 years and I only had 30 minutes to catch him up. The first 15 minutes were devoted to my secondary and my aacomas essays. Then he asked a series of rapid-fire questions and before I knew it I was asked to make room for the next guest.
All in all my experience was amazing. I felt as though they were really interested in getting to know me above anything else. My interview was on 02/04/2014 and I received a phone call from the Dean at 5:50 on 02/10/2014 to let me know I was accepted.
Last year was my third year applying and I received three interviews, I was waitlisted at two schools and received one admission.
If you guys need/want anything, please feel free to PM. The 2018 students are amazing and knowing the staff at LUCOM, I can definitely tell you the class of 2019 will not disappoint.
Ps: Please try not to be cynical and look at 2013-2014 LUCOM's thread. Don't listen to a*holes and help out your fellow SDNers. After all we are in medicine to help people so why not help your future classmates.
