Marian University (MU-COM) Discussion Thread 2013 - 2014

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Take a look at this, lifted straight from their marketing materials:

View attachment 179210

Recall that MU-COM's mission is largely to provide Indiana with Primary Care physicians. The administration has stated that they will attempt to return students from rural areas of Indiana back to those rural areas to serve (should they so desire).
Just want to clarify that this does not mean you will be rejected if you're interested in a specialty. At all. I would say the majority of our class wants to become surgeons at this point.
 
Just want to clarify that this does not mean you will be rejected if you're interested in a specialty. At all. I would say the majority of our class wants to become surgeons at this point.

Of course, and thanks for clarifying. Why do you suppose your class is primarily interested in surgery?
 
Just want to clarify that this does not mean you will be rejected if you're interested in a specialty. At all. I would say the majority of our class wants to become surgeons at this point.
I'm mostly concerned about living out of a suitcase and on the road every month or so; I heard its not uncommon for schools to have you bounce hospital to hospital to go to certain rotations you need.

I wanted to know if there are enough opportunities here - it seems like it based on the map @BBQ linked!
 
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Just want to clarify that this does not mean you will be rejected if you're interested in a specialty. At all. I would say the majority of our class wants to become surgeons at this point.
Lol. Does seem that way. I'd say if you include EM as a "desired specialty" in our class, you cover almost the entire bunch. I can almost guaranteed this is not what most said in their application materials and actually even seems different from when I first spoke to people during orientation week. I've had folks in the class straight out say to me that "there is no way in hell they are going into primary care"...smh. I'd be willing to bet money that either way, a healthy majority of our class is going to end up in primary care regardless of the gunning that takes place at the current time.
 
The total score is actually out of 49 (meaning up to 7 points at each station) and then additionally each interviewer ranks a favorite interviewee for your group, although I don't believe this is necessarily tied to the score each person received - as in multiple people could get 7s but only one would be a favorite for that station. The entire process is much more complicated than a simple score though and is described in detail on your interview day. The school goes to great lengths to make sure the grading takes into account variation amongst interviewers or groups by adjusting the scores appropriately (i.e. a score of 3 from an interviewer who is notoriously hard might be bumped up to a 4 or a score of 7 from an interviewer who generally provides favorable scores may be edged down).

CORRECTION: Scores are not adjusted. Instead, the committee considers how an individual applicant scored compared to the average for that particular interviewer.

Admissions
 
Why do you suppose your class is primarily interested in surgery?
Money, perceived prestige, chip on shoulder from not getting in IU so must prove themselves, type A "want to be the best of the best" personalities, competitive with other classmate types, lack of understanding of what a surgical residents lifestyle entails, young and ignorant, closeminded, because everyone else wants to...etc etc--this list of potentials could go on and on. Granted that there are surely a few people who really have what it takes and an accurate understanding of the rigors of becoming a surgeon, it is funny to witness nevertheless, and most I've spoken with have no clue.
 
CORRECTION: Scores are not adjusted. Instead, the committee considers how an individual applicant scored compared to the average for that particular interviewer.

Admissions
Thank you for the response. Is there a score that is seen as particularly good (i.e., above a 5 or 6) or a score that is "sub-par"?
 
Money, perceived prestige, chip on shoulder from not getting in IU so must prove themselves, type A "want to be the best of the best" personalities, competitive with other classmate types, lack of understanding of what a surgical residents lifestyle entails, young and ignorant, closeminded, because everyone else wants to...etc etc--this list of potentials could go on and on.

I see. So you're saying there's nothing specific to Marian or the experiences your class has had that drives this trend? I imagine these themes are apparent across many classes in their first year.
 
Based on the size of the gift at the open house, I guess we will be getting an Ipad 2 vs a mini or air.
What do you think?
 
I see. So you're saying there's nothing specific to Marian or the experiences your class has had that drives this trend? I imagine these themes are apparent across many classes in their first year.
Maybe. There is definitely a personality component to it. However, I think it has more to do with the school being in its first year/new...I imagine the trend will carry for the first few classes as well. I'd argue that it is related to the lack of upperclassmen with experiences to put things into perspective for the newer students and also no class that has gone through the match yet --I believe once the school has cycled through the match a couple times, the combination of these two factors (having upperclassmen/tangible match lists) will help cast a sort of perspective on the situation for the greener students.
Based on the size of the gift at the open house, I guess we will be getting an Ipad 2 vs a mini or air.
What do you think?

I'd be surprised if ya'll got an iPad 2 since we even received the 4th generation iPad (with retina). I'd say at the very least, that is what you'll be getting. Trust me you do not want a mini anyhow for what you will be using it for/the amount of time you will be staring at it. IMO bigger is better for the first two years use. A mini would be great for rotations when you get there...but after your first two years, the iPad the school gives you will be getting old anyhow and you can think about something new then.
 
Right. I didn't even see Ipad 4th gen for sale on apple's website. They do have 4th gens in the refurbished section. I haven't been too keen on Ipads so don't know the release order and what not, I do know the retina display is great though.
Edit: 4th gen is also the right size for the case we received

Mr Kenobi
"cast a sort of perspective on the "situation" for the greener students. " Meaning ?
 
Mr Kenobi
"cast a sort of perspective on the "situation" for the greener students. " Meaning ?
Meaning: hopefully then, new students will realize that odds are that half of the class is not going to end up in surgery...and it's probably best to calm it down, have an open mind and not think you are above your classmates because you think you will be a surgeon before even taking your boards/have any "real" experience with the field.
 
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Of course, and thanks for clarifying. Why do you suppose your class is primarily interested in surgery?


Here's another perspective...of the 160(ish) students that we've had in the class, there are only about 30 in the surgery club. Being one of them, I wish there were more actually! And, from my point of view, people are interested in surgery because they like to work with their hands, have a skill to perfect over a lifetime, fix things, dealing with acute problems, love of anatomy, etc. Some just think it looks fun and want to learn more.


Also, as a side note, I think its best to be open to a lot of things, surgery included. All you new students, feel free to explore everything from Family Med to Plastics. Theres no hurry in committing to a pathway. Some of the best advice I feel like I've received so far from friends who are ahead of me in this road is to make yourself as competitive as possible so you close as few doors as possible. Work like you want derm, or ortho surgery...if you end up liking something less competitive, great. You'll be that much better an applicant. Its great when you can make a decision based on what you like, rather than diminished options.
 
Here's another perspective...of the 160(ish) students that we've had in the class, there are only about 30 in the surgery club. Being one of them, I wish there were more actually! And, from my point of view, people are interested in surgery because they like to work with their hands, have a skill to perfect over a lifetime, fix things, dealing with acute problems, love of anatomy, etc. Some just think it looks fun and want to learn more.

Ya, I agree with most of this. But I'll stick with the general trends in personality that you see in first year students who are dead set on surgery without knowing much about it yet or without being open to other fields--thats really all I was addressing in my previous replies.

There is obviously absolutely nothing wrong in doing your best and keeping all your options open.
 
Money, perceived prestige, chip on shoulder from not getting in IU so must prove themselves, type A "want to be the best of the best" personalities, competitive with other classmate types, lack of understanding of what a surgical residents lifestyle entails, young and ignorant, closeminded, because everyone else wants to...etc etc--this list of potentials could go on and on. Granted that there are surely a few people who really have what it takes and an accurate understanding of the rigors of becoming a surgeon, it is funny to witness nevertheless, and most I've spoken with have no clue.
Are there a lot of people who have that " didn't get into IU" chip on their shoulder?
 
Are there a lot of people who have that " didn't get into IU" chip on their shoulder?

Haha...that post was mostly online sarcasm with a dash of seriousness...but I'd say there are some folks that I've had conversations with that are (or at least were initially) sore about it. Understandable to a certain degree if IU was your dream school and you really wanted to get in there and didn't. Every school probably has people like this. However, I think everyone here at MU-COM is quickly realizing how good our school is and that most of the opportunities that would have been available to anyone at IU (at least in Indiana) will likely be available to you through MU-COM as well. Like I've said multiple times in many other threads on these forums--from what I have seen since getting here, the medical communities support for MU-COM has really been pretty incredible. We have tons of amazing physician (MD and DO) lecturers coming in all of the time (many from IU) and every single one of them has made it clear that they are available to us whether it be shadowing, speaking at our student organizations, answering questions or even just shooting the breeze. People here want to see the students succeed....and by here I mean in this state...not just the school (but the school too 😉 ).

Everyone has a different personality and some people hold on to things for longer than others. Are there some people that deep down might still be bitter they didn't get into one school or another...probably. Will they get over it...who knows. If they don't they may be letting their attitude cause them to miss out on some of the many benefits this school has to offer and just the whole experience in general.

Basically my whole point above was; don't be that guy/gal that feels/acts like you have something to prove--for whatever reason. Usually just in life in general, folks don't like these sorts of people--now throw that personality into the mix with the high stress that medical school brings and it becomes just about intolerable.

My association with this type of personality and people saying they want to be surgeons in my class is obviously just my personal experience... As my friend Halflistic said, there are obviously many reasons people want to go into surgery and that is great. We need surgeons! I hope our class has many people go into surgery! Honestly, I do. Do it for the right reasons though. We are all adults and hopefully all professionals... inform yourself about the fields you are interested in, get some experience with them and whatever you do--don't look down on your classmates because you feel their areas of interest are beneath yours. Thats all. Hope this clarifies some of that.
 
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Your numbers are great for a shot at an interview invite. When the interview comes I think your mcat and gpa is forgotten. If you're good at MMI and score 5-7 average (which means you are the favorite interviewee for at least 5/7 people who interview you) score you have an acceptance.

Thank you for the response! Sadly withdrawing my app. Love the school's mission but even if extended an II I couldn't afford to get out to Marian this year.
 
Haha...that post was mostly online sarcasm with a dash of seriousness...but I'd say there are some folks that I've had conversations with that are (or at least were initially) sore about it. Understandable to a certain degree if IU was your dream school and you really wanted to get in there and didn't. Every school probably has people like this. However, I think everyone here at MU-COM is quickly realizing how good our school is and that most of the opportunities that would have been available to anyone at IU (at least in Indiana) will likely be available to you through MU-COM as well. Like I've said multiple times in many other threads on these forums--from what I have seen since getting here, the medical communities support for MU-COM has really been pretty incredible. We have tons of amazing physician (MD and DO) lecturers coming in all of the time (many from IU) and every single one of them has made it clear that they are available to us whether it be shadowing, speaking at our student organizations, answering questions or even just shooting the breeze. People here want to see the students succeed....and by here I mean in this state...not just the school (but the school too 😉 ).

Everyone has a different personality and some people hold on to things for longer than others. Are there some people that deep down might still be bitter they didn't get into one school or another...probably. Will they get over it...who knows. If they don't they may be letting their attitude cause them to miss out on some of the many benefits this school has to offer and just the whole experience in general.

Basically my whole point above was; don't be that guy/gal that feels/acts like you have something to prove--for whatever reason. Usually just in life in general, folks don't like these sorts of people--now throw that personality into the mix with the high stress that medical school brings and it becomes just about intolerable.

My association with this type of personality and people saying they want to be surgeons in my class is obviously just my personal experience... As my friend Halflistic said, there are obviously many reasons people want to go into surgery and that is great. We need surgeons! I hope our class has many people go into surgery! Honestly, I do. Do it for the right reasons though. We are all adults and hopefully all professionals... inform yourself about the fields you are interested in, get some experience with them and whatever you do--don't look down on your classmates because you feel their areas of interest are beneath yours. Thats all. Hope this clarifies some of that.
Mr. Kenobi,
I read many of your posts. Those are amazing posts.
Many high school students came to college majoring in Biology,... or Pre-Med if there is a major like that. They thought they would end up at Med School. Many of them had or were forced to change major and gave up medical school. Many of them apply to med schools for years without a single interview or a few interviews with no acceptance.
Similarly, I am not surprise when reading your post that many of MU-COM year 1 want to be in surgery. When those people do surgery rotation, they will see the schedule 5 am-11 pm is not for them, not mentioning having problems of reading and understanding of surgery manuals and procedures. Having all skills required for surgery job is another thing to consider. However, some in the class will do surgery but not 30, or even 15.
If there are people at MU-COM still sore about not getting in to IU, I will not be surprise if there are many unhappy people at IU.
I have not seen or read unhappy posts about MU-COM.
 
Anyone hear anything today post-interview? I got an email saying they weren't able to get to my file for review today.
 
I wonder how many more dates they have before they're officially done with their cycle.
 
Does anyone use Anki and have any user tips? https://ankiweb.net/

Relatedly, do any current students use Firecracker or Picmonic? Thoughts? Are they helpful? Do they add a nice supplemental to/useful studying technique for Mucom courses, or are they more of a distraction? I think having too much information can be a major time waste (especially if it doesn't line up well with classes and you have to spend more time weeding through than you do studying), but I have heard great things about these programs.
 
Does anyone know how many weeks of international rotation does marian allows?
Didn't see anything in the handouts I got so far.

Sent from my SGH-T889V using Tapatalk
 
wow, it seems like most schools are getting full at this time...let's just hope for the best :shy:
 
Does anyone know how many weeks of international rotation does marian allows?
Didn't see anything in the handouts I got so far.

Sent from my SGH-T889V using Tapatalk

It is not a standard part of the clerkships. You would want to work with the clinical affairs staff to arrange such a rotation. Do your homework and bring a proposal to the administration; we will help you.

MU-COM
 
Typically there are 4 groups of 7, meaning 28 each day, 56 total for the whole weekend, assuming everyone shows up.

Correct. 56 per interview weekend, but that varies based on what else is happening in the building on a given weekend or what time of year it is.

Admissions
 
Correct. 56 per interview weekend, but that varies based on what else is happening in the building on a given weekend or what time of year it is.

Admissions
Admissions,
On the average, of the 56 interview candiate, how many will be accepted?
I know it depends on the stats and interview scores of each interview date group, but I hope the answer is not very difficult to answer.
 
Admissions,
On the average, of the 56 interview candiate, how many will be accepted?
I know it depends on the stats and interview scores of each interview date group, but I hope the answer is not very difficult to answer.

We do not have a quota for each interview group. We seek the most highly admissible students, period.

Admissions
 
We do not have a quota for each interview group. We seek the most highly admissible students, period.

Admissions
Two sdn members PM me for the class of 2017, 283 accepted out of 639 interviews. So the accepted rate is 44.3%. A good ratio.
It can help people who already 1-2 acceptance rate and live in West Coast to decide whether to come to MUCOM to have interviewed with the cost from 700-1000 dollars.
 
Two sdn members PM me for the class of 2017, 283 accepted out of 639 interviews. So the accepted rate is 44.3%. A good ratio.
It can help people who already 1-2 acceptance rate and live in West Coast to decide whether to come to MUCOM to have interviewed with the cost from 700-1000 dollars.

Actually it was 38% from interviews directly & 6% off the waitlist. This amounted to the class having I think 25-30 people who got off the waitlist.

However that was the first year's class and this year's admission critera has been different. So who really knows what percentages or the stats of those who got in. My thoughts are that the average admit is probably over a 3.5/27 and that the admissions percent is probably around the same as last year. But I'm inclined to believe that thanks to SDN's positive regard towards MUCOM the applying population is much more diverse, which again makes using last year's metrics difficult.


Either way... lets hope for good waitlist movement.
 
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For those who have interviewed already, does the interview day start early in the morning or in the afternoon? Or does it vary depending on the date of the interview?
 
Actually it was 38% from interviews directly & 6% off the waitlist. This amounted to the class having I think 25-30 people who got off the waitlist.

However that was the first year's class and this year's admission critera has been different. So who really knows what percentages or the stats of those who got in. My thoughts are that the average admit is probably over a 3.5/27 and that the admissions percent is probably around the same as last year. But I'm inclined to believe that thanks to SDN's positive regard towards MUCOM the applying population is much more diverse, which again makes using last year's metrics difficult.


Either way... lets hope for good waitlist movement.
639 interviewed, 283 accepted, 163 matriculated. So 120 were taken off the waitlist or 120/283= 42.4% of the accepeted candidates were taken off the waitlist. The same as the precent of accepted from interviewed candidates.
 
639 interviewed, 283 accepted, 163 matriculated. So 120 were taken off the waitlist or 120/283= 42.4% of the accepeted candidates were taken off the waitlist. The same as the precent of accepted from interviewed candidates.

The speculation is interesting, but incorrect. 40 alternate list students are in the inaugural class. Also, we enroll a class of 162.

Admissions
 
639 interviewed, 283 accepted, 163 matriculated. So 120 were taken off the waitlist or 120/283= 42.4% of the accepeted candidates were taken off the waitlist. The same as the precent of accepted from interviewed candidates.

Hmm, well that would be a nice thought if even close to possible haha.
 
The speculation is interesting, but incorrect. 40 alternate list students are in the inaugural class. Also, we enroll a class of 162.

Admissions

Do you expect similar circumstances for this years class?
 
The speculation is interesting, but incorrect. 40 alternate list students are in the inaugural class. Also, we enroll a class of 162.

Admissions
Interesting info from MUCOM:
40 out of 162 current students are from waitlist or 25%.
However, there are possible cases such as the candidates who were taken off the waitlist from more than one school or already had an acceptance so those students would not matriculate at MUCOM.
I believe many were taken of the wailist did not matriculate at MUCOM. So, the actual number of alternate list is more or much more than 40.
Therefore, there is hope for people in alternate list.
 
Interesting info from MUCOM:
40 out of 162 current students are from waitlist or 25%.
However, there are possible cases such as the candidates who were taken off the waitlist from more than one school or already had an acceptance so those students would not matriculate at MUCOM.
I believe many were taken of the wailist did not matriculate at MUCOM. So, the actual number of alternate list is more or much more than 40.
Therefore, there is hope for people in alternate list.
The speculation is interesting, but incorrect. 40 alternate list students are in the inaugural class. Also, we enroll a class of 162.
 
"40 alternate list students are in the inaugural class. Also, we enroll a class of 162."
Can I conclude that more or much more than 40 students(up to 120) from alternate list were taken off the list and 40 of those actually enrolled?
I think I can.
 
For those who have interviewed already, does the interview day start early in the morning or in the afternoon? Or does it vary depending on the date of the interview?

It depends on the day. We interview on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.

Admissions
 
"40 alternate list students are in the inaugural class. Also, we enroll a class of 162."
Can I conclude that more or much more than 40 students(up to 120) from alternate list were taken off the list and 40 of those actually enrolled?
I think I can.

I think you can likely conclude this to be true. This is especially compounded if someone comes off the waitlist in late June and as such already almost certainly prepared for another place. I would say that probably at least double were removed from the waitlist. However at the sametime i've heard people being second quarted and not getting off so there is no indication that the first quartile doesn't have 100 students in it or something ( Though obviously unreasonable and I'm inclined to believe it's likely 15-40 per quart).

I think there is hope in the first and second quartiles this year. Maybe even a little bit for 3rd.

That being said I've got no clue where I am in the waitlist. Being a second quartile early in the season could mean that I was one of 4 people on the waitlist and in a good position in first quart now or likewise that I was outclassed entirely by future interviewer and am in 3rd or 4th. So..maybe my hopes are for not.
 
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639 interviewed, 283 accepted, 163 matriculated. So 120 were taken off the waitlist or 120/283= 42.4% of the accepeted candidates were taken off the waitlist. The same as the precent of accepted from interviewed candidates.

This ignores the fact that as people decline acceptances throughout the year (before the class is full), new interviewees are accepted. 120 off the waitlist is very unrealistic. At most I'd imagine 80 were offered a spot from the alternate list (the real number is probably smaller than that). Also to be clear, 80 people being offered a spot off the waitlist does not = 80 spots in the class, just that it may have taken more alternate list acceptances to get the 40 spots filled.

That said, last year, MUCOM was very diligent about contacting people and requiring them to reconfirm their interest to stay on the alternate list (repeatedly, like 4+ times), so its very difficult to make any sort of inference as to where people stood on the list.

I was 2nd quartile on the alternate list last year, but withdrew after getting into a school closer to home, so I don't really know if they picked up anyone in that group. They did accept people from 1st quartile though (based on posts from last year).
 
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