Midwestern-AZ SMP Discussion

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TheCloser said:
Hey drm, I know you are probably getting a lot of questions but do you have to take at least 15 units per quarter? Or can you stack up the units during your first or second quarter and then the last quarter only take the required core classes (as long as you will be graduating with over 45 units)? Thanks drm, you have been a lot of help.
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Not sure how this works for the MA's, I would direct that question to Dr. Bell.

From what I remember, I think you have to take at least 15 units per quarter.

DividedByZero said:
Really? You recommend taking all three of those electives on top of all the core classes in one quarter? All 23 credits? Is that really do-able? I was just thinking I'd only take Onco on top of the core classes which would just put me at 17 credits for Fall. Do most MA students really take 20+ credits a quarter?
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I know that sounds crazy, but if you were in med/dent school you would be taking that many credits. The more classes you take the higher you can raise your GPA. The more you can mimic the class load of professional school, the better prepared/more impressive you are in the eyes of an adcom.

Some students would take just the one elective, others would take many.
MBS students are not required to take any electives as the core credits are enough to graduate. MA's had to take an elective.

In terms of deciding on how many to take, you have to just figure it out. You can be registered and drop up to the end of the 2nd week. This way you can get a feel for it. One way I figured out what was doable was to get all the syllabi together and mark down on one comprehensive calendar the dates of papers/exams/presentations. If there was not too much of a roadblock on time, I could do it.
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Has anyone taken MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY from either MA or MBS curriculum? Just wondering how hard it is or how is class over all. I notice that it is offered as an elective this fall.
 
is there a way to look at last years power point notes for the classes?
 
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Does anyone know what books these classes require?
.Microbiology, Immunology and Virology

Thanks!
.
 
katapilla said:
Has anyone taken MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY from either MA or MBS curriculum? Just wondering how hard it is or how is class over all. I notice that it is offered as an elective this fall.
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I don't know of anyone that took this, sorry.

silveryhair said:
is there a way to look at last years power point notes for the classes?
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Notes are posted on blackboard, you will not be able to see them though til the course instructor sets them up (prolly not til class starts). I could upload a couple lectures to give you guys an idea.

silveryhair said:
Does anyone know what books these classes require?
.Microbiology, Immunology and Virology

Thanks!
.
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I did not buy the book or need it. I am not sure what text we used either. That class does not begin until December, so you have plenty of time to arrange a purchase.
 
Many people are telling me that Glendale and Phoenix AZ are really bad areas and extremely high in crime and gangs? Can someone that lives there now tell me if this is true? Thanks.
 
lovemed said:
Many people are telling me that Glendale and Phoenix AZ are really bad areas and extremely high in crime and gangs? Can someone that lives there now tell me if this is true? Thanks.
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Can't comment on Glendale and Phoenix as a whole but when I visited campus the surrounding area seemed to be really nice (it is all new development, expensive housing relative to the area, nice shopping centers). So, I would assume the area around the school is relatively a nice place to live. I am living in San Lagos apts and after 6PM you have to swipe your key to get in so it is a semi-gated community. I read somewhere that Phoenix is the 75th most dangerous city in the US and Glendale is 288th (Sacramento is 73, Salt Lake City 78, Boston 85).
 
lovemed said:
Many people are telling me that Glendale and Phoenix AZ are really bad areas and extremely high in crime and gangs? Can someone that lives there now tell me if this is true? Thanks.
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So, Glendale is very large (400k pop) and in terms of land mass is large from the North to the South and skinnier East/West.

South Glendale (like below Thunderbird) is a somewhat dicey. I make it my business to never go past Bell while in Glendale. Up by school and Union Hills/Utopia/Behrend has been very nice and safe. I have never really been worried about anything as long as I am in the near vicinity of school.
 
Is there anyone out there that is willing to share their success story about being in this program (MA) and if you went right from the program and into medical school.
 
Yeah it would be great if someone can share their stories about the program and how it helps (or impedes?) you in getting into your program of choice whether it's medical, dental, pharmacy, podiatry, etc...

And drm85, thanks for all the great posts, they are really helpful.
 
coolslugs said:
What's the best internet service plan for the Glendale area? Qwest or Cox? Any recommendations and tips? To buy or rent modem? 12 or 7Mbps? What about renter insurance? Thanks!
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Depends on where you are living :)
I currently live in San Prado, moving to Lagos on Monday though and I have had free wireless from a neighbor all year.

Cox is the only option for these apartments (lagos/prado) I believe. Speed depends on your use, go slow if you are not doing a bunch of up/downloads.

For renters insurance I have it through a local statefarm person, just hit up the google search for 'renter's insurance glendale, az' or something like that and call them up or ask your tenet.
 
drm85 said:
Depends on where you are living :)
I currently live in San Prado, moving to Lagos on Monday though and I have had free wireless from a neighbor all year.

Cox is the only option for these apartments (lagos/prado) I believe. Speed depends on your use, go slow if you are not doing a bunch of up/downloads.

For renters insurance I have it through a local statefarm person, just hit up the google search for 'renter's insurance glendale, az' or something like that and call them up or ask your tenet.
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.
 
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I am moving down to Glendale on Friday. We should set up some sort of party for orientation or before.
 
When does school start? o_0
NVM August 31st...
 
what kinda GPA do you need to get into this program, is this program similar to PCOM's biomedical program?
 
dapmp91 said:
what kinda GPA do you need to get into this program, is this program similar to PCOM's biomedical program?
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I have no exact knowledge of what your GPA needs to be in order to compete for a spot but the minimum they accept as listed on the website is a 2.75 overall. I believe right around 3.0 is sufficient though.

I do not know about PCOM's biomedical program, sorry.
 
exciting news, I did the secondary app for dental program at midwestern and yestarday they emailed me to schedule an interview!! Im guessing the MA program helped its funny cause it explains that there will be a tour and lunch during the interview and i will get the day off from school!
 
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michaeld said:
Did you get moved in? I am not looking forward to moving all my crap in the heat! any tips?
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Yea, I got all moved in. Luckily my dad drove the moving truck while I drove my car down so he helped moving stuff upstairs. If you don't wanna do anything, there is a home depot right across the street from San Lagos and there are a bunch of guys that hang out there looking for work (rumor is they charge like 10 bucks cash per hour). So, you could grab a couple of guys for an hour and probably get everything knocked out real fast. If you guys need some help and are living around the school area I would be happy to help out a fellow classmate move some stuff. Just let me know when.
 
Hey, welcome everyone! I regret neglecting this thread but I guess I can come in and answer any questions, not to mention sell you my books at low low prices :D

I live on campus so I'm accessible anytime if someone wants to meet, take a look at some old MA notes, etc.

Oh and congrats to michael on the interview :)
 
thanks man, hey Flushot is there a gym on campus I see it on the website but it seems like its not done yet. I live on campus in F bldg and the only thing i have seen thus far is a bowflex thing in the clubhouse. loving my apt here thought its huge.
 
Yes, there is a rec center across from the cafeteria. It's that large building without a label for the front sign. Unfortunately you need your badge to open the door, but if the person at the front desk can see you, you might be able to wave and get them to open it.

I live in building B so I'm quite a bit away from you.
 
5 on 5 pick up basketball at the rec today at 5:30!
 
Have you guys made a facebook group yet? It would be good to post it here in case anyone wants news. We had a few set up last year.
 
Flushot said:
Have you guys made a facebook group yet? It would be good to post it here in case anyone wants news. We had a few set up last year.
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There has been one for a while...check page 2 for the link!
 
Hi. Did anyone here get in with a 3.0 UG GPA, but a sub-par grad GPA (using this program as retakes)? Thanks. Good luck all! :luck:
 
Just wanted to bump this up. The program is already taking apps fyi. There are a whole slew of people on the forums who have gone through the program and who are currently in the program.
 
TheCloser said:
Just wanted to bump this up. The program is already taking apps fyi. There are a whole slew of people on the forums who have gone through the program and who are currently in the program.
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Hi all,

So it looks like for those of you that are in the program or completed the program, it is tailored to getting into AZCOM. Are there any students in the program who are considered URM and maybe applied to other post-bac/SMP programs? I applied to a wide range of programs and I am still yet to hear from a large batch, but I am not sure how to choose. Ideally would like to do MD school, but I know that would take a lot of work to make up my UG GPA. So would a SMP DO be a bad idea for me? For instance, I have applied to Touro, Midwestern, Barry, Mississippi SMP's and various others, but I am not sure what the best choice for me is..Any suggestions?
 
nene12 said:
Hi all,

So it looks like for those of you that are in the program or completed the program, it is tailored to getting into AZCOM. Are there any students in the program who are considered URM and maybe applied to other post-bac/SMP programs? I applied to a wide range of programs and I am still yet to hear from a large batch, but I am not sure how to choose. Ideally would like to do MD school, but I know that would take a lot of work to make up my UG GPA. So would a SMP DO be a bad idea for me? For instance, I have applied to Touro, Midwestern, Barry, Mississippi SMP's and various others, but I am not sure what the best choice for me is..Any suggestions?
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What do you mean my URM? I am currently in the program and I can say at least for our class that most of the people have a good shot at getting into AZCOM or the dental school at Midwestern. However, a lot of people have been accepted to other dental schools (Western, UNLV, Baylor...etc) and other med schools (Nova, Touro NV...etc). I haven't really heard of people even applying to MD schools but I think there are a few and they have pretty solid MCATs (like 30s).

I got into Barry and decided not to attend. But I'd take location into account for your decision. Going to a DO affiliated SMP doesn't mean you can't get into a MD school but you are going to have to have decent GPA and solid MCAT to begin with.
 
Thanks for bumping this. I'm starting to get questions about this too. I'll start linking people to this.

URM means underrepresented minority, if that is what you were asking.
 
ugh this isn't a good news update (for me) but I think people should be recieving decision letters from MWU CCOM's MBS program. Just recieved mine in the mail of being placed on the alternate list.

The MBS at Midwestern isn't my first choice but it's pretty disheartening since it was within my top 3 to attend. Good luck to everyone else and hope you hear back soon.
 
jslo85 said:
ugh this isn't a good news update (for me) but I think people should be recieving decision letters from MWU CCOM's MBS program. Just recieved mine in the mail of being placed on the alternate list.

The MBS at Midwestern isn't my first choice but it's pretty disheartening since it was within my top 3 to attend. Good luck to everyone else and hope you hear back soon.
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Did you apply to the MBS program at the AZ campus as well?
 
any decision reached on their application anyone?

just called to simply check on if all the materials had been recieved only to get transferred to Dr. Jones for an impromptu interview. =X Really unexpected but it was pretty casual overall.
 
FYI, jslo but most people I know in the program weren't accepted until Mid June-Early July in the cycle. I wasn't accepted until Late June.
 
Do any of the classes count towards the medical courses if you get accepted to the AZCOM DO program? Meaning you don't have to take them again if you get in. I thought I remembered reading this somewhere.
 
In a fit of mid-winter neuroticism, I decided to check the website and found that I was accepted. Sweet! I double-checked with Deb in the Biomed dept and she confirmed that it wasn't a mistake. I still haven't gotten official word from admissions.

Anyhow, for those that are interested I had a phone interview on 2/26. I had submitted on 12/18; I don't recall when AZCOM had my file "complete."

I'm in WA and I'm kind of looking forward to some sun. Good luck to everyone who is still in the process.
 
JamesLMT said:
Do any of the classes count towards the medical courses if you get accepted to the AZCOM DO program? Meaning you don't have to take them again if you get in. I thought I remembered reading this somewhere.
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I asked this question during my interview and the answer of course, is no. However, according to someone I know who went through the program and is a 3rd year at AZCOM, he said that taking it a second time as a medical student meant he spent less effort agonizing and overall felt more prepared for the boards. While he didn't love the idea of 5 years of medical school, he is certain that his success is directly attributable to his SMP. Basically, he didn't think it was all in vain.

Hope that helps a little.
 
racerwad said:
I asked this question during my interview and the answer of course, is no. However, according to someone I know who went through the program and is a 3rd year at AZCOM, he said that taking it a second time as a medical student meant he spent less effort agonizing and overall felt more prepared for the boards. While he didn't love the idea of 5 years of medical school, he is certain that his success is directly attributable to his SMP. Basically, he didn't think it was all in vain.

Hope that helps a little.
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The only real med school level course you take is Physiology and possibly Histology. Most of the other subjects are taught by the biomed faculty and have their own little twist to them.

For example, when you take "human" anatomy - instead of dissecting humans, you will be dissecting cats due to the expensive nature of getting enough humans to work on. They will go on this whole spiel about while you are dissecting the cats to think of them as little baby humans (which really isn't a very great picture) because the anatomy is mostly similar. Keep in mind that you will also be responsible for cat-specific anatomy as well.

Therefore, it really wouldn't make all that much sense to have classes transfer because they really aren't the same.

However, classes like Physiology (both parts) and Histology are 99.99% similar to the medical school level. Hope that helps.
 
DividedByZero said:
The only real med school level course you take is Physiology and possibly Histology. Most of the other subjects are taught by the biomed faculty and have their own little twist to them.

For example, when you take "human" anatomy - instead of dissecting humans, you will be dissecting cats due to the expensive nature of getting enough humans to work on. They will go on this whole spiel about while you are dissecting the cats to think of them as little baby humans (which really isn't a very great picture) because the anatomy is mostly similar. Keep in mind that you will also be responsible for cat-specific anatomy as well.

Therefore, it really wouldn't make all that much sense to have classes transfer because they really aren't the same.

However, classes like Physiology (both parts) and Histology are 99.99% similar to the medical school level. Hope that helps.
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I've heard from other members in the program (CCOM's) that they take certain classes with different groups of students ie. class with the pharmacy students, class with the medical students, anatomy with the PAs etc. Is this part true in your experience?
 
jslo85 said:
I've heard from other members in the program (CCOM's) that they take certain classes with different groups of students ie. class with the pharmacy students, class with the medical students, anatomy with the PAs etc. Is this part true in your experience?
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It was true last year in that biochem was taken with pharmacy students.

However, this year everything has been an exclusive biomed class with the exception of physiology (taken w/ PA's, NA's, cardiac perfusionists, and some other groups I'm probably forgetting) and pharmacology (taken w/cardiac perfusionists).

Also, this year we did have a few undergrads crash our anatomy class but the whole undergraduate program is being phased out this year so it won't apply to you guys next year.
 
Hey you guys,

Just thought I'd stop by. Not interested in the SMP there at MU, will be heading elsewhere for a Post-bacc this fall, but I've lived about 20 blocks from MWU for six years. My sister went to AZCOM and practices in a private clinic less than 10 blocks away. My PCP is in the clinic there.

A few things.

Don't worry about the neighborhood. Stay close to school and you are good. The area is new and very nice, you have to get south of Thunderbird to start downhill. Glendale is annoying, but only because the city government are idiots. The mayor is nuts!:scared: You have to be going out of your way to get into a bad 'hood.

Crime: we have lots of auto thefts here, but random person on person crime is very low here because most of us are armed most of the time. We don't fear home invaders, robbers, etc, we just shoot them and call a carpet cleaner. Check my signature. And I carry (and teach the law) for work.

Weather: It does get cold here and it does rain, not much of both however. About 320 days of bright sun. The heat isn't anything like humid heat. 118 is hot okay? but only for a couple of months. I retired from the Weather Service so PM or email me if you want more, once I get started it's hard to stop. :laugh:

It's hard to imagine a better location for a school. Less than a block away is the public library and a large post office. A couple of blocks = grocery stores, strip malls, Home Depot. The big highway loop is right behind the school a couple of blocks. The immediate area is open desert - VERY quiet, lots of coyotes and roadrunners for scenery.

Qwest sucks horribly. Never had a problem with Cox. Don't know anyone who has. For that matter, I don't know anyone who has gotten Qwest to work.

The rental market here is good, lots of choices for apts and such, especially in the immediate area, as Thunderbird Grad school is also very close by, and ASU West is about a mile away, where I sit at this moment typing this. One of my rental houses is vacant as a matter of fact (LOL).

Post or PM if you want more. Off to get my wife's clothes out of the cleaner's across from MWU:D
 
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