******* NYCOM Class of 2011 Part 2 ******

[seismicCHICK]

does anyone know if we're having weekly exams or block exams? this summer's been pretty chill and relaxing for me and i was starting to look forward to classes just so there'd be something to do.. but after reading that post about remediation (sp?), i think i'd take another week off if i could.

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[Nice Pipes]

yah wow. way to be a downer about first year. it's going to be rough, but can't you just let us think it's going to rule? also, i'm not really going to wear a tux. haha. but how sweet would that be (not)?

 

[Scotty_G]

GPS devices?!?! wtf your not serious right? How does attendance work now?

 

[Kappy1]

If they "really" are tracking us by GPS, you should leave the device in your locker or classroom to show you are there.

 

[Taty]

GPS???? You are kidding right???

 

[Taty]

I was just planning on wearing jeans. I don't think you really need to get all dressed up for orientation.

I am wearing jeans too!!!

 

[rangabou]

wow, that post made me feel real good about starting this monday

Why are feeling so good about? everythings seems so hard.. i did not get any free time..


and i worked all summer 60 hours.. without any break.. and i am working untill saturday..

may be i have to work part time every saturday ... i dont know will it be possible.. or not.. considering the school work very hard and new..

 

[Vix206]

Why are feeling so good about? everythings seems so hard.. i did not get any free time..


and i worked all summer 60 hours.. without any break.. and i am working untill saturday..

may be i have to work part time every saturday ... i dont know will it be possible.. or not.. considering the school work very hard and new..

i was being sarcastic. hence, the thumbs down sign.

 

[KateGia]

GPS???? You are kidding right???

It is NOT a GPS. It's similar to an EZpass, basically there will be something to register if you've walked into the building, and something to register if you've left the building. A lot of schools, businesses, etc have them for disaster purposes, so that they know who is in the building. It can't locate you. Anyway, it's just a thought, nothing they've implemented yet.

 

[PlasticMan]

It is NOT a GPS. It's similar to an EZpass, basically there will be something to register if you've walked into the building, and something to register if you've left the building. A lot of schools, businesses, etc have them for disaster purposes, so that they know who is in the building. It can't locate you. Anyway, it's just a thought, nothing they've implemented yet.

I could have sworn Kumar said something about ankle bracelets and monitoring how long we're in the bathroom for...

 

[rangabou]

i was being sarcastic. hence, the thumbs down sign.

yes. i figured that later... yes its hard... although i am excited... about it.. see u all next monday.... good luck...

 

[SexPistol]

if they were like ez passes couldnt you just "forget" them in your bag while you went outside for a little while

 

[gobiggreen]

Sorry to scare everyone, but the truth is, there will probably be a lot more course remediation this year than last year because of the lack of retests. Personally, what I'm most scared about is messing up an OMM practical and having to remediate a course. If you know your stuff you won't fail an exam but you can know your OMM but mess up a diagnosis and have a tough doctor "grade your OMM" and you'd have to remediate a course. Personally, that's the scariest thing for me.

Anyway, yea, it's not "quite" gps but they WIll know where you are on campus at all times.

I asked Dr. Kumar (the guy in charge) and he said that till they get the new system they will only take attendance once in the morning and once in the afternoon and always at the beginning of a lecture. I asked him what's to stop us from leaving once they took attendance and he said "nothing, but we know NYCOM students won't do that".

I think with the whole GPS thing, you could probably get away with sitting in the back of the room, going to the study lounge and study for 8 hours, then go back to class and pick up your GPS...if that's your thing. I just don't think that will be worth it. It will be a lot easier to pick up and leave a 1-5 afternoon session if they check attendance at 1 PM.

 

[nvshelat]

Sorry to scare everyone, but the truth is, there will probably be a lot more course remediation this year than last year because of the lack of retests. Personally, what I'm most scared about is messing up an OMM practical and having to remediate a course. If you know your stuff you won't fail an exam but you can know your OMM but mess up a diagnosis and have a tough doctor "grade your OMM" and you'd have to remediate a course. Personally, that's the scariest thing for me.

Anyway, yea, it's not "quite" gps but they WIll know where you are on campus at all times.

I asked Dr. Kumar (the guy in charge) and he said that till they get the new system they will only take attendance once in the morning and once in the afternoon and always at the beginning of a lecture. I asked him what's to stop us from leaving once they took attendance and he said "nothing, but we know NYCOM students won't do that".

I think with the whole GPS thing, you could probably get away with sitting in the back of the room, going to the study lounge and study for 8 hours, then go back to class and pick up your GPS...if that's your thing. I just don't think that will be worth it. It will be a lot easier to pick up and leave a 1-5 afternoon session if they check attendance at 1 PM.

Unless they use the cameras to check attendance

 

[Vix206]

so NYCOM used to allow re-tests on individual exams that students failed? i'm sure it was a nice, cushiony policy to have, but i've been asking friends at other med schools, and they don't have that policy. the closest i've heard is a remediation exam if you fail the class. and even so, it's noted on your transcript that it was a low pass.

so really - i can see 2nd years dreading the change. but to me, i wasn't even expecting to have a retest policy when i was in med school.

and when 40% of the class failed the first exam in fundamentals and neuro, you had retesting to fix that. but now - you really think they are going to let 40% of the class fail/remediate two courses? not that i'm saying we'll be allowed to retest, but other adjustments could be made.

call me optimistic, but does anyone else agree? haha

 

[SexPistol]

right i agree with vix... do you really think the powers that be will allow 40% of the class have to remediate on the first test. No they will send word down to get the good ole bell curve out and 40% will turn into 5%

 

[PlasticMan]

Sorry to scare everyone, but the truth is, there will probably be a lot more course remediation this year than last year because of the lack of retests. Personally, what I'm most scared about is messing up an OMM practical and having to remediate a course. If you know your stuff you won't fail an exam but you can know your OMM but mess up a diagnosis and have a tough doctor "grade your OMM" and you'd have to remediate a course. Personally, that's the scariest thing for me.

Anyway, yea, it's not "quite" gps but they WIll know where you are on campus at all times.

I asked Dr. Kumar (the guy in charge) and he said that till they get the new system they will only take attendance once in the morning and once in the afternoon and always at the beginning of a lecture. I asked him what's to stop us from leaving once they took attendance and he said "nothing, but we know NYCOM students won't do that".

I think with the whole GPS thing, you could probably get away with sitting in the back of the room, going to the study lounge and study for 8 hours, then go back to class and pick up your GPS...if that's your thing. I just don't think that will be worth it. It will be a lot easier to pick up and leave a 1-5 afternoon session if they check attendance at 1 PM.

Did you catch the part when Dr. Bryant said OMM quizzes will count for 50% of your OMM practical score? I could see making them count for 5-10% so we take them seriously, but 50% is scary, especially since anatomy only counts for 25% now! If you don't do well on a few quizzes, you're gonna have to remediate the whole course in the summer?

 

[JasonUD]

Sorry to scare everyone, but the truth is, there will probably be a lot more course remediation this year than last year because of the lack of retests. Personally, what I'm most scared about is messing up an OMM practical and having to remediate a course. If you know your stuff you won't fail an exam but you can know your OMM but mess up a diagnosis and have a tough doctor "grade your OMM" and you'd have to remediate a course. Personally, that's the scariest thing for me.

Anyway, yea, it's not "quite" gps but they WIll know where you are on campus at all times.

I asked Dr. Kumar (the guy in charge) and he said that till they get the new system they will only take attendance once in the morning and once in the afternoon and always at the beginning of a lecture. I asked him what's to stop us from leaving once they took attendance and he said "nothing, but we know NYCOM students won't do that".

I think with the whole GPS thing, you could probably get away with sitting in the back of the room, going to the study lounge and study for 8 hours, then go back to class and pick up your GPS...if that's your thing. I just don't think that will be worth it. It will be a lot easier to pick up and leave a 1-5 afternoon session if they check attendance at 1 PM.

Don't forget though that over our entire first year we only had 7 exams...some of them were more than 2 months apart! The three classes that were only 4-5 weeks (Neuro 2, Neuro 3, and Derm) were the three highest averages for the year. I'm pissed about no retests too, but now there are exams scheduled every 3-5 weeks. It will still be high stakes, but since we have more exams that cover less material and they will be averaged together I think it won't be as bad as you make it seem.

 

[UCDavisdude]

whats the nycom campus like?? i cant seem to find any pics on thier website or on google or by searching sdn. thanks in advance for any info

 

[KateGia]

whats the nycom campus like?? i cant seem to find any pics on thier website or on google or by searching sdn. thanks in advance for any info

Our part of the campus is pretty nice. We have 3 buildings with a quad in the middle, and a little pond on the side of the buildings with some benches and picnic tables. There are lots of animals if you take the time to look.

 

[JasonUD]

Our part of the campus is pretty nice. We have 3 buildings with a quad in the middle, and a little pond on the side of the buildings with some benches and picnic tables. There are lots of animals if you take the time to look.

Wouldn't three buildings make it a tri??

Actually it is a quad...there's a fourth building tucked into the corner that we don't use.

[EDIT] actually i guess it would be a quatt since there's 4 and not 5

 

[gobiggreen]

She said 15% I think.

In our syllabus it says that anatomy is 20% of the practical, quizzes are 15% and OMM is 65% for this unit.

First years will probably have it more to the 50/50 split.


Also...I agree with the whole "you shouldn't be able to retest every exam" thing but NYCOM should at least allow 1 retest per unit. Even a good student can have a bad week and have something bad happen.

But like I said, the real fear to me personally (and I think a lot of other students) is failing a practical exam. You can tell if you know your stuff. You can study really hard and go onto an exam and know you should pass if you've studied well enough. You 2011s haven't done OMM yet, but you can know EVERYTHING about OMM and go into an OMM exam and fail it. usually 50% of your OMM exam is making a diagnosis and a lot of the diagnosis is honestly hit or miss. They're basically saying that everyone in the class has "some dysfunction" no matter how slight. Some people have larger dysfunctions than others and if you get a partner who is difficult to diagnose you can be screwed over. Up until the last practical exam of the year I never got less than a 96 on OMM practicals. THe last practical exam of the year I got a 61 on my OMM, luckily my anatomy brought me up to pass since they average them out. Now this year, for the 2nd years, we don't have as much anatomy and if that is to happen again, you have to repeat a whole unit when we need to be studying for the boards. Lets say you ace the cardio unit which is going to take us about 3 months to get through, but you give bad diagnoses on your 2 OMM exams...that would mean you'd have to repeat the whole cardio unit..."allopathic" medical schools don't deal with that stuff and personally I dont think OMM should have no retests. We should be given makeup exams for OMM.

Also, don't say the school would "seriously care" if say 20-30% of the class failed out of school. Despite our high tuitions, we dont cover the costs of our education. I was told by a trustee at a different medical school that the average medical student costs the school $250,000 for a four year education. Our grossly high tuition doesn't cover that. The schools try to make back money with research and other things. If you say 20% of the school were to fail out, those students would have paid full tuition and wouldn't incur the same costs as other students. Also, like Scandalis told us last year, he's more interested in the total pass rate of his students since that is how the school is judged. That may mean that students have to go. It's a scary thought but not everyone who starts, finishes. I would hope the school would aim for a 95% or higher retention rate but I don't think they'd be unhappy with an 80-85% retention rate.

Anyway, a lot of 2nd years are bitter with the changes. In my opinion, the school did TOO much, TOO quickly. They should have picked one thing to fix and focused on implementing things slowly. The changes they made have come around a little too quickly.

Campus- very sterile but nice. The surrounding areas of NYCOM are even nicer than the campus itself. Overall though, you could do a lot worse in terms of campuses. Luckily there is a nice amount of parking very close to campus. That's a definite plus.

 

[noonday]

yah wow. way to be a downer about first year. it's going to be rough, but can't you just let us think it's going to rule?

awww. itsy woo. poor dear, big mean second years bursting your little bubble. nycom ain't the nycom they told you it was when you interviewed. isn't it better to be prepared than live in a fantasy world?

Unless they use the cameras to check attendance

and i'm quite sure they will as soon as the room doesn't look quite full enough for the number of clicker responses.

right i agree with vix... do y

ou really think the powers that be will allow 40% of the class have to remediate on the first test. No they will send word down to get the good ole bell curve out and 40% will turn into 5%

read your handbook. nycom doesn't "curve." the pass score is set between 65 and 70 no matter what. there were many the occasion las year where the class scored bi-modally and that was that. i agree with the poster who said that they'd rather fail out a bunch of people than have low board scores. why better to take 300 ppl than to have a significant amount that you can cull without having the class dwindle too small?

whats the nycom campus like?? i cant seem to find any pics on thier website or on google or by searching sdn. thanks in advance for any info

it's actually kinda lovely, for a non-urban campus. the drawback is that it's not very big and if all 600 first and second years have to be on campus all the time, the parking's going to be worse and there's not enough space to all have any room at all on breaks/lunch.

 

[Vix206]

so, is 65 passing always? or it depends on the score distribution?

if so, i can handle that haha.

to be honest, this never really crossed my mind until all these posts showed up. never in my life was i allowed to retest, and i did more than fine. yeah, it sucks if they take it away. but it probably isn't so bad if you never had it. i just plan on working my ass off.

 

[LImedGuy]

anyone who was thinking of going to get your ID card and or parking pass today or tomorrow don't waste your time. I went to the school this morning and the office that does the ID's and parking passes said that NYCOM students will not be allowed to get an ID and parking pass until monday at orientation.

 

[Doctorman]

you should have ask me and I would tell you that.

you can do nothing till orientation. go party!

 

[Scotty_G]

So how is the attendance done thus far second years? Do they take it at the start of class like was mentioned earlier?

 

[KateGia]

So how is the attendance done thus far second years? Do they take it at the start of class like was mentioned earlier?

As of right now, they are doing it first thing in the morning and right afer class. I think this might change because too many kids are upset that they were running 2 min late after lunch and are being marked as absent. However, they don't want to interrupt a lecture for attendance, so who knows.

 

[JasonUD]

BRING WARM CLOTHES!! I would guess that the lecture halls are around 66 degrees which is freezing when you're sitting still. Most people wear coats, hats, scarfs, and mittens in the winter while in the lecture hall...the summer attire generally is a hooded sweatshirt and pants. I kid you not, you will be miserable on the first day if you do not have at least something with long sleeves. Bring it and keep it in your car if you don't believe me, but YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.....

 

[MCATTT]

BRING WARM CLOTHES!! I would guess that the lecture halls are around 66 degrees which is freezing when you're sitting still. Most people wear coats, hats, scarfs, and mittens in the winter while in the lecture hall...the summer attire generally is a hooded sweatshirt and pants. I kid you not, you will be miserable on the first day if you do not have at least something with long sleeves. Bring it and keep it in your car if you don't believe me, but YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.....

Hey Jason, you have been so helpful. Thank you so much for everything.
Nice new Icon, and Congrats, you are MSII now.

 

[gobiggreen]

Jason...right on with the temperature. One of the worst e-mails NYCOM sent me this year was yesterday's e-mail saying "we will be in the other auditorium tomorrow since they are having trouble getting the AC to work up to full capacity".

The AC at full capacity feels like you're in alaska. It's awful. It's 90 degrees outside but honestly, it had to be less than 60 in the classroom today. I was freezing. I think I caught a cold. Definitely bring a fleece jacket to class with you. It will help a lot.

Scores...70 is passing if it is exactly 1 SD from the mean (or more than 1 SD).

They use the 1SD from the mean to set the pass rate. However...1 SD from the mean means that 17.5% of the class is below the passing rate (unless the scores are really high which is rare). If 17.5% of the class is below the passing rate and 300 kids are in the class that means that over 50 kids will fail each written exam. If it's a difficult test, more than 50 kids will fail the exam. You also have to factor in that another 20-40 will fail the practical exam and these might not be the same kids...

It's all a little bit scary to consider.

 

[jp104]

Jason...right on with the temperature. One of the worst e-mails NYCOM sent me this year was yesterday's e-mail saying "we will be in the other auditorium tomorrow since they are having trouble getting the AC to work up to full capacity".

The AC at full capacity feels like you're in alaska. It's awful. It's 90 degrees outside but honestly, it had to be less than 60 in the classroom today. I was freezing. I think I caught a cold. Definitely bring a fleece jacket to class with you. It will help a lot.

Scores...70 is passing if it is exactly 1 SD from the mean (or more than 1 SD).

They use the 1SD from the mean to set the pass rate. However...1 SD from the mean means that 17.5% of the class is below the passing rate (unless the scores are really high which is rare). If 17.5% of the class is below the passing rate and 300 kids are in the class that means that over 50 kids will fail each written exam. If it's a difficult test, more than 50 kids will fail the exam. You also have to factor in that another 20-40 will fail the practical exam and these might not be the same kids...

It's all a little bit scary to consider.

Out of morbid curiousity...how bad is the failout rate at NYCOM? Is it noticable? Does anyone here have many friends who did not make it to OMS-II?

Thanks!

 

[noonday]

As of right now, they are doing it first thing in the morning and right afer class. I think this might change because too many kids are upset that they were running 2 min late after lunch and are being marked as absent. However, they don't want to interrupt a lecture for attendance, so who knows.

especially since in the handbook/rulebook of doom there is something about you not being "late" until either 10 or 15 min after the start of class. thus attendance shouldn't be taken until at min. 10 after.

 

[nvshelat]

especially since in the handbook/rulebook of doom there is something about you not being "late" until either 10 or 15 min after the start of class. thus attendance shouldn't be taken until at min. 10 after.

Itsy woo?! lol.

my oh my.

 

[neu yorker]

On the web board, there is a new post that has the schedule for the year of which systems we will be learning when. it also says when all the quizzes, written exams, and practical exams will be.

quizzes and exams are very often which is good and bad - good because less on each quiz and test, but bad because we will always have something to be studying for. some second year will prob say that you need to be studying constantly anyway, but studying constantly and studying constantly for a quiz or a test are two different things. anyway, for those of us who have not seen the schedule yet, take a look.

 

[Vix206]

it's overwhelming at first, but i'd rather have quizzes/multiple exams to help cushion my grade. the only thing i'm noootttt a fan of is written and practical exams on the same day. goodbye life

 

[tigre21]

.

 

[em783]

Hey guys, can't wait to meet you all this upcoming week! So I just officially accepted to NYCOM after doing some serious debating between this school and another DO program. Anyway, just in the nick of time, and I'm so excited at this point, but am ridiculously stressed out with picking up and moving 3 days before orientation

My webboard access won't start til they process other things (presumably by the end of today, according to the office, but they're 'not sure') and I have a million other things to do so I was wondering if someone could PM me or post the course/lecture schedule? Just want to be in the know before orientation and I want to figure out where the furthest I can live is.

When I was initially considering NYCOM I was going to go with Bayside and almost got a place, but then I backed out and lost the place. I think I'd prefer living in Glen Cove at this point just to be closer.

 

[gypc300]

for some reason, the webboard isn't working for me. it keeps saying "closed board." can someone please send me the link and password? greatly appreciated.

 

[gobiggreen]

wow...I just checked out the schedule for you first years and I have to say I'm glad I'm not a 2011...

you guys have 15 written exams...we had 7 last year. That means you basically won't ever have an off weekend since the "crunch down" time for an exam usually starts 2 weekends before.

You guys don't know Dean Scandalis yet but he's obviously out to torture you guys. I know med school is supposed to be tough, but it seems like NYCOM is trying to make it tougher without any purpose in making it tougher, other than to torture all of us.

I also like how you guys have a test jan. 7th after december break. We had that last year as well. This year they were nice enough to at least given us an exam before the break so we enjoy the break in the purest sense of the word. Having that test hanging over your heads will not be fun especially considering that it's neuro.

Maybe you can join in on the 2nd years and protest all of the changes NYCOM made. Starting sending complaints to dean scandalis and claire bryant asap.



The good news is...the lecture halls are nice and cool...if you're a polar bear.

 

[JasonUD]

Out of morbid curiousity...how bad is the failout rate at NYCOM? Is it noticable? Does anyone here have many friends who did not make it to OMS-II?

Thanks!

Lets just say that we started with 310 people last year. On Tuesday when everyone was there so they could test our clickers 275 people clicked in. I had heard the number was around 30 people who failed out, I guess this confirms it. Personally I know 6 people who failed out. Just study your ass off and learn the material.

 

[Vix206]

gobiggreen -

you need to chill out.

PS crunch time will probably NOT be at least 2 weekends, since we will have less material on each exam. down time is possible.

 

[lilzelda]

Yeah biggreen I do hate the school as well but u need to chill out, and let the first yrs experience med school for themselves...I just want to say the first month can be depressing and throughout the year it can get depressing b/c u haven't experinced anything like this b4, ur life is going to change drastically but it gets better with time and before u know it u'll be a second yr...Just be prepared to work hard and don't come in here thinking just b/c ur smart ur going to make it.... try and study all the time, I start reviewing about 2 wks b4 every exam but everyone is different

I haven't looked at ur schedule but I think the way they setup the testing this yr is good, I've never taken a retest but I do understand why some people are scared b/c we only had one test per block last yr so if u failed u failed the class..But this new system is more like college with numerous test...

Oh and U guys have an exam Jan 7, thats going to suck. A lot of people failed the first neuro b/c they didn't study over the break so do urself a favor and study.

The white coat ceremony sucks and is a waste of time so skip, and yes do wear layers bc Williams is freezing...

Good luck enjoy ur last weekend, and spend time with the people important in ur life..

 

[thadarknyte]

i wish i went to lecom haha

 

[kissachka]

So we all spent 4 years in undergrad, at the very least, working our butts off so that once we get into med school we can b!tch and moan about it? Nothing comes easy and this is no exception, yet complaining about it won't change a thing. Enjoy the weekend and prepare to hit the books...not the end of the world

 

[nyc55]

to be honest, this never really crossed my mind until all these posts showed up. never in my life was i allowed to retest, and i did more than fine. yeah, it sucks if they take it away. but it probably isn't so bad if you never had it. i just plan on working my ass off.

hmm...never in your life were you in med school before either.
your stats in college/grad school dont matter here, we all did well in undergrad, thats why we got into nycom
these posts really arent trying to scare you , as much as PREPARE you.
good luck!!

 

[nyc55]

The good news is...the lecture halls are nice and cool...if you're a polar bear.

LOLOLOL
so true

 

[nyc55]

Nothing comes easy and this is no exception, yet complaining about it won't change a thing. Enjoy the weekend and prepare to hit the books...not the end of the world

WRONG!
complaining will change things..if you sit quietly like nycom's puppet nothing will happen for your own benefit.
if scandalis gets enough complaints it will impede his ability to spend every moment at the local bar

 

[nyc55]

in one quick year you first years will be just as bitter as us (if not more)
just you wait

 

[jp104]

Probably a bit too soon for me to be asking, but what are the outlets that students have to voice an opinion? Is the student government effective?

I guess if anything, fear is an excellent motivator (lol). While there's alot of time to be (or become bitter), I think most of us are still excited about starting this next chapter in our lives. Let us enjoy it just a few more days haha

Anyways, I do appreciate the input from all the 2nd yrs and I really look forward to meeting with everyone