PCOM Biomedical Sciences 2022-2024

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Dochopeful13 said:
Anyone know how good the linkages are for their med school?
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I would say the linkage is decent. PCOM loves their own biomed students and they usually take a handful each year. My class last year had about 20-25 students (out of about 100) link into PCOM after the first year. The number seems low, but a lot of the other students either didn't apply, didn't have the grades/MCAT, or had various reasons for not applying. Even if you had everything in order, you can still get WL or R after interviewing.

The biggest advice I can give to anyone coming into the program is to have the stats listed in the guidelines for a guaranteed interview. IMO, it does you no justice if you go into this program without an MCAT. I spent a lot of my time studying for my classes in this program and I don't think I would have succeeded if I had to study for an MCAT on top of my studies.
 
tuf13119 said:
I would say the linkage is decent. PCOM loves their own biomed students and they usually take a handful each year. My class last year had about 20-25 students (out of about 100) link into PCOM after the first year. The number seems low, but a lot of the other students either didn't apply, didn't have the grades/MCAT, or had various reasons for not applying. Even if you had everything in order, you can still get WL or R after interviewing.

The biggest advice I can give to anyone coming into the program is to have the stats listed in the guidelines for a guaranteed interview. IMO, it does you no justice if you go into this program without an MCAT. I spent a lot of my time studying for my classes in this program and I don't think I would have succeeded if I had to study for an MCAT on top of my studies.
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Thanks! Is the linkage strong for GA and PA?
 
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Dochopeful13 said:
Thanks! Is the linkage strong for GA and PA?
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I do not know enough about the GA program to say anything about their linkage. Like I said for the Philly biomed program, my class alone had about 20 - 25 students. Then you factor in 2nd year biomed students and biomed students who previous graduated within the past year and the number is probably really closer to 35 - 40 biomeds get in per year. So I would say the linkage is decent
 
After everything is checked off on application materials in PCOM’s portal, my application is considered complete, right? Or should I have received an email verifying this?
 
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what benchmarks should you aim to meet in the program? it seems the guaranteed interview benchmark and the conditional acceptance benchmarks are a little different, so can someone explain that?
 
tuf13119 said:
I would say the linkage is decent. PCOM loves their own biomed students and they usually take a handful each year. My class last year had about 20-25 students (out of about 100) link into PCOM after the first year. The number seems low, but a lot of the other students either didn't apply, didn't have the grades/MCAT, or had various reasons for not applying. Even if you had everything in order, you can still get WL or R after interviewing.

The biggest advice I can give to anyone coming into the program is to have the stats listed in the guidelines for a guaranteed interview. IMO, it does you no justice if you go into this program without an MCAT. I spent a lot of my time studying for my classes in this program and I don't think I would have succeeded if I had to study for an MCAT on top of my studies.
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Do you know of anybody in your Biomed class who got an acceptance from an MD school after completing either the first or both years of the biomed post bacc program?
 
Wokemon said:
Do you know of anybody in your Biomed class who got an acceptance from an MD school after completing either the first or both years of the biomed post bacc program?
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I do not know of any students in the biomed program that got MD acceptances during their time here, but it is definitely possible to get them if you have the stats. From my personal experience with mentoring and talking to friends, I would say that most of the students coming here have weak stats like a low MCAT or a low GPA.
nt101 said:
what benchmarks should you aim to meet in the program? it seems the guaranteed interview benchmark and the conditional acceptance benchmarks are a little different, so can someone explain that?
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What criteria are you missing from the biomed guidelines for a DO interview so that I can have a better understanding of what your're missing or lacking in? The one guideline that I think PCOM is more flexible on seems to be the MCAT. My MCAT was >500, but I had 2 subsections <40% (CARS and P/S) on my recent take. However, I do not know of anyone who got an interview who did not do well in the BMS program.
 
Received the A this morning! Application was complete 4/8. If there are any current or past students on here, can you tell me what a typical day as a student looks like? I see they say that classes tend to be on weeknights and weekends. How late are these classes? Are weekday classes available?
 
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ilovepancakes22 said:
Received the A this morning! Application was complete 4/8. If there are any current or past students on here, can you tell me what a typical day as a student looks like? I see they say that classes tend to be on weeknights and weekends. How late are these classes? Are weekday classes available?
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Congrats!

I am a current 2nd year in the BMS program so my experience may be slightly different than others since our 1st year was entirely online last year due to COVID. However, the typical day should still be the same. You usually have classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays from 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM. A lot of students use Wednesdays as a day to catch up on material in the classes and Fridays are whatever you want to do with it (I personally never studied on the weekends unless a major exam was coming up on like a Monday or Tuesday). Classes are 4 hours, but you usually get a break after 1 hr of lecture and some of the classes do not go the full 4 hrs. Classes are for the most part recorded, so you can always go back to the lecture videos on Blackboard.

I personally do not know of any weekend classes unless you are referring to the 2nd year program where you may have classes on Friday, Saturday, and Sundays (but that is offset by having no weekday classes). Let me know if you have any other Q's.
 
tuf13119 said:
Congrats!

I am a current 2nd year in the BMS program so my experience may be slightly different than others since our 1st year was entirely online last year due to COVID. However, the typical day should still be the same. You usually have classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays from 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM. A lot of students use Wednesdays as a day to catch up on material in the classes and Fridays are whatever you want to do with it (I personally never studied on the weekends unless a major exam was coming up on like a Monday or Tuesday). Classes are 4 hours, but you usually get a break after 1 hr of lecture and some of the classes do not go the full 4 hrs. Classes are for the most part recorded, so you can always go back to the lecture videos on Blackboard.

I personally do not know of any weekend classes unless you are referring to the 2nd year program where you may have classes on Friday, Saturday, and Sundays (but that is offset by having no weekday classes). Let me know if you have any other Q's.
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Thank you! Your response was very helpful. For the classes that are recorded, is in-person attendance required? Also, have you heard of anyone ending up at other med schools besides PCOM from the program?
 
ilovepancakes22 said:
Thank you! Your response was very helpful. For the classes that are recorded, is in-person attendance required? Also, have you heard of anyone ending up at other med schools besides PCOM from the program?
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Lectures DO NOT have mandatory attendance. There might be some classes where you have to show up if you are doing group activities.
However, I would definitely attend lecture for the 1st term to decide if you would rather attend lecture or watch the videos at a later time at home. My observation is that most students attend the lectures for 1st term and then the attendance for lectures go down for the 2nd and 3rd terms.


Labs, however have mandatory attendance if I recall correctly. For the anatomy class (which is usually taken during 1st term), you have lecture from 5:00 - 5:50. Then you have lab from 6:00 - 9:00. Not all classes have a lab component. Off the top of my head, we have labs for anatomy (1st term), histology (1st term), and neurology (3rd term).


It is also possible to get into other medical schools. The linkage here is not binding, so you can apply to any medical school as you choose during the program. I myself and others, got accepted to other DO schools in addition to PCOM. However, like I said to another user; I do not know of anyone who got accepted to MD schools
 
tuf13119 said:
Lectures DO NOT have mandatory attendance. There might be some classes where you have to show up if you are doing group activities.
However, I would definitely attend lecture for the 1st term to decide if you would rather attend lecture or watch the videos at a later time at home. My observation is that most students attend the lectures for 1st term and then the attendance for lectures go down for the 2nd and 3rd terms.


Labs, however have mandatory attendance if I recall correctly. For the anatomy class (which is usually taken during 1st term), you have lecture from 5:00 - 5:50. Then you have lab from 6:00 - 9:00. Not all classes have a lab component. Off the top of my head, we have labs for anatomy (1st term), histology (1st term), and neurology (3rd term).


It is also possible to get into other medical schools. The linkage here is not binding, so you can apply to any medical school as you choose during the program. I myself and others, got accepted to other DO schools in addition to PCOM. However, like I said to another user; I do not know of anyone who got accepted to MD schools
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Thank you for taking the time to help! I really appreciate it! I can’t think of anymore questions at this time, but I may get back to you with more.
 
Hi! I was recently accepted to BMS at PCOM-GA does anyone have any insight to the GA specific program and outcomes? Thanks!
 
Does anyone know if they are still accepting students? I applied to the MBS program in GA and SGA in mid-April and I still haven't heard anything.
 
tuf13119 said:
I would say the linkage is decent. PCOM loves their own biomed students and they usually take a handful each year. My class last year had about 20-25 students (out of about 100) link into PCOM after the first year. The number seems low, but a lot of the other students either didn't apply, didn't have the grades/MCAT, or had various reasons for not applying. Even if you had everything in order, you can still get WL or R after interviewing.

The biggest advice I can give to anyone coming into the program is to have the stats listed in the guidelines for a guaranteed interview. IMO, it does you no justice if you go into this program without an MCAT. I spent a lot of my time studying for my classes in this program and I don't think I would have succeeded if I had to study for an MCAT on top of my studies.
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Is it pretty common to get WL or R after interviewing if you have all the stats to get into the med school? Or do you have to bomb the interview for this to happen?
 
Dochopeful13 said:
Is it pretty common to get WL or R after interviewing if you have all the stats to get into the med school? Or do you have to bomb the interview for this to happen?
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Everything I say is from my experiences which may differ from other BMS students.

I would say that it is slightly common to get WL or R. One of the reasons is due to bombing the interview. Another reason that people usually don't think of is getting late interviews (which you can't control). The trend that I have noticed from peers is that interviews early on like in November -December usually get accepted outright or rejected, but students who get interviews in March - April usually get WL or rejected. I think this has a lot to do with PCOM being almost full during the April - May months rather than the students performance. Again about 40 - 50 BMS students ranging from 1st years, 2nd years, and recent graduates get into PCOM so the program itself is a great bridge into the DO program.
 
Hey I have a question— so if you meet all the benchmark// and you qualify for the conditional acceptance, you STILL need to interview?
 
Elyc said:
Hey I have a question— so if you meet all the benchmark// and you qualify for the conditional acceptance, you STILL need to interview?
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Yes, you need to interview and you need to interview well to get into the DO school. One of the benchmarks is a "favorable interview". That is why I think that the guaranteed acceptance is a little misleading since it is more of a guaranteed interview.
 
tuf13119 said:
Yes, you need to interview and you need to interview well to get into the DO school. One of the benchmarks is a "favorable interview". That is why I think that the guaranteed acceptance is a little misleading since it is more of a guaranteed interview.
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Oh wow. So literally the guaranteed interview and guaranteed acceptance is the same thing -.-
 
Does anyone have any insight about the PCOM-SGA masters? I'm having a bit of difficulty finding people who have gone to the program and I have questions about how the program differs from the GA campus. Any help would be appreciated!
 
Does anyone know if the program is good for pre-dental? or is anyone interested in other healthcare?
 
Hi! Just got accepted into the PA campus. Does anyone think it would be doable to retake the mcat while in the program? My mcat is below the requirement to qualify for a guaranteed interview, so I’m concerned if I’ll have the time to retake it before interviews start. Only asking as I’m interested in attempting to matriculate after 1st year of the Masters program 🙂 thank you!!
 
sakina4 said:
Hi! Just got accepted into the PA campus. Does anyone think it would be doable to retake the mcat while in the program? My mcat is below the requirement to qualify for a guaranteed interview, so I’m concerned if I’ll have the time to retake it before interviews start. Only asking as I’m interested in attempting to matriculate after 1st year of the Masters program 🙂 thank you!!
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Would be relatively difficult, but not impossible. I would highly recommend just focusing on classes and getting a good routine going. Then taking the mcat between first and second year of the masters program.
 
Does anybody know whether the class size for this upcoming year for the Philly campus is full?? I havent heard back since Winter 2021
 
studenttu101 said:
Does anybody know whether the class size for this upcoming year for the Philly campus is full?? I havent heard back since Winter 2021
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I just want to alert you that orientation for the biomeds started today because class starts on Aug 15.

With that said, I do not believe that the biomed program has a cap on the amount of students they take. Students are continually being added/dropped up towards orientation. If you did not hear back since winter 2021 regarding a decision, then I would email or call them ASAP to see what the status of your application. It is strange how you did not get any decision at this point when classes are about to start. I got my decision via email, so maybe check your spam folder? I do not have knowledge on if they send rejections via email or mail
 
tuf13119 said:
Congrats!

I am a current 2nd year in the BMS program so my experience may be slightly different than others since our 1st year was entirely online last year due to COVID. However, the typical day should still be the same. You usually have classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays from 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM. A lot of students use Wednesdays as a day to catch up on material in the classes and Fridays are whatever you want to do with it (I personally never studied on the weekends unless a major exam was coming up on like a Monday or Tuesday). Classes are 4 hours, but you usually get a break after 1 hr of lecture and some of the classes do not go the full 4 hrs. Classes are for the most part recorded, so you can always go back to the lecture videos on Blackboard.

I personally do not know of any weekend classes unless you are referring to the 2nd year program where you may have classes on Friday, Saturday, and Sundays (but that is offset by having no weekday classes). Let me know if you have any other Q's.
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Thank you for sharing this! I have been considering applying but postponed because I am not so sure if it will be feasible to complete the BMS program while attempting the MCAT. Would you say based on the class schedules and study demand that there would be enough time to study consistently? Or are the masters classes very demanding?
 
CJ15 said:
Thank you for sharing this! I have been considering applying but postponed because I am not so sure if it will be feasible to complete the BMS program while attempting the MCAT. Would you say based on the class schedules and study demand that there would be enough time to study consistently? Or are the masters classes very demanding?
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The classes are demanding and it would be very hard to find time to study for the MCAT. I recommend taking the MCAT after the 1st year of the program because you learn a lot of the content for the MCAT from the classes alone. My observation is that if you do well in the classes, you should do well on the MCAT.
 
tuf13119 said:
I would say the linkage is decent. PCOM loves their own biomed students and they usually take a handful each year. My class last year had about 20-25 students (out of about 100) link into PCOM after the first year. The number seems low, but a lot of the other students either didn't apply, didn't have the grades/MCAT, or had various reasons for not applying. Even if you had everything in order, you can still get WL or R after interviewing.

The biggest advice I can give to anyone coming into the program is to have the stats listed in the guidelines for a guaranteed interview. IMO, it does you no justice if you go into this program without an MCAT. I spent a lot of my time studying for my classes in this program and I don't think I would have succeeded if I had to study for an MCAT on top of my studies.
Click to expand...
So still need to retake MCAt?
 
tuf13119 said:
Can you restate what your wrote? IDK what the question is
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So if the weak part of your application is the mcat then it will still need to be retaken??
If you have a super strong gpa, extras, shadowing , references etc is there still a benefit to the program or are you better off just studying for the mcat
 
juliealbright said:
So if the weak part of your application is the mcat then it will still need to be retaken??
If you have a super strong gpa, extras, shadowing , references etc is there still a benefit to the program or are you better off just studying for the mcat
Click to expand...
Kind of hard to say honestly. I think you might be better off studying for the MCAT if that is your only weak part of your application.

I still think there is a benefit to the program because it can make you competitive for many medical schools IF you do well. If your MCAT is at least at or above the cutoff MCAT for the guaranteed interview, then you still have the guaranteed interview depending on the rest of your stats. If your MCAT is not at the cutoff, then you still have a chance at the guaranteed interview (but I can't say for certain). I know of a couple of biomeds that had <500 MCAT that still got in, but they were 2nd years.
 
Hey, is there anyone who got accepted into PCOM Philly and wants to connect? Let me know
 
tuf13119 said:
Yes, you need to interview and you need to interview well to get into the DO school. One of the benchmarks is a "favorable interview". That is why I think that the guaranteed acceptance is a little misleading since it is more of a guaranteed interview.
Click to expand...
 
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