PCOM Discussion thread 2008-2009

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I was told it can take up to 2 months after being complete to hear about an interview. I was complete 10/20 and still have not heard yet. You can call admiss and ask if your file has been reviewed. I called on 11/22 and my file still had not been reviewed.

Just curious if you called in the morning or afternoon? I called twice since I was complete (~10/1), and both times the women I spoke to could not tell me if my app had been reviewed... only that I was complete (think it was the same women). Anyone else not able to find out if you've been reviewed????

 

[wackyfizzle]

I called before Thanksgiving and they told me I was being reviewed but I have still not been told anything. So though i might be in the "pile" maybe they havnt read my file yet...perhaps that is why they arnt telling you your status?

I'm not really sure how the process works I just know that I've been being reviewed for awhile and havnt been invited nor rejected, so I guess that's something.

 

[gapjunction]

To any of the applicants accepted, do you mind quickly posting how long it took to receive an invite after being complete (secondary, LOR's, payment submitted)? I've been complete for over 3 weeks now and nothing. I've heard back from most of the other schools I applied to around the same time which is why I am panicking. Thanks.

Complete: 09/29
Interview invite (via e-mail): 10/07/08
Interview: 12/08/08
Acceptance: letter dated 12/10/08, received in mail 12/12/08 and e-mail 12/11/08

 

[rajaholick]

Just curious if you called in the morning or afternoon? I called twice since I was complete (~10/1), and both times the women I spoke to could not tell me if my app had been reviewed... only that I was complete (think it was the same women). Anyone else not able to find out if you've been reviewed????

i had given up calling them once they told me my file was complete
because they weren't saying anything else like when it would be reviewed, if it was going to be reviewed
why i didn't get a "your file is complete letter", basically no info
then out of nowhere i got an interview invite in december, so maybe they just work realy slowly
hang in there!

 

[AMEHigh]

Complete: 09/29
Interview invite (via e-mail): 10/07/08
Interview: 12/08/08
Acceptance: letter dated 12/10/08, received in mail 12/12/08 and e-mail 12/11/08

Not sure when I was complete because I never received a letter, but I sent my secondary in during the middle of September

Interview Invite: 1st week in November

Interview: 11/20

Acceptance: letter dated 11/26

 

[DrQuinnMW]

Just curious if you called in the morning or afternoon? I called twice since I was complete (~10/1), and both times the women I spoke to could not tell me if my app had been reviewed... only that I was complete (think it was the same women). Anyone else not able to find out if you've been reviewed????

I called in the afternoon on Friday. I think I spoke to Kristy (?) and she told me that all she could share with me was that I was complete. I already knew this as I have been complete since 9/30. She said I would receive an e-mail invitation if they decided to interview me.

It is depressing. I was complete around 10/1 at CCOM and TUCOM-Ca and got an interview invite within a week.

 

[whateva07]

Still under the "ready for review" category....yikesss...i'm not even "under review"

 

[khen7513]

Complete: 09/29
Interview invite (via e-mail): 10/07/08
Interview: 12/08/08
Acceptance: letter dated 12/10/08, received in mail 12/12/08 and e-mail 12/11/08

Wow, how much of a balla did you feel that you were accepted barely 2 days later?

 

[223319]

Hey
Has anyone that has been accepted or interviewed at PCOM this year have similar stats as me? I am just trying to figure out if i should completely lose hope. Here are my stats:
MCAT: V:8, PS:6, BS:8 =22 O
Science cum: 3.6
overall cum: 3.63
I have great clinical experience and ECs as well as great LORs

 

[khen7513]

Hey
Has anyone that has been accepted or interviewed at PCOM this year have similar stats as me? I am just trying to figure out if i should completely lose hope. Here are my stats:
MCAT: V:8, PS:6, BS:8 =22 O
Science cum: 3.6
overall cum: 3.63
I have great clinical experience and ECs as well as great LORs

Almost exact and I was accepted. Except my GPA was a 3.56. And I had several LOR from PCOM. But, I was also accepted to LECOM, and I didn't know anybody there.

But never lose hope! You really only lose when you give up.

 

[223319]

Almost exact and I was accepted. Except my GPA was a 3.56. And I had several LOR from PCOM. But, I was also accepted to LECOM, and I didn't know anybody there.

But never lose hope! You really only lose when you give up.

Thanks..That gives me hope..Do you remember when your application was complete?

 

[Cocoloco]

Complete: 09/29
Interview invite (via e-mail): 10/07/08
Interview: 12/08/08
Acceptance: letter dated 12/10/08, received in mail 12/12/08 and e-mail 12/11/08

I also interviewed on 12/8/08, but was not expecting to hear anything for a few weeks. Now I fear that I have been rejected 🙁.

 

[AMEHigh]

Hey
Has anyone that has been accepted or interviewed at PCOM this year have similar stats as me? I am just trying to figure out if i should completely lose hope. Here are my stats:
MCAT: V:8, PS:6, BS:8 =22 O
Science cum: 3.6
overall cum: 3.63
I have great clinical experience and ECs as well as great LORs

Yes I have very similar stats. My mcat is a tad higher and gpa a tad lower, so essentially the same and I got accepted.

 

[gapjunction]

haha, i know, it felt good that i was accepted barely 2 days letter!

 

[gapjunction]

I also interviewed on 12/8/08, but was not expecting to hear anything for a few weeks. Now I fear that I have been rejected 🙁.

oh no! don't fear that!!! i'm sure they are just still reviewing your file. good luck and i hope you are accepted!

 

[khen7513]

Thanks..That gives me hope..Do you remember when your application was complete?

Yeah, for LECOM the 2nd or 3rd, and for PCOM the 5th of September. YOU CAN DO IT! I would keep following up with them.👍

 

[khen7513]

I also interviewed on 12/8/08, but was not expecting to hear anything for a few weeks. Now I fear that I have been rejected 🙁.

I would only imagine that acceptances (and interviews for that matter) will pick up again after they gauge the "December 15th" rush, so to speak. No fear.

 

[Lithium311]

I'm soooo excited!! Just got an invitation to interview!!!

It's in Feb which is a bit worrisome but I don't care at this point because I LOVE PCOM and really wanted this chance to interview.

 

[BirenJ]

Come on PCOM! Show me some love!

I have been complete since beginning of Nov. I sent an email inquiring about my status and they replied a month later telling me I was complete. I guess they're just really busy with applications.

PA resident, above average MCAT, average GPA, good EC's, and a solid background.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Also, with the holidays coming up, should I expect to NOT hear from PCOM until mid January about any interview invites?

So, PCOM finally gave me some lovin'.

Got the e-mail for interview invite today for February 19. LONG way to go...almost 2 months. At least, it gives me plenty of time to be more than prepared for the interview. 👍

P.S. The e-mail ended up in my Spam folder somehow. 😕 Good thing I keep checking my Spam folder every day. 😀

 

[jrbst4]

Complete: 09/29
Interview invite (via e-mail): 10/07/08
Interview: 12/08/08
Acceptance: letter dated 12/10/08, received in mail 12/12/08 and e-mail 12/11/08

I saw this post and another that showed students being interviewed and accepted within a week. Does this happen on special occasions? We were told at our Dec. 15th interviews that we could not expect to hear before early January. Facing other deposit deadlines, I was hoping that would not be true. PCOM is my choice should I be accepted. It would be great to not have to pay other deposits. Any input??

 

[Lithium311]

So, PCOM finally gave me some lovin'.

Got the e-mail for interview invite today for February 19. LONG way to go...almost 2 months. At least, it gives me plenty of time to be more than prepared for the interview. 👍

P.S. The e-mail ended up in my Spam folder somehow. 😕 Good thing I keep checking my Spam folder every day. 😀

I'm interviewing on the 19th too 🙂 See you there!

 

[BirenJ]

I'm interviewing on the 19th too 🙂 See you there!

Ah cool man. Driving in or flying in?

 

[niranjan162]

I saw this post and another that showed students being interviewed and accepted within a week. Does this happen on special occasions? We were told at our Dec. 15th interviews that we could not expect to hear before early January. Facing other deposit deadlines, I was hoping that would not be true. PCOM is my choice should I be accepted. It would be great to not have to pay other deposits. Any input??

considering christmas and new years are around the corner i wouldnt count on it.

 

[Bleurberry]

I saw this post and another that showed students being interviewed and accepted within a week. Does this happen on special occasions? We were told at our Dec. 15th interviews that we could not expect to hear before early January. Facing other deposit deadlines, I was hoping that would not be true. PCOM is my choice should I be accepted. It would be great to not have to pay other deposits. Any input??

I can say with the utmost confidence that there are no special occasions.
What happened was they interviewed at the end of the interview cycle, the committee met and reviewed them and all those who came before for that time span, and sent out the letters the following day.
Hope this helps.

 

[Lithium311]

Ah cool man. Driving in or flying in?

I'm in DC, so probably just taking Chinatown bus in 🙂

 

[jrbst4]

I can say with the utmost confidence that there are no special occasions.
What happened was they interviewed at the end of the interview cycle, the committee met and reviewed them and all those who came before for that time span, and sent out the letters the following day.
Hope this helps.

Thanks for the feedback. I figured that was the most likely scenario myself.

 

[237696]

I've been reading this thread for awhile as a lurker and have found it very helpful, and just thought I'd chime in with my own info since I got my e-mail invitation to interview this morning.

Secondary mailed: 11/6/08
Complete at PCOM: 11/29/08 (letter by mail)
Interview Invite by e-mail: 12/18/08, scheduled for 2/24/09

My stats:
MCAT: 30S
GPA: 3.09
Sci.GPA: 3.37

B.S. in mathematics in '04 and MEd. in '05... five years teaching high school in the inner city, started taking pre-reqs at night three years ago. GPA at graduation was a crappy 2.68 but have taken almost 60 credits post-bac to raise that to the paltry 3.09 you see now (3.89 in post-bac). Also had a 4.0 for my MEd., not that it really matters. Guess I'm technically a non-trad.

I'm truly happy for all of you who have gotten in already and wish everybody luck! Guess I'll come back in late winter and update...

 

[235750]

Sorry, "Update to my timeline"

AACOMAS Submitted: 6/15
AACOMAS verified:8/3 (they were sooo slow)
Complete at PCOM: 09/20
Interview invite (via e-mail): 10/07
Interview: 12/04 (the wait killed me!!)
Acceptance: letter dated 12/9/08, received in mail 12/10/08 and e-mail 12/9/08
Recieved scholarship: letter dated 12/16, got it 12/17

So, for all of you that feeling the pain of waiting, DO NOT DISPAIR!! Things can happen, but they take a lot of time. Note that I submitted the AACOMAS as soon as I had my grades, so if I could just repeat this one most important piece of advice to fellow premeds..

Apply as early as possible!🙂

My stats/background:
Research coordinator at a major university
Masters in biostats, 3.9 GPA, 2007
Took graduate biochemistry courses, managed to get As
31 MCAT (12V, 9 P, 10 B) don't remember the silly letter for writing section (it was good)
BA/BS in Philosophy/Biology from state school, 3.1 science, 3.4 overall, 2005

 

[Bacchus]

Sorry, "Update to my timeline"

AACOMAS Submitted: 6/15
AACOMAS verified:8/3 (they were sooo slow)
Complete at PCOM: 09/20
Interview invite (via e-mail): 10/07
Interview: 12/04 (the wait killed me!!)
Acceptance: letter dated 12/9/08, received in mail 12/10/08 and e-mail 12/9/08
Recieved scholarship: letter dated 12/16, got it 12/17

So, for all of you that feeling the pain of waiting, DO NOT DISPAIR!! Things can happen, but they take a lot of time. Note that I submitted the AACOMAS as soon as I had my grades, so if I could just repeat this one most important piece of advice to fellow premeds..

Apply as early as possible!🙂

My stats/background:
Research coordinator at a major university
Masters in biostats, 3.9 GPA, 2007
Took graduate biochemistry courses, managed to get As
31 MCAT (12V, 9 P, 10 B) don't remember the silly letter for writing section (it was good)
BA/BS in Philosophy/Biology from state school, 3.1 science, 3.4 overall, 2005

PCOM gave you scholarship information? Hmmm... I guess being interviewed on the first day and how I was a great candidate was just buttering up... hmph.

 

[235750]

PCOM gave you scholarship information? Hmmm... I guess being interviewed on the first day and how I was a great candidate was just buttering up... hmph.

The letter said I got the scholarship because of my grades/MCAT score. My understanding from talking to students who currently have the scholarship is that if you have at least a 30 MCAT, 3.8 GPA for the last two years, and some serious experience in the hospital/prehospital setting (I was paramedic), then you are pretty much guaranteed to get it. This is not offical though, just what other students had.

Do you have all that? if so, I'd call them up. By the way, it's the board of trustees scholarship, not huge, but it does help. Makes it just a tad more than LECOM

 

[235750]

PCOM gave you scholarship information? Hmmm... I guess being interviewed on the first day and how I was a great candidate was just buttering up... hmph.

Sorry, I'm at work and with all the rushing around I do, I forgot to add this important note:

You are a great candidate, so much so that you got accepted! That's not buttering up silly! 🙂 We were fortuante enough to get into medical school, there are so many people who don't get in (like me back in undergrad), you should be really happy/proud about that. I saw your blog, you are still in undergrad so you have a lot more going for yourself, congrats! and PCOM is an awesome school as we all know

so even if you didn't get those numbers, who cares, money is only money and you'll be a doctor soon enough.👍

 

[Bacchus]

I don't have that. I was looking at the overall picture, haha. Whats money? 😉

 

[BirenJ]

I'm in DC, so probably just taking Chinatown bus in 🙂

I see. It seems that buses running in and out of Philly are super cheap. I remember going to TOURO and I met somebody who took the bus from Philly for, I think, $15 or something ridiculous all the way up to NYC. And here I spent almost $8 on NJ Turnpike toll.

Anyway, I'm driving in super early from Lancaster that morning. That should be a lot of fun. 👍

 

[HALIVE]

I was just invited for an interview at PCOM-philly. I like you PCOM!!! after my acceptance, I will love thee!!!

 

[Lithium311]

I see. It seems that buses running in and out of Philly are super cheap. I remember going to TOURO and I met somebody who took the bus from Philly for, I think, $15 or something ridiculous all the way up to NYC. And here I spent almost $8 on NJ Turnpike toll.

Anyway, I'm driving in super early from Lancaster that morning. That should be a lot of fun. 👍

Yea roundtrip from DC - Philly is about 27. There are buses to NY that you can get for 1$ if you buy super early. It's ridiculous!

You're intense to drive in! But smart you'll save a lot of money not staying in a hotel or anything. Thankfully I can crash at my friend's place. These interviews really add up.

 

[engineeredout]

I see. It seems that buses running in and out of Philly are super cheap. I remember going to TOURO and I met somebody who took the bus from Philly for, I think, $15 or something ridiculous all the way up to NYC. And here I spent almost $8 on NJ Turnpike toll.

Anyway, I'm driving in super early from Lancaster that morning. That should be a lot of fun. 👍

OH yeah, get this. I took a bus to chinatown philly from chinatown manhattan. 20$ ROUND TRIP.



Did I mention how our seat wasn't properly bolted down on the window side, so whenever the bus made a turn the girl in the window seat went like five feet in the air?


Ya get what you pay for.

 

[SemperDO]

So, PCOM finally gave me some lovin'.

Got the e-mail for interview invite today for February 19. LONG way to go...almost 2 months. At least, it gives me plenty of time to be more than prepared for the interview. 👍

P.S. The e-mail ended up in my Spam folder somehow. 😕 Good thing I keep checking my Spam folder every day. 😀

I got the invite too! For Feb 18 though...I was complete the last week of Nov, guess they worked fast with me lol

 

[237696]

Just out of curiosity... I've seen/heard figures between 3,500 and 5,000 for the total number of applicants. Does that sound right? And of that, does anyone know approximately the total number of interviews that are offered? And finally, does anyone have an idea about what their acceptance/attendance ratio is? I assume a lot of people who are offered admission end up going elsewhere, but I have no idea how many. Yes, I've tried searching already. Only the big 20-page threads come up and I can't dig through every single one of those...

 

[rajaholick]

is tuition really 38K/year at pcom? i thought it was less than that...

 

[tallgal0523]

Just out of curiosity... I've seen/heard figures between 3,500 and 5,000 for the total number of applicants. Does that sound right? And of that, does anyone know approximately the total number of interviews that are offered? And finally, does anyone have an idea about what their acceptance/attendance ratio is? I assume a lot of people who are offered admission end up going elsewhere, but I have no idea how many. Yes, I've tried searching already. Only the big 20-page threads come up and I can't dig through every single one of those...

All I know is that they receive over 5000 applications and I was told at my interview that they were planning to interview around 700 people.

 

[khen7513]

Just out of curiosity... I've seen/heard figures between 3,500 and 5,000 for the total number of applicants. Does that sound right? And of that, does anyone know approximately the total number of interviews that are offered? And finally, does anyone have an idea about what their acceptance/attendance ratio is? I assume a lot of people who are offered admission end up going elsewhere, but I have no idea how many. Yes, I've tried searching already. Only the big 20-page threads come up and I can't dig through every single one of those...

I vividly remember Johnathan saying that approx 700 get interviewed, and that we were among the 20%. So thats 3500 applicants.

I forgot what he said about accepted though.

 

[khen7513]

Hmmm.. we have conflicting statements. The 700 is congruous though. So 700 interviews it is.

 

[smooch01]

For all of you that have interviewed at PCOM already, I was looking at the interview feedback, are all the interviews in groups? How does this work?

 

[237696]

Thanks for taking the time to respond guys!

 

[khen7513]

For all of you that have interviewed at PCOM already, I was looking at the interview feedback, are all the interviews in groups? How does this work?

For me, we hung out in a group, but were interviewed individually. My interview consisted of Marsha, two teachers, and I. Unless of course the entire day was an interview and Dr. Woodruff also judged us.

 

[bigyihoroi]

For all of you that have interviewed at PCOM already, I was looking at the interview feedback, are all the interviews in groups? How does this work?

I was interviewed by the Dean Rebecca and a clinician at the same time. The interview lastsed 30-35 mins for me. Interviewees were not interviewed in groups but rather individually one-by-one.

 

[engineeredout]

is tuition really 38K/year at pcom? i thought it was less than that...

http://www.pcom.edu/Administration/Administrative_Departments/Bursar_s_Office/do_tuition.html

 

[Bacchus]

I'm kinda upset that everyone gets to meet all these people. Our interview day was the "lite" version, haha.

 

[danielgoodjob]

hey, it seems a lot of people here already get interviewed and accepted. I just received secondary application this week. I have a 31 mcat and 3.47gpa. Am i late? Also, pcom's secondary has a question requiring a "brief statement why you want to be DO and go to their school". How brief should it be?

 

[Bacchus]

Mine was 3/4 of a page. You have a shot.