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PCOM (Philadelphia) Discussion Thread 2011-2012
Started by ShyRem
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Anyone around know when the committee meets/met in November? Just had my interview, loved the school, and was curious as to when I'm allowed to begin stalking the mail box.
They DID say that at the latest it would be a month from the date of interview... but it all depends on when the committee meets that specific month. ie: one of the second years I was talking to got her letter in the mail 8 days after her interview!
Addendum: Note that no one has been accepted yet this month... that may say something about whether or not committee has met this month. Here's hoping-
They DID say that at the latest it would be a month from the date of interview... but it all depends on when the committee meets that specific month. ie: one of the second years I was talking to got her letter in the mail 8 days after her interview!
Addendum: Note that no one has been accepted yet this month... that may say something about whether or not committee has met this month. Here's hoping-
I interviewed on Nov. 10th and the interviewers told our group to expect letters some time around Thanksgiving (which is next week). I don't know if your group falls into the same interview-adcom cycle as ours, but if so, you may hear from them as soon as next week. If not, it may take a few weeks - maybe the first or second week of December.
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I interviewed 11/14 and they stated we would know before Thanksgiving.
Got my acceptance letter today! 😀
That was really fast. It's only been 9 days since my interview (Nov.10th). I live in Philadelphia, which is probably why I got my letter so quickly. Those of you who interviewed during the same cycle and live further away, should hear soon - probably early next week, if not today.
Good luck to everyone!
That was really fast. It's only been 9 days since my interview (Nov.10th). I live in Philadelphia, which is probably why I got my letter so quickly. Those of you who interviewed during the same cycle and live further away, should hear soon - probably early next week, if not today.
Good luck to everyone!
What were ur stats?
Just got accepted today too!! My parents called to read me the letter!
D
deleted357625
You may have just missed this round. I say that because my letter is dated November 16.
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Hmm... well, I would HOPE that the committee met on the 16th (which would include those interviewing on the 16th) and then got them out in the mail a day or two later (the 18th). Nothing I can do about it though... haha, I guess I'll know Monday or Tuesday-- the letter has to travel all the way to Arizona!
Congrats through! Mind if I ask your stats?
Congrats through! Mind if I ask your stats?
Hey guys! I am finally giving in and posting after reading this forum constantly. I was complete in early October and invited to an interview on 10/27, my interview is on 11/28. I was wondering if you knew if it is a bad sign for getting a later interview. Sorry getting nervous for this!!! Also if anyone has any advice or tips for the interview I'd love them! Thanks 🙂
Its not late yet, so its a good sign that they are interviewing you. Just be calm and show them why you belong there. Its a low stress interview.
Thanks! Really love this school!
I'm in northern NJ and received my letter Sat
Hey all, I just got my acceptance letter today, and I live in Boston. Also interviewed on the 10th...so you may remember me lol.
Does anyone know generally how many spots are filled by Dec?
In the past it's been around half the spots filled by December.
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Accepted yesterday as well!
One of their admissions counselors told me if you don't have higher than a 24 MCAT, don't bother and submit the secondary...they don't give anyone less than that an interview this year...so yeah I thought that was kind of rude. Yeah, it's a low score, but I thought DO schools do a holistic review looking at more than just numbers...guess not.
Just a FYI.
Just a FYI.
That may be what that person told you, but that is definately not the case. They may have a focus on 24+, but they are very concerned with the overall person.
Yeah, I believe I do know of some people who are accepted this year with less than a 24 MCAT ... but I mean, I could see where the lower you MCAT is, the harder it would be to get an interview. It is that way with any school DO or MD. If she said that for submitting this late in the cycle, she is prob right though. With 7,000 applicants and half the class filled by December .. Prob a long shot by then.
Would you rather she told you that or you submitted and were automatically rejected because of your score?
I would choose the former.
If you have a 24, you should've applied the day AACOMAS was available. Submitting now with a low score is a mistake.
As mentioned above, you should have applied EARLY with a MCAT lower than 24. And for what its worth, anything less than 8 on each section gets flagged and the rest of your app is scrutinized even further to see if your MCAT score tell the full story or not.
The odds are against you at this point in the cycle, as clearly explained above by other posters, and I think she was being respectful by giving you an honest answer, and not a fairy tale answer. Frankly, it would have been rude of them to give you a fairy tale answer because it would have gotten your hopes up.
The pre-interview letter will get put in your file and yes, it can help. I'm not saying that you will definitely get an interview with a pre-interview letter but you never know. It's definitely worth a shot. Go for it.
PCOM is the best school ever! If you don't worship PCOM, then you are a heathen!!
Seriously, ask a better question if you want to compare two schools.
I love PCOM, but I never applied to NYCOM so I couldn't tell you about there. Go to the interview and then compare them for yourself.
I personally liked everything about PCOM better. My interviews at the two schools were about 4 days apart so I had a pretty fresh mindset to compare and contrast the two. NYCOM was more expensive (although PCOM is expensive as well), and the cost of living on Long Island was more than Philadelphia when I talked to students. I felt like PCOM had better facilities than NYCOM. I was also really turned off by the doctor who sat down to talk to us about the school, because he basically told us that to be successful in med school and be a good doctor you have to sacrifice everything, that you'll hardly ever see your friends, that it was almost impossible to maintain a relationship, and you would have to deal with 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Obviously none of this is true and I knew it at the time, but he was a very poor representative for the school. I also liked PCOM's rotation list better than NYCOM.
Overall though, out of all of the schools that I visited, NYCOM would have no doubt been my second choice. The students that I met were amazing and down to earth. It's environment seemed similar to PCOM's. I think I would have been happy there if I didn't get into PCOM.
If you have the money to travel, I would definitely still go to the interview. You'll never really know which one fits you better until you go (no matter how biased we all are 🙂 ).
That doctor is not too far off from the truth . I go to pcom and have med student friends throughout the country ... It is a lot harder than you imagine going into it. Ask almost anyone. You do have to sacrifice everything It is not impossible to have a relationship, because almost everyone is in one... But they do get neglected without a doubt. I just don't want you to have preconceptions about it being easier or not as time consuming. It will happen anywhere you go. No one told me and I was blind sided by the sheer amount of information they throw at you. it doesn't matter how strong your background is .. because trust me it is mad overwhelming for even the smartest kids in my class. The people at school are amazing though and everyone really works together. It has a lot of positive aspects with the negative .. i love pcom and would never want to go through this insane journey anywhere else
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I guess what is important to take out of each person's experience is that it will always vary, and that the applicant's experience will probably also differ. I'm not saying med school hasn't been difficult, and that there haven't been sacrifices, but I have never once not done something i've really wanted to do because i've been in medical school. I have time for myself every day, and yeah, my boyfriend probably wishes I could spend some more time with him, but I still get to spend plenty. That doctor at NYCOM that spoke to us was the epitome of the kind of person I did not want to become. It was most important to me to be successful in medical school, but to be happy 90% of the time and always stay well rounded, whether it meant sacrificing some study time for other things, such as seeing my friends, going to a concert that I really wanted to go to, getting 8 hours of sleep each night, exercising every day, volunteering in the community. It has been a lot of hard work, but it has not been even close to impossible for me to do everything I want to do and still do very well in school.
I think I should also say that I had to learn time management VERY early in school, because my dad had a cardiac arrest 5 weeks into my first year and was in a coma for about the first two weeks. I learned to balance school, talking to his doctors each day on the phone, spending hours on the phone updating all of my family so my mom could actually sleep, and driving home 5 hours every weekend that I didn't have an exam. I was still able to keep up with my studies and do very well (and this is one reason why I LOVE PCOM as much as I do - they had my back the entire time and were willing to do whatever I needed for myself and my family and at the same time get me through.) It is because of this experience that I learned to balance everything that is important in my life and to always do what will make me happy. I may have a little bias of an experience with med school because of this, but I still think anything you want to do is doable, and just know that there may be times when you do sacrifice for school, but I personally don't think it is most of the time. Since I have to start studying for boards in a couple months, my attitude may change, since that is the one thing that does actually stress me out thinking about it 😱, but it's not something that I won't get through.
Don't ever let someone tell you that you will have to sacrifice the majority of your life. Anything that is really important to you, you will make happen. There are plenty of students at PCOM who have young kids and marriages, and perhaps they don't always strive for an A, but they make everything work and will be great doctors. The proof that you can do whatever you need or want to do with time management and hard work (as well as support) is biggest lesson I have taken away from my experience. and PCOM is one of the best support networks I could have ever asked for.
And @ATPRNG, I can definitely understand your opinion if you are in the DO/MS/PhD program, because I don't know how you guys balance the night classes on top of all of our second year systems. I'm sure I would share your opinion if that was the track that I have taken. I can't imagine having all of that extra material to worry about.
Happy turkey day everyone!
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Thanks, I'm gonna go to the NYCOM interview just in case since its 15mins from my house but I will reserve my seat at PCOM. I visited NYCOM before and felt that PCOM felt more comfortable but I am gonna go and be optimistic. I like NYCOM's DO/MS in clinical nutrition program but I love so many things about PCOM. Its such a hard toss up, I hope I get waitlisted at NYCOM or something so that I feel 100% about just choosing PCOM. Either way I am excited to start this rigorous journey.
I hope once I start school, I am still able to do things for me such as going to the gym daily & possibly visiting my family in New York sometimes.
I hope once I start school, I am still able to do things for me such as going to the gym daily & possibly visiting my family in New York sometimes.
Time constraints in med school aren't AS big as everyone says.
I'll use myself as an example.
We're about 3 weeks into our second term so I'll use first term as time period. I did very well in anatomy, ~top 20% in my class. Anatomy definitely was the biggest consumer of time and much of what I did revolved around school. Yes, what I do revolves around what I do in school but that does not mean that it is all encompassing. I play basketball twice/wk, go out Friday nights, I still watch the Eagles suck it up, I still watch The Walking Dead and It's Always Sunny, I still take ample time for dinner....you starting to get it?
A classmate of said something the other day in response to a ****ty turnout at basketball (it was two weeks before a test), "If you tell yourself you can't find two goddamn hours a week to play basketball...you're being freaking stupid'.
I hope you chose PCOM.
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