Philadelphia COM - Philadelphia (PCOM) Discussion Thread 2015 - 2016

BU Medical Sciences
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tankaer said:
Sorry I suppose that is a pretty subjective term. If I remember correctly it's 5%.

I don't know about cash in the mail.
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Why in the world would you chance sending cash in the mail? Get a money order if you don't have a checking account
 
Bronze_rose said:
How substantial are we talking? Also do you know if they accept cash in the mail?
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I wouldn't think so... Checking/saving accounts and credit cards are pretty much it and I believe you have to do it online (their tuition payments and loan refunds also work this way)
If you absolutely can't - contact the bursars office about money order...
 
Pretty frustrated with this school. I got everything in 11/11, had problems with one of my letters and finally took several calls to PCOM to resolve it. Now it's been nearly a month and the status boxes on my portal are still empty (even though everything was marked as received in Nov/Dec). Do I need a check mark in these boxes before expecting a II?
 
billeboi31 said:
Pretty frustrated with this school. I got everything in 11/11, had problems with one of my letters and finally took several calls to PCOM to resolve it. Now it's been nearly a month and the status boxes on my portal are still empty (even though everything was marked as received in Nov/Dec). Do I need a check mark in these boxes before expecting a II?
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No, they're meant to be empty. As long as there is a date under the received column for all the requirements.
 
billeboi31 said:
Pretty frustrated with this school. I got everything in 11/11, had problems with one of my letters and finally took several calls to PCOM to resolve it. Now it's been nearly a month and the status boxes on my portal are still empty (even though everything was marked as received in Nov/Dec). Do I need a check mark in these boxes before expecting a II?
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Don't get too discouraged! I was complete in September and didn't eat anything until end of November. It's just slow
 
Question....So I have not received any acceptance letter in the mail but my portal was updated and indicated that I should pay the $250 deposit. Has anybody had this happen to them? Does this mean that I was accepted?
 
EternalQuaker said:
Question....So I have not received any acceptance letter in the mail but my portal was updated and indicated that I should pay the $250 deposit. Has anybody had this happen to them? Does this mean that I was accepted?
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U are accepted, Congrats....
 
EternalQuaker said:
Question....So I have not received any acceptance letter in the mail but my portal was updated and indicated that I should pay the $250 deposit. Has anybody had this happen to them? Does this mean that I was accepted?
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When did you interview?
 
aspiringMD/DO said:
When did you interview?
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I
A013 said:
U are accepted, Congrats....
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This doesn't happen to everybody. I received my acceptance letter on a Monday and my portal was updated the following Friday, but somehow for some people, it happens this way. So if your portal was not updated yet, you may still get an acceptance letter today.
aspiringMD/DO said:
When did you interview?
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This doesn't happen to everybody. I received my acceptance letter on a Monday and my portal was updated the following Friday, but somehow for some people, it happens this way. So if your portal was not updated yet, you may still get an acceptance letter today.
 
Hi guys, I have a question. Did anybody here got an interview invite with 24-26 MCAT? Thanks!
 
I interviewed November 16th. The admission committee was waiting on my transcripts for the fall to come in before they gave me an answer. I think this might be it. The application said that I need to pay the security deposit by February 1st. Is that about correct?
 
Hi, is anyone going to the interview on 1/22? GA campus. I'm pretty nervous now.
 
Will be withdrawing from here. Hope the spot goes to one of you!!
 
EternalQuaker said:
November


November 16th....I've been on hold for a while because admissions wanted to see my fall 2015 grades before making a decision. It normally doesn't take that long.
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Can you also share your extracurricular activities?
 
EternalQuaker said:
I interviewed November 16th. The admission committee was waiting on my transcripts for the fall to come in before they gave me an answer. I think this might be it. The application said that I need to pay the security deposit by February 1st. Is that about correct?
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I've been placed on hold too and interviewed on Nov 20. Are you a current student already? Since u have access to the portal. I only have access to the admissions website so I can't check for "deposit requests".
 
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kalviinn said:
I've been placed on hold too and interviewed on Nov 20. Are you a current student already? Since u have access to the portal. I only have access to the admissions website so I can't check for "deposit requests".
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Gotcha. Well what I meant was that I checked the application summary page where they have listed all the documents that you have submitted. At the very top it indicated that I should pay the tuition deposit by a certain date. You can definitely get to the application summary page using the I.D number and password PCOM sends after you submit your secondary. Let me know how it goes.
 
Khoaitay said:
Can you also share your extracurricular activities?
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Martial Arts Instructor
Community Clinic Volunteer (2 years)
NCAA Division I Football Player
Editor for UPENN Bioethics Journal
Neuroscience Research
Diabetes and Obesity Research
Television/Commercial Actor
 
EternalQuaker said:
Gotcha. Well what I meant was that I checked the application summary page where they have listed all the documents that you have submitted. At the very top it indicated that I should pay the tuition deposit by a certain date. You can definitely get to the application summary page using the I.D number and password PCOM sends after you submit your secondary. Let me know how it goes.
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Received anything in the mail today?
 
Does PCOM focus more on GPA or MCAT? My MCAT is a 31, but my cGPA is 2.76. I'm a non-trad, and failed out of college my first go-round before getting my **** together, so I've got a lot of bad grades following me around. My GPA when I went back to school was a little above 3.1, since I was working full-time to support myself while in school full-time (this was as a clinical transporter at a Level 1 Trauma Center, so I also have around 2,500 hours of clinical experience). Also have published research, EMT, etc.

It's January already, so I'm wondering if I've got any chance of an II here, or should I stop holding my breath?
 
peteyg543 said:
Does PCOM focus more on GPA or MCAT? My MCAT is a 31, but my cGPA is 2.76. I'm a non-trad, and failed out of college my first go-round before getting my **** together, so I've got a lot of bad grades following me around. My GPA when I went back to school was a little above 3.1, since I was working full-time to support myself while in school full-time (this was as a clinical transporter at a Level 1 Trauma Center, so I also have around 2,500 hours of clinical experience). Also have published research, EMT, etc.

It's January already, so I'm wondering if I've got any chance of an II here, or should I stop holding my breath?
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Since you're not from PA, and you're considered OOS, I wouldn't hold my breath for a II. I've been still waiting for a II with a 3.7 GPA and 31 MCAT, but OOS in the next state over (NJ.) I'm also a non-trad, with absolutely no retakes. I've been complete since end of July. I pretty much gave up on this school. It seems that PCOM is very regionally biased, but I can't confirm with certainty. It's been almost six months with silence.

I also have published research at the top university and worked in the top hospital in the country. I'm also EMT certified, but chose to go into research for higher pay. I have about average clinical experience.

The schools I've encountered so far that seems regionally biased are:
NSU
PCOM
PCOM-GA
VCOM

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pcom-wild-admissions.737016/
 
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peteyg543 said:
Does PCOM focus more on GPA or MCAT? My MCAT is a 31, but my cGPA is 2.76. I'm a non-trad, and failed out of college my first go-round before getting my **** together, so I've got a lot of bad grades following me around. My GPA when I went back to school was a little above 3.1, since I was working full-time to support myself while in school full-time (this was as a clinical transporter at a Level 1 Trauma Center, so I also have around 2,500 hours of clinical experience). Also have published research, EMT, etc.

It's January already, so I'm wondering if I've got any chance of an II here, or should I stop holding my breath?
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In all honesty I wouldn't lose hope because even though this is relatively late in the cycle, because I know for a fact that pcom has been a little bit behind on the interviews. The reason why I wouldn't lose hope is the fact that I was just accepted and my MCAT and GPA were lower than yours
 
mathnerd88 said:
Since you're not from PA, and you're considered OOS, I wouldn't hold my breath for a II. I've been still waiting for a II with a 3.7 GPA and 31 MCAT, but OOS in the next state over (NJ.) I'm also a non-trad, with absolutely no retakes. I've been complete since end of July. I pretty much gave up on this school. It seems that PCOM is very regionally biased, but I can't confirm with certainty. It's been almost six months with silence.

I also have published research at the top university and worked in the top hospital in the country. I'm also EMT certified, but chose to go into research for higher pay. I have about average clinical experience.

The schools I've encountered so far that seems regionally biased are:
NSU
PCOM
PCOM-GA
VCOM

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pcom-wild-admissions.737016/
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I think Pcom class is about 60 percent from PA.
 
EternalQuaker said:
In all honesty I wouldn't lose hope because even though this is relatively late in the cycle, because I know for a fact that pcom has been a little bit behind on the interviews. The reason why I wouldn't lose hope is the fact that I was just accepted and my MCAT and GPA were lower than yours
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If you don't mind, when were you complete and are you a PA resident?
 
EternalQuaker said:
Nothing yet, but the mail man hasn't come by yet. I called the office today and they told me that the decisions were sent out and should get to us pretty soon.
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Do you know which time period of interview they sent out the decisions for? Did you say you interviewed Nov 16th and was put on hold until they receive the fall transcript?
 
Khoaitay said:
Do you know which time period of interview they sent out the decisions for? Did you say you interviewed Nov 16th and was put on hold until they receive the fall transcript?
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I actually just got my acceptance letter in the mail. They are sending out the decisions for those who interviewed in first and second week of January and for those who have lingering applications from the fall. And yeah, I interviewed on the 16th of November, sent my fall transcript on the 21st of December and they processed it on the 6th of January. The committee met on the 12th of January (I think) and sent the decisions out on Friday the 15th of January. They should be arriving in the mail today or tomorrow
 
Userneedmoreinfo said:
I think Pcom class is about 60 percent from PA.
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That's a very high proportion of PA residents considering that PCOM is a highly regarded private DO school with a relatively cheaper tuition compared elsewhere. CCOM has 59% IS for its class, but it has a ridiculously high tuition so many OOS would prefer another school.

I'd still say that there is some regional bias for PCOM.

I also heard PCOM favors DE residents too.
 
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EternalQuaker said:
In all honesty I wouldn't lose hope because even though this is relatively late in the cycle, because I know for a fact that pcom has been a little bit behind on the interviews. The reason why I wouldn't lose hope is the fact that I was just accepted and my MCAT and GPA were lower than yours
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That's quite reassuring, thank you. It's easy to become neurotic this time of year. If you don't mind me asking, what did the rest of your app look like (ECs, etc)?
 
Khoaitay said:
Would you mind sharing your extracurricular activities?
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Sure! Please forgive me for being vague with some of the titles, I'm all about keeping a low profile on here.

Intensive research background, first author on pubs., presentations at major society meetings, completing graduate school in biology this spring
Teaching Assistant for 4 undergraduate level biology courses in both my undergrad and graduate school
Highly trained musician with many performance groups
Volunteered abroad and at a local hospital ~500 hours (can't remember exactly, super rough estimate)
Shadowed over 150 hours
Very personalized letters from PCOM grads
Resident Advisor
Many leadership roles in various organizations pertaining to medicine and honor societies

Don't fret just yet if your MCAT isn't the strongest. It's not a death sentence. I feel that PCOM sees way more than just your score. But I also think it helped that I applied really early (invited early Nov). This is the only school I've heard back from and I'm blessed they gave me a shot. So don't worry just yet! They still have months of interviews to come and they started a lot later than most schools. You got this! Best wishes
 
I've heard PCOM takes forever with their decisions and they are pretty selective. I think I've heard a trend that they favor health care experience (EMT, etc).
They are also very random with their selections and I don't think they do rejections until March(?)-May or end of the cycle.
 
peteyg543 said:
Does PCOM focus more on GPA or MCAT? My MCAT is a 31, but my cGPA is 2.76. I'm a non-trad, and failed out of college my first go-round before getting my **** together, so I've got a lot of bad grades following me around. My GPA when I went back to school was a little above 3.1, since I was working full-time to support myself while in school full-time (this was as a clinical transporter at a Level 1 Trauma Center, so I also have around 2,500 hours of clinical experience). Also have published research, EMT, etc.

It's January already, so I'm wondering if I've got any chance of an II here, or should I stop holding my breath?
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Did you do a Masters or post-bacc program? I had a 3.1 cGPA & 2.89 sGPA from undergrad - I also had to work but I did a MS with a 3.4 and was accepted after...
 
blikefood said:
Did you do a Masters or post-bacc program? I had a 3.1 cGPA & 2.89 sGPA from undergrad - I also had to work but I did a MS with a 3.4 and was accepted after...
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No, haven't done a post-bacc. If I don't get in this cycle I'll be doing the post-bacc at VCOM as a Plan B though, since I know that GPA is my major weak point.
 
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