iwillbesoon said:
I loved Erie. It was beautiful both times I've been there (especially by the lake) last March and this October. I'm going again this week - I'll letcha know what I think of Erie in Feb. It is more developed than I expected - there's about 105,000 people in Erie. Everyone in the town was really nice.
The school itself seems very modern. The pathways are a definite plus for the school, although I agree that it will be difficult to get into PBL or ISP at this point. Someone on here said there was a waiting list for PBL going all the way back in November. I interviewed in early October and was accepted into the PBL path. I don't know what the status of the ISP program is. I am happy with their match list and their board scores, with the faculty I met so far, with the research opportunities (although I don't know how many students actually DO research), and especially with the PBL program. I would not have chosen LECOM-Erie if not for the PBL - I would have gone to LECOM-Bradenton (I love Florida, also has PBL), CCOM (close to home, strong match list), AZCOM (amazing board scores), and Pikeville (had the nicest people of any school I was accepted to- hands down.. & was BEAUTIFUL -but I'm not so sure I want to do rural med. that much) in that order.
I am not excited about the dress code, or that we have to wear sports bras sometimes in OMM, or that Christmas break starts about 3 days before Christmas....but I guess I'll get over those things fast enough.
As far as your plane tickets - did you try Southwest? I swear, I advertise for them so much I could work there. Anyways - check Southwest.com & if they're still really expensive, I'll sell you one of my Rapid Reward vouchers. I know tickets everywhere are getting expensive now since spring break is coming up. I looked at them the other day...usually Southwest has Chicago to Pittsburgh for $30 one way, and now it's $71!! ...Remind me to buy my Thanksgiving & Christmas tickets as soon as I can.
i am not sure about the other schools, but what do they have you wear? Sports Bras in OMM has been nothing but a convienence for the male students so that they can palpate the female students without having to fell like they are doing something innappropriate. And all of the doc's that i asked said that they told their female patients to come to their offices in a sports bra.
I know that this was a situation for just this year, but our x-mas break was 23 days long! Usually it is 17. But it did start kinda close, but then again, it's graduate school, it is considered work and thus they put you on a "proffessional" schedule.
As far as the dress code, you feel special and all nice for the first two weeks, and then you just get used to seeing everyone in shirts and ties. They are extremely lax when it comes to female attire (because the range of looking "proffesional" is so broad for women) to the point that some of the second years started wearing bolo ties to "rebel". Is the dress code really that big of a deal? No, not at all. It is just another way to "assimilate" you into the work force.
By the way, today we learned how to examine a patient, everything from the opthalmiscope, to cranial nerves, to abdominal and basic vitals. I have been in more rooms in the past 7 hours than i have in the past 8 months in lecom. It was a great day, but to make my point clear, we are so busy studying and trying to get past the next exam that we lose track of the days of the week sometimes, so having a bannana republic or a Macy's in town doesn't really matter all that much.
If you look at my earlier posts, my biggest hang-ups were that the building was too cold and proffessional. I barely even notice now, i can't even beleive that i was worried about such a trite detail. When you are looking at a med school, look at the curriculum, take a close look at how they prepare you:
1. to become a good physician
2. to pass the boards
i know those are broad criteria, but everyone has their own ways to fill it.
hope this helps
ps- and yes, i would choose LECOM all over again, without a doubt, 100%.
