I am a 3rd yr. Did PBL pathway for 1st 2 years. Go ahead and ask away.
Third year at LECOM-Erie" Ask me anything.
- Thread starter ike88
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What were your stats for getting into LECOM?
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How much time did you guys get for dedicated on Step 1?
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How's your day going?
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Do you think that the case based approach of PBL provided you with a better preparation for 3rd year rotations than your LDP and DSP classmates, or do you not think that it made a big difference? Obviously, you didn't get to do their pathways so it is hard to make an objective comparison, but I'm interested in your opinion on the matter.
A
AnatomyGrey12
Did you have any interactions with the LDP students and if you did what were some differences you saw? How are board score comparisons for the two pathways? Did PBL help you prepare for rotations in comparison to your other classmates? If you had to start over would you choose PBL again?
And just for fun, what is your specialty interest currently?
And just for fun, what is your specialty interest currently?
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deleted245139
Not hijacking, but I'm a LECOM grad (2013) graduating residency in June. I did PBL and LOVED it. Takes some effort, and requires a high tolerance for critical reading, but you get a lot of skills from it:
- you learn to read quickly and efficiently, pulling out relative information and critical reasoning
- you have more free time than LDP (maybe equal to ISP). I was at almost every one of their post test parties
- you are exposed to high pressure testing right off the bat. This is a blessing and a curse, but it definitely puts you in a position where you feel comfortable with boards
- you are applying clinical knowledge from day one (though in lo fi mental excersizes)... This helped immensely in the clinical arena.
Overall.... Not for everyone. You are spoonfed zero. You will struggle initially trying to figure out how to navigate things, but the payoff is huge.
- you learn to read quickly and efficiently, pulling out relative information and critical reasoning
- you have more free time than LDP (maybe equal to ISP). I was at almost every one of their post test parties
- you are exposed to high pressure testing right off the bat. This is a blessing and a curse, but it definitely puts you in a position where you feel comfortable with boards
- you are applying clinical knowledge from day one (though in lo fi mental excersizes)... This helped immensely in the clinical arena.
Overall.... Not for everyone. You are spoonfed zero. You will struggle initially trying to figure out how to navigate things, but the payoff is huge.
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That would be really disappointing. The school does have some issues, but so does every school. There are always trade offs to be made, some more obvious than others.
Just this past week, I was talking to a residency PD who had a lot of praise for our school. She said that LECOM students stand out very positively compared to students from other schools. She said that we are more clinically proficient, more professional in attitude and behavior, and more resilient in the face of challenges. I might think that was just fluff, except that I've heard very similar sentiments from others... and it jives with what I saw from LECOM-trained students, residents, and attendings that I met as an RN. The quality of the graduates LECOM produces was a big reason that it was my number one choice. It is probable that those qualities are related to some of the very things that students find most frustrating.
I might not always enjoy the process, and there are some things that I think that they could do differently without negatively affecting that reputation for excellence. Still, I'm more interested in outcomes than process, and I'm still glad that I chose to come here.
I had a 3.7 ~ish GPA and 28-31 MCAT (trying to protect identity so just giving ranges,, hope it gives a good idea).
None. If you end up going to LECOM, make sure you do PBL, it gives the most optimal schedule for board studying. In PBL we are campus maybe 1-2x/week for a OMM lab/lecture, and then have our PBL cases which meet 1-2x/wk for 1-2 hrs. Please do not make the mistake of doing LDP. You DO NOT NEED a strong background in science to do well in PBL. That is a myth.
No real interaction with LDP after Anatomy ended. Most friends were in DSP/LDP because you are grouped together for alot of OMM/H&P stuff. Yes I do think PBL gave us an advantage with rotations as well as in our H&P course. Yes, I believe PBL is the only way to survive LECOM with your sanity intact. PBL has higher board stats historically, but also a smaller sampling size, so there is some bias in the comparison. If I were to do it all over again, I would have re-taken the MCAT and tried MD. Otherwise, would have gone PBL at Bradenton or Seton Hill. I have close friends at both sites and based on their experiences, which we compare regularly, those campuses have less BS to deal with, which is why I suggested in that other thread that the student compiling a list of DO schools shoot for Lecom-B/SH, and toss Erie. Interested in anesthesia.
See above regarding PBL/rotations. I definitely think we had an advantage, as do my classmates in PBL. PBL is the only way to go in my opinion to succeed on boards and be well prepared for rotations.
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Oh, I turned down my LECOM acceptance years ago. Just curious how your dedicated compared to my school's is all- we get 4 weeks until the COMLEX and up to six additional weeks for the USMLE if you're willing to sacrifice your summer.
Mandatory lecture sounds like a living nightmare. We had it for one block and I learned less than at any point in my entire first two years.
Yea as a PBLer you end up with a pseduo-dedicated time because it ends about this time or maybe a week ago. People can opt for a "vacation month" during june and opt into LECOM's borad study prep, but that is mandatory 49 hrs a week on campus, so yeaa, no......
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Your comment got lost in a quote above. No disrespect heard. I hear and respect your opinion as well.
Regarding the bolded... you are not wrong. The school does compel students to take on a great deal more personal responsibility for their education and puts them through more trouble in the process than I think is common. I don't even think that they would disagree with that, because that is their intentional design. They do things the way that they do because they sincerely believe that their approach is what is best for us, that the reason we shine is because we are buffed by all that gets thrown at us. LECOM is a machine for minting physicians that meet the specifications that its designers want in their product, and it is impressively efficient at doing so, partly because so much of the burden is carried by the raw material.
Anyhow, I didn't mean to totally restate my case again. Just wanted to say that we aren't really in disagreement here.
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Do you know anything about the waitlist, like how many are pulled each year?
Not entirely sure, this is purely speculation I know LECOM over-accepts and have the largest classes of all med schools. So, I wouldn't be too down if you are wait listed. I would imagine they accept a lot of all star candidates early who end up somewhere else and so I think it is fair to say that they pull a lot of kids off the wait-list. I know there were a handful of students in my class who came in after the 1st week of classes started.
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Thank you for making this thread! I have a lot of questions.
1. You mentioned a lot of requirements/things that you needed to do in the Erie campus that other campuses didn't have to deal with. Can you elaborate on that?
2. How much self-learning from textbooks is involved in the PBL pathway? Do you ever feel lost without someone to clarify a topic you aren't sure about?
3. Do the case studies really cover all the material needed for the STEP 1 exam?
4. Do the less frequent exams make studying for them harder since they cover more material?
5. What's your typical week look like in terms of class/study schedule?
6. Do you know much about what the DSP is like?
1. You mentioned a lot of requirements/things that you needed to do in the Erie campus that other campuses didn't have to deal with. Can you elaborate on that?
2. How much self-learning from textbooks is involved in the PBL pathway? Do you ever feel lost without someone to clarify a topic you aren't sure about?
3. Do the case studies really cover all the material needed for the STEP 1 exam?
4. Do the less frequent exams make studying for them harder since they cover more material?
5. What's your typical week look like in terms of class/study schedule?
6. Do you know much about what the DSP is like?
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Can you give a comparison between the first kind of PBL study you did and one of your last ones? How did the skills you learned over the two years of your PBL pathway teach you to effectively tackle the questions being asked?
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Yes I took out loans. I managed them (not sure hwat this means). I took the right amount because I created a budget before hand. Yes, I have a plan after I graduate.
Good to hear from you, thanks for sharing
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Lulu have you chosen a school yet?
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Yes! I was able to get off the wait list at UMass.
congratulations!
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Do most of the LECOM grads match in primary care since that is their focus
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How does the experience and exposure to different hospitals during clinical rotation sites help when it comes to residency matches? It worries me that Bradenton is so close to Tampa but I have not been able to find any connection to Tampa hospitals or other large hospitals in Florida (Jacksonville, Miami, etc)
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Of course if you want to end up at a particular program, it is helpful to rotate at that program. It isn't absolutely necessary. I didn't rotate at any of the places that I ranked, and I feel very confident about getting my top choice. (We will see, come Monday!) I'm primary care, though. It maybe a bigger deal if you want to specialize.
Do you just want to be in that area, or are you eyeing up specific programs? I'm guessing the former. If so, you will have the opportunity to do some electives and audition rotations. Schedule those wherever you want to end up. The school may not have a regular rotation site at a given facility, but you can contact the facility and tell them that you are interested in maybe doing a residency there and would like to set up a rotation. Most places are keen on helping you do that, since they want to recruit future residents. If they aren't cool about it, then take that as a sign that maybe you don't want to go there as bad as you thought you did.
