VCOM Discussion thread 2008-2009

[primadonna22274]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Here's what I did: look back at your PS, then look at your resume/C.V. you'll find 5 things that you bring to the table just fine. Don't be afraid to put in something a bit different--something quirky even. I think they just want to get a picture of who you are.

 

[msu16]

anyone interviewing on 10/20??? any last min tips on how to prepare??? Congrats to everyone who got accepted

 

[Amy B]

Be yourself!
Read through your CV, application, secondary answers
Be yourself!
Good luck

 

[simpleman]

I think I'm going to cancel my interview on 11/3. I really like WVSOM and it seems like it's the school for me.

hey kojoo,

I totally respect your opinion and choice. Let me tell you, I am a NAVY HPSP and I had the choice between many schools, but it came down b/w West Virginia and VCOM....so money was not an issue for me like yourself; however, you have to pay attention to where you will be trained 3rd and 4th year....I have been reading and hearing from current students that their core rotations are not strong and mostly (which i mean all, except for one or two major hopsitals) are rural community settings!

I encourage you to read on the WVSOM threads here on SDN and read about their 3rd and 4th yr sites. You will find it very informative!!

VCOM's site are mostly large hospitals with the exception of a couple small ones. and that was one of the many factors I chose VCOM.

and in regards to airports, both are small airports and are gonna cost you a whole lot more to fly out from...so alot of people from WVSOM have to travel to NC major airport! VCOM is much closer to NC!

and when you come for your interview to VCOM, the hotel's shuttle will come and pick you up from the airport at no cost...so you shouldnt worry that much about interview evening.....

let me know if i can be of any help....

 

[koojo]

hey kojoo,

I totally respect your opinion and choice. Let me tell you, I am a NAVY HPSP and I had the choice between many schools, but it came down b/w West Virginia and VCOM....so money was not an issue for me like yourself; however, you have to pay attention to where you will be trained 3rd and 4th year....I have been reading and hearing from current students that their core rotations are not strong and mostly (which i mean all, except for one or two major hopsitals) are rural community settings!

I encourage you to read on the WVSOM threads here on SDN and read about their 3rd and 4th yr sites. You will find it very informative!!

VCOM's site are mostly large hospitals with the exception of a couple small ones. and that was one of the many factors I chose VCOM.

and in regards to airports, both are small airports and are gonna cost you a whole lot more to fly out from...so alot of people from WVSOM have to travel to NC major airport! VCOM is much closer to NC!

and when you come for your interview to VCOM, the hotel's shuttle will come and pick you up from the airport at no cost...so you shouldnt worry that much about interview evening.....

let me know if i can be of any help....

At WVSOM, you do 3rd year in-state or in states surrounding WV. During the 4th year you can go anywhere you want...you can go to Hawaii or Alaska if you want, so I'm not sure what the issue here is. I called today and canceled my interview at VCOM.

 

[Bacchus]

If the cost of your education was nothing to you, you should have at least interviewed and checked the school out. I respect your opinion and choice, but I think it was hurried to just discount VCOM. :\

 

[koojo]

If the cost of your education was nothing to you, you should have at least interviewed and checked the school out. I respect your opinion and choice, but I think it was hurried to just discount VCOM. :\

Cost is an issue now, I never said it was. I said the school's TUITION was something I'm not worried about. Anyway, I've already made up my mind. People cancel interviews all the time, I don't get what the big deal is...

 

[Sabzi]

Since you have move away for your rotations during 3rd and 4th year, how do you guys manage this transition of moving all the time? How do you find affordable apartments and place to live and so on? I have always wondered that...

 

[CrewBHB]

If my understanding is correct, some hospitals have housing available for the students rotating, and some work with apartment complexes in the surrounding area. However, I do not know for sure, just what I have heard.

 

[Bacchus]

I withdrew my acceptance today. I hope it goes to someone deserving. Best of luck everyone! My fellow interviewees, best of luck to you especially. It was nice meeting all of you!! (Facebook me 😉).

 

[211519]

Good luck, Bacchus! It was great meeting you.

I withdrew my acceptance today. I hope it goes to someone deserving. Best of luck everyone! My fellow interviewees, best of luck to you especially. It was nice meeting all of you!! (Facebook me 😉).

 

[Sabzi]

I withdrew my acceptance today. I hope it goes to someone deserving. Best of luck everyone! My fellow interviewees, best of luck to you especially. It was nice meeting all of you!! (Facebook me 😉).

Why are u withdrawing from VCOM. Where are you going instead?

 

[Bacchus]

Why are u withdrawing from VCOM. Where are you going instead?

I'm going to PCOM. I didn't withdraw in hate or without great deliberation. My reasons are purely subjective. I will always speak highly of VCOM and think its an awesome school. As I told Megan, residency might always be a possibility 😉.

 

[Amy B]

 

[Bacchus]

Amy, I'm sorry 🙁

 

[Sabzi]

Amy B,

I am definitely coming to VCOM next year. But I am very nervous about it. I have never lived by myself before and don't know what to do about housing. I am trying to either buy a house or rent something for REALLY cheap. The thing is that I don't know anyone as far as finding a roommate.

Can you please help me about some specific housing for rent and maybe even some houses that is for sell?

Thank you so much

 

[primadonna22274]

Amy,

You know I would come if they invited me...just sent my secondary on Friday. Hope for good news soon. 😀

Lisa

 

[simpleman]

hey all,

Just as FYI, Amy is a graduate of VCOM. She is doing her residency in Internal Medicine, I believe. She was one of the top students here at VCOM!

Sabzi---as for housing, rent is your best option...dont buy...and dont be scared of living alone....i was a mama's and papa's boy and i lived at home all throughout undergrad! i think u will really like it...i was scared initially, but all it took was a week by myself...

also, if you dont know anyone, as being a good roommate, i highly encourage you to wait till you come to acceptance students day and meet people.....but for the time being, look for housing and let Megan Price (my favorite person in this whole school) put you on the roommate search list!! she will hook you up 😉

primadonna, good luck in receiving ur response back..... 😀 the admission staff here are really excellent in replying in a timely fashion!!!

 

[Bacchus]

Housing costs in Blacksburg and especially Christiansburg are cheap, cheap, cheap!

 

[Spooner13]

Hey everyone,

I just found out that my premed committee letter won't be ready until late Nov or early Dec. Honestly, do you think this will hurt my chances significantly at VCOM. I think this school is amazing, and I'd hate it if something like this contributed to me not being accepted.

Thanks

 

[Bacchus]

I doubt it will significantly hurt you. Of course its always better to be early instead of late. However, granted you have strong stats you should have a shot. Being from Tennessee is going to help you out, in my opinion.

 

[Amy B]

hey all,

Just as FYI, Amy is a graduate of VCOM. She is doing her residency in Internal Medicine, I believe. She was one of the top students here at VCOM!

😳😳 Oh my.. Thanks!

Yep, my residency is an Internal Medicine one.

 

[Spooner13]

I doubt it will significantly hurt you. Of course its always better to be early instead of late. However, granted you have strong stats you should have a shot. Being from Tennessee is going to help you out, in my opinion.

Thanks for the insight Bacchus. And congrats of PCOM!

 

[primadonna22274]

Thanks...I'll keep my fingers crossed. It's one of my top choices (and my top DO choice right now). In fact if I got into VCOM or my home school (OHSU) I think it would be a very tough choice.
thanks
L.

primadonna, good luck in receiving ur response back..... 😀 the admission staff here are really excellent in replying in a timely fashion!!!

 

[tideleonheart]

Hey everyone,

I just found out that my premed committee letter won't be ready until late Nov or early Dec. Honestly, do you think this will hurt my chances significantly at VCOM. I think this school is amazing, and I'd hate it if something like this contributed to me not being accepted.

Thanks

Don't worry about it. Let Megan or Bea know and they'll take care of it.

 

[simpleman]

Hey everyone,

I just found out that my premed committee letter won't be ready until late Nov or early Dec. Honestly, do you think this will hurt my chances significantly at VCOM. I think this school is amazing, and I'd hate it if something like this contributed to me not being accepted.

Thanks

i REALLY dislike pre-med advisors!!!!

If I were you, i would get individual professors write a letter of recommendation and send it off.....

pre-med advisers are just plain stupid and ******ed...excuse my language...their sole purpose is to make life complicated to the undergrad student!!...just remember, at one point of their lives, these advisers were "physicians wanna be" and couldnt make it!!!!

i had my professors write a letter for me within two days and i asked them to mail it priority mail! my pre-med committee letter took two months to be written and at the end, regardless to say, screwed my colleague chances of getting in at some schools.

anyway, sorry if i overheated a little bit! i just had flashbacks from undergrad

 

[nsuparamedic]

I GOT IN, YA VCOM ! See everyone next fall ! 👍

 

[River Rat]

i'm in and will be coming.

[trying real hard to not type in all caps and exclamation marks. gotta maintain composure!]

 

[nsuparamedic]

Riverrat, Congrats, cant wait to meet you in the fall!

 

[Spooner13]

i REALLY dislike pre-med advisors!!!!

If I were you, i would get individual professors write a letter of recommendation and send it off.....

pre-med advisers are just plain stupid and ******ed...excuse my language...their sole purpose is to make life complicated to the undergrad student!!...just remember, at one point of their lives, these advisers were "physicians wanna be" and couldnt make it!!!!

i had my professors write a letter for me within two days and i asked them to mail it priority mail! my pre-med committee letter took two months to be written and at the end, regardless to say, screwed my colleague chances of getting in at some schools.


anyway, sorry if i overheated a little bit! i just had flashbacks from undergrad

Thanks tideleonheart and simpleman. Yeah, I know what you mean about premed committee people, so you can vent any time you want to.

And that's a good idea. Maybe I should just ask two professors to write me a letter. But I wonder if VCOM would prefer a committee letter. Maybe I'll just call and ask them what they think.

Thanks again

And congrats to all those who have been accepted...I'm pretty jealous.

 

[Amy B]

I would call and ask them what they want. Good luck!

 

[futuresportsdoc]

I am about 80-90% sure that I will be attending. I am going to one more in-state interview next week, but it is highly likely that I will be a Hokie soon.

 

[sexyman]

Hey congrats! Based on your SDN name I think this is THE place for you!

 

[tideleonheart]

Thanks tideleonheart and simpleman. Yeah, I know what you mean about premed committee people, so you can vent any time you want to.

And that's a good idea. Maybe I should just ask two professors to write me a letter. But I wonder if VCOM would prefer a committee letter. Maybe I'll just call and ask them what they think.

Thanks again

And congrats to all those who have been accepted...I'm pretty jealous.

Hey, I was in the same situation as you. I called up Megan and basically said, "Hey, it's going to be a while for my advisory board letter... can I just send you a few from professors to meet the basic requirements for now [to get the ball rolling on my application] and then have the board send you their letter when they get to it?"

That should clear up any issues... and I guess it worked out okay since I'm here!

 

[Spooner13]

Hey, I was in the same situation as you. I called up Megan and basically said, "Hey, it's going to be a while for my advisory board letter... can I just send you a few from professors to meet the basic requirements for now [to get the ball rolling on my application] and then have the board send you their letter when they get to it?"

That should clear up any issues... and I guess it worked out okay since I'm here!

OK cool. That's going to be my first order of business on Mon.

 

[mroof1]

Hey everyone, I just got a phone call for an interview. I am so excited. It is Dec. 1. She sent me the interview itinerary and it says something about 3 seperate interviews. How does that work? Anyway, I can't wait. VCOM is one of my top schools. So I hope that it will go well. Anyone else have one on Dec. 1?

 

[sexyman]

You meet at VCOM in the morning, have a brief presentation about VCOM/osteopathic medicine, have 3 interviews with 3 different interviewers, take a tour around vcom, have lunch, and at some point they take you around the VTECH campus.

You are going to really enjoy the interviews, they are so layed back, very much conversational style. I would recommend checking out the interview portion of the SDN website, and just be yourself. And if you are really excited about VCOM don't be affraid to show it. Sometimes the interviewees can be so stiff...dont be stiff.

Good luck. If you have any questions you can PM me if you like.

 

[Bacchus]

I can only speak about my interviewers... I had Dr. Powers (Emergency Med), Mr. King (Student Affairs), and Dr. Wyeth (PhD, Cardio Phys). They were all very easy people to talk with during the interview. Dr. Wyeth was the hardest interviewer I had. He asked me a majority of "deep" questions but it was nice to have them and show my articulation process. I talked to him about his motorcycle during the interview and found out why he dressed up as a banana. You can read about my day. Bea greeted me as soon as I walked in the front door. It was great seeing such a bubbly person that early in the morning. We had a presentation by Megan about VCOM and DO (know all four tenets of the philosophy and knock her socks off reiterating them 😉), our interviews, the tour of the campus including the Knoll building (which should be further along than it was when I was there a month ago), lunch (delicious) with students behind closed doors, and then a tour of the VT area. It was a great experience.

 

[tj0511]

For all those lucky ones out there that have been accepted to VCOM Congratulations!! I was wondering if anyone could give me some thoughts on a couple of issues I have on my mind. I just now got my AACOMAS app submitted early last week and know its kind of late in the process seeing it will prob be another month before it gets verified, then I still have secondary apps to go through. I am wondering how you think my chances of acceptance for this year's cycle will go that being said. I graduated from Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC with BS in biology and neuroscience 3.49 cumm GPA, 3.25 sci GPA (C in organic), and 3.77 non sci GPA with 27T MCAT (10 BS,10 VR, 7 PS). I have three major research projects, 200 hours shadowing at Spartanburg Regional, good volunteer work (no mission trips unfortunately), good LORs one from a DO and I work in the ER back home full time now alongside about 4 DOs in the group. Any input would help me out. Thanks!

 

[benlinus]

Anyone gonna be there on Nov. 17th interview?

 

[sexyman]

tj0511- unfortunately there is no crystal ball but I think you have a great chance. SC helps, so does the 27 and the research projects. Now if you are married- I would say you're a lock to get in here at VCOM haha.

 

[simpleman]

For all those lucky ones out there that have been accepted to VCOM Congratulations!! I was wondering if anyone could give me some thoughts on a couple of issues I have on my mind. I just now got my AACOMAS app submitted early last week and know its kind of late in the process seeing it will prob be another month before it gets verified, then I still have secondary apps to go through. I am wondering how you think my chances of acceptance for this year's cycle will go that being said. I graduated from Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC with BS in biology and neuroscience 3.49 cumm GPA, 3.25 sci GPA (C in organic), and 3.77 non sci GPA with 27T MCAT (10 BS,10 VR, 7 PS). I have three major research projects, 200 hours shadowing at Spartanburg Regional, good volunteer work (no mission trips unfortunately), good LORs one from a DO and I work in the ER back home full time now alongside about 4 DOs in the group. Any input would help me out. Thanks!

everything is good except the 3.25 science GPA! VCOM weighs GPA heavily. ur chances? i would say its ok considering ur work, shadowing and volunteer work....

good luck with your process.

 

[Parietal Lobe]

So I've heard that VCOM is one school that weighs GPA more than MCAT. I'm applying next year with a 3.7 sci and overall GPA. I took the Sept. MCAT though and only made a 19. I studied my butt off and that's what happened. Worst case scenario, it doesn't improve. Am I done?

 

[Bacchus]

A 19 anywhere is not good. Retake. If you have a 3.7 you should be able to easily break or make a 25.

 

[simpleman]

So I've heard that VCOM is one school that weighs GPA more than MCAT. I'm applying next year with a 3.7 sci and overall GPA. I took the Sept. MCAT though and only made a 19. I studied my butt off and that's what happened. Worst case scenario, it doesn't improve. Am I done?

retake the MCAT and improve it....u can only go higher when u retake!! increase it 5 more points and u will have a good chance for an interview!

thats like 2 points increase in each section should be good! u can do it 🙂

do u have any experience? r u considered a minority? appalachian region? extra pluses!

 

[simpleman]

OK cool. That's going to be my first order of business on Mon.

did u get ur letters rolling???? keep hammering their heads!!! them PhDs are the laziest people on this planet and will often forget everything!

 

[MuddyDogs]

I sent in my supplemental and received the confirmation e-mail. Julie said it would be about two weeks before I heard about an interview. Is that pretty standard for the reviewers to make a decision in a couple of weeks? VCOM is one of my top two schools. So I'm sure you all can understand my restlessness.

She also said I wouldn't be able to get interviewed until Dec. at the earliest. How will that affect my chances? Good, bad, no difference. 😕

 

[Spooner13]

did u get ur letters rolling???? keep hammering their heads!!! them PhDs are the laziest people on this planet and will often forget everything!

Yeah, both professors have been out of their office the past two days. If I can't catch them today or tommorow, I might just email them and ask. But I like to do things like this in person. Well, hopefully I'll get them soon. All this application stuff is getting in the way of me doing actual school work.

 

[primadonna22274]

File complete today. I really really really really really want an interview. *Please*

 

[tideleonheart]

File complete today. I really really really really really want an interview. *Please*

If it is possible and it's one of your top choices, you should call up someone in admissions and tell them that you were thinking of stopping by soon. Stop by, talk to them, ask for a shourt tour, bring a guest (parent, wife, etc). And don't be afraid to TELL them it is one of your top choices. (but don't lie).