VCOM Discussion Thread 2009-2010

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I have a daughter attending in the fall and frequently check-in with this thread to keep in touch with the school. I was hoping to not to be the nosy parent, but it appears I will always try to watch over my daughter. I do have to bite my tongue and remain anonymous because I would hate to embarrass my daughter!

This recent issue brought up on the forum is ridiculous in my opinion. When my daughter was accepted to the school we were not prepared to pay the $2000 in 30 days. All of this talk of preparation for this fee seems absurd. There were a lot of unexpected fees thus far. The advice that this student should have prepared for this fee is even more ridiculous. It’s ridiculous to assume that this student has parents that have the money or even parents at all! You made some rude assumptions. I come from a social work background, and there is no shortage of possibilities for children and students.

As far as our situation, we are lucky to have a caring and close family. We did scrape the money together for our daughter, but it was not easy. My husband was generous enough to work some more shifts. My daughter is a full-time college student and was only able to chip in minimally toward the fee. We all felt the fee was so high that we even considered another school that she was accepted to. She really wanted to attend VCOM, and we are thankful that she was able to stay close.

Several of the students responding did not even ask this student their financial situation or what circumstances did not allow them to pay. I hope you do not do that with your patients. Telling people to prepare for this fee is like telling poor people to not be poor. These school officials may have had to follow the rules because it is their job, but I do not see why students would be so quick to defend a student having trouble to pay. For students getting involved in healthcare, that is worrying.

Even more troubling is the manner that your replies hit. It is really disheartening. I do not see where the “reality talk” about what this student should expect in healthcare comes from. I do not see what it is in response to. 2hot2doc, you did an excellent job taking the high road. Believe me, it is noticed and appreciated.
 
I'm sorry but I have to agree with VCOM mom. When I got accepted to VCOM I already knew about the deposit but had no idea how I was going to come up with the money. I graduated in '07 and have not been able to find a job. I'm the oldest of 7 and cannot ask my family members for money. I am also waaaay behind on my student loans which screwed up my credit to the point that I was rejected by ALL credit card companies offering 0%. No matter how far in advance you know about the fee there is still a possibility that you simply cannot come up with the money! Now that I finally paid the deposit I am having major trouble getting a computer, apartment deposit, health insurance...etc. While I agree that no names should have been given, and that VCOM didn't have to make an exception, I understand where he's coming from!
 
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VCOMmom---> I must respectively disagree with you. It is absolutely NOT ridiculous to tell this person they should have prepared for this fee. Again this fee was not "secret", but common knowledge for anyone that put 2 seconds into researching a school (which frankly should be done to prepare for an interview). At my VCOM interview we were told about it and the required time frame to pay it also. No one in my interview group was surprised about it. In fact no one at any of the 4 schools I interviewed was unaware that a large fee was required to hold an acceptance (we are talking 75+ people total). So while, yes, there may be some people who do not know a fee is required it is the small minority of those accepted and I will still say "shame on them" for not preparing for it or at the very least for not knowing about it. I can see how it would be hard to prepare for it for some people, but not knowing about it? C'mon like I said it is common knowledge and listed in several places.

I do agree that some of the other fees or expenses were a bit of a surprise (such as background check fee, etc). But I fully knew about the fee to hold my seat. I'm not saying this persons parents should pay for it, people merely suggested family MAY be an avenue to pursue, if that was an option. It is also not rude to suggest this as an option. For one thing family can be a general term and mean aunts/uncles/grandparents not just parents. I know not everyone has this option available, but as several others have said there are many, many other options. Heck just do a search here on SDN and you will see several threads regarding paying for the deposit and other expenses before school starts and what people have done. So this person COULD have gotten some creative ideas on how to pay for it....again if he/she would have done 1 second of research about it instead of complaining about not getting his/her way at VCOM this would not be an issue.

I think what got so many people upset was the way this poster came on here complaining about not getting their way regarding this fee and calling people out (BY NAME!) who were simply following policy. WE HAVE ALL HAD TO PAY THIS FEE!!!!!! No one asked about the OPs financial status because, I'm going to be honest, I don't care. We all have our own "sob story" about family/personal circumstances. Want to hear mine? No, I didn't think so. I could definitely pull some heart strings, but I still paid this fee without complaining publicly. Yep I certainly grumbled privately to my family and friends, but I didn't call people or a school out publicly! We all had to find one way or another to come up with it and you don't see any of us complaining like this. Most of us have had to drastically struggle to come up with the money for it. Yes, my parents also helped me pay for this, but that doesn't mean it was any less of a struggle (my parents are on fixed incomes). As you said your family sacrificed to pay for it, so did mine!! I went so far as to sell some stuff on ebay/craigslist, pick up more shifts at my job (I also go to school), go without other things for a couple of months so that we could come up with it. But since I knew about the fee I had a couple of months to prepare, but that still doesn't mean it wasn't a hardship for us.

If you are wanting to complain about the fee and how high it is that is fine. But please stop acting like this is something against VCOM, because there are tons of other schools who make you pay a similarly high fee. Lets all complain about high deposits in general (they are ridiculous!), but this is not unique to VCOM. :) Yes it is high and it is a lot of money and I don't agree with it being so much (believe me I grumbled about it as I saved for it), but that is something totally different than not doing research to learn about it and prepping for it and then blaming the school when you were unprepared to pay it and call admins rude for not changing their policy for one person. So let's not act like it is something brand new that VCOM just surprised you with. As I've said it is stated in several places...IT'S NOT A SECRET! It is these peoples own fault they didn't research the school enough to realize there was a substantial deposit, THEN also not researching their options to pay for it. That may seem harsh, but in reality it is the truth!!!

To correlate my seemingly lack of compassion for the OPs inability to pay this fee to my apparent ability to sympathize with my patients is ridiculous. How the heck is this also similar to telling poor people not to be poor (and when did anyone ever say that???)? That is two completely different things. Who is to say I DON'T sympathize with the OP? I DO, in a way!!! Because I've been through the same dang thing and that fee really was a struggle, but I stopped complaining about it and did something to come up with it. My main point was this person should have been more prepared by researching it...either about the fee in the first place or how to pay for it. OR this person should have come on here to ask what others have done or for ideas to raise money, before blasting admin at VCOM for doing their job. That is what irks me. The OP didn't simply complain about the fee or their lack of ability to pay, they publicly berated admins at VCOM for doing what they are supposed to do! THAT is what should be bothering you! What I also find disturbing is that more people didn't speak up to defend the admin at VCOM or call the OP out for being unprofessional and for blaming VCOM for his inability to pay the deposit.
 
So we were told on our interview day that all of the accept offers had been given out, but I just found out that some of the people on my interview day received accepts. Does anyone know if there has been waitlist movement already? of were they just making stuff up?
 
I know that there has been some movement in the class of 2014. There are a handful of people that I know of (who were holding mutliple seats) and decided at the last minute to go to a different school. It wouldn't shock me if there has been some movement on the waitlist. If you are waitlisted just keep hanging on, and i'll be praying for the best!!!!
 
It's ridiculous how people complain about not knowing about the deposit till later. If anyone bothered to read the CIB or look at the websites of these schools they would know what they are required to pay. I knew in May of last year what deposits were and managed my self accordingly.


Btw just read the portion of someone saying preparing for a fee is like telling people not to be poor. My family could easily pay the deposit fee for me(same amount $2k, different school), but I took a year off to work and earn money to pay for deposits and my application fees in order to be responsible for my career and life. Maybe people in the deposit trouble situation should reevaluate their plans rather than feeling entitled to certain things just because they received an acceptance to medical school.
 
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Does anyone know what it means to be "ranked high" on the VCOM waitlist? I don't think they're done with interviews, but every time I call that is what they tell me. I thought they didn't rank until the interviews were over. So, do you think that might mean top ten or just not low? Haha, weird questions, but I'm a little anxious I guess.
 
jmb23 said:
Does anyone know what it means to be "ranked high" on the VCOM waitlist? I don't think they're done with interviews, but every time I call that is what they tell me. I thought they didn't rank until the interviews were over. So, do you think that might mean top ten or just not low? Haha, weird questions, but I'm a little anxious I guess.
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I emailed Bea and she told me that they would be finishing up interviews April 16th, and that we should expect a waitlist ranking around the 19th. Not sure exactly what you can infer from "high" but it sounds better than "low" haha
 
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wilso3 said:
I emailed Bea and she told me that they would be finishing up interviews April 16th, and that we should expect a waitlist ranking around the 19th. Not sure exactly what you can infer from "high" but it sounds better than "low" haha
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Oh, nice! So we'll be finding out soon then. Thanks!
 
woohoo! so glad to hear a "definite" date to when the next time we'll be hearing something! dear lord i hope i'm high on the list!
 
Dont hold me to that specific date because as we all know, dates with hearing back from schools are sometimes a ballpark number. But I am hoping that we will atleat hear something before May.
 
yes, i understand. i'm just glad that things will be moving along soon. also VCOM is pretty good about dates.
 
Hey

I'm trying to find info on the post bacc at VCOM since I was accepted recently.

Any of you get accepted from the VCOM post bacc program?

There is absolutely no info in the post bacc threads.
 
10 or so people from the PB program this year got into the class of 2014. I don't know how many people were in the PB program to begin with. Seems like a good idea though.
 
Hey, decided I'd stop in here and post something. I come and read VCOM threads from time to time :)

I'm a finishing second year and I'm not a cheerleader either if you want some fresh opinions on anything that was brought up here. Every school has its pros/cons, so take it with a grain of salt and go where you want.

As far as I know, I've heard rumors for awhile that the class of 2014 is full so you may be waitlisted or at best offered a seat in 2015 at this point. They overfilled the class of 2013 too and ended up making some makeshift desks to accommodate, our class has thinned a little since we first started though.

As far as the post-bacc program goes, I didn't do one anywhere and most medical students that have done one at other programs (LECOM, etc) weren't too thrilled about them. They are expensive and once you get into med school they mean absolutely nothing, though I'm not sure how well VCOM's prepares you so you'd have to ask those students in it.

I had the year off after college and I lived at home and worked in a restaurant, and had a pretty good interview being the only one in my group who didn't do anything medicine-like.

If you want to be ahead of your class in terms of prepared for the curriculum, go work as an ent/paramedic, they always seem like they know everything that I struggle to keep on top of.
 
has anyone on here interviewed in the last couple of weeks? if so, what'd bea tell you guys about when the waitlist ranking will occur, etc.

thanks!
 
Anybody hear anything today about the wait list, when they might be notifying people? Just keeping the fingers crossed.
 
i'm dying here so i emailed admissions today asking when we will be hearing about the wait list rank. they said that interviews were finished last week and that they will be soon ranking the wait list and hope to send us the general ranking (high, middle, bottom) by the first week of May. so it sounds like it will be later than this week but maybe in the next week or two.

i'm getting very antsy here! :-(
 
Thanks for the info... I was expecting something this week, and was wondering why I hadn't heard anything. Good luck everyone.
 
danznchandee16 said:
i'm dying here so i emailed admissions today asking when we will be hearing about the wait list rank. they said that interviews were finished last week and that they will be soon ranking the wait list and hope to send us the general ranking (high, middle, bottom) by the first week of May. so it sounds like it will be later than this week but maybe in the next week or two.

i'm getting very antsy here! :-(
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Yes that's exactly what they told me over the phone. I was in the final group that was interviewed for wait list position for the class of 2014. So I received the same answer...first week of May...keep your fingers crossed.
 
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VCOM sent out an email today just summarizing when we should hear anything about the ranking. saw the email and my heart jumped in my throat! lol. apparently only those on the wait list ranked high will get automatic acceptances to the next year if they can't get in this year... i was hoping it would be most people on the list. i really hope i'm high on the list!:confused:

good luck everyone and i really hope i will get to see some of you in the fall! :xf:
 
danznchandee16 said:
VCOM sent out an email today just summarizing when we should hear anything about the ranking. saw the email and my heart jumped in my throat! lol. apparently only those on the wait list ranked high will get automatic acceptances to the next year if they can't get in this year... i was hoping it would be most people on the list. i really hope i'm high on the list!:confused:

good luck everyone and i really hope i will get to see some of you in the fall! :xf:
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Keep your hopes up. I was hanging out in the admissions office a while back and one of them mentioned that they have such a long list because they might be giving people the choice of going to the Carolina campus or the Va campus for the c/o 2015 if they don't get pulled off of the waitlist for this year. So that doubles your chances.
 
Does anyone have any stats about how many people off of last years waitlist were given a gauranteed spot for this years class?....just curious. I too got excited when I saw the email pop up on my phone, oh well, we have waited for a while so whats a little longer? haha
 
I just got an email saying that I am out of the top 10 in the waiting list...little sad.. but anyways I called the admissions office and was told that most likely I will be guaranteed early admission for next year .. anybody in the same situation ?? just to let you know that they're sending emails about waiting list rankings
 
Hey all ive been keeping up with this thread for some time now and i just received the email as well. They said i was in the top tier out of the top ten and will be offering admission to 2015 if i dont get in this year so whatever happens from here ill still be happy. good luck to all the rest of you!
 
Hey just got the email, I too am out of the top 10 but in the top tier, so I guess that means I am guaranteed to go to either Spartanburg or Blacksburg. I wasn't sure though if I get to choose the location or not. I wonder if we can get an early leg up on going to one of the dual degree programs. Well anyways good luck to everyone out there.
 
I was told that they give us the option to attend to any of the two campuses
 
yeah i am under the same impression that they will allow us to choose which campus we want to go to
 
I got the same email, not in the top 10 but in the top tier. Although hopeful for matriculation this year, im glad to know that next year is a definite. I was also curious about the two campuses and how that works, I would like to be able to choose which campus.
 
I got the same e-mail...not top 10...very sad...:(
 
out of top ten but in top tier so i have an automatic acceptance to next year! :) who knows how much movement there will be, some of us in top tier may get in this year. i'm happy either way, just so glad i know that i'm definitely in for class of 2015!
 
out of top 10 but top tier.. how do we know that we are guaranteed for next year? The email says offers will be extended once class of 2014 matriculates.
 
kingko said:
out of top 10 but top tier.. how do we know that we are guaranteed for next year? The email says offers will be extended once class of 2014 matriculates.
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my email specifically said that if there is not space in c/o 2014 then i will have a guaranteed acceptance for c/o 2015.

quoted "it is our sincerest hope to offer you admission to the Class of 2014. In the event we are unable to offer you a seat in the Class of 2014 the Dean wishes to guarantee you early admission to the Class of 2015 at the Virginia Campus or Carolinas Campus".

so if you're email does not say that, then i'm not sure what that means for you. unless i'm taking it incorrectly, to me it sounds like i have an acceptance next year.

 
My email had the exact same wordage, and I understood the email the same way. I am planning on calling admissions this afternoon to see if I reading it correctly. I will post later today with what I hear.
 
I sent an email to admissions about whether or not I was guaranteed admission for next year, since I was a little confused about the first email sent, which didn't state clearly anything about this inquiry; I got a response from the director of admissions saying "You are guaranteed admission for the Class of 2015 should a spot not open up for the Class of 2014 prior to the class matriculating in August".
 
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Got the same email. Bittersweet, but still good news. Since we get to decide which campus, does anyone know anything about the SC campus? I can't find any information on it. Does anyone prefer one over the other, and if so, why? Thanks and Congrats!
 
jmb23 said:
Got the same email. Bittersweet, but still good news. Since we get to decide which campus, does anyone know anything about the SC campus? I can't find any information on it. Does anyone prefer one over the other, and if so, why? Thanks and Congrats!
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The SC campus has not been built yet. They just recently had the ground breaking. VCOM's site does not have much info on it but here are a few links to the info that they do have:

http://www.vcom.vt.edu/news/022610_groundbreaking.html
http://www.vcom.vt.edu/news/groundbreaking.html
 
jmb23 said:
Got the same email. Bittersweet, but still good news. Since we get to decide which campus, does anyone know anything about the SC campus? I can't find any information on it. Does anyone prefer one over the other, and if so, why? Thanks and Congrats!
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i'm not sure which i'd pick! the SC campus is new, i wonder if they will have the same teaching style, curriculum, etc. as the VA campus? also you have no classes above you to go to for any information about certain teachers or hospital sites. but the SC sampus is closer to home for me. so that will definitely be a hard choice!
 
Anybody put any thought of maybe trying to get into one of the master's programs if we have to wait a year for acceptance? I am probably going to email, but I remember when I interviewed they had dual degree/combined degrees with Duke, Johns Hopkins, ect. Though I couldn't really find much info out online other than the DO/PhD program.
 
does anybody know if its okay to get a c- in orgo 2 and still get verified??
 
litcarter1 said:
Anybody put any thought of maybe trying to get into one of the master's programs if we have to wait a year for acceptance? I am probably going to email, but I remember when I interviewed they had dual degree/combined degrees with Duke, Johns Hopkins, ect. Though I couldn't really find much info out online other than the DO/PhD program.
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There is no master's program with Duke or Hopkins associated in any way or part of any agreement with VCOM. I asked the "guru" of dual degree programs about this (because it's advertised in the AACOM school guide) and he only responded with a confused look. These schools have their own distance learning programs in public health. Also the DO/PhD program no longer exists.

danznchandee16 said:
i'm not sure which i'd pick! the SC campus is new, i wonder if they will have the same teaching style, curriculum, etc. as the VA campus? also you have no classes above you to go to for any information about certain teachers or hospital sites. but the SC sampus is closer to home for me. so that will definitely be a hard choice!
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The current plans for lectures at the SC campus is to do most of them as videocasts. Because this is VCOM, those plans could very well change tonight. If you interview for this campus, make sure you ask about this and be sure that it is a style that will be conducive to your learning.
 
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