Western/COMP Discussion Thread 2009-2010
Started by danimjo
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The tuition is about 40K/year. WesternU has overestimated generously about the cost of attending to medical school by placing the loan amount to 70K/year so you have flexibility in how much loan money you want to take out. So you have about 30K to spend on housing, books, miscellaneous stuff. Also, you do not need to take out 70K/year.
I am praying to God that I get into LECOM, I am nearly 40, I will probably have about 20 years to pay loans if I am lucky. A lot of the big schools look super pricey but some seem to undercut a bit on financial aid. I think the estimated living costs for CCOM are like 16k a year, no way, suburban Chicago is very expensive. AZCOM sounds a lot better from a money standpoint also no snow. NYCOM seems to be the most expensive school, all the rents near campus are in the stratosphere even with the financial crisis.
I was just looking at rents in Erie and Bradenton, as little as $400 for a 1 bedroom, that is awesome. Even housing around Touro CA isn't so bad an thats in the East Bay of SF. But some of the rents near Western are steep.
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Go find another career... or join the army.
That's what it will cost you almost anywhere else you go, in fact... I would say the number is closer to 300K. If you're going to let money keep you from applying for great school, then you need to reevaluate why you're undergoing all this.
Also... western got 3.8K of primaries, interviews about 500 (so secondaries must have been around 1k), and accepts 220 for the 09-10 school year.
Of the 14 schools I've applied to the cost of living in the Pomona area is the highest, and tuition for Western is the highest. Western will cost me at least $50,000 more than any other school I'm applying to. It is scary, that's a lot of debt. But what I keep coming back to, is that I'd rather have a large amount of student loan debt, but be in a career I love, than keep doing these menial jobs that I hate! Also, even though I have somewhat good jobs, there is very little chance of having the same earning potential I will have as a D.O. or M.D.
I live in suburban Chicago and yes it is expensive. It is because of the massive property taxes and the absolutely ungodly corruption. But, honestly, 16K a year for living is doable, especially with a roommate. There are decent apartments in the area for $700-800 per month. Plus, your loan refund will be more than just the $15,500 allotted for cost of living. Adding up the other expenses (except the auto insurance, health insurance) it will come out to around $23,600 of extra money for personal expenses.
http://www.midwestern.edu/Documents/Financial%20Aid%20documents/CCOM.pdf
CCOM has on-campus housing, but I dont know how much to believe about it being cheaper than off-campus.
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Don't exactly know why you're telling me to find another career... and no, it's not the same anywhere else you go... if I go to my state school, its 18k a year and it's 30 minutes away from me, I could live at home and save tons. Even if I go to LECOM, living expenses + tuition would be around 40-50k, that's saving me 20-30k worth of dollars a year. So don't tell me it's the same everywhere I go.
I received a complete email earlier this week. It took about 2 weeks from the time I sent my app and letters.
I overnighted my secondary yesterday.... I'm starting to get so nervous, I've only had two interview invites from the 13 schools I've applied to... sheesh... waiting is hard.
Submitted AACOMAS: 6/31
Received COMP secondary: 7/22
Submitted COMP secondary: 8/1
Marked complete COMP secondary: 8/10 *and then I got another confirmation today, 8/19 from a different person
And they say that interview invite/rejection will be with 2-3 weeks
Received COMP secondary: 7/22
Submitted COMP secondary: 8/1
Marked complete COMP secondary: 8/10 *and then I got another confirmation today, 8/19 from a different person
And they say that interview invite/rejection will be with 2-3 weeks
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Was your AACOMAS submitted or verified on 6/31?
Western's preferred method of communication is snail mail. I don't remember how the interview invite comes (I wasn't granted an interview when granted a secondary), but the final decision is by snail mail unless there is some sort of extenuating circumstances (for me, for example, my WU decision made the difference between buying tickets to travel to Touro-CA or canceling the interview. I canceled 😉) . In those situations, they communicate by phone.
Hm, okay, thanks, that makes me feel a little better. I called to ask them if they had received my app because they're the only school that hasn't let me know (I submitted in June). They said that they have it, and I should be getting a letter next week..... They couldn't be rejecting me already could they? 🙁 Also, they haven't sent me the secondary yet.
Okay thanks, I'll just be patient and hope for the best then
They may communicate in more than one way i.e. both snail mail and email, but I got the secondary in email. Then you have to go to a site and print it off and mail it in. In this process it seems like a lot of schools are inconsistent in how they handle things, so don't worry about what's in the mail, at this point there's nothing you can do about it anyway....
Hoping for the best for you
i havent heard a peep from western yet either. maybe they are sending out the next round of info next week!
I was browsing the Western Website and came across some info that is interesting and answers some commonly asked questions on the forums...
From the date of submitting your primary you should expect to hear from them regarding your secondary two to six weeks from the submission date of your primary. They say they will send you a link to the secondary -- I think this indicates that all secondaries will come via email.
The secondary is due back within 30days. After you've submitted your secondary they will confirm receipt of your secondary within two weeks, and they will get back to you regarding an interview within THREE MONTHS (eek).
Acceptance letters are mailed no more than two weeks following the interview.
Also, Here is the data on the class admitted in 2008. Western has a pretty low percentage of acceptance after interview, especially considering for some schools (like NOVA it's 70%).
applications received -3227
Interviews - 576
Number of Students Enrolled - 206
Ave GPA -3.52
Ave sci GPA - 3.5
Ave non Sci GPA -3.56
Ave MCAT -27
From the date of submitting your primary you should expect to hear from them regarding your secondary two to six weeks from the submission date of your primary. They say they will send you a link to the secondary -- I think this indicates that all secondaries will come via email.
The secondary is due back within 30days. After you've submitted your secondary they will confirm receipt of your secondary within two weeks, and they will get back to you regarding an interview within THREE MONTHS (eek).
Acceptance letters are mailed no more than two weeks following the interview.
Also, Here is the data on the class admitted in 2008. Western has a pretty low percentage of acceptance after interview, especially considering for some schools (like NOVA it's 70%).
applications received -3227
Interviews - 576
Number of Students Enrolled - 206
Ave GPA -3.52
Ave sci GPA - 3.5
Ave non Sci GPA -3.56
Ave MCAT -27
Bummer........ I just really want that letter to arrive. I don't understand why I would be rejected so early, though, because I have good EC's and higher stats than their averages. 😕
On another note, I've posted this link several times in other forums now, but I'll do it again. I found it on SDN, and if it's right, then Western actually accepts almost 90% of the interviews.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=13130&d=1245807398
For what it's worth, it doesn't seem logical that you'd be receiving a rejection letter, given your stats and how you've fared in this process so far.
Don't worry. I spoke to the admissions dept and they told me that the the school has been busy getting the incoming 2009 students organized. The school just started working on 2010 applications mid August. They will start sending out interview invites end of september.
maybe his/her stats are TOO good and is now working against him/her. who knows!
Ahhhh I got this last week (SR: 8/17, AACOMAS sent 8/6) , but am suffering from serious secondary burnout right now. So sick of writing about myself! lol..... I work/volunteer from 9am to 1230 am on Saturday, so I think I will work on this one or Loyola on Sunday.
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Has anyone received simultaneous secondary and interview this cycle?
OMG. I am so mad right now it's not even funny. 😡 I was looking on Western's website and it says this...
In order for your application for admission to be considered, you need to have:
ERR! I'm sending them an e-mail about it. This is just silly.
In order for your application for admission to be considered, you need to have:
- Completed a minimum of 90 semester units from a regionally accredited U.S. institution at the time of application.
ERR! I'm sending them an e-mail about it. This is just silly.
Call them and talk to them about it. The admissions staff is pretty nice and might accommodate that. I was on the accepted waitlist and got pulled off the wait list about 2 weeks before class. I'm still missing the transcript from my SMP (come on Tufts) and won't technically "graduate" from my SMP until the beginning of September (albeit I have a letter attesting to meeting all of the degree requirements from the registrar). They aren't hounding me on it, but I'm checking in weekly right now to make sure it arrives.
Now if you were at, say, 70 and weren't going to reach 90 soon, then you would probably have major issues.
Is it normal to receive a secondary from western with a below average gpa and no mcat score?
How accurate is this primary:secondary ratio?
How accurate is this primary:secondary ratio?
Thanks for the encouragement, I hope they can accomodate it. What makes it worse, though, is that my application probably said 73 credits originally, because AACOMAS didn't count my 12 AP credits at first. Then AACOMAS fixed it; would they have sent an update to the schools?
Also, if they DID already send a rejection letter to me, is that even undo-able? 😕
Apparently, applying early is NOT always the right thing to do... I wish it weren't Friday, because now I have to wait until Monday to find out anything.
A quick note about accecptances vs matriculations. I don't know how many people turned down accecptances early in the process, but there was very little and very late movement on the 'accecpted wait list' (deferred admission if not taken off the waitlist). So the number accecpted is going to be fairly close to the number matriculated.
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Just received my secondary. I am a bit confused about something... if I have a Pre-med Committee Letter, do I still have to send them the evaluation form? It's going to be a bit difficult to get that in time. 🙁
I'd read it carefully, but I think there should be wording in the paperwork about the evaluation forms being optional. The only person I had fill out the evaluation form was my academic advisor from grad school. That was, well, because I shadowed him for a few days after getting the secondary to meet the "LOR from physician shadowed" requirment. The rest of my letters (including, ironically enough, his original letter pre shadow) came in a packet along with a composit letter from my grad school.
Not a peep! They haven't cashed the check either. It's possible it did get lost in the mail because they said they would confirm completion of the application. Has anyone been complete here?
i'm rather confused.. i THINK i received a secondary (it gives me a link for supplemental application) etc but it also notes that my MCAT scores were not received (i recently released them). should I go ahead with the secondary or should I wait until they have received my scores?
Really hoping for an interview here!
do we really need to send the secondary in a 6.5x9.5 envelope? that'd require us to fold our papers in half to stick them in the envelope...isn't that kind of unprofessional?
by the way, I could only find a 6x9 one at the store. do you think that's fine? 😀
by the way, I could only find a 6x9 one at the store. do you think that's fine? 😀
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I haven't read the instructions, but if that's what it says, it should be fine. Interview decisions won't hinge on whether or not your application has creases in it. MCAT 38S (minus 2 points for folds) = 36S
I haven't read the instructions, but if that's what it says, it should be fine. Interview decisions won't hinge on whether or not your application has creases in it. MCAT 38S (minus 2 points for folds) = 36S
yeah, I mean, I am tempted to email the advisor they give you or whatever for any questions you may have. HOWEVER, I feel it could hurt me because they might think "this guy wants to make life-altering decisions as a doctor and he can't even be decisive on what kind of envelope to use...."
*siiighhhh* so anyone else want to call and ask? LOL
Strangest envelope requirement ever.
you better get it wet and stretch it.
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