Western/COMP Discussion Thread 2009-2010

Started by danimjo
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Well, here is how I am deciding between my two schools. WesternU is most certainly a great program in the west coast. I am not too sure about the 3rd and 4th year rotations because the interview didn't really elaborate too much on it, which is a red flag for me. The didactic education is pretty much uniformly the same throughout the country, but what really makes the school is the rotations and how good of an education you receive in the clinical settings. WesternU gave off the impression that the rotations are just all over the place, and when I specifically asked questions regarding the rotations they couldn't really answer it to my satisfaction.

Another reason is that I've lived in SoCal my entire life, and quite frankly, I felt like I needed a breath of fresh air persay. The only reason I would attend WesternU is because it was close to home and my family, but it's because of that reason that has made this decision so difficult. If I had no family connections this would be a slam dunk decision for me and I would attend the other school of my choice. I try to keep in prospective about what is best in my career, but family plays an important role as well. How about you? What are your thoughts and decisions about picking a school?

Western has a solid reputation. I like the systems-based the first two years, after the initial focus on anatomy and Molec/Cell Medicine, including biochem, phys, genetics etc. It has its own residency programs, which shows how well established it is in the clinical community. I think the area will lend itself to some great clinical opportunities, without the need to relocate for two years. The third and fourth years seem to have a good balance of structure and freedom. I don't have anything to compare it to, but it seems like the scheduled didactic weeks during year three will help keep things tied together, which is pretty unique to Western. The fourth year is pretty open for local, national and international opportunities and there isn't a big requirement for FM or Rural/Underserved. I think it is great to have these as a s/elective option, but not for someone interested in specializing. My other big choice is DMU, which has a great surgical skills and sim program, which aren't at Western. Some people have to leave Des Moines for the clinical years which is a drawback, and the weather just wouldn't compare to SoCal. Next would be KCUMB which also has a great rep, a high specialist output and great clinical opportunities. Then if my state school comes through . . . yeah we will see 🙂
 
Well, here is how I am deciding between my two schools. WesternU is most certainly a great program in the west coast. I am not too sure about the 3rd and 4th year rotations because the interview didn't really elaborate too much on it, which is a red flag for me. The didactic education is pretty much uniformly the same throughout the country, but what really makes the school is the rotations and how good of an education you receive in the clinical settings. WesternU gave off the impression that the rotations are just all over the place, and when I specifically asked questions regarding the rotations they couldn't really answer it to my satisfaction.

Another reason is that I've lived in SoCal my entire life, and quite frankly, I felt like I needed a breath of fresh air persay. The only reason I would attend WesternU is because it was close to home and my family, but it's because of that reason that has made this decision so difficult. If I had no family connections this would be a slam dunk decision for me and I would attend the other school of my choice. I try to keep in prospective about what is best in my career, but family plays an important role as well. How about you? What are your thoughts and decisions about picking a school?


I wonder if you got people who just didn't know much about the clinical rotations, but the rotations at Western seem pretty good, to me, at least compared to some other DO schools that I've looked at.
 
I wonder if you got people who just didn't know much about the clinical rotations, but the rotations at Western seem pretty good, to me, at least compared to some other DO schools that I've looked at.

Ya that could be the case as well. The other school I am considering is CCOM. I am planning to specialize in Emergency Medicine and CCOM has one of the largest Emergency Medicine program that rotates through many of the MD schools in Chicago, not to mention they match really well in Emergency Medicine all over the country.
 
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For those currently at Western/interviewed and know the answer to this...

Are there any opportunities (a lot or only a few) to volunteer, clinically, as a first or second year student around the local community through the school? I know at other md/do schools they have established free community clinics once or twice a year and service projects that allow first years to take a patient's history and perform a physical. I really like the idea of having early clinical exposure. Does Western allow this or is all the early clinical experiences they refer to in the catalog on simulated patients and mannquins? Thanks in advance!
 
For those currently at Western/interviewed and know the answer to this...

Are there any opportunities (a lot or only a few) to volunteer, clinically, as a first or second year student around the local community through the school? I know at other md/do schools they have established free community clinics once or twice a year and service projects that allow first years to take a patient's history and perform a physical. I really like the idea of having early clinical exposure. Does Western allow this or is all the early clinical experiences they refer to in the catalog on simulated patients and mannquins? Thanks in advance!

WesternU is known for early patient exposure. You start seeing patients by your first week or so, and they have numerous free clinics (Montclair is one) where you can volunteer a portion of your time to hone your skills.
 
WesternU is known for early patient exposure. You start seeing patients by your first week or so, and they have numerous free clinics (Montclair is one) where you can volunteer a portion of your time to hone your skills.

Thanks for the quick response!

Is that through the school or do I have to set it up on my own. For example, go to a local clinic and ask if I could volunteer?

The type of school affiliated early clinical exposure I'm referring to is something like this:

XYZ School of Medicine has a spring health fair and a back to school health fair where all the m1's-m4's get to participate in taking histories and giving physicals to 100 uninsured patients in one afternoon. The school sets it up and students just show up.

Simply trying to see how much Western contributes to its surrounding community. Is there a name for the program Western sets up if there is one?
 
Ya that could be the case as well. The other school I am considering is CCOM. I am planning to specialize in Emergency Medicine and CCOM has one of the largest Emergency Medicine program that rotates through many of the MD schools in Chicago, not to mention they match really well in Emergency Medicine all over the country.

You'll do well at either place 🙂
 
Thanks for the quick response!

Is that through the school or do I have to set it up on my own. For example, go to a local clinic and ask if I could volunteer?

The type of school affiliated early clinical exposure I'm referring to is something like this:

XYZ School of Medicine has a spring health fair and a back to school health fair where all the m1's-m4's get to participate in taking histories and giving physicals to 100 uninsured patients in one afternoon. The school sets it up and students just show up.

Simply trying to see how much Western contributes to its surrounding community. Is there a name for the program Western sets up if there is one?

I'm sure WesternU has some type of sponsored event for their medical students. What's good about the LA County is that you can essentially volunteer ANYWHERE. It's a county with about 9-11 million people so finding people that are eager to help out is always a plus. Don't forget volunteering is not only limited to WesternU there are many other places. As far as for Montclair, I'm not the best person to ask but I'm sure someone from WesternU can tell you more about it.
 
Uhh.. planet Earth, of course. :laugh: And I usually go with mid-size/full size. Do a good search and there are deals out there. Since you mentioned FLL, I have been there as well and paid about $20/day. In my prior travel to various destinations most of the time I was able to get a rental for that amount. Gas and fees are obviously extra. I don't have to worry about the "under 25" fee so that is a cost I wasn't thinking of.

$20/day rental car? What planet are you on? 😛 Seriously, throw in the fact that most of us are paying the extra "under 25" fee, and you're looking at double that at the very least... I had to rent a car for my Nova interview and paid $50 for the day, plus gas...
 
Uhh.. planet Earth, of course. :laugh: And I usually go with mid-size/full size. Do a good search and there are deals out there. Since you mentioned FLL, I have been there as well and paid about $20/day. In my prior travel to various destinations most of the time I was able to get a rental for that amount. Gas and fees are obviously extra. I don't have to worry about the "under 25" fee so that is a cost I wasn't thinking of.

Yeah, I rented from Enterprise this last month, and I got a sub-compact for $16.87/day. Oh, and the manager conveniently "Forgot" about the under 25 fee of $20/day. Came to $96 something for 4 days....
 
Give me my interview invite please Western. I've been complete since mid-October and I still haven't heard anything. 😕
 
Thanks for the quick response!

Is that through the school or do I have to set it up on my own. For example, go to a local clinic and ask if I could volunteer?

The type of school affiliated early clinical exposure I'm referring to is something like this:

XYZ School of Medicine has a spring health fair and a back to school health fair where all the m1's-m4's get to participate in taking histories and giving physicals to 100 uninsured patients in one afternoon. The school sets it up and students just show up.

Simply trying to see how much Western contributes to its surrounding community. Is there a name for the program Western sets up if there is one?

I know they do health fairs and the like. I also know that Montclair clinic is done through a student organization. Really, I think looking at clubs and such is your best bet to find more information about these activities. If you have your booklet from the interview, there's all kinds of contact information for those folks.

Uhh.. planet Earth, of course. :laugh: And I usually go with mid-size/full size. Do a good search and there are deals out there. Since you mentioned FLL, I have been there as well and paid about $20/day. In my prior travel to various destinations most of the time I was able to get a rental for that amount. Gas and fees are obviously extra. I don't have to worry about the "under 25" fee so that is a cost I wasn't thinking of.

Hehe... wow, I guess I need to hone my "discount seeking" abilities... and maybe get a fake ID :laugh: They say 25 is the new 21, right? 😀
 
Give me my interview invite please Western. I've been complete since mid-October and I still haven't heard anything. 😕

I was complete around the same time and just found out that I'm on pre-interview hold. We'll see if anything happens though. Who needs beautiful sunny California weather anyways? 🙁
 
I was complete around the same time and just found out that I'm on pre-interview hold. We'll see if anything happens though. Who needs beautiful sunny California weather anyways? 🙁

Did you get an e-mail telling you? call? I'm still waiting to hear back, i was complete nearer to the end of Oct so I'm hoping to hear something in the somewhat near future
 
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Did you get an e-mail telling you? call? I'm still waiting to hear back, i was complete nearer to the end of Oct so I'm hoping to hear something in the somewhat near future

I was complete on 10/27 and I'm still hoping for a response too 🙁
 
Thanks for the quick response!

Is that through the school or do I have to set it up on my own. For example, go to a local clinic and ask if I could volunteer?

The type of school affiliated early clinical exposure I'm referring to is something like this:

XYZ School of Medicine has a spring health fair and a back to school health fair where all the m1's-m4's get to participate in taking histories and giving physicals to 100 uninsured patients in one afternoon. The school sets it up and students just show up.

Simply trying to see how much Western contributes to its surrounding community. Is there a name for the program Western sets up if there is one?

I am a second year at Western and I can attest to the many, many volunteer and leadership opportunities that you can easily do as a student at Western.

Montclair clinic- is a local clinic that very unique in it operates as a low-cost clinic, but when the patient visits, they see you, the student. As a med student, you are responsible for doing the history and focused physical alone with the patient and then you present your findings to the physician volunteering his/her time. This is about as close as you can get to a real life situation, and from what I have heard, very unique to Western. Montclair operates 3 nights a week, all staffed by students, and you can begin to volunteer starting January of your first year.

PCHAT- is a rotating once a month Saturday clinic that does health screenings for the community at local elementary schools. We see the patients (children and adults), do histories, physicals, bp and glucose checks, and then we present our findings to the volunteering physicians. If there is pathology, the patient is advised to see a low-cost clinic like Montclair. In the future, the new colleges will likely be involved, so there will be dentistry students etc on site to further evaluate the patient. You can do this starting your first month as a first year.

PHOP- is a club that organizes to both feed (2x a month) and do health screenings of Pomona's homeless. You must help with the dinners at least once to work their health fairs. You can begin to help starting your first month as a first year.

There are so many other opportunities, honestly. You will get emails constantly to help with health fairs, give flu shots, donate blood/toys/cans/clothes etc., serve dinner for the elderly and homeless. There are also less medical events to volunteer at. We also do a multi-club event called Santa's Workshop where we throw a big Christmas event in early December for local children who would otherwise not have Christmas- I volunteered last year and it was amazing to watch these kids stare in wonder at the decorations, the crafts, the play we put on and toys that they received.

We do outreach through a club called Pipeline to local school children in middle school and high school educating them on common topics (which we get to decide) such as CPR, or drugs, or how your heart works. Additionally, we help then learn how to attain the goal of becoming a medical professional. You can also do this in the first month of your first year.

I can not stress enough how there are ample opportunities to volunteer, to lead and to get involved and express yourself. We have many clubs tailored to different students, whether it be drama, or comedy, or a particular ethnicity, and of course, clubs dedicated to those who are interested in particular specialties. And the majority of student do choose to be involved and give back to our adopted Pomona community. You will not have to go digging far to find ways to help, but you do have to be proactive and express interest to sign yourself up to help, ie by responding to an email. I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me.
 
I was complete around the same time and just found out that I'm on pre-interview hold. We'll see if anything happens though. Who needs beautiful sunny California weather anyways? 🙁

I've been complete since late August, still no word. I got an email at the end of September saying that my file was under review and I'd hear something in 2 weeks. After 3 weeks, I called my admissions counselor at Western and she told me to call her back in 2 weeks. I called after 2 more weeks and was told my application is waiting to be reviewed. I've done this process x 2. Maybe I'm a pre-interview hold and no one has told me officially? Who knows.
 
Well, here is how I am deciding between my two schools. WesternU is most certainly a great program in the west coast. I am not too sure about the 3rd and 4th year rotations because the interview didn't really elaborate too much on it, which is a red flag for me. The didactic education is pretty much uniformly the same throughout the country, but what really makes the school is the rotations and how good of an education you receive in the clinical settings. WesternU gave off the impression that the rotations are just all over the place, and when I specifically asked questions regarding the rotations they couldn't really answer it to my satisfaction.

To start off with, as a disclaimer, I am not the best person to answer this question as a second year as I have yet to actually rotate, but I can tell you what I know about how the process works.

We are about to do the lottery for our 3rd year rotations. Northwest Track actually does their lottery today, and SoCal students towards the end of November. We have had two information sessions- one completely dedicated to the NWT to help those students decide which region fits them, and we have also had an information session explaining how the lottery system works. Basically, for SoCal, there are 190 some odd pre-decided tracks that you rank based on personal preference, and then after the lottery takes place, there are a series of trading rounds- where you can trade your entire tract, 1/4 portions of it (called blocks), or just particular 4 week portions aka the actual rotations. All of this is so each students gets what they want. Supposedly, 50% of people get something fairly close to their top choice, but of course one unlucky person is going to be last of the class to be randomly chosen.

In trying to decide rotations, we are encouraged to ask those who have gone before us, but additionally, IT has set up a forum where we can evaluate the rotation and the preceptors. This resource has been very helpful to me to get an idea of the hours, or the difficulty of certain rotations at different hospitals, and just honest opinions of fellow classmates.

In your 3rd year, you have preassigned rotations, plus 1 elective. They really want us to be well-rounded, and that is how they ensure it. We do 4 week blocks of Internal Medicine 1, 2 and 3 (3 has an emphasis- Cardiology, Endocrine, Renal etc), Surgery, Family Practice, OMM, Psych, and an elective of our choice, plus a 4 week vacation sometime during the year. We also do 6 weeks each of Peds and OB/GYN.

One other advantage that I am not sure other schools have is that before Christmas of this, my second year, I will already know where I will be from June 2010 to June 2011. So you can look for housing, significant others can plan accordingly, as well as those with children.

I am not expecting I will have to move, either. The students have I have spoken to said they were fairly successful at getting their rotations close enough to home. And since rotations tend to start fairly early- like 7 am, you will not be driving with the majority of LA traffic. There are rotations in Long Beach, so for 4 weeks you may need to find a friend to crash with, or you can trade that rotation away.

I hope this helps clear up some of the mystery. I understand your worries, but I do not think that your education will be shorted by attending Western.
 
Anyone interviewing next Thursday 11/19? I was supposed to interview on 10/15 but I had to delay since I broke my leg...I'll be the one on crutches!
 
To start off with, as a disclaimer, I am not the best person to answer this question as a second year as I have yet to actually rotate, but I can tell you what I know about how the process works.

We are about to do the lottery for our 3rd year rotations. Northwest Track actually does their lottery today, and SoCal students towards the end of November. We have had two information sessions- one completely dedicated to the NWT to help those students decide which region fits them, and we have also had an information session explaining how the lottery system works. Basically, for SoCal, there are 190 some odd pre-decided tracks that you rank based on personal preference, and then after the lottery takes place, there are a series of trading rounds- where you can trade your entire tract, 1/4 portions of it (called blocks), or just particular 4 week portions aka the actual rotations. All of this is so each students gets what they want. Supposedly, 50% of people get something fairly close to their top choice, but of course one unlucky person is going to be last of the class to be randomly chosen.

In trying to decide rotations, we are encouraged to ask those who have gone before us, but additionally, IT has set up a forum where we can evaluate the rotation and the preceptors. This resource has been very helpful to me to get an idea of the hours, or the difficulty of certain rotations at different hospitals, and just honest opinions of fellow classmates.

In your 3rd year, you have preassigned rotations, plus 1 elective. They really want us to be well-rounded, and that is how they ensure it. We do 4 week blocks of Internal Medicine 1, 2 and 3 (3 has an emphasis- Cardiology, Endocrine, Renal etc), Surgery, Family Practice, OMM, Psych, and an elective of our choice, plus a 4 week vacation sometime during the year. We also do 6 weeks each of Peds and OB/GYN.

One other advantage that I am not sure other schools have is that before Christmas of this, my second year, I will already know where I will be from June 2010 to June 2011. So you can look for housing, significant others can plan accordingly, as well as those with children.

I am not expecting I will have to move, either. The students have I have spoken to said they were fairly successful at getting their rotations close enough to home. And since rotations tend to start fairly early- like 7 am, you will not be driving with the majority of LA traffic. There are rotations in Long Beach, so for 4 weeks you may need to find a friend to crash with, or you can trade that rotation away.

I hope this helps clear up some of the mystery. I understand your worries, but I do not think that your education will be shorted by attending Western.

Thanks for the information! In the end it was a very difficult decision but I ended up rejecting WesternU. I hope that someone from the alternate list gets my spot as I'm sure you'll have a blast at WesternU.
 
I am getting really nervous for this interview because I want to get accepted so bad!! For those who were waitlisted or rejected, did you feel there was any conceivable reason as to why? Thanks.
 
The only thing holding you back is your timeliness. As an applicant you look great. If the class is not too full, you have a good chance.

Best of luck.


Dude, loved the rainbows. Thanks for talking with me while I waited for my interview.
 
Anyone here thinking of doing ISAC?

Also, does anyone know approximately how many students are assigned to each cadaver?
 
Dude, loved the rainbows. Thanks for talking with me while I waited for my interview.

Rainbows are but one reason to choose Western. 👍 It was nice meeting you, good luck choosing a school for next year!
 
Anyone here thinking of doing ISAC?

Also, does anyone know approximately how many students are assigned to each cadaver?

You cannot have more than 5 per table, but most groups had 4. Not everyone is exciting about dissecting, so it works out.
 
Anyone interviewing next Thursday 11/19? I was supposed to interview on 10/15 but I had to delay since I broke my leg...I'll be the one on crutches!

Oh goodness! That's unfortunate. i hope you get off crutches soon! I'm interviewing on the 19th too. See you there 🙂
 
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After receiving secondary applications how soon should you turn it in? Is one week too late?

It's getting a little bit late in the game, so the sooner the better. But don't sacrifice quality of writing in your rush to turn it in. Honestly though, the Western secondary is pretty easy. You should be able to just sit down and hash it out in a day.
 
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After receiving secondary applications how soon should you turn it in? Is one week too late?

Haha... they sent me a secondary, and I quickly stuck it in the back of the line of secondaries I was in the middle of completing. Then I got an interview invite 😱 I wound up getting it to their office a day or two before the interview. Apparently, they didn't mind...

Moral of the story: one week should be okay. Though honestly, if you have an hour or two, you should be able to get that in pretty quickly, it's not that long.
 
Is it necessary to completely fill out the alotted space for the essay questions on the secondaries?
 
Is it necessary to completely fill out the alotted space for the essay questions on the secondaries?

I just answered the question to completion. None of my essays took up the entire space. Don't BS just to fill up room, you'll likely end up sounding redundant.
 
I just answered the question to completion. None of my essays took up the entire space. Don't BS just to fill up room, you'll likely end up sounding redundant.

I left the research section completely blank (since I have zero research to talk about) and it was fine. Sometimes more does not equal more.
 
I applied last year and it wasn't until March that western got my primary, secondary a couple of weeks later. I interviewed in April and was accepted on the "accepted wait list" I was number 11 so I would have gotten in but chose to defer until starting this March. While it may be later than most it is most definitely not too late if you are a strong applicant.

Good luck with those still waiting and congrats to those who were accepted!
 
Did anyone not turn in a committee letter? And did you get accepted?


UCLA does not offer committee letters, therefor I did not. Instead I submitted the letters they requested along with 1 extra from my lab supervisor. I haven't heard anything back as of yet but i've only been complete for a few weeks. I'm sure that they accept people without a committee letter since some schools do not have a committee.
 
Did anyone not turn in a committee letter? And did you get accepted?

I didn't have a committee letter because my school did not offer them. I am currently waitlisted, but I doubt it's because I didn't have a committee letter. So you should be fine without one.
 
Did anyone not turn in a committee letter? And did you get accepted?

I just sent in 5 random letters from profs and supervisors, and I got accepted. The lack of a committee letter won't make or break an app.
 
No, I was asking you about group number you were in. . . not team number. I did not feel like I was in a team nor did I feel like it was a sporting event. George Carlin would have had a field day with this one. . . If you felt like you were in a team, more power to you. Personally, I felt like it was everyone in for themselves. Republican, Democrat, rich, poor, socially adept, socially inept, confident, weak, strong. . . we’re all a bunch of premies picking our noses wondering which institution is going to give us our bread and butter for the next four years. . .

I was one of the last group numbers (teams), and I wasn't invited to anywhere else besides an Arizona school and Nova (the interview which I subsequently bombed due to a stonewall of an interviewer). I didn't get a bargaining chip, like an acceptance from another school, but I DID tell the interviewer dude I had an interview lined up. That being said, I'm not so perturbed by not receiving an acceptance letter thus far. My volunteer hours were not that stellar, so I'm content on being rejected this year. Furthermore, the interviewers were being kind of weird about the whole "pre-med experience." Although I spent some time in an ER, I didn’t get a chance to stick my nose up an ER doc's cornholio for a significant amount of time to find out which kind of coffee he/she drank. My experience with a DO was exemplary, however.

Anyways, getting back to the interview, he asked me "what do you think the major health care issue in America is?" and I responded with the Christmas Story answer. First, there was the ghost of Christmas past: much inefficient paperwork in the past. The system could be benefited by computers, cutting down 20% of the cost. Second, there was the ghost of Christmas Future: there will be a bunch of old people who could potentially suck up health care costs by prolonging there lives by a week for a million dollars. This goes along the logic of “we could put people on the moon with 60’s technology, but it doesn’t mean today that everyone should be landing on the moon.” We simply don’t have the resources to do it. This is bad. As far as the ghost of Christmas present goes, we need to educate people as to how to prevent either cardiovascular disease or cancer.

He stumped me by asking me about health care today. He was like “what about insurance companies?” I got scared that the interview would turn political or get confrontational, so I backed off. Luckily, I nailed the next “What if/ hypothetical question” so maybe I made it in. That being said, I am super jealous. I did not take an MCAT class, and I still scored in the top 80th%, so I guess that’s a major compliment. I wish my attitude, . . . the attitude which cannot be assessed in a 15-25min interview. . . can be the deciding factor which gets me into Western.

If you choose to go, I love you lots. If you choose not to go, I still love you lots. More power to you and I hope you end up saving a countless number of lives.


For your sake, I hope that "attitude" isn't taken into consideration.
 
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I've been complete since late August, still no word. I got an email at the end of September saying that my file was under review and I'd hear something in 2 weeks. After 3 weeks, I called my admissions counselor at Western and she told me to call her back in 2 weeks. I called after 2 more weeks and was told my application is waiting to be reviewed. I've done this process x 2. Maybe I'm a pre-interview hold and no one has told me officially? Who knows.

I'm having the same experience. They keep telling me that they just reviewed my group of apps and that the letters will be coming "next week." I hear this is one of the slowest schools to respond, but this is getting ridiculous.
 
Anyone know about westbound traffic on the 10 from RC/Upland area? I'm just wondering if anyone lives out there and how long it usually takes for travel. Thanks!
 
Its about 5-10 minutes on a good day. During heavy traffic 15-20 minutes. Its really not that far.
 
I know it varies, and some people study when they can throughout the year anyway, but how much time does Western provide for board study time before the test?
 
hi guys. i submitted my secondary about a month ago and was complete nov. 5... how long does it take for them to give you an invite (or rejection)?