WHY IS KCOM SO SECRETIVE?

[willinghamwilliamwayne788]

As most of you know who read my last rant I am an alternate at three schools, and one of them is KCOM. I LOVED kcom when I went for my interview but now my feelings are starting to change. I really don't understand why they won't divulge a thing. I mean they are so determined not to tell you anything that they won't even let you know if there has been movement on the alternate list. This is rediculous! Why would a school be this way. They won't say how many alternates they have, they won't tell you your rank, they won't tell you anything. Then there's a school like MSU who tells you what number you are ranked how many alternates they usually take, and even how many were taken the years before! I don't understand KCOM's secrecy, I think its paranoia, unfounded paranoia at that. Anythoughts group?

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[John DO]

The reason is that the alternate list at most schools is completely arbitrary, so your number they assign you may have little relevance to your position in line of being accepted. They review the alternate list as spots open because they may continue interviewing until the new year starts, just to make sure every qualified applicant has a chance.

KCOM is not the only school who takes this stance. I know that OSU-COM does, and I imagine others may also. This is a good thing, not something to complain about. I am not sure about the validity of your reference to MSU, but would you rather have relatively equal footing with your colleagues on the alternate list (like at KCOM), or be number 49 (for example) and not stand a remote chance of being accepted (like you describe MSU)?

 

[willinghamwilliamwayne788]

Thanks for the reply John. My main "beef" with Kirksville isn't their "ranking" but the way they treat EVERY piece of information like national security. There is no reason to keep everything so secret. Its really obsurd, why not give what information thats available. If you don't give rankings then don't, alot of schools don't but they will at least give you an update on what is going on in their admissions office and what the "plan" is. And as for MSU they mail you your rank and they bend over backwards to tell you everything that is going on and they ask you to "please call again in two weeks" to check in again, and I don't see why you would think that I was being misleading or untruthful, why would I lie?

 

[John DO]

I apologize for implying that you were being anything but truthful; on the contrary, I only intended to convey that I have no personal experience with MSU, so I could not lend my validation to the process to which you referred. Since I have no idea your level of research into the process nor do I have any experience with MSU's admissions office, I have no idea whether you simply conjectured about the actual or perceived ranking of students or if they describe this process in their notification to the alternate students.

It has been my experience that KCOM's admissions department has always been nothing but forthright in their dealings with students and prospective students. In fact, the wonderfully helpful people in that office contributed greatly to my decision to attend KCOM over my other two choices. I assumed that the entire school would be as willing to help as they are. You may be interested to discover that recently KCOM's admissions department was recognized as being one of the top in the country (although it has escaped me the nature of the benefactor--AOA?? maybe someone can help here), so I am surprised by your atypical experience. What specifically have they not been willing to release and been secretive about? I am intrigued to find out!!

 

[double elle]

My experiences with KCOM have been just as JohnDO described. However, I do know some other people who had your exact same problem. They told me when I applied was it all came down to who you got a hold of on the phone. I don't know who to tell you to ask for, because maybe they have some new policies or something. I do know that a friend of mine was able to keep total track of where he was on the waitlist. That was almost 3 years ago, though.

Have you spoken to Lori Haxton? Perhaps the receptionist you are talking to doesn't know what the status is and isn't supposed to say anything anyway. Talk to someone higher up and be honest about your frustrations. They know that you are nervous about your entire future!!! Just be nice and explain exactly what you want to know. If they can't tell you, ask them to help you understand why you can't have that information.

KCOM is really a great school. Don't let your opinion change just because of this.

 

[willinghamwilliamwayne788]

Thank you both for your responces. I do still reallywant to pursue my education there and I do also think that they are the best Osteopathic school in the country. BUT I will admit that my issue with the admissions dept has changed my feeling about their policies but rules are rules and if their policy is to keep alternate movements confidential then I respect it, but I don't like it nonetheless. John my feelings of secrecy are due to not only rank being classified but if anyone has been taken off of the alternate list, how many alternates they have all together and how many (percentage-wise) they have taken in the past. I feel that these are all legitimate and "non-prying" questions that I have been repeatedly told were all kept confidential. And as for being helpful and kind I would highly agree until the conversation becomes geared toward anything alternate related. Before becoming an alternate my contact with the admissions dept at KCOM was a bragging point for me about the school. Also to deal with the last post I have talked to many individuals in the admissions dept and most of the time I do ask to speak with an admissions rep or advisor. So again I will ad that rules are rules and as much as I don't like their policy in this realm I will just suck it up and wait just like everyone else.

Thanks again both of you.
Cheers
Bill

 

[John DO]

Well, because I have never asked, I cannot speak for KCOM, but OSU-COM told us as a group that medical schools in general have a roughly 30% shift in their seats in the time period mmediately preceding matriculation, due to students dropping multiply-held seats and not matriculating due to personal reasons. Hopefully, this will suffice to get you in here!