Osteopathic Med Student

Archive for the ‘LECOM’ Category

In a previous post I mentioned that I interviewed with LECOM-Erie. I thought I would give you a quick idea about how their interview day goes. It was my first interview and it was about two months ago so the details of time are hazy, but I definitely remember the interview very well.

The day started around 8 AM and I arrived about 20 minutes early. I know it sounds way early, but I was not the first person to arrive. Two other interviewees arrived up to 30 minutes earlier than I did! To start the day about 10 med school hopefuls piled into a conference room. At this time the director of admissions came in and started to get to know us. When he got to me he started speaking in fluent Japanese (luckily, I know Japanese). Always be careful about what you put in your application. You never know what a school might test you on.

Their day ran fairly similar to other schools interview days. After the introductions we were privileged enough to sit through powerpoint presentations about LECOM. Then we got to hear from the financial aid office and other administrators. These activities took up most of our morning.

Right before lunch was the interview. At LECOM they have recently decided to use a different interview method than other schools. I was interviewed by a 2 person panel. One interviewer was a man with a PhD in English and the other was a physiology instructor for LECOM. Neither of the men had ever seen my file. Because of this they had no knowledge of my past academic history, MCAT score, research or clinical experience. They had never even read my personal statement, secondary essays, or letters of recommendation. LECOM feels that if you made it to the interview then those aspects of you application are competitive enough and now your interviewers need to find out what kind of person you truly are. We spent most of our interview talking about my family (my wife and kids), and about my experiences that I have had serving as a religious representative in Japan for my church.

At no time did anyone ask any difficult ethics or recent healthcare hot topic questions. The only LECOM interview questions that really stood out were:

1- Why do you want to be an osteopathic physician?
2- Have you applied to any allopathic schools?
3- Why would you want to come to school at LECOM?
4- Do you have any concerns about attending school in Erie?

As you can see, none of these are particularly difficult. I didn’t have to explain anything in regard to question #2. I only applied to DO programs. Even if you did apply to MD schools, don’t worry, just make sure that you acknowledge the differences between the two methods of medicine and that you are very excited about the benefits provided through studying osteopathic medicine.

The whole interview lasted about a half an hour. It went very quickly and was very low pressure. I found it very refreshing to experience an interview with a closed file. Both men were friendly and never seemed to be interested in intimidating their interviewees at any time.

After the interview we had lunch with a couple of students that were able to talk about the different learning methods at LECOM and answer any questions about living in Erie. Of all the places I interviewed Erie was definitely the most non-rural place to live.

After interviews and lunch we had a few more presentations and ranked our learning style preference, and stated if we were interested in attending the Seton Hill campus. With LECOM-Stone Hill as an option you are essentially interviewing for one of over 300 seats in their school. This should be a big comfort to many people out their knowing that your odds much greater here than at most other schools in this nation.

Many aspiring physicians shy away from osteopathic schools because they fear that they won’t get the opportunity to do research. This is an unfortunate misconception. There are many people attending osteopathic medical schools that are getting involved in research projects.

Since LECOM was the first school that I interviewed with I was not sure what to expect. LECOM’s interview is different from any other school I visited. I was interviewed by 2 doctors at the same time. One of them had a PhD and the other was a DO. The thing that made LECOM’s interview different was that neither of the interviewers had access to my file. LECOM’s admissions commity has the opinion that if you were good enough to receive an invitation for an interview then your interviewers should just get to know you. I found the interview to be very relaxed and actually enjoyable. The PhD interviewer was very friendly and loved to talk.

My first interview was at the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Erie campus. I first learned about LECOM when a representative from LECOM came to present at Utah Valley University. I left the presentation very excited about the school, and was convinced that LECOM was a great school for me to apply to.

The process of applying to medical school can be very long and trying. I am glad to be where I am right now. I know I will start medical school in July/August of 2009; I just need to decide which school to attend.