2017-2018 Des Moines University (DMU-COM)

Getting into Med School is Hard? Not with BeMo.
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If Ive been complete since 7/2, should I email them?
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joeception said:
any tips for those of us having interviews coming up?
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I hope I won't kick myself later for saying this... but I thought the interview process was easy! Everyone was super welcoming and the interview was relaxed. Just be yourself and know your application!! I'm just wishing that they had a quicker turn around time. 4 weeks will be the death of me. Since DMU is my #1 DO School, I am trying to not spend all this money interviewing across the country!
 
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Rainbows&Waterfalls said:
I hope I won't kick myself later for saying this... but I thought the interview process was easy! Everyone was super welcoming and the interview was relaxed. Just be yourself and know your application!! I'm just wishing that they had a quicker turn around time. 4 weeks will be the death of me. Since DMU is my #1 DO School, I am trying to not spend all this money interviewing across the country!
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Did you interview today? I thought it was an awesome experience. The anatomy lab is amazing!
 
Heads up. COM Dean was fired today. This is 100% an improvement and at the urging of students and faculty. New dean was a terrible fit. Got rid of electives. Was trying to dramatically change a school that had zero problems. Ask if you have questions. We feel this shows DMU listens to student input and cares about their concerns. Old interim dean has resumed the position. Should have zero impact on this cycle
 
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DMUosteoDoc said:
Heads up. COM Dean was fired today. This is 100% an improvement and at the urging of students and faculty. New dean was a terrible fit. Got rid of electives. Was trying to dramatically change a school that had zero problems. Ask if you have questions. We feel this shows DMU listens to student input and cares about their concerns. Old interim dean has resumed the position. Should have zero impact on this cycle
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Woah what was the name of the old dean?
 
What should we really focus on when preparing to interviewing here? Do they ask a lot of ethical or current health issue questions?
 
phantomyinyang said:
What should we really focus on when preparing to interviewing here? Do they ask a lot of ethical or current health issue questions?
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No not really. They just want to get to know you and your background so know your app and have answers for the why DO and why DMU questions. Super laid back


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Interviewing the 14th maybe I'll see some of you there!
 
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DMUosteoDoc said:
Heads up. COM Dean was fired today. This is 100% an improvement and at the urging of students and faculty. New dean was a terrible fit. Got rid of electives. Was trying to dramatically change a school that had zero problems. Ask if you have questions. We feel this shows DMU listens to student input and cares about their concerns. Old interim dean has resumed the position. Should have zero impact on this cycle
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absolutely in agreement. it was a big statement from the administration that they do support us as students and care about our happiness. this can only be a good thing for incoming students.
 
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Wait Dr. Christiansen was fired? It must have been hours after he spoke to our interview group!
 
saffe94 said:
Wait Dr. Christiansen was fired? It must have been hours after he spoke to our interview group!
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Not many hours, I saw him talking to your group (I think) around 1130 and we were notified at about 4. Def caught me by surprise, but it just shows that the administration is committed to keeping us informed and they have our best interests in mind.
 
DMUosteoDoc said:
Heads up. COM Dean was fired today. This is 100% an improvement and at the urging of students and faculty. New dean was a terrible fit. Got rid of electives. Was trying to dramatically change a school that had zero problems. Ask if you have questions. We feel this shows DMU listens to student input and cares about their concerns. Old interim dean has resumed the position. Should have zero impact on this cycle
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Could you expand more on why the dean was let go? The timing seems abrupt and unplanned implying something more serious than being a bad fit or trying to make changes to the program.
 
Asiago said:
Could you expand more on why the dean was let go? The timing seems abrupt and unplanned implying something more serious than being a bad fit or trying to make changes to the program.
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I'm a first year and he wasn't even hired yet when I interviewed last October so it was a very short period of time. Our dean prior to him went back to go work for NASA and he wasn't a good fit for what the school has done in the past. The classic saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" applies. There wasn't some huge scandal or anything I think it was more a no time like the present sort of thing instead of letting a full year play out


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Aw, that previous dean was a very kind man and I honestly thought he had great ideas about teamwork and collaboration with patients. I hope he has a good future in front of him!!
 
Asiago said:
Could you expand more on why the dean was let go? The timing seems abrupt and unplanned implying something more serious than being a bad fit or trying to make changes to the program.
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while it was abrupt, students had been unhappy about the direction that the dean was taking the school in since he arrived so it was not surprising for us in that sense. i think any DMU student would agree that we came to DMU because of the environment we saw here. this is a place that is supportive, collaborative, and focused on making successful and well-rounded physicians. ultimately, the deans vision for the school was going to make it very difficult to maintain this environment.
 
DMUosteoDoc said:
Heads up. COM Dean was fired today. This is 100% an improvement and at the urging of students and faculty. New dean was a terrible fit. Got rid of electives. Was trying to dramatically change a school that had zero problems. Ask if you have questions. We feel this shows DMU listens to student input and cares about their concerns. Old interim dean has resumed the position. Should have zero impact on this cycle
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Sayyyy whattttt?! Wasn't he just speaking to interview groups?
 
DMUosteoDoc said:
Heads up. COM Dean was fired today. This is 100% an improvement and at the urging of students and faculty. New dean was a terrible fit. Got rid of electives. Was trying to dramatically change a school that had zero problems. Ask if you have questions. We feel this shows DMU listens to student input and cares about their concerns. Old interim dean has resumed the position. Should have zero impact on this cycle
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huh.
 
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I heard there was no white coat ceremony this year? If true, that's disappointing (current students told me it's because of not having a proper hall for it)


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Stumpyman said:
I heard there was no white coat ceremony this year? If true, that's disappointing (current students told me it's because of not having a proper hall for it)


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No it was pushed back because of a desire to unite it with the rite of passage ceremony before 3rd year. Just a difference of opinion. I was told that at least. Every other class has had a white coat first year so I don't think space is an issue

EDIT: I was told the dean changed it for this year and now that he has been removed I would assume next year it will return to first year but who knows

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Current third year DMU student here.

From recent conversations with classmates, it seems that liberal agendas at DMU and easily offended students seem to have played a large part in getting the dean fired. Most of my classmates that I get along with best all had positive interactions with Dean Christiansen. Be warned that if you are conservative you will likely not like the direction DMU is heading.
 
I Like Genetics said:
Current third year DMU student here.

From recent conversations with classmates, it seems that liberal agendas at DMU and easily offended students seem to have played a large part in getting the dean fired. Most of my classmates that I get along with best all had positive interactions with Dean Christiansen. Be warned that if you are conservative you will likely not like the direction DMU is heading.
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I heard that as well and I personally liked him. He was a hell of a motivator too...but as a moderate conservative I'm not minding how things are at the moment...I just ignore what I don't agree with like in the outside world


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I Like Genetics said:
Current third year DMU student here.

From recent conversations with classmates, it seems that liberal agendas at DMU and easily offended students seem to have played a large part in getting the dean fired. Most of my classmates that I get along with best all had positive interactions with Dean Christiansen. Be warned that if you are conservative you will likely not like the direction DMU is heading.
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I liked him initially as well. As a current second year who has had him as a professor, I can confirm that he has made openly sexist and racist remarks. Some of them were downright rude. I'm not very easily offended and honestly I only cared about what he was going to do for our board prep. But many of the things he said and his behavior prompted multiple complaints from students AND faculty, so it's not just about liberal agenda, it's about encouraging open-mindedness for the diversity of patients we're going to have. Not trying to start an argument here, but it's better to know the full story instead of just assuming from brief interactions :)
 
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I Like Genetics said:
Current third year DMU student here.

From recent conversations with classmates, it seems that liberal agendas at DMU and easily offended students seem to have played a large part in getting the dean fired. Most of my classmates that I get along with best all had positive interactions with Dean Christiansen. Be warned that if you are conservative you will likely not like the direction DMU is heading.
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Fun fact and irrelevant to his firing, The dean believed climate change was a conspiracy and that two people bought up all the scientific journals to to suppress the publication of the truth. He stated this in a lecture he was giving in the second year Evidence Based Medicine Class. This is the type of person that is being defended. If you are an interviewee and concerned. Ask. I doubt you will encounter many that agree with I Like Genetics assessment. The why, I'd rather not re-litigate here but I'm pretty sure it was for cause. You don't remove a dean after six months for some petty student complaints. Finding an hiring a new dean is a long process. It makes the university look bad to have to do this. I guarantee this wouldn't have happened without good reason. What I can tell you is that almost universally faculty, clinicians, and students were giddy on Friday afternoon. I am not sure what the official reason given, but failure to uphold mission and values definitely fits. DMU has a large LDS population, a large HPSP population, and an active Christian Medical Association. We have plenty of conservative students, faculty and staff. The president of the University before Dr. Franklin was a longtime Republican governor and the current Republican ambassador to China. If you are concerned, please ask when you interview instead of listening to one jaded student
 
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Current 4th year with some significant interactions with the now fired dean. DMU will 100% be better off without him. I've been fortunate/unfortunate enough to experience the transition from Polk to interim dean to Christiansen, and now back to interim.

Feel free to Pm with questions or ask here I suppose. Doesn't really matter to me.


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Interview on Sept 22nd, super excited! Anybody have any advice or want to share their experience?!
 
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the anticipation to hear back from them is KILLING me.
 
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I Like Genetics said:
Current third year DMU student here.

From recent conversations with classmates, it seems that liberal agendas at DMU and easily offended students seem to have played a large part in getting the dean fired. Most of my classmates that I get along with best all had positive interactions with Dean Christiansen. Be warned that if you are conservative you will likely not like the direction DMU is heading.
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Wondering if you could elaborate on your comment. It's four tough years so dealing with condescending liberal bias is not something I'm down for...

I mean, I don't really care if a school leans left or right, just don't wanna be subjected to a witch hunt because I don't agree with the majority...
 
DecisionTime2017 said:
Wondering if you could elaborate on your comment. It's four tough years so dealing with condescending liberal bias is not something I'm down for...

I mean, I don't really care if a school leans left or right, just don't wanna be subjected to a witch hunt because I don't agree with the majority...
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You won't be. There is no environment even close to what he/she said. There's no witch hunt or anything it's just medical school haha we spend all day every day in the books not much time for political agendas...


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Just interviewed here today. Wasn't a huge fan of the presentations before the interviews, I felt they were a bit disorganized and would have preferred that they follow powerpoint presentations instead of just doing a very informal Q&A session. The day got better as it went on though. The student ambassadors were really honest and gave me a much better idea of what it really meant to be a student at DMU than any of the previous presentations did.

The interviews themselves are after lunch and people are scheduled at either 1:15, 2:00, or 2:45, so if you're at 2:45 there will be a bit of waiting around after the tour.

My interview was VERY laid-back and conversational, I was not asked a single difficult Q nor ethics Q. Both the student interviewer and faculty interviewer were very open and kind of went off my answers when asking other Q's. They didn't seem to have a preset list of Q's. They made me feel very comfortable and we even laughed quite a bit. Overall I think the interview went really well. Not sure what the other interviewers were like but mine were awesome! This was my 3rd interview and was by far the most chill.

Also, Des Moines was a lot nicer of an area than I expected. There's a lot to do here and the downtown's nice!

Q for those who also interviewed today, did they ever mention when we'd hear back from them? I forgot to ask!
 
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DecisionTime2017 said:
Wondering if you could elaborate on your comment. It's four tough years so dealing with condescending liberal bias is not something I'm down for...

I mean, I don't really care if a school leans left or right, just don't wanna be subjected to a witch hunt because I don't agree with the majority...
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I'm sure you are looking for further information from the specific poster but that is the first time I have EVER heard anyone say that DMU leans one way or the other. Students are free to support whatever political agenda they choose. I grew up in a very conservative family and I have had no issue here. I have close friends at DMU on both sides of the political spectrum. The issues with the dean were in no way political. Frankly, it was a very ill informed statement to say it was.

Please PM if you have any questions or concerns. I'm a current second year and I'd be happy to answer them!
 
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Let's forget about all this dean talk... the real question is: Have any of you heard a decision yet since interviewing?!
 
Does anyone know if they call for acceptances or email or...?


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missmd123 said:
Just interviewed here today. Wasn't a huge fan of the presentations before the interviews, I felt they were a bit disorganized and would have preferred that they follow powerpoint presentations instead of just doing a very informal Q&A session. The day got better as it went on though. The student ambassadors were really honest and gave me a much better idea of what it really meant to be a student at DMU than any of the previous presentations did.

The interviews themselves are after lunch and people are scheduled at either 1:15, 2:00, or 2:45, so if you're at 2:45 there will be a bit of waiting around after the tour.

My interview was VERY laid-back and conversational, I was not asked a single difficult Q nor ethics Q. Both the student interviewer and faculty interviewer were very open and kind of went off my answers when asking other Q's. They didn't seem to have a preset list of Q's. They made me feel very comfortable and we even laughed quite a bit. Overall I think the interview went really well. Not sure what the other interviewers were like but mine were awesome! This was my 3rd interview and was by far the most chill.

Also, Des Moines was a lot nicer of an area than I expected. There's a lot to do here and the downtown's nice!

Q for those who also interviewed today, did they ever mention when we'd hear back from them? I forgot to ask!
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I was told 3-4 weeks.
 
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Got the acceptance email a few hours ago! I had interviewed August 18th :)
 
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Any last-minute advice for us interviewing tomorrow and Friday? Aside from basically knowing your app and having answers for the big questions like why DO, tell us about yourself, why DMU, etc.?
 
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phantomyinyang said:
Any last-minute advice for us interviewing tomorrow and Friday? Aside from basically knowing your app and having answers for the big questions like why DO, tell us about yourself, why DMU, etc.?
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It's super laid back. Apologies in advance if some of the students look a little drained first years have had an anatomy exam Monday and a big biochem exam tomorrow haha enjoy it just be relaxed you'll be fine


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