2017-2018 Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine - Carolinas Campus

[iloveEM]

Hey everyone - for those who have been accepted, are any of you OOS? Thinking of applying this cycle. Thank you!

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[kelminak]

Hey everyone - for those who have been accepted, are any of you OOS? Thinking of applying this cycle. Thank you!

Lots are. They're very mission-driven if you can relate to that.

 

[kpumpkin]

Hey everyone - for those who have been accepted, are any of you OOS? Thinking of applying this cycle. Thank you!

I’m OOS and was accepted.

 

[futuremdordo]

Has anyone on the waitlist been accepted for class of 2023 already?

 

[gensurghopeful]

Hey everyone - for those who have been accepted, are any of you OOS? Thinking of applying this cycle. Thank you!

From MI

 

[kelminak]

I'm a current first year. If you have any specific questions about Spartanburg or the school, please feel free to message me.

Do you know when the updated block calendars get put up? I was in the post-bacc and it was useful for me to put it all into Google Calendar before.

Also in the post-bacc, we got a recommended study schedule for the semester. Do they provide something similar from the Center for Success?

Thanks!

 

[CanISleepYet?]

Do you know when the updated block calendars get put up? I was in the post-bacc and it was useful for me to put it all into Google Calendar before.

Also in the post-bacc, we got a recommended study schedule for the semester. Do they provide something similar from the Center for Success?

Thanks!

The new block schedules should be up soon in the next few days. I'd think the end of next week at the latest... I hope. And yes, we get recommended study schedules from the Center for Success.

 

[mmjones01]

For those thinking about applying to VCOM-Carolinas next year, and for those coming here next year, I believe there are a few things you should be aware of that most of us (if not all of us) were not. There are a lot of discrepancies and things wrong with this school and I don’t believe there is much transparency to future students. Interpret this as you wish, but before coming here I would at least take these things into consideration and if possible, speak to another student that you know that already attends this school and gain your own insight and understandings.

VCOM-carolinas is part of a 3 system school with the main campus being the Virginia Campus. Because of this our school is basically a satellite campus run by Virginia. Decisions are hardly made here, and are really made by the provost in Virginia. This means that even though many things that may work for Virginia don’t work here, we still must abide by them and this is a fact that has been acknowledged by the administrators themselves. Many times decisions are made that they are not even aware of. For example, recently our entire pathology department was overturned and we no longer receive any lectures for the class (past 2 averages have been 69, and a 74 respectively), the entire class is self taught (pathophysiology is the most board heavy subject) and our own Dean of VCOM Carolinas was unaware that this happened until student’s brought it to his attention. Yes our own Dean did not know that more than half the class is and was failing a class that we no longer have a professor for. Basically the head of the Pathology department was replaced by a VCOM Virginia graduate (also a major red flag) who is now our Pathology Head but she has chosen to not lecture and instead we read PDFs. This is just one flag though.

Other major and minor concerns:

-Our board scores are below national average.

-One of the biggest red flags is the professor turnover that our school experiences

- we don't have shelf board exams for rotations (only osteopathic school in the country that does not)

- Our entire immunology department is leaving within the next 2 years

- We currently do not have a real anatomy department chair (our current one was demoted for reasons none of us know, and he is bar far one of the biggest advocates we as student have. He is no doubt a difficult professor but is a good one and easily one of the ones that cares most for us as students. He was recently demoted and instead they choose to leave the position unfilled.

- There are many other rumors of other professors leaving, including some of our best

-As a system, VCOM also does not allow us to take the Shelf Exams for rotations (they hand write their own exams), which as any medical student at any allopathic or osteopathic school will tell you, is a very bad sign.

These are just a few of the concerns that exist for the school, there are many many more. Including the quality and experience of many of the professors here. While there is no doubt a collection of professors that are of very high quality, that care, and that can actually teach, these are also all of the ones that rumored to be leaving and themselves complain to us about VCOM and it’s shortcomings. There are unfortunately a majority of professors here that can not teach at all, and again I implore you to reach out to student’s you know here and ask them, we all know who they are. Ask them for their student ID and password and take an hour out of your day and watch some of these professors on VCOM TV, where our lectures are recorded. You will understand the shortcomings instantly.

Before our final exam we were actually asked to “not scare the incoming students” with what we had to say = aka not tell them the truth.

 

[kelminak]

For those thinking about applying to VCOM-Carolinas next year, and for those coming here next year, I believe there are a few things you should be aware of that most of us (if not all of us) were not. There are a lot of discrepancies and things wrong with this school and I don’t believe there is much transparency to future students. Interpret this as you wish, but before coming here I would at least take these things into consideration and if possible, speak to another student that you know that already attends this school and gain your own insight and understandings.

VCOM-carolinas is part of a 3 system school with the main campus being the Virginia Campus. Because of this our school is basically a satellite campus run by Virginia. Decisions are hardly made here, and are really made by the provost in Virginia. This means that even though many things that may work for Virginia don’t work here, we still must abide by them and this is a fact that has been acknowledged by the administrators themselves. Many times decisions are made that they are not even aware of. For example, recently our entire pathology department was overturned and we no longer receive any lectures for the class (past 2 averages have been 69, and a 74 respectively), the entire class is self taught (pathophysiology is the most board heavy subject) and our own Dean of VCOM Carolinas was unaware that this happened until student’s brought it to his attention. Yes our own Dean did not know that more than half the class is and was failing a class that we no longer have a professor for. Basically the head of the Pathology department was replaced by a VCOM Virginia graduate (also a major red flag) who is now our Pathology Head but she has chosen to not lecture and instead we read PDFs. This is just one flag though.

Other major and minor concerns:

-Our board scores are below national average.

-One of the biggest red flags is the professor turnover that our school experiences

- we don't have shelf board exams for rotations (only osteopathic school in the country that does not)

- Our entire immunology department is leaving within the next 2 years

- We currently do not have a real anatomy department chair (our current one was demoted for reasons none of us know, and he is bar far one of the biggest advocates we as student have. He is no doubt a difficult professor but is a good one and easily one of the ones that cares most for us as students. He was recently demoted and instead they choose to leave the position unfilled.

- There are many other rumors of other professors leaving, including some of our best

-As a system, VCOM also does not allow us to take the Shelf Exams for rotations (they hand write their own exams), which as any medical student at any allopathic or osteopathic school will tell you, is a very bad sign.

These are just a few of the concerns that exist for the school, there are many many more. Including the quality and experience of many of the professors here. While there is no doubt a collection of professors that are of very high quality, that care, and that can actually teach, these are also all of the ones that rumored to be leaving and themselves complain to us about VCOM and it’s shortcomings. There are unfortunately a majority of professors here that can not teach at all, and again I implore you to reach out to student’s you know here and ask them, we all know who they are. Ask them for their student ID and password and take an hour out of your day and watch some of these professors on VCOM TV, where our lectures are recorded. You will understand the shortcomings instantly.

Before our final exam we were actually asked to “not scare the incoming students” with what we had to say = aka not tell them the truth.

I'm sufficiently demoralized now. :/ What was the Dean's response to the pathology issues? I remember someone mentioned it on reddit, but there was never a follow-up on a solution. For those of us already committed, what's the strategy for success then? I already planned on entirely self-studying even when in class and not relying on professors, which sounds like it negates a lot of the teaching issues. Any advice?

 

[CanISleepYet?]

I'm sufficiently demoralized now. :/ What was the Dean's response to the pathology issues? I remember someone mentioned it on reddit, but there was never a follow-up on a solution. For those of us already committed, what's the strategy for success then? I already planned on entirely self-studying even when in class and not relying on professors, which sounds like it negates a lot of the teaching issues. Any advice?

Our SGA has been working with the administration to try to come up with a solution that everyone is happy with. I'm hoping that since there's a whole summer to work on this, things will be better.

Pathology was definitely a huge change this past block. We went from having a bare-bones professor to having to read PDFs that were 16+ pages long (10+ PDFs per test) and taking quizzes on the material within the PDF. The current chair of the department is very demanding and detailed-oriented. Yeah, it sucked, but once you figured out how to take what you needed from the PDFs, I thought it was fine. Sure, I'd love to have actual lectures on the material, but some of the stuff overlapped with our clinical medicine course and was covered before our exam. Also, it's not that the pathology chair doesn't want to lecture us on the material, she is being told that she cannot because "that's how they do it in Virginia." Which is a phrase I'm personally tired of hearing.

As far as a strategy for success, you have to figure that out for yourself, whatever works best for you. I personally read the PDFs while annotating and taking notes. After I have read the PDFs, I then watch the Pathoma video associated with it and try to incorporate the Pathoma highlights in my already existing notes.

You should have been assigned a "big sibling." Talk with them and see what they say about it.

Best of luck

 

[kelminak]

Our SGA has been working with the administration to try to come up with a solution that everyone is happy with. I'm hoping that since there's a whole summer to work on this, things will be better.

Pathology was definitely a huge change this past block. We went from having a bare-bones professor to having to read PDFs that were 16+ pages long (10+ PDFs per test) and taking quizzes on the material within the PDF. The current chair of the department is very demanding and detailed-oriented. Yeah, it sucked, but once you figured out how to take what you needed from the PDFs, I thought it was fine. Sure, I'd love to have actual lectures on the material, but some of the stuff overlapped with our clinical medicine course and was covered before our exam. Also, it's not that the pathology chair doesn't want to lecture us on the material, she is being told that she cannot because "that's how they do it in Virginia." Which is a phrase I'm personally tired of hearing.

As far as a strategy for success, you have to figure that out for yourself, whatever works best for you. I personally read the PDFs while annotating and taking notes. After I have read the PDFs, I then watch the Pathoma video associated with it and try to incorporate the Pathoma highlights in my already existing notes.

You should have been assigned a "big sibling." Talk with them and see what they say about it.

Best of luck

That makes it sound a little less horrifying. I'm definitely a fan of just turning everything into flashcards of my own words, so I hope I can just keep that technique for most things.

I don't have a sibling yet but I think they had until the 9th, so I'm not worried. Thanks for your input!

 

[mmjones01]

Also meant to add this, but if anyone would like to reach out to me with questions regarding my post feel free to. Ill answer them to the best of my ability.

 

[brywigh]

Also meant to add this, but if anyone would like to reach out to me with questions regarding my post feel free to. Ill answer them to the best of my ability.

Thanks for all this. Definitely makes me feel very uneasy but I’m glad we’ll have the OMS-II’s to turn to for help.

 

[CanISleepYet?]

Thanks for all this. Definitely makes me feel very uneasy but I’m glad we’ll have the OMS-II’s to turn to for help.

Please do ask any questions you have. All of us second years are definitely willing to help your class with whatever we can.

 

[CanISleepYet?]

The block calendar is now up

You can find it by googling "VCOM Carolinas Block Calendar"

The link for it still says "New for 2017," but its the updated one.

 

[gensurghopeful]

For those thinking about applying to VCOM-Carolinas next year, and for those coming here next year, I believe there are a few things you should be aware of that most of us (if not all of us) were not. There are a lot of discrepancies and things wrong with this school and I don’t believe there is much transparency to future students. Interpret this as you wish, but before coming here I would at least take these things into consideration and if possible, speak to another student that you know that already attends this school and gain your own insight and understandings.

VCOM-carolinas is part of a 3 system school with the main campus being the Virginia Campus. Because of this our school is basically a satellite campus run by Virginia. Decisions are hardly made here, and are really made by the provost in Virginia. This means that even though many things that may work for Virginia don’t work here, we still must abide by them and this is a fact that has been acknowledged by the administrators themselves. Many times decisions are made that they are not even aware of. For example, recently our entire pathology department was overturned and we no longer receive any lectures for the class (past 2 averages have been 69, and a 74 respectively), the entire class is self taught (pathophysiology is the most board heavy subject) and our own Dean of VCOM Carolinas was unaware that this happened until student’s brought it to his attention. Yes our own Dean did not know that more than half the class is and was failing a class that we no longer have a professor for. Basically the head of the Pathology department was replaced by a VCOM Virginia graduate (also a major red flag) who is now our Pathology Head but she has chosen to not lecture and instead we read PDFs. This is just one flag though.

Other major and minor concerns:

-Our board scores are below national average.

-One of the biggest red flags is the professor turnover that our school experiences

- we don't have shelf board exams for rotations (only osteopathic school in the country that does not)

- Our entire immunology department is leaving within the next 2 years

- We currently do not have a real anatomy department chair (our current one was demoted for reasons none of us know, and he is bar far one of the biggest advocates we as student have. He is no doubt a difficult professor but is a good one and easily one of the ones that cares most for us as students. He was recently demoted and instead they choose to leave the position unfilled.

- There are many other rumors of other professors leaving, including some of our best

-As a system, VCOM also does not allow us to take the Shelf Exams for rotations (they hand write their own exams), which as any medical student at any allopathic or osteopathic school will tell you, is a very bad sign.

These are just a few of the concerns that exist for the school, there are many many more. Including the quality and experience of many of the professors here. While there is no doubt a collection of professors that are of very high quality, that care, and that can actually teach, these are also all of the ones that rumored to be leaving and themselves complain to us about VCOM and it’s shortcomings. There are unfortunately a majority of professors here that can not teach at all, and again I implore you to reach out to student’s you know here and ask them, we all know who they are. Ask them for their student ID and password and take an hour out of your day and watch some of these professors on VCOM TV, where our lectures are recorded. You will understand the shortcomings instantly.

Before our final exam we were actually asked to “not scare the incoming students” with what we had to say = aka not tell them the truth.

End of the day, VCOM-Carolinas match list is very solid and up there with quality DO schools