2017-2018 Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine (RVU-COM)

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Should I even bother filling out my secondary here? 3.85 sGPA 3.87 cGPA 508 MCAT OOS. I was a health science major and therefore have no upper-level "bio" classes. Also took all prereqs except biochem at Community college. Judging by last year's thread, they love to see upper level bio and rigorous course load.

Of course you should. You have great stats regardless. Very, very few people will ever check every box that schools look for in a candidate.

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Rejected. 3.7ish/512. In State. Not sure if my secondary essays made me sound like a total psychopath or what. Pretty bummed
 
Rejected. 3.7ish/512. In State. Not sure if my secondary essays made me sound like a total psychopath or what. Pretty bummed

Jesus this process is terrifying... Please tell me you've never shadowed a doctor or worked with a patient before.
 
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Jesus this process is terrifying... Please tell me you've never shadowed a doctor or worked with a patient before.

Not a ton of shadowing, 30 hrs or so. But I was a cna and I have 150hrs volunteering in an I patient behavioral health facility. So my clinical exposure isn't terrible.
 
Not a ton of shadowing, 30 hrs or so. But I was a cna and I have 150hrs volunteering in an I patient behavioral health facility. So my clinical exposure isn't terrible.

Sorry to hear. Sometimes I don't think there is much rhyme or reason to this process other than luck of whoever reads your secondary. Good luck w/ the rest of your apps
 
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Rejected. 3.7ish/512. In State. Not sure if my secondary essays made me sound like a total psychopath or what. Pretty bummed
That's yield protection. You will get in somewhere for sure.
 
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Ive been sitting on complete at both schools since 7/27. Would love to interview here AGH.
 
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Does anyone know how strict they are about their prereqs? They require 12 credits in "general biology," physiology doesn't count? I can call on Monday, but it's Friday night and I thought maybe someone would know.
Yes, physiology, anatomy, microbiology, immunology, histology, etc. will all count toward the requirement.
 
@odette115

So lectures are all optional then?

Majority of lectures are -- Occasionally there will be lectures where you have a quiz, and those, of course, are mandatory in that you'll miss all the points if you don't show up.
Probably a no-brainer, but all labs are mandatory, but other than those labs and few lectures, you don't HAVE to be on campus. Of course, not coming to class, you take the risk of not getting the video lecture later on should there be any technical difficulties. The risk is generally low -- I only remember it occurring a couple times since I've been here. From experience, I personally don't come to campus unless it's mandatory, which is the way I like to study, and should a video lecture not get posted for whatever unforeseen reason, I'm able to reach out to my classmates and friends to help fill me in on anything important I might have missed.


If anyone else has any questions about the school, feel free to ask on here or shoot me a message!!
 
If things are listed under the "file status" tab, even without a completion date, does that mean they have them? Before, the only things listed for me under that section were the supplemental app with the date I submitted it. Now, there are also things like committee letter and physician letter listed, but no date next to them...confused whether this means I'm complete or not.
 
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If things are listed under the "file status" tab, even without a completion date, does that mean they have them? Before, the only things listed for me under that section were the supplemental app with the date I submitted it. Now, there are also things like committee letter and physician letter listed, but no date next to them...confused whether this means I'm complete or not.

Is your status APPL or FILEC?


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Rejected via portal (only applied to Utah). Not sure when this occurred- forgot RVUCOM Utah had a portal until today. My first rejection!
Received secondary 07/18 and submitted ~7/30.
Best of luck to everyone!
cGPA ~3.2/s~3.1 MCAT 509
 
APPL, thanks for reminding me of that haha

Mine changed to FILEC and at the same time my LORs were updated with dates next to them. My guess is they're taking a bit of a break. The wave of rejections has stopped also.
 
Rejected. 3.7ish/512. In State. Not sure if my secondary essays made me sound like a total psychopath or what. Pretty bummed

First of all, I am sorry about your rejection. Second, how did they reject you? Did they send you an e-mail, or did your application status change, or what?
 
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I just got my first rejection :(

Not sure if this is the fall of all my applications, or just one :(

Depression is hitting...
 
I just got my first rejection :(

Not sure if this is the fall of all my applications, or just one :(

Depression is hitting...
From RVU? Stats?

Edit: Sorry, didn't mean to be like a vulture on your post. The fact that you're applying to RVU hopeful shows that you're a strong applicant. Keep your head up!
 
From RVU? Stats?

Edit: Sorry, didn't mean to be like a vulture on your post. The fact that you're applying to RVU hopeful shows that you're a strong applicant. Keep your head up!

Applied to RVU-Utah only. Thinking about withdrawing my RVU-Colorado.

3.20 cGPA, 3.21 sGPA. I had about a 3.40 cGPA and 3.45 sGPA until they changed the repeat policy :(
502 MCAT
900 hours of volunteering and clinical experience
Shadowed MDs and DOs
4 letters (DO, 2 science, 1 non-sciene)

It's okay. I'll try to stay positive.
 
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Applied to RVU-Utah only. Thinking about withdrawing my RVU-Colorado.

3.20 cGPA, 3.21 sGPA. I had about a 3.40 cGPA and 3.45 sGPA until they changed the repeat policy :(
502 MCAT
900 hours of volunteering and clinical experience
Shadowed MDs and DOs
4 letters (DO, 2 science, 1 non-sciene)

It's okay. I'll try to stay positive.

Similar (slightly lower) GPA. Right there with ya! No interviews as of yet. It's a marathon. Keep taking classes to show academic ability. It might take me/you multiple cycles. I struggle to enjoy this part of the journey, every day. But medicine has so many hoops to jump through over the course of a career that it is important to enjoy it as soon as possible.

Don't give up!
 
Similar (slightly lower) GPA. Right there with ya! No interviews as of yet. It's a marathon. Keep taking classes to show academic ability. It might take me/you multiple cycles. I struggle to enjoy this part of the journey, every day. But medicine is has so many hoops to jump through over the course of a career that it is important to enjoy it as soon as possible.

Don't give up!

I love your positive attitude! Hopefully we are successful!
 
I was complete 07/27 (ut) and 8/10 (co) and have been sitting on COMPL for both schools. I think my app has gone through a review at least once based on this thread. Who knows though:)
 
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Glad I'm not the only one whose first rejection was Utah. Still pending at Colorado but I'm sure they'll be following soon.

Stats are 3.38/3.38/503 so not quite up to par but did have lots of clinical experience and decent volunteering. Not surprised but the first one always stings.
 
OMS1 at the Utah campus. Just saw some of the negative comments on here from other first years and in my opinion it sounds like whining from someone not doing as well as they hoped, being less than a month into the school year there is no way I would go through the application cycle again for a few hiccups. The streaming of the lectures has had a few small bumps but the staff is VERY willing to find a way to smooth things out to help in the learning process, whether it be with the streaming down to how the slides are organized. The stats speak pretty plainly for themselves on how they focus on preparing their students well for board exams and success in medicine. You should definitely consider your interests and if RVU lines up with your long term goals (not a place for people dying to do bench research) but don't let a few negative comments about the two campus set up dissuade you from applying here if you think it would be a good fit otherwise.

Keep your head up about your apps! This is the worst of it, it'll get better from here!
 
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For those of you who got interviews to the Utah campus did you write a lot for why RVU-Utah? Struggling to find information in general and obviously don't want to say for its outdoor activities lol
 
Are the instructors good? Are there opportunities to practice more/learn more outside of scheduled lectures?

OMSI (SU campus) here so we've only had 2 labs of actually doing stuff. Hopefully a 2nd year will chime in. The instruction seems to be good. The class is split in half for each lab time. You are also put into groups of about 8, with one table instructor for your group. The table instructor is usually a DO from the area.

You get the instruction from the lab teacher and while you are practicing what they gave you the table instructors will answer questions, give help or advice.

We have two hours Thursday nights where the OPP fellows are available in the lab so you can practice.
 
For those of you who got interviews to the Utah campus did you write a lot for why RVU-Utah? Struggling to find information in general and obviously don't want to say for its outdoor activities lol

The way I took these last year is I picked the top three reasons I really wanted to go and tried to explain them in a way that adcoms would appreciate and how it related to me. Try to be honest because if they ask you something in your interview you want to have a real/genuine response.

Remember you need to stand out so don't always take the easy answers or your app won't be very unique.
 
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The way I took these last year is I picked the top three reasons I really wanted to go and tried to explain them in a way that adcoms would appreciate and how it related to me. Try to be honest because if they ask you something in your interview you want to have a real/genuine response.

Remember you need to stand out so don't always take the easy answers or your app won't be very unique.

I always struggle with this because the reasons I want to go here are not unique - smartly designed curriculum, nice location, good board metrics, nice facilities, nearby family. That's basically what I wrote, and I can just imagine the groan and eye roll of whoever read my secondary thinking "this **** again!?"
 
Are the instructors good? Are there opportunities to practice more/learn more outside of scheduled lectures?

RVU does the bare minimum for OPP. If you are really interested in osteopathy or manipulative therapy, you should look at Western, PCOM, DMU, CCOM, or KCOM.
 
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I always struggle with this because the reasons I want to go here are not unique - smartly designed curriculum, nice location, good board metrics, nice facilities, nearby family. That's basically what I wrote, and I can just imagine the groan and eye roll of whoever read my secondary thinking "this **** again!?"

What else are you suppose to say? I imagine there are probably some people that may have a really unique reason for wanting to study at RVU but generally everyone kinda has to say the same thing. They should ask questions that allow applicants to distinguish themselves.
 
What else are you suppose to say? I imagine there are probably some people that may have a really unique reason for wanting to study at RVU but generally everyone kinda has to say the same thing. They should ask questions that allow applicants to distinguish themselves.
"Why our school?" essays are probably more a measure of "has this kid at least looked at our website or not?"
 
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How is the OMM training at the Colorado campus?


I can't speak for other DO campuses -- not exactly sure what our school does differently from others, but I do believe they give opportunity to develop OMM skills, especially if you're proactive about it. I think our fellows are very open to setting up personal tutoring time for those who need or want it, and are also very open to answering questions, staying longer after lab to clarify or teach some more, etc. And for those who don't know, RVU does have an OMM Fellowship where you graduate one year later, but are able to spend half of your clinical rotation years teaching and continuing to learn more about OMM. Our fellows also have their own clinic where they get to practice on patients (and you, as a student, may also attend! I myself has been there as a patient, and had a great experience).
As for the curriculum itself, they changed it up this year for both OMSI and OMSII, so they're still trying to work and figure out what works best -- general gist though, as a first year, you have OMM lab once a week, usually split into groups with an instructor or fellow overseeing each group. Occasionally, they'll make the groups even smaller (and make it just a 1 hr session), giving you less time, but better quality instruction and time with your instructor. You also do have both written and practical exams, which is in part their way of prepping you for boards as well.

Not sure if there's anything else about the OMM training you were curious about? Like I said, not sure how it compares to other schools, but it definitely feels like they think of it as a crucial part of our overall education.
 
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Are the instructors good? Are there opportunities to practice more/learn more outside of scheduled lectures?
Are the instructors good? It's medical school. They wouldn't be hired if they weren't good. During your first year the opportunities are up to you and your peers as you are simply learning fundamentals. During your second year you will have ample opportunity. There is also an OPP Fellowship open to all students. A simple Google search will yield you sufficient results for how to contact those who may be willing to provide you greater information. I highly recommend you send emails to those people, as going so will express some level of interest on your behalf that far exceeds questioning on an anonymous forum.
 
Email. I had checked their portal last night before bed out of neuroticism haha and there was nothing. Then I got an email and then went to the portal and scheduled the date

Thanks! I submitted in late July and letters were in 8/10. I haven't heard anything after my status changed to FILEC. At this point though, I guess no news is at least decent news. They've probably looked at least once and decided I wasn't worthy of rejection just yet so that's nice.

Hopefully I'll hear something soon!!
 
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