2019-2020 Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences (Kansas City) KCU-COM

[ReaDoc]

Does anyone have the class schedule for this year? I couldn’t find it

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[dohopeful13]

Don't need to take everything so seriously guys, haha. It's like 99% neuroticism. Study without worrying about a specific grade. Don't think anyone in med is the type of person who has the mentality of "Cs get degrees".

The best part about p/f is that when the time comes around that you couldn't give it your 100% to study for an exam, it doesn't feel different since you just see a pass instead of a letter grade. When it comes to studying for boards, you end up restudying everything anyways. About time KCU is doing p/f as most other med schools, it's been a widely successful concept.

As long as they retain a class rank, the actual P/F aspect is window dressing

 

[medstudent_2024]

Does anyone have the class schedule for this year? I couldn’t find it

It’s in the threads and it’s in the accepted students day curriculum video.

 

[fldoctorgirl]

As long as they retain a class rank, the actual P/F aspect is window dressing

Current students just got an email about this. It's honors/pass/fail, so really no difference than A/B/C lol. People are still going to gun for the honors. I don't think they'll be eliminating class rank, so like you said, no difference.

 

[futuredoctor123456789]

Current students just got an email about this. It's honors/pass/fail, so really no difference than A/B/C lol. People are still going to gun for the honors. I don't think they'll be eliminating class rank, so like you said, no difference.

good luck on your boards!! kill it!

 

[Azmkv]

Don't need to take everything so seriously guys, haha. It's like 99% neuroticism. Study without worrying about a specific grade. Don't think anyone in med is the type of person who has the mentality of "Cs get degrees".

The best part about p/f is that when the time comes around that you couldn't give it your 100% to study for an exam, it doesn't feel different since you just see a pass instead of a letter grade. When it comes to studying for boards, you end up restudying everything anyways. About time KCU is doing p/f as most other med schools, it's been a widely successful concept.

Personally, I never felt comfortable going into any exams and this is coming from someone who gave almost 100% efforts on every exam. I always felt like I wasn't ready to "just pass". I don't know, maybe you are smarter than I am and can measure more accurately where you exactly stand to just pass. But, my bet is you will quickly realize the amount of info KCU throws at you for exams is insurmountable (maybe not always) and can't resist yourself but to give out 100% efforts. I ended up passing all my exams with above avg scores, but I also didn't believe I was going to pass when I was taking those exams, even up to our most recent exam, so there's that.

 

[BellaWriterChic]

Current students just got an email about this. It's honors/pass/fail, so really no difference than A/B/C lol. People are still going to gun for the honors. I don't think they'll be eliminating class rank, so like you said, no difference.

You know of course it happens as we go into clinical rotations. While I agree that it is probably not gonna change much, it might have been nice before.

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[fldoctorgirl]

good luck on your boards!! kill it!

Thank you so much!

 

[deleted813098]

If anyone is still looking for housing in the area, PM me for info on a 2Bd/2Bth in the library district, 1.5 miles from school.

 

[S9F3]

Quick question for people who have completed setting up their student account, is your generated school email your initials followed by your student ID number? I was under the impression that it would just be the first letter of your first name followed by your last name. Not a big deal, but the string of numbers is kinda..

..ugly.

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[Leo260]

Quick question for people who have completed setting up their student account, is your generated school email your initials followed by your student ID number? I was under the impression that it would just be the first letter of your first name followed by your last name. Not a big deal, but the string of numbers is kinda..

..ugly.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Already imagining how many PIs will immediately move my message begging for research to their Trash folder bc our emails look like low-rate scammer addresses

 

[S9F3]

Already imagining how many PIs will immediately move my message begging for research to their Trash folder bc our emails look like low-rate scammer addresses

My. Exact. Thoughts.

I actually emailed the Help Desk and the guy told me that it's not possible to change it because KCU adopted the new format as of this year.

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[Leo260]

My. Exact. Thoughts.

I actually emailed the Help Desk and the guy told me that it's not possible to change it because KCU adopted the new format as of this year.

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LMAO. Between this and the laptop situation, our class is off to a fun start (although I absolutely will not complain too much bc of the transition to P/F)

 

[fldoctorgirl]

Quick question for people who have completed setting up their student account, is your generated school email your initials followed by your student ID number? I was under the impression that it would just be the first letter of your first name followed by your last name. Not a big deal, but the string of numbers is kinda..

..ugly.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

You should be able to pick your email handle. Most people do first initial last name or something like that. You can be reached at that email address both by [email protected], and [email protected].

 

[TheMedicalMystery]

You should be able to pick your email handle. Most people do first initial last name or something like that. You can be reached at that email address both by [email protected], and [email protected].

They changed it we didn't have a choice.

 

[PorkChopsOG]

LMAO. Between this and the laptop situation, our class is off to a fun start (although I absolutely will not complain too much bc of the transition to P/F)

What is the laptop situation?

 

[S9F3]

What is the laptop situation?

I was wondering that too but now that I've read the technology guidelines, I'm assuming it's the insane gaming laptop they recommend us purchasing? Not too sure though. I just sent an email to student services asking whether we have to get that specific model or something else with similar specifications.

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[fldoctorgirl]

They changed it we didn't have a choice.

Oh! That's weird..

 

[PorkChopsOG]

I was wondering that too but now that I've read the technology guidelines, I'm assuming it's the insane gaming laptop they recommend us purchasing? Not too sure though. I just sent an email to student services asking whether we have to get that specific model or something else with similar specifications.

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I mean, they just gave us a ****ty ipad and then charged us a $500 technology fee.

 

[Leo260]

I was wondering that too but now that I've read the technology guidelines, I'm assuming it's the insane gaming laptop they recommend us purchasing? Not too sure though. I just sent an email to student services asking whether we have to get that specific model or something else with similar specifications.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Yep, the nearly 2 thousand dollar gaming laptop with an extremely long estimated shipping time. Sort of insane that they didn't bring this up at the town hall this week, or in any correspondence with our class for that matter. Apparently, if you wait to buy it until after July, you can apply for a budget adjustment which will basically increase your federal loan ceiling to cover the computer.

Little rant here, but this is sort of ridiculous considering the fact that there's plenty of cost-effective VR tech for students that are more than sufficient in teaching us the material. My master's program utilized them and it was a great experience. There're even other medical schools that hold classes like anatomy virtually (even pre-COVID) that don't financially burden the students with some insane tech we'll most likely be using a handful of times in a curriculum where we'll basically be test-dummies. This is compounded by the fact that they could have easily just included this in our tuition package (like the iPad) so that our original loan award would have covered it. It's also a little ironic that this computer system will cost more than what we're saving by the school not implementing the 3% tuition increase this year.....


Hoping that admin can help clarify this ASAP since there's still hope that this isn't fully required.

 

[weekendwarrior92]

Yep, the nearly 2 thousand dollar gaming laptop with an extremely long estimated shipping time. Sort of insane that they didn't bring this up at the town hall this week, or in any correspondence with our class for that matter. Apparently, if you wait to buy it until after July, you can apply for a budget adjustment which will basically increase your federal loan ceiling to cover the computer.

Little rant here, but this is sort of ridiculous considering the fact that there's plenty of cost-effective VR tech for students that are more than sufficient in teaching us the material. My master's program utilized them and it was a great experience. There're even other medical schools that hold classes like anatomy virtually (even pre-COVID) that don't financially burden the students with some insane tech we'll most likely be using a handful of times in a curriculum where we'll basically be test-dummies. This is compounded by the fact that they could have easily just included this in our tuition package (like the iPad) so that our original loan award would have covered it. It's also a little ironic that this computer system will cost more than what we're saving by the school not implementing the 3% tuition increase this year.....


Hoping that admin can help clarify this ASAP since there's still hope that this isn't fully required.

What are the specs of this so called laptop? Can someone provide a link or what model it is?

 

[S9F3]

https://cdn.agilitycms.com/kansas-city-university/Attachments/admissions/2020-21TechnologyGuidelines.pdf

You can find the laptop in the first highlighted link at the top, and an instructional video below that which teaches you what add-ons to select in order to apply the discount code.

 

[Magus5454]

So was talking to some incoming first years, if you follow all of their stuff, its 550 dollars off which still puts it at ~1625

 

[Magus5454]

They changed it we didn't have a choice.

I mean our real emails are [email protected], there should be some way to setup an alias.

 

[throwawaygap86]

This gaming laptop thing seems kinda ridiculous maybe a current student can speak on it? I was originally planning to build a PC for myself with similar specs before starting classes.

 

[indiRanger]

My guess is that since anatomy lab isnt happening in the fall, they want to do some sort of VR thing in lieu of actually going into lab. Absolutely ridiculous to expect yall to buy an expensive laptop like that though

 

[throwawaygap86]

My guess is that since anatomy lab isnt happening in the fall, they want to do some sort of VR thing in lieu of actually going into lab. Absolutely ridiculous to expect yall to buy an expensive laptop like that though

Yeah idk why they want us to buy it now considering in the PDF it says we'll use it to it's fullest extent in 2nd and 3rd year

 

[fldoctorgirl]

Yeah idk why they want us to buy it now considering in the PDF it says we'll use it to it's fullest extent in 2nd and 3rd year

In 2nd and 3rd year?? But anatomy is in first year....what is this for....

 

[futuredoctor123456789]

i refuse to buy a 2k laptop when I JUST BOUGHT a 2k MacBook. absolutely not. if they want me to have it, they can provide it for free.

 

[futuredoctor123456789]

So was talking to some incoming first years, if you follow all of their stuff, its 550 dollars off which still puts it at ~1625

$1625 more than i have..

 

[bioarchaeologist]

Yeah idk why they want us to buy it now considering in the PDF it says we'll use it to it's fullest extent in 2nd and 3rd year

Yeah...no. I wouldn't buy it at all. Did you tell your big siblings about this? We can try and communicate with admin for you guys.

 

[PorkChopsOG]

Yeah idk why they want us to buy it now considering in the PDF it says we'll use it to it's fullest extent in 2nd and 3rd year

.....3rd year?
yeah right lmao.

 

[Scribbler17]

Yeah...no. I wouldn't buy it at all. Did you tell your big siblings about this? We can try and communicate with admin for you guys.

Can you guys? Because this is a huge expense, and it's so close to classes for them to drop this now.

 

[BellaWriterChic]

Yeah idk why they want us to buy it now considering in the PDF it says we'll use it to it's fullest extent in 2nd and 3rd year

Unless there is something changing, I used my basic HP laptop with no issue over second year. They did say something about virtual work for some rotations since COVID but that was site dependent and we haven't heard anything about upgrading our devices for it.

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[ReaDoc]

I have a 1070 in my PC. I'm hoping it doesn't need to be laptop, if so that's honestly really excessive

 

[BlueBerriess]

I have a 1070 in my PC. I'm hoping it doesn't need to be laptop, if so that's honestly really excessive

Yea I feel the same. I dont see why it'd have to be a laptop. I got a PC with a 1080ti in it which I used all my blood and soul to save up for. If VR is a requirement, it would literaly be cheaper to buy the VR headset than to buy the "gaming laptop" lol.

 

[ReaDoc]

Yea I feel the same. I dont see why it'd have to be a laptop. I got a PC with a 1080ti in it which I used all my blood and soul to save up for. If VR is a requirement, it would literaly be cheaper to buy the VR headset than to buy the "gaming laptop" lol.

Literally. My PC can most likely run whatever VR and AR software they plan on using and it meets almost all the recommended specs for the "gaming laptop". Don't see the need to spend another 1,500 for a laptop on top of that

 

[weekendwarrior92]

Don’t buy it yet since its not official. If you don’t have money to buy the laptop, you can always apply for aid as I’ve attached below. Also, the student handbook requires you to have a laptop meeting KCU specs. So if they require you to have it, you probably will need it. For those who have Macs, you have no graphics card that will run the software most likely and you’ll overheat your computer. theres a nice post detailing the specs made by a current student in the KCU 2024 facebook page.

 

[indiRanger]

If you have a PC that can run the specs, I'm 99% sure that will be fine. Espcially since we cant really be on campus

 

[deleted1023037]

IT said we can’t change our emails by the way :/

 

[PorkChopsOG]

The best advice I have for all of the incoming first years is: relax. It will be okay. The things you think are a big deal now will seem trivial in the future. I look back at our first week of classes and the massive 'problems' we had, and they're pretty funny to think about now.

 

[throwawaygap86]

I have a 1070 in my PC. I'm hoping it doesn't need to be laptop, if so that's honestly really excessive

I emailed the help desk and they said a desktop is fine

 

[ReaDoc]

So now that the IT course is open, I've noticed there are multiple "assignments" that require the use of the iPad, but we won't get the iPad until our first day of orientation, which is after the due date of 7/12 lol

Edit: Went back to that particular assignment after I did the others and it now says "No Due Date"

 

[Monster-Mormon]

Random question but what is KCU's policy on facial hair?

 

[Magus5454]

Random question but what is KCU's policy on facial hair?

No policy for first 2 years really, but clinical sites can/will have policies

 

[Gropey_Monk123]

Are KCUs rotation sites mostly preceptor or ward-based?

Also how do the KC sites (or sites with multiple hospitals) work? Does a student get assigned a particular hospital or do they rotate to different ones?

 

[fldoctorgirl]

Are KCUs rotation sites mostly preceptor or ward-based?

Also how do the KC sites (or sites with multiple hospitals) work? Does a student get assigned a particular hospital or do they rotate to different ones?

It's a mix, depends on the site. I would say mostly preceptor-based, but a lot of the preceptors work with residents. For example I'm staying in KC and I got my first 4 rotations: 2 of them are in hospitals with residents and I will be directly interacting with them. I think a mix is the best learning experience personally.

At KC, since it's preceptor-based, you get assigned to a preceptor and then basically go with them wherever they go. So there are lots of different hospitals and offices etc.

 

[PorkChopsOG]

Are KCUs rotation sites mostly preceptor or ward-based?

Also how do the KC sites (or sites with multiple hospitals) work? Does a student get assigned a particular hospital or do they rotate to different ones?

this is very far away for you, but if you're not looking to stay in KC I'd recommend looking at other sites. All of my rotations were at a single teaching hospital with residents and residencies, and I feel like I got a very traditional 3rd year experience. 10/10 would recommend.

 

[BobbyKoch]

this is very far away for you, but if you're not looking to stay in KC I'd recommend looking at other sites. All of my rotations were at a single teaching hospital with residents and residencies, and I feel like I got a very traditional 3rd year experience. 10/10 would recommend.

With the understanding that it is in the future and likely different depending on site, would you mind speaking to how your living situation was for 3rd year? Did you move all of your stuff from KC to your site and set up an apartment, given that 4th year could be in an entirely different location and residency after that?

Just curious how this looks for people who leave KC. I like my apartment and living in KC but increasingly realize that I have no real reason to try to stay here.

 

[PorkChopsOG]

With the understanding that it is in the future and likely different depending on site, would you mind speaking to how your living situation was for 3rd year? Did you move all of your stuff from KC to your site and set up an apartment, given that 4th year could be in an entirely different location and residency after that?

Just curious how this looks for people who leave KC. I like my apartment and living in KC but increasingly realize that I have no real reason to try to stay here.

I'm trying not to give too much identifying information, but my core site is in my home state close to my parents. I moved to an apartment within a few miles of the hospital where a lot of other students live. Our core site also allows us to do the majority of 4th year there, and I'm applying for residency there so I just had to find a few audition rotations in the area, which was very easy. If you have no reason to stay in KC, then definitely look into other core sites and see what you want. Do you want tons of hands on experience where it's just you and a preceptor? Go somewhere like Witchita. Do you want a traditional 3rd year experience with a lot of residents, residency programs, other medical students, and amazing networking opportunities? Look into some other core sites.