2019-2020 Lincoln Memorial University DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (LMU-DCOM)

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titanup615 said:
Everyone was very nice and the interview was low stress. I ended my interviews at the new Knoxville branch and started off in the morning at Harrogate campus. It was the first time they had interviews in Knoxville.
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Do they bus you from Harrogate to Knoxville? Or do you drive yourself?
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Anyone else interviewing tomorrow?
 
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II for Knoxville campus ! Complete 8/15. OOS. Flights from the west coast are soo expensive :/
 
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II today, submitted 8/16. Anyone know why they have us start at Harrogate and end in Knoxville?
 
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Anyone get a call today? I was really thinking we were going to hear something.
 
So I emailed the admissions at Knoxville this afternoon and she said that we should know very soon. She said by either phone call or email.
 
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Dad1719 said:
So I emailed the admissions at Knoxville this afternoon and she said that we should know very soon. She said by either phone call or email.
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So.. on Monday maybe? I don’t know if they’ll send out anything over the weekend, although that would be nice.
 
Primary complete 8/21, secondary invite 8/21, secondary submitted 9/4. Undergrad gpa 3.33, sGPA 3.24, nsGPA 3.5, grad sGPA 3.46, nsGPA 4.00, grad GPA 3.49; MCAT 513. Fingers crossed and candles lit. :)
 
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So FYI, I already have two acceptances and I won’t be attending this school, but I would be extremely careful if considering here. There were multiple red flags I saw when I was interviewing at this school and it completely turned me off of the school.
 
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PoohShiesty said:
So FYI, I already have two acceptances and I won’t be attending this school, but I would be extremely careful if considering here. There were multiple red flags I saw when I was interviewing at this school and it completely turned me off of the school.
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You know you can go on with what red flags you saw instead of just leaving it at this and flexing your two acceptances..
 
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PoohShiesty said:
So FYI, I already have two acceptances and I won’t be attending this school, but I would be extremely careful if considering here. There were multiple red flags I saw when I was interviewing at this school and it completely turned me off of the school.
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So what were the red flags? I interviewed there and I did not see anything I would consider a red flag.
 
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Haven’t heard anything yet post interviews, anyone else?
 
The user above touched on a lot of the concerning things I saw about it. Sorry for the bad reply but it came down to flaws I saw with the faculty. I interviewed at the Knoxville location and I pulled a couple of the students aside and they seemed like they couldn’t answer how they felt about the school. They’re currently splitting faculty between campuses and in fact, they’re short on them as well. One other red flag I saw was how they’re already starting a class at the Knoxville location when the facility isn’t even complete. They said they would get to some parts eventually when the students need it but that’s weird to me. Also, the medical school tuition is being allocated to other parts of the university instead of the medical school. The entire university is being propped up by the MS tuition and they’re rapidly trying to expand other professional programs without their current ones being fleshed out. Sorry if this answer isn’t the best but you can research on SDN and find plenty of other people with the same observations and concerns
 
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uglypremed said:
You know you can go on with what red flags you saw instead of just leaving it at this and flexing your two acceptances..
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Also, I apologize if I came off as arrogant. I wasn’t trying to flex my acceptances, I was trying to clear up that I don’t have an ulterior motive to say these things because I won’t be attending this school regardless.
 
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PoohShiesty said:
The user above touched on a lot of the concerning things I saw about it. Sorry for the bad reply but it came down to flaws I saw with the faculty. I interviewed at the Knoxville location and I pulled a couple of the students aside and they seemed like they couldn’t answer how they felt about the school. They’re currently splitting faculty between campuses and in fact, they’re short on them as well. One other red flag I saw was how they’re already starting a class at the Knoxville location when the facility isn’t even complete. They said they would get to some parts eventually when the students need it but that’s weird to me. Also, the medical school tuition is being allocated to other parts of the university instead of the medical school. The entire university is being propped up by the MS tuition and they’re rapidly trying to expand other professional programs without their current ones being fleshed out. Sorry if this answer isn’t the best but you can research on SDN and find plenty of other people with the same observations and concerns
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I have to agree. My interview here was not particularly enjoyable and I also saw many concerns. They seemed more focused on building PT, OT, PA, dentistry, etc. programs rather than focusing on establishing the DO program and improving their reputation. Knoxville campus felt barren and colorless. I also asked about their accreditation status during the interview and they seemed caught off guard and were unable to explain how they intend to reprimand the situation and improve themselves.
 
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CHIEFBEE said:
I have to agree. My interview here was not particularly enjoyable and I also saw many concerns. They seemed more focused on building PT, OT, PA, dentistry, etc. programs rather than focusing on establishing the DO program and improving their reputation. Knoxville campus felt barren, uncomfortable, and colorless. I also asked about their accreditation status with heightened monitoring during the interview and they seemed caught off guard and were unable to explain how they intend to reprimand the situation and improve themselves. I left unimpressed and will not be attending here.
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Honestly, I'm not surprised that the faculty in your interview didn't answer or appear to know how to answer the accreditation question. It's not like they're on probation, and there's a whole department at the school dedicated to accreditation. Go email admissions, or someone with Institutional Effectiveness, if you want their party line answer to that. It's an unusual question in an interview, and they probably didn't know what they could say.

Definitely, Knoxville is new and volunteering for any of the guinea pig classes is not for everyone. If you feel like you really need an existing student support base, probably better to ask for Harrogate.

IMO, applying to COCA for a 50% class size increase the year before your accreditation review is a surefire way to guarantee that COCA won't roll up in a year and say, "Great job on construction, tell us how it goes! See you in 10 years!" They would be remiss if they didn't heighten monitoring on a brand-new campus of that size.
 
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Reading all of these concerns bouncing back and fourth is somewhat concerning, but I did recieve an acceptance today from the school!

I will have to think hard about what I thought and what other users noticed when making my decisions this year.
 
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awat95 said:
Reading all of these concerns bouncing back and fourth is somewhat concerning, but I did recieve an acceptance today from the school!

I will have to think hard about what I thought and what other users noticed when making my decisions this year.
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May I ask when you interviewed? Thanks!
 
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Congrats to you all! Were you all accepted to Knoxville?
 
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PoohShiesty said:
The user above touched on a lot of the concerning things I saw about it. Sorry for the bad reply but it came down to flaws I saw with the faculty. I interviewed at the Knoxville location and I pulled a couple of the students aside and they seemed like they couldn’t answer how they felt about the school. They’re currently splitting faculty between campuses and in fact, they’re short on them as well. One other red flag I saw was how they’re already starting a class at the Knoxville location when the facility isn’t even complete. They said they would get to some parts eventually when the students need it but that’s weird to me. Also, the medical school tuition is being allocated to other parts of the university instead of the medical school. The entire university is being propped up by the MS tuition and they’re rapidly trying to expand other professional programs without their current ones being fleshed out. Sorry if this answer isn’t the best but you can research on SDN and find plenty of other people with the same observations and concerns
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Current Knox student, here. A lot of us may not be able to accurately answer how we feel after only being in school 3-5 weeks (depending on your interview). you probably caught people off guard, and half of us are brain dead from trying to keep up with all the material and study for weekly exams. Not that the rest of your points aren't valid, but I wouldn't solely discredit anything based off of who you asked :)
 
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Desolatelands said:
They also don’t have clinical sites secured. If they did they would proclaim it publically. They somehow got it passed COCA but not sure how since we struggle with enough sites with the current class size of 242

Anyone interviewing here needs to ask hard and fast where clinics sites are for Knoxville campus. Don’t assume covenant or UT medical center are going to take any more students than they do now (UT does not take any anyway from DCOM)
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I wouldn't assume that they don't have clinical sites - DCOM has never been particularly forthright in sharing what's down the road with its current students. I doubt COCA would've signed off on the expansion if they didn't have a concept of a rotation sites, but I'm no expert. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it will be an expansion of rural and underserved sites, which a lot of students aren't into.

premedmommyx2 said:
Current Knox student, here. A lot of us may not be able to accurately answer how we feel after only being in school 3-5 weeks (depending on your interview). you probably caught people off guard, and half of us are brain dead from trying to keep up with all the material and study for weekly exams. Not that the rest of your points aren't valid, but I wouldn't solely discredit anything based off of who you asked :)
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Hah, true. The last interviewees came in to talk to students ~an hour before an exam. That went about as well as you could expect. I'm not sure anyone at any school would describe 1 month into med school as the time of their lives. Splitting faculty is an issue, but will improve as they hire more (in theory).
 
Desolatelands said:
Tell them to update their website and tell students what the sites are then. Are you faculty?
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Not faculty, so I can't do any of that, but I know current faculty/staff. Current first- and second-year students making requests like that in writing to administration would probably be your best bet at getting results, since they're the ones that are affected by that info. Applicants asking might have some impact, but most applicants are hesitant to ask questions like that before they've secured admission, and I don't blame them.

I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have contracts secured for all of the new class, but I'm sure they have some. My guess is that they don't want to tell all of the current first-years what new and expanded rotation sites they're going to have, just before the current second-years put in their applications for the current rotation sites. I'm sure there's going to be some bitterness there.
 
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Desolatelands said:
IDK if I’m buying something for 200k plus I wanna know what I’m getting. They struggle maintaining clinical sites for the current students so adding 125 is :/
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Yeah, but you're not buying it - incoming and current OMS1 are, and they're more concerned about getting in than what they'll be dealing with three years down the road. Asking won't hurt, but demanding information from admissions and your interviewing faculty about third year rotations won't help you if it costs your admission. If you want to know, email the admins, don't try to convince interviewees to do it. If you do it politely and aren't actively causing them trouble, they'll probably give you what information they can. If they don't, there's probably a reason.

And when you say they struggle to maintain clinical sites, you're talking about what you would consider preferable clinical sites. They have sites, even if they aren't where some students want to go (which is the same problem a lot of schools have). I don't think they were ever in a situation where they had nowhere to put students. Some people end up somewhere that makes Harrogate look like an urban hot spot for half the year, and some people get their last choice, but that's how it goes sometimes. Did you draw a short straw for rotations?
 
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Desolatelands said:
Mine was very rural but I was OK with it since it was otherwise a good site and I moved elsewhere for fourth year. But there are people in my class that have had to travel to other sites due to contract disruptions mid year. I will admit some of it may be due to students doing not good things and losing sites (I know some of it is that) but don’t forget most people interviewing at dcom have more than one option of med school to go to and if you want good applicants that will actually pass and not cost the school time money and administrative headache then they should advertise clinicals better and be up front about rotations. I’m just here dishing out a fourth year perspective which isn’t all bad and again it’s hard to compare medical schools.... BUT people ask every year what we think of XYZ medical school and we would be doing a disservice not providing them feedback
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I don't know too much about students causing trouble at rotation sites and mid-contract disruptions. Absolutely, I think your opinion as someone who's been there is valuable. But I'm not sure how many people have a choice of where to go - I think a good portion of people that get accepted only get accepted one place. Unfortunately so many applicants and re-applicants are in the mindset of, as long as I get in somewhere, I'll go. And LMU, in trying to attract people from underserved and rural areas, draws some of those people who see no technical minimum MCAT score and jump at the chance to apply. They're good at filtering out the people who clearly have no ties or interest in Appalachia or rural settings, and aren't competitive with the rest of the applicant pool, but people lie about their interest to get here and then they're unhappy, and cause problems.

My biggest piece of advice for applicants is to be honest with yourself. There are people who are from major urban areas that do fine here - just because you've never lived in a small town doesn't mean you'll hate it. Some people have never lived in an area like this and they find they like going to local places, living in a smaller community, and spending time outdoors. Other people, it isn't their cup of tea and they would rather live in a bigger city, but realize that this is a very brief part of their lives and then you can go live wherever you want for residency. Harrogate is remote, but they have student support, there's Starbucks, there's Walmart, there are plenty of chains and local places. But if the idea of shopping at Walmart horrifies you and you know that you'll be absolutely miserable ninety minutes from the closest two-story mall, but you think, 'I can stick it out for two years and then I'll go on rotations somewhere better,' reconsider applying. The school is not shy about its mission statement - there are not enough doctors in Appalachia, rural, medically underserved, etc. areas and they want to support the students that want to practice that type of medicine. They won't make you go primary care or FM, and plenty of the administration and faculty will support you if you want to go for a competitive specialty or to an urban program, but you'll learn a lot about rural care and the primary care perspective here. You'll probably do some rotations in the middle of nowhere. If all that sounds like the stuff of nightmares to you, you don't want to put yourself in a position where it's your only acceptance and you don't want to go.
 
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Desolatelands said:
I wanted to do some sort of primary care or OB the whole time but the way they shove it down your throat sorta makes you want to not do it. Not to mention the arrrogance of many of the primary careEPC faculty who have giant chips on their shoulder. Won’t mention names.

But whoever you are from DCOM support staff (have it narrowed down to a few.... not many people attend accepted students day from DCOMs side) I and I’m sure applicants appreciate someone being open to them about the school and how to apply and do well. They should give you a raise for coming on SDN trying to mitigate the application page. Kudos to you.
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I'm not DCOM staff, so you may want to re-draw your lists, lol. Good luck. But one of the perks of a small town is that you live here long enough and you get to know a lot of people and their drama. :)
 
Knoxville interviewees.... have you heard anything? I know Harrogate people have.
 
I am applying here and want to drop in and say hi.
Primary: July 23
Secondary/complete. Aug 10/Sep 5
II: Hopefully soon
 
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Hello, and to those accepted, congratulations!

I wonder if anyone has received their official letter yet, or just the phone call?
 
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