2019-2020 Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-HCOM)

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HarmlessGhost said:
Thanks! My cGPA (and sGPA) are 4.0, 512 MCAT, tons of psychophysiological research, probably a bit lacking in clinical experience. I interviewed April 7.
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Did you contact them post finding out you were way waitlisted?
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Blindedg521 said:
Did you contact them post finding out you were way waitlisted?
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I did email for feedback on my interview but did not receive a response (which I wrote off as stress from the pandemic). I also sent an update mostly confirming that I’m still on track to get all As, that my research project was completed, and that I’m working with a professor on a potential publication. Other than that, I asked one of the people who interviewed me for some advice a few days ago.
 
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HarmlessGhost said:
Thanks! My cGPA (and sGPA) are 4.0, 512 MCAT, tons of psychophysiological research, probably a bit lacking in clinical experience. I interviewed April 7.
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Did they update your portal immediately with your accepted status? Congrats!!
 
skbuckeye said:
Did they update your portal immediately with your accepted status? Congrats!!
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They did not update my portal immediately. They said it would take one to two days, so, as you can probably imagine, I have been checking my email and portal often.
 
Do any students who are accepted / attend Cleveland campus have housing recommendations?
 
ymalik2024 said:
Do any students who are accepted / attend Cleveland campus have housing recommendations?
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There should be a spreadsheet put together by Sam Baker in the CLE class FB page about housing. But there's a lot of affordable housing just north of school in the Shaker HTS/Beachwood/University HTS areas.
 
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sami055 said:
When do you guys think the match list will be released?
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The official list isn't released on their site yet, though other years are there if you are interested. However, there is a SDN post for 2020 DO match for mostly all schools, basically self-reported/compiled unofficially. I have read through it and page 11 has OU's list! Linked it here: DO Match List Thread 2020

Hope this helps!
 
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4th year here. 10/10 would not choose HCOM if I could go back. The good stuff ends after interview day. Would go elsewhere if you're between this and another school, the new curriculum is a mess too.
 
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realba11 said:
4th year here. 10/10 would not choose HCOM if I could go back. The good stuff ends after interview day. Would go elsewhere if you're between this and another school, the new curriculum is a mess too.
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lol, why is that?
 
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cmmmmmmm123456 said:
Yeah could you elaborate on this? Thank you
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Administration is pretty nasty to the students. Lots of questionable decisions on how things are handled. My impression from our Dean's hours is that most students are really unhappy here.

I'm not part of the new curriculum thankfully, but I know students are being overloaded with quizzes and all of the responsibility is on the students to learn the material in the little time that they do have outside of TBL. You get three failures generally including quizzes, then you can get kicked out. A good chunk of people failed the first quiz. I'm not sure what's being done to change all of the new stuff to the curriculum, but from our school's Dean's hours, nothing ever got changed when students raised legitimate concerns to administration.

Take what you will from my two cents. I've always done well academically and am trying for a competitive specialty. Thankful to be in med school at all. Normally I keep my head down and just try to avoid administration whenever possible. It would have helped to have some feedback like I am giving you before I made my decision on which school I went to.
 
realba11 said:
Administration is pretty nasty to the students. Lots of questionable decisions on how things are handled. My impression from our Dean's hours is that most students are really unhappy here.

I'm not part of the new curriculum thankfully, but I know students are being overloaded with quizzes and all of the responsibility is on the students to learn the material in the little time that they do have outside of TBL. You get three failures generally including quizzes, then you can get kicked out. A good chunk of people failed the first quiz. I'm not sure what's being done to change all of the new stuff to the curriculum, but from our school's Dean's hours, nothing ever got changed when students raised legitimate concerns to administration.

Take what you will from my two cents. I've always done well academically and am trying for a competitive specialty. Thankful to be in med school at all. Normally I keep my head down and just try to avoid administration whenever possible. It would have helped to have some feedback like I am giving you before I made my decision on which school I went to.
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Which campus do you attend?
 
Hope to see more movement this week! Would love to go here.
 
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realba11 said:
Administration is pretty nasty to the students. Lots of questionable decisions on how things are handled. My impression from our Dean's hours is that most students are really unhappy here.

I'm not part of the new curriculum thankfully, but I know students are being overloaded with quizzes and all of the responsibility is on the students to learn the material in the little time that they do have outside of TBL. You get three failures generally including quizzes, then you can get kicked out. A good chunk of people failed the first quiz. I'm not sure what's being done to change all of the new stuff to the curriculum, but from our school's Dean's hours, nothing ever got changed when students raised legitimate concerns to administration.

Take what you will from my two cents. I've always done well academically and am trying for a competitive specialty. Thankful to be in med school at all. Normally I keep my head down and just try to avoid administration whenever possible. It would have helped to have some feedback like I am giving you before I made my decision on which school I went to.
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Current second year students are saying that the new curriculum has evolved and has gotten way way better. Also said the people at Cleveland have been great. Much of the initial complaints have been resolved in the meantime.
 
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Fishwithadeagle said:
Current second year students are saying that the new curriculum has evolved and has gotten way way better. Also said the people at Cleveland have been great. Much of the initial complaints have been resolved in the meantime.
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Thank you for this input! That’s very helpful to know.
 
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Anybody been in contact with admissions or heard of any movement this week?
 
What time does admissions usually call when one gets off the waitlist?
 
Do any current students know if there will be full in person classes / hybrid / online for the upcoming semester?
 
realba11 said:
Administration is pretty nasty to the students. Lots of questionable decisions on how things are handled. My impression from our Dean's hours is that most students are really unhappy here.

I'm not part of the new curriculum thankfully, but I know students are being overloaded with quizzes and all of the responsibility is on the students to learn the material in the little time that they do have outside of TBL. You get three failures generally including quizzes, then you can get kicked out. A good chunk of people failed the first quiz. I'm not sure what's being done to change all of the new stuff to the curriculum, but from our school's Dean's hours, nothing ever got changed when students raised legitimate concerns to administration.

Take what you will from my two cents. I've always done well academically and am trying for a competitive specialty. Thankful to be in med school at all. Normally I keep my head down and just try to avoid administration whenever possible. It would have helped to have some feedback like I am giving you before I made my decision on which school I went to.
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I agree and disagree with the above poster. Assuming that this student is a M3/rising M4, we are the last of our kind at OUHCOM. The class below us has an entirely different curriculum. So this poster is going by what they've heard/observed, not what they have experienced. That being said, I too observed a lot of issues with the "new" curriculum, and general unease at Dean's hours. I can only hope that changes were made, and continue to be made to benefit the current 1st and 2nd year students. IMO, I would ask a student from the Class of 2022 (or newer) about those changes. Take what the Classes of 2021+ say with a grain of salt.

I'm not going to disagree with the poster about his/her experience. My experience has been mixed. I will admit that as of late, especially in regard to clinical education in the wake of COVID, the administration hasn't been handling the situation with grace. But like the other poster, I just "keep my head down" and roll with the punches. The reality is is that students at most other DO and MD schools are going through similar struggles in regard to virtual rotations, away rotation cancellations, virtual interviews, etc. But the lack of clear communication and flexibility from the administration has been the most frustrating thing for me. Although even that seems to be improving slightly, and they recently took our recommendations to heart and implemented some rotation-specific changes.

For those considering OUHCOM, I would say that the pros generally outweigh the cons. In due time, you all will find that it is easy to be in medical school and find something to justifiably complain about--I'm as guilty as anyone of that. Overall, Athens is a wonderful, quirky college town, and I have greatly enjoyed my time there. The relatively small size and isolation is not for everyone, but because of the undergrads, there are plenty of great restaurants, bars, trails, parks, and arts/cultural events. For a DO school, the state-supported institution is a rarity (probably best comparison is MSU), and a major plus, especially in regard to research opportunities (also a rarity for DO students) and involvement outside of the COM itself.

I can't speak to the day-to-day culture in Dublin or Cleveland, but the facilities are brand-new, and I always got the sense that the camaraderie on these campuses was solid.

All in all, I feel as though OUHCOM's pros outweigh the cons, but it's important to have measured expectations. As the above poster mentioned, he/she is considering a competitive specialty. OUHCOM is a state-sponsored institution that heavily emphasizes primary care. I.e. although matching in IR or Derm isn't impossible, it's certainly going to be an uphill battle and even if you do end up being competitive, many doors won't be opened to you as a DO student from the Midwest. On the flip-side, in these uncertain times, I do feel blessed that OUHCOM actually has direct connections with its 3rd and 4th year clinical sites. This is an often overlooked element in the pre-med process, and many newer, private DO schools lack these connections. In the wake of COVID, many DO students (and even some MD students) at other institutions are left scrambling for rotations and having to fend for themselves. Even without COVID, we didn't have to worry about scheduling any of our M3/M4 rotations, and we are always guaranteed rotations at our respective clinical site. (In this respect, our M3/M4 years are no different from the other Ohio community-based med schools, like Wright State or NEOMED).

I've made some of my best friends and memories in medical school, so I could talk ad nauseam about OUHCOM, but I think I'll stop for now.. Feel free to PM me with specific questions, I would be happy to answer to the best of my abilities. For those about to begin and to those hoping to get off of the waitlist--best of luck! It feels like just yesterday I was in all of your shoes! Cheers!
 
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green&white21 said:
I agree and disagree with the above poster. Assuming that this student is a M3/rising M4, we are the last of our kind at OUHCOM. The class below us has an entirely different curriculum. So this poster is going by what they've heard/observed, not what they have experienced. That being said, I too observed a lot of issues with the "new" curriculum, and general unease at Dean's hours. I can only hope that changes were made, and continue to be made to benefit the current 1st and 2nd year students. IMO, I would ask a student from the Class of 2022 (or newer) about those changes. Take what the Classes of 2021+ say with a grain of salt.

I'm not going to disagree with the poster about his/her experience. My experience has been mixed. I will admit that as of late, especially in regard to clinical education in the wake of COVID, the administration hasn't been handling the situation with grace. But like the other poster, I just "keep my head down" and roll with the punches. The reality is is that students at most other DO and MD schools are going through similar struggles in regard to virtual rotations, away rotation cancellations, virtual interviews, etc. But the lack of clear communication and flexibility from the administration has been the most frustrating thing for me. Although even that seems to be improving slightly, and they recently took our recommendations to heart and implemented some rotation-specific changes.

For those considering OUHCOM, I would say that the pros generally outweigh the cons. In due time, you all will find that it is easy to be in medical school and find something to justifiably complain about--I'm as guilty as anyone of that. Overall, Athens is a wonderful, quirky college town, and I have greatly enjoyed my time there. The relatively small size and isolation is not for everyone, but because of the undergrads, there are plenty of great restaurants, bars, trails, parks, and arts/cultural events. For a DO school, the state-supported institution is a rarity (probably best comparison is MSU), and a major plus, especially in regard to research opportunities (also a rarity for DO students) and involvement outside of the COM itself.

I can't speak to the day-to-day culture in Dublin or Cleveland, but the facilities are brand-new, and I always got the sense that the camaraderie on these campuses was solid.

All in all, I feel as though OUHCOM's pros outweigh the cons, but it's important to have measured expectations. As the above poster mentioned, he/she is considering a competitive specialty. OUHCOM is a state-sponsored institution that heavily emphasizes primary care. I.e. although matching in IR or Derm isn't impossible, it's certainly going to be an uphill battle and even if you do end up being competitive, many doors won't be opened to you as a DO student from the Midwest. On the flip-side, in these uncertain times, I do feel blessed that OUHCOM actually has direct connections with its 3rd and 4th year clinical sites. This is an often overlooked element in the pre-med process, and many newer, private DO schools lack these connections. In the wake of COVID, many DO students (and even some MD students) at other institutions are left scrambling for rotations and having to fend for themselves. Even without COVID, we didn't have to worry about scheduling any of our M3/M4 rotations, and we are always guaranteed rotations at our respective clinical site.

I've made some of my best friends and memories in medical school, so I could talk ad nauseam about OUHCOM, but I think I'll stop for now.. Feel free to PM me with specific questions, I would be happy to answer to the best of my abilities. For those about to begin and to those hoping to get off of the waitlist--best of luck! It feels like just yesterday I was in all of your shoes! Cheers!
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Thank you for your insight! Really appreciate you highlighting the pros and cons and most importantly, finding their balance. Hope you have a great senior year :)
 
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Hey everyone,

I am a member of the inaugural class for the new curriculum (rising 3rd year here) and wanted to share my experience. As someone who does not think the new curriculum is the best or worst thing ever, I feel I can offer an objective view.

The new curriculum definitely hit a few bumps - mostly during my class's 2nd semester (the acute course). The big problem was that the prep guides were just way too long and many of the resources we were assigned were too extensive/esoteric for our level. The first half of the acute semester was therefore fairly demoralizing for a lot of students, but the second half was much better as the prep guides became much more manageable (and have continued to be manageable in the chronic and return to wellness semesters). The school also has gotten a subscription to Osmosis for all students and some professors have integrated those videos into their objectives on prep guides.

They've implemented changes to improve things for the class below us. I know the group quizzes (gRATs) were always stressful for us when they took place the day after an exam since it was hard to do well on them - as everyone is going to prioritize studying for the exam of course. They changed it to let us take these post-exam gRATs open note, and I believe for the class below us they do a "rolling gRAT" where they break up the gRAT throughout the week - so I think they answer a few questions relevant to each class in their groups before the start of the class. This makes it a lot less stressful.

Also, I thought one of the previous posters was a little misleading on the 3 failures. I checked our syllabus and yes you get 3 failures for exams before you're in danger of being kicked out (although learning specialists will work with you after your first failure so it's not like the school isn't invested in you). For the quizzes, the cutoff for an individual quiz (iRAT) fail is lowered from a 70 to a 60% since there are fewer questions obviously, and if you fail 3 quizzes you do not get kicked out. You just are advised to meet with a learning specialist. Your average for the group quizzes (gRAT) is always going to be 90%+ so combine that with the individual quizzes and it is pretty much impossible not to meet the 70% overall quiz score requirement to pass the semester. Also, I am sorry but if you can't score above a 60% on the individual quizzes you just didn't study enough IMO considering they usually drop/bonus multiple questions each quiz. Yes there often are some bad questions but most of the quiz questions come straight from the resources and many are social medicine/common sense lol.

Most of the faculty are very good and are committed to our success. In particular, I think our anatomy faculty are amazing and I love our immunology professor. Sure there are a few not so great faculty members, but I'm sure that's going to be the case at all med schools.

The self-directed learning focus of the curriculum is the big negative for most students. I think I understand the basis for this curriculum change since in the traditional lecture style many students just skip class (at all med schools really), so I think the administration wanted to create something that would be more engaging/helpful. Perhaps the problem though is that you're really only going to get anything out of class if you prepared well in advance, in which case you probably will only pick up a couple new things TBH. If you don't prepare well, you're not really going to be able to follow along and will likely pick up nothing. I think this is the part of the curriculum that needs reconsidered, and to be honest yes the administration does seem a bit too defensive about it.

In terms of negatives, I would say I really wish the faculty would create more pre-records/powerpoints for their objectives. I think the curriculum focuses too much on board-irrelevant material - mainly a lot of social medicine stuff. It's good to know about this stuff, especially since many med students come from more privileged backgrounds, but I do feel that it takes up a lot of time that would be better spent on more high-yield material like microbiology. That said, I have no point of comparison since I have only attended this school, and it sounds like this might be the case at all med schools, check out this op-ed from a former curriculum dean at the University of Pennsylvania: Opinion | Med School Needs an Overhaul

I also cringe whenever we role-play in class lol but that does not happen too often (I've noticed it's mainly just these 3 professors who are into it for some reason).

I know there was a lot of frustration that classes are mandatory - especially this past semester since we wanted more time to study for boards. I don't disagree, but I do think it was overblown a bit as our classes were generally 8-12 with the whole afternoon off to study, and only one class on Fridays. I guess just view it as an opportunity to hone your time management skills.

The new curriculum is group-based. I personally like that aspect since it gives you the chance to get to know people you might not have gotten to know otherwise - especially on the Athens campus which might feel a bit cliquish/high schoolish since it's just a lot of people. We only have one class on Fridays which is to spend 2 hours with your small group - I think this is fine for the wellness semester as we adjust to med school but seems kind of pointless in the semesters after that. But depending on what faculty coach you have you are free to spend the time as you wish, so hopefully your group can make the time worthwhile. I would personally just rather have the day completely off to study or have a class dedicated to board prep/more high yield material.

Overall, I am happy with my decision to come here, but I do acknowledge there are the aforementioned problems.

I would be happy to answer any questions anyone has - either on here or message me. Good luck to everyone on the waitlist!
 
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would sending another email w/ some updates of clinical experience I have planned for the summer be ok ?(my initial email post-interview in april never got a response)
or do you think it'll just be annoying to admissions or too late at this point
 
gamecockfuturedoc said:
would sending another email w/ some updates of clinical experience I have planned for the summer be ok ?(my initial email post-interview in april never got a response)
or do you think it'll just be annoying to admissions or too late at this point
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I sent one in after my interview and one about a week ago. For both of my emails they emailed me back saying thank you for the update. I don't think it would hurt but I would check and make sure they got your initial email! I think they try and always let you know they received it!
 
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I noticed on the ouhcom website there was a pretty big list of required textbooks and materials, so I was wondering if all of these are actually required and if so do we need all of the textbooks during the first year? Thanks!
 
On their website they give computer requirements and recommend getting a new one for medical school. Do most students do this? I have a 2015 Macbook Pro and I am on the fence on whether or not I need a new computer.
 
Kingman123 said:
I noticed on the ouhcom website there was a pretty big list of required textbooks and materials, so I was wondering if all of these are actually required and if so do we need all of the textbooks during the first year? Thanks!
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i would not buy any books. (and definitely not necessary before coming to campus and feeling it out)
 
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skbuckeye said:
what do you think that means? are they just not making any changes?
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I have seen the number of people go up in the facebook groups the past couple of days by a couple of people but I am not sure that means anything because you never know if it was another administrator join, or a student who was accepted a week ago, or who may have dropped from the group, so that is really hard to try to check how many spots are left. So don't let checking the facebook group make you go crazy! just hope for some more movement this week!
 
Is there anyone out there that was first accepted to a campus that wasn't your 1st choice, but eventually accepted at your top choice campus off the waitlist? My current situation is accepted at Athens, but still on waitlist for Dublin. Athens is wonderful and I would love to be there, however Dublin would be easier for moving, location, my family, etc so I am still waiting & hopeful. Hopefully there will be some moving around this week! Good luck everyone! :)
 
Getting kind of worried, emailed both the dean and jill harman and did not receive a response. Anyone heard anything back?
 
Anyone heard anything? Has anyone called for updates?
 
Ayooya said:
Getting kind of worried, emailed both the dean and jill harman and did not receive a response. Anyone heard anything back?
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i emailed jill right after my interview (4/7) and never heard back, i emailed the dean last week and only received an automated response
 
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