2020-2021 A.T. Still University (Mesa, Arizona) ATSU-SOMA

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kobebean2408 said:
Current Students: Does ATSU SOMA require a drug test prior to matriculation? I only see something about a background check, want to make sure I am not missing anything
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I did not have a drug screen. Only Immunizations, TB, and CPR were required.
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chemistry hahgdgjjhdf said:
That’s why I’m questioning it. There is no way everyone can be in the top 20
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The top 20% is not that useful without knowing how many are even on the WL in the first place. For several months now, it seems like ATSU has just been interviewing applicants for a spot on the WL...so I wouldn't be surprised if there are several hundred students on it already :/
 
cali-native86 said:
The top 20% is not that useful without knowing how many are even on the WL in the first place. For several months now, it seems like ATSU has just been interviewing applicants for a spot on the WL...so I wouldn't be surprised if there are several hundred students on it already :/
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I agree. I just want to know where I’m at on the conditional acceptance list and what top 20 means for that list. It’s pretty vague but I am just going to be patient and everything will work out how it is supposed to.
 
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No point in trying to figure out where and how many students are on the list or your “out of 9 ranking” because we don’t even know how many are on the list. At this point, majority of movement will happen by may 1st and May 15th (accepted students having to commit to one school respectively for MD and then DO). Fingers crossed for all of us til then
 
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chemistry hahgdgjjhdf said:
I think it’s interesting they have a conditional acceptance list and a waitlist
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I think it is more of an accepted list and waitlist. From my discussions via email, that's at least how I understand it. They have made a long line of accepted, more than seats, then delegate waitlisters to the waitlist by interview ranking. I am sure the accepted are ranked as well so that is why some wait longer than others to get CHC list/acceptances. As the accepted move around or drop out, they funnel more accepted. That was what I got from Desiree at least. All in all, I really don't think about it. I'm waitlisted, so I wait and TRY not to think about it. I would imagine that the waitlist only gets pulled from after the last interviews get filtered. With the 2 week response window after final interviews 04/30, that puts the waitlist mid May. Sit back and drink an ice tea my friend. We are limboing for a minute.
 
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ppmnt_h20 said:
I think it is more of an accepted list and waitlist. From my discussions via email, that's at least how I understand it. They have made a long line of accepted, more than seats, then delegate waitlisters to the waitlist by interview ranking. I am sure the accepted are ranked as well so that is why some wait longer than others to get CHC list/acceptances. As the accepted move around or drop out, they funnel more accepted. That was what I got from Desiree at least. All in all, I really don't think about it. I'm waitlisted, so I wait and TRY not to think about it. I would imagine that the waitlist only gets pulled from after the last interviews get filtered. With the 2 week response window after final interviews 04/30, that puts the waitlist mid May. Sit back and drink an ice tea my friend. We are limboing for a minute.
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Hate ice tea lol 😂😂I’ll drink a Dr. Pepper. yeah Im not worrying too much about it. Got my acceptance pending seat call not too long ago so I am not expecting anything until deadlines start passing. Interested to see how many people drop.
 
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chemistry hahgdgjjhdf said:
Hate ice tea lol 😂😂I’ll drink a Dr. Pepper. yeah Im not worrying too much about it. Got my acceptance pending seat call not too long ago so I am not expecting anything until deadlines start passing. Interested to see how many people drop.
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Just to clarify, the accepted pending list does not allow for admission next year (as in deferred admission) if seats don't open up this year, correct?
 
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I have an interview tomorrow, and am confused about the timing. On one email it said that the interview is a 9:00am MST, and on another it said 9:00am PST... Does anyone know which it is?
 
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pat108 said:
I have an interview tomorrow, and am confused about the timing. On one email it said that the interview is a 9:00am MST, and on another it said 9:00am PST... Does anyone know which it is?
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Good luck. Relax. :)
 
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I asked a current Adcom member about this recently and was told otherwise :/ can current students weigh in on this? Full on PBL sounds rough - a lot more self studying likely.
 
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To prospective students and class of 2025:

After speaking to fellow classmates, faculty, and administration - I felt like it was my duty to inform everyone that there are massive changes to come in the following months. SOMA is now slowly transitioning to a full PBL curriculum. This decision is being headed by Dr. Mark Coty (the same mastermind behind LECOM's PBL curriculum). The class of 2024 has been fighting this unpopular transition since the start. It is frustrating that the administration continues to ignore our concerns about the ineffectiveness of our current hybrid PBL/traditional curriculum among other things.

Every week, we are expected to dedicate 4 hours of our limited time towards clinical topics that we've never covered before. The faculty are told to sit in silence and watch us run around like headless chickens. Despite these sessions being centered around CLINICAL topics, half the time we're stuck with basic science professors who know absolutely nothing besides what's written on their handouts. Several faculty have left because of this (although they won't say it explicitly) and there are rumors that ohers are searching for teaching positions elsewhere.

There are also talks of expanding the class size from 160 to 200 soon. There also changes being made to our dedicated study time. It has been completely replaced by "Kaplan boards courses." We're expected to complete this course alongside our didactics right up until our boards exam date. This change was also made by none other than Dr. Coty.

I wanted to inform everyone here because you should have the right to know before paying roughly $60k/year in tuition costs alone.

We're tired of being the guinea pig class of this school and I hope the administration reads this and sees how massively unpopular these changes are.
 
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paradoxic_toxic said:
To prospective students and class of 2025:

After speaking to fellow classmates, faculty, and administration - I felt like it was my duty to inform everyone that there are massive changes to come in the following months. SOMA is now slowly transitioning to a full PBL curriculum. This decision is being headed by Dr. Mark Coty (the same mastermind behind LECOM's PBL curriculum). The class of 2024 has been fighting this unpopular transition since the start. It is frustrating that the administration continues to ignore our concerns about the ineffectiveness of our current hybrid PBL/traditional curriculum among other things.

We are expected to dedicate 4 hours of self-study per week on clinical topics that we've never covered before. The faculty are told to sit in silence and watch us run around like headless chickens. Despite these sessions being centered around CLINICAL topics, half the time we're stuck with basic science professors who know absolutely nothing besides what's written on their handouts. Several faculty have left because of this (although they won't say it explicitly) and there are rumors that ohers are searching for teaching positions elsewhere. Imagine doing this full-time this upcoming year..

There are also talks of expanding the class size from 160 to 200 soon. There also changes being made to our dedicated study time. It has been completely replaced by "Kaplan boards courses." We're expected to complete this course alongside our didactics right up until our boards exam date. This change was also made by none other than Dr. Coty.

I wanted to inform everyone here because you should have the right to know before paying roughly $60k/year in tuition costs alone.

We're tired of being the guinea pig class of this school and I hope the administration reads this and sees how massively unpopular these changes are. This school should just be called LECOM-SOMA at this point.
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Are you a first year student? From your experience w/ the hybrid model, what are the pros and cons of PBL? I would assume it's more engaging but requires more initiation and self study? Would this also apply to year 2 didactic after we move to our CHC? As if the CHC model wasn't already questionable enough, it seems like for 60k tuition and a massively unpopular PBL approach to learning, maybe it might be best to start making plans on applying next cycle to schools with a more traditional format
 
cali-native86 said:
Are you a first year student? From your experience w/ the hybrid model, what are the pros and cons of PBL? I would assume it's more engaging but requires more initiation and self study? Would this also apply to year 2 didactic after we move to our CHC? As if the CHC model wasn't already questionable enough, it seems like for 60k tuition and a massively unpopular PBL approach to learning, maybe it might be best to start making plans on applying next cycle to schools with a more traditional format
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Yeah I am a first year. There are very little pros I can think of. I can't even say its engaging because the professors are discouraged from speaking. We (the students) just sit in silence and google the answers to the questions that they present to us. I guess if you like group work then PBL is for you?

Cons
  • It's a massive time sink that's only going to get worse
  • It's inconsistent - each professor has a different teaching style and knowledge base, so each group walks away knowing different things.
  • It's unfair- by random chance, you'll be with a professor who's knowledgeable on the clinical case and is willing to ignore the rules and teach their students directly. We're heavily tested on this material and naturally some groups will have an advantage.
It seems like year 2 will stick to a traditional curriculum, but I could be wrong.
 
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Current first year here. DM me if you're interested in hearing about PBL/ our nightmare administration. If you're okay being treated like a child and don't mind having no say in your education, you'll do fine here.
 
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paradoxic_toxic said:
To prospective students and class of 2025:

After speaking to fellow classmates, faculty, and administration - I felt like it was my duty to inform everyone that there are massive changes to come in the following months. SOMA is now slowly transitioning to a full PBL curriculum. This decision is being headed by Dr. Mark Coty (the same mastermind behind LECOM's PBL curriculum). The class of 2024 has been fighting this unpopular transition since the start. It is frustrating that the administration continues to ignore our concerns about the ineffectiveness of our current hybrid PBL/traditional curriculum among other things.

Every week, we are expected to dedicate 4 hours of our limited time towards clinical topics that we've never covered before. The faculty are told to sit in silence and watch us run around like headless chickens. Despite these sessions being centered around CLINICAL topics, half the time we're stuck with basic science professors who know absolutely nothing besides what's written on their handouts. Several faculty have left because of this (although they won't say it explicitly) and there are rumors that ohers are searching for teaching positions elsewhere.

There are also talks of expanding the class size from 160 to 200 soon. There also changes being made to our dedicated study time. It has been completely replaced by "Kaplan boards courses." We're expected to complete this course alongside our didactics right up until our boards exam date. This change was also made by none other than Dr. Coty.

I wanted to inform everyone here because you should have the right to know before paying roughly $60k/year in tuition costs alone.

We're tired of being the guinea pig class of this school and I hope the administration reads this and sees how massively unpopular these changes are.
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Wow so many changes. Will the class at least have access to previous lecture? Also, will there be a grading scale change due to the curriculum change?
 
Received an interview invite just now, was on hold since july, will be withdrawing. Good luck to everyone!
 
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I was sent an email with this in the first paragraph, "The Admissions Committee of the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona wishes to thank you for interviewing and to inform you that you are still being considered for the class of 2025." Is this their way of saying I'm on their waitlist?
 
monstercat129 said:
I was sent an email with this in the first paragraph, "The Admissions Committee of the School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona wishes to thank you for interviewing and to inform you that you are still being considered for the class of 2025." Is this their way of saying I'm on their waitlist?
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Yes, I think that means you were placed on the WL, but you may want to confirm with admissions. You may also want to send in an update letter or something next month to let them know you are still interested. I think advocating for yourself goes a long ways. Do you mind sharing when you interviewed?
 
cali-native86 said:
Yes, I think that means you were placed on the WL, but you may want to confirm with admissions. You may also want to send in an update letter or something next month to let them know you are still interested. I think advocating for yourself goes a long ways. Do you mind sharing when you interviewed?
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March 8th. Thank you for the advice. I won't be sending an update letter to MSUCOM but will send it to some other schools
 
Has anyone from the early April interview date heard anything back yet? I'm getting super anxious!! I interviewed on the 9th
 
Anyone else accepted pending a seat back in February still waiting for the full acceptance call?
 
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paradoxic_toxic said:
To prospective students and class of 2025:

After speaking to fellow classmates, faculty, and administration - I felt like it was my duty to inform everyone that there are massive changes to come in the following months. SOMA is now slowly transitioning to a full PBL curriculum. This decision is being headed by Dr. Mark Coty (the same mastermind behind LECOM's PBL curriculum). The class of 2024 has been fighting this unpopular transition since the start. It is frustrating that the administration continues to ignore our concerns about the ineffectiveness of our current hybrid PBL/traditional curriculum among other things.

Every week, we are expected to dedicate 4 hours of our limited time towards clinical topics that we've never covered before. The faculty are told to sit in silence and watch us run around like headless chickens. Despite these sessions being centered around CLINICAL topics, half the time we're stuck with basic science professors who know absolutely nothing besides what's written on their handouts. Several faculty have left because of this (although they won't say it explicitly) and there are rumors that ohers are searching for teaching positions elsewhere.

There are also talks of expanding the class size from 160 to 200 soon. There also changes being made to our dedicated study time. It has been completely replaced by "Kaplan boards courses." We're expected to complete this course alongside our didactics right up until our boards exam date. This change was also made by none other than Dr. Coty.

I wanted to inform everyone here because you should have the right to know before paying roughly $60k/year in tuition costs alone.

We're tired of being the guinea pig class of this school and I hope the administration reads this and sees how massively unpopular these changes are.
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You have no idea how much your words mean to me. I'm sorry you're going through this, but thank you for sparing myself and others the possible treatment.

I even asked questions regarding this and the student ambassadors were giving answers that made me think this style is preferred by all, and there are to be no changes, and that the admin listens to student concerns.

I can now see that sentiment is not universal.
 
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Just received an interview invite! Will withdraw my app, hopefully this helps someone still waiting!
 
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pretty1doc said:
Hi all! I am choosing between VCOM-Louisiana and this school pending the accepted student list. Would a current student like to comment on how they like this school? Im leaning towards ATSU because it is more established and has good board scores.
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board score is highly dependent on you as a student, but if the majority of the students are failing, it could speak to the infrastructure in place.
at the end of the day, it's mostly on you. Just look at the overall board pass rate and as long as both of them are above 90%, u should be ok.

look into other factors when choosing a school. is it cheaper to go to school in VCOM-lousiana or ATSU SOMA when you account for tuition, rent, food, insurance, maybe a car, etc? what about lifestyle? the area/weather, there is a big difference between louisana and arizona.
 
pretty1doc said:
Hi all! I am choosing between VCOM-Louisiana and this school pending the accepted student list. Would a current student like to comment on how they like this school? Im leaning towards ATSU because it is more established and has good board scores.
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Also take into account it is highly likely ATSU-SOMA is going full PBL for c/o 2025 and imo their small group sessions were mediocre. I enjoyed having those sessions about once a week on top of lectures like we had at the beginning but then they added a second session. for the c/o 2025 I have heard it will be three PBL sessions a week (maybe no lectures). It could be good if you want to ignore class material and just do board self-studying.
 
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builderstorch said:
Also take into account it is highly likely ATSU-SOMA is going full PBL for c/o 2025 and imo their small group sessions were mediocre. I enjoyed having those sessions about once a week on top of lectures like we had at the beginning but then they added a second session. for the c/o 2025 I have heard it will be three PBL sessions a week (maybe no lectures). It could be good if you want to ignore class material and just do board self-studying.
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wait so what does this "full PBL" curriculum mean? what will be the main form of learning? like are they gonna assign pages to read from a textbook and be like read up on this and prepare for small groups?
 
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futuredocz95 said:
wait so what does this "full PBL" curriculum mean? what will be the main form of learning? like are they gonna assign pages to read from a textbook and be like read up on this and prepare for small groups?
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The curriculum change is still in the works. I'm not sure if they will make major changes to the small group sessions we already have. to my knowledge them going PBL was just increasing the amount of those sessions (and possibly getting rid of lectures). I do not know if they plan to assign lectures/readings before the sessions. Currently, our small group sessions are supposed to be what we are learning in lectures that week but many times it has been unrelated or information we haven't learned yet in the organ system. One example is, we were in renal and then had a small group session on a GI case. Facilitators are not supposed to talk too much during small groups but that depends on who you get as some say screw it and teach anyway.
 
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Given this might be the first year accepted pending students are not admitted due to lack of sufficient WL movement, would they at least have a "leg-up" over other applicants should a reapplication be necessary? And if so, would it be necessary to rewrite a new personal statement, AACOMAS activities section, and secondary, etc? I rather not have to deal with re-inventing my application especially if I was "accepted" this cycle.

And does anyone know what the MCAT requirement will be for this upcoming cycle at least for ATSU- SOMA? I know this past cycle it was "optional but preferred", so was wondering if if that is still the case.
 
Has admissions given anyone a clue about possible movement recently?
 
builderstorch said:
Also take into account it is highly likely ATSU-SOMA is going full PBL for c/o 2025 and imo their small group sessions were mediocre. I enjoyed having those sessions about once a week on top of lectures like we had at the beginning but then they added a second session. for the c/o 2025 I have heard it will be three PBL sessions a week (maybe no lectures). It could be good if you want to ignore class material and just do board self-studying.
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Would a full PBL program have turned you off from attending ATSU-SOMA? I’m trying to decide if this should be a determining factor on whether or not I choose this school. We had small group/large group sessions in the honors college i was a part of in college. Also would PBL be only for the first year?
 
puddinhd said:
Has admissions given anyone a clue about possible movement recently?
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I was told by SOMA admissions that there's been virtually zero WL/alternate movement to date, and nearly zero "accepting pending" movement as well. Furthermore, admissions also told me that in years past they have had significant accepted pending movement by mid April, so much so that everyone offered accepted pending status in years past were previously admitted by June...so this cycle unfortunately appears to be unfolding differently and much slower. I called admissions at another DO school I waitlisted at and was told the same thing.
 
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puddinhd said:
Has admissions given anyone a clue about possible movement recently?
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I received an email today saying they're planning for more movement after this weekend because there is a major AACOMAS deadline.
 
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pretty1doc said:
Would a full PBL program have turned you off from attending ATSU-SOMA? I’m trying to decide if this should be a determining factor on whether or not I choose this school. We had small group/large group sessions in the honors college i was a part of in college. Also would PBL be only for the first year?
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Many of the curriculum questions will have to be directed to the admin at ATSU-SOMA simply because I do not know. If I were to guess PBL would only be for the first year. Second-year for my CHC is clinic once a week and Med Skills/OPP once a week on top of lectures.

That's a great question. honestly, if I was accepted, led to believe the curriculum was not changing after paying my deposits and such, and then heard from students (not the admin) that they plan on changing everything to PBL and that they disliked the sort of PBL sessions they currently already have. It would have turned me off from the school.

I heard this change was supposed to happen to my class but was delayed to COVID.

Deciding between a new school and ATSU-SOMA. I would pick SOMA still. It's just really weird that they want to overhaul their curriculum and be ambiguous about it.
 
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builderstorch said:
Many of the curriculum questions will have to be directed to the admin at ATSU-SOMA simply because I do not know. If I were to guess PBL would only be for the first year. Second-year for my CHC is clinic once a week and Med Skills/OPP once a week on top of lectures.

That's a great question. honestly, if I was accepted, led to believe the curriculum was not changing after paying my deposits and such, and then heard from students (not the admin) that they plan on changing everything to PBL and that they disliked the sort of PBL sessions they currently already have. I very well may have declined and reapplied.

I heard this change was supposed to happen to my class but was delayed to COVID.

Deciding between a new school and ATSU-SOMA. I would pick SOMA still. It's just really weird that they want to overhaul their curriculum and be ambiguous about it.
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I think you have to realize that if you've been offered a full admission already and have already paid your deposit (essentially accepting your admission), then rescinding your admission at this point only to reapply to other med schools next year(s) will not only set you back at least 1 year, but you may also get blacklisted broadly by med schools. I think there's risk both ways. Now if you haven't yet been offered a full admission and instead have only been issued a conditional acceptance (ie pending seat "admission") or WL/alternate, then you can certainly still pull your app with minimal to no impact on future cycles.
 
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cali-native86 said:
I think you have to realize that if you've been offered a full admission already and have already paid your deposit (essentially accepting your admisison), then rescinding your admission at this point only to reapply to other med schools the next year(s) will not only set you back at least 1 year, you may get blacklisted broadly by med schools. I think there's risk both ways. Now if you haven't yet been offered a full admission and instead have only been issued a conditional acceptance (ie pending seat "admission") or WL/alternate, then you can certainly still pull your app with minimal to no impact on future cycles.
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Yeah good point I do not think it is a good idea to decline an acceptance even in this case but I understand the frustration of the incoming class.
 
Does anyone know how strict they are on the requirement for a LOR having shadowed for 20 hours? I shadowed this DO for significantly less (4) but got to know them decently and am getting a LOR from them
 
ppmnt_h20 said:
It seems to be Aacomas "Traffic Guidelines," but that seems to be on May 15. There may be some internal deadlines unpublished. See here: AACOMAS Traffic Guidelines
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Don't quote me, but I believe May 1 is AAMC "Traffic Guidlines" deadline and May 15 is AACOMAS. Also from following this thread, students have noted there is another deposit due May 1 for ATSU SOMA students.
 
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