PNWU-COM Discussion Thread 2010-2011

[mechanictodr]

If I don't hear back with good news from Western I'll be in Yakima by August. Figures, Ha!

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[AKBlueberry]

Accepted last month and sent in my $1k deposit today. Agonizing decision between KCOM and PNWU. Will I be seeing any of you there next year.

Have you made your decision yet? I am interviewing at both of these school in February, they are my top two. I'm just curious why you chose one over the other!

 

[powersr8810]

Deposit submitted!

I created a facebook group for the class of 2015 for those that care to join.

 

[Txlinguist]

Has anybody heard of interview cancellations lately? I'm looking to move mine up ASAP.

 

[Guek]

Has anybody heard of interview cancellations lately? I'm looking to move mine up ASAP.

you could always call them just to see if there are any spots that have opened. that's what I did and I got bumped up from february to january

is anyone else interviewing next week?

also, is there a comprehensive list of questions somewhere out there or should I just go by what people have posted on the interview feedback page?

 

[berryericberry]

I am also interviewing here in February and was wondering if I could find the list of questions. Found some in the interview feedback but doesn't seem to have them all. Also, does anyone know how much of the class would theoretically be full at this time? Seems like once February rolls around the chances of getting waitlisted are pretty high...

 

[trixiecat]

They are not fully accredited yet and must have a more formal/non-conversational interview to meet standards and appear unbiased until they graduate a class and receive full accreditation. People who are complaining about this obviously don't know much about the school. Don't let the interview put you off. It's a great school. Judge the whole interview day, not just that part. Students are happy, well taken care of, super prepared, and the only negative is that they aren't well known yet.

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

They are not fully accredited yet and must have a more formal/non-conversational interview to meet standards and appear unbiased until they graduate a class and receive full accreditation. People who are complaining about this obviously don't know much about the school. Don't let the interview put you off. It's a great school. Judge the whole interview day, not just that part. Students are happy, well taken care of, super prepared, and the only negative is that they aren't well known yet.

This is very interesting to know, and I think it also helps to explain the interview situation at Western-Lebanon as well. Thanks for the explanation!

People who are complaining about this obviously don't know much about the school.

But I think this accusation goes a little bit too far I don't expect any pre-med to concern himself or herself with nitty-gritty details of the osteopathic medical school accreditation process and its implications on interview format. Give us a break!

 

[kuanileqa]

They are not fully accredited yet and must have a more formal/non-conversational interview to meet standards and appear unbiased until they graduate a class and receive full accreditation. People who are complaining about this obviously don't know much about the school. Don't let the interview put you off. It's a great school. Judge the whole interview day, not just that part. Students are happy, well taken care of, super prepared, and the only negative is that they aren't well known yet.

I interviewed at 3 other pending accreditation osteopathic schools and none of them had this standard and "unbiased" interview. Unless Washington has some type of law or regulation stating that schools pending accreditation must administer a standardized interview, then PNWU decided to do it on their own accord.

 

[reezer4]

I just cancelled my interview with PNWU- I hope somebody awesome gets it!

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Just today PNWU posted a job announcement on craigslist.

Since the link will eventually stop working, I'll quote the key sentence of the description here:

PNWU is seeking a PT Regional Coordinator for the College of Osteopathic Medicine in the Portland, Oregon area. This position is responsible for coordinating the Osteopathic Medical Students’ third and fourth year clinical training.

This is good news for any students/prospective students who (like me) would like to be doing their clinical years in the Portland area!

 

[mechanictodr]

Just today PNWU posted a job announcement on craigslist.

Since the link will eventually stop working, I'll quote the key sentence of the description here:



This is good news for any students/prospective students who (like me) would like to be doing their clinical years in the Portland area!

Hope you have good ties to the area. There are a lot of people from Oregon and this is the only site in the state with only 5 or 6 seats...

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Hope you have good ties to the area. There are a lot of people from Oregon and this is the only site in the state with only 5 or 6 seats...

Well, the point of my post is that if they're hiring a regional coordinator it could be a sign that they're considering increasing the number of seats.

A part-time employee doesn't seem warranted for just 5 seats.

 

[Roberie]

Well, the point of my post is that if they're hiring a regional coordinator it could be a sign that they're considering increasing the number of seats.

A part-time employee doesn't seem warranted for just 5 seats.

Or, perhaps that is exactly why it is a part-time position.

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Or, perhaps that is exactly why it is a part-time position.

Meh...

Five people doing ~6 week clerkships... so about five pieces of paperwork every six weeks?

Still doesn't sound like it would be worth having someone on site if you ask me!


...

But hey - it was just a piece of news that I thought might bring some cheer to people. If y'all don't care I won't bother you with such idle gossip

 

[Limvostov]

Meh...

Five people doing ~6 week clerkships... so about five pieces of paperwork every six weeks?

Still doesn't sound like it would be worth having someone on site if you ask me!


...

But hey - it was just a piece of news that I thought might bring some cheer to people. If y'all don't care I won't bother you with such idle gossip

Don't get too discouraged, updates are always welcome. Oregon has been a very touchy issue since the school started so even those of us with multiple solid reasons to rotate there are now looking into plan B and C. I think it's positive to see that Oregon is still on the map for PNWU. The fact that there is a position up solely for it's rotations seems to show more efforts are going towards making Oregon a bigger portion of the clinical year seats or at least organize and solidify what has already been established.

Just remember to keep an open mind about where you end up for clinical rotations. There are a lot of factors that go into where you will eventually reside.

 

[Roberie]

Meh...


But hey - it was just a piece of news that I thought might bring some cheer to people. If y'all don't care I won't bother you with such idle gossip

Yeah, I don't mean to be discouraging. Like Limvostov said, the Oregon rotations seem to be a touchy subject.

For me, I'm paranoid that I'll get bumped from my first choice of the Tacoma/Puyallup area (close to Joint Base Lewis-McChord), due to all the Portland folks who want my location as their second choice.

 

[Guek]

i'm gonna ask again...is there a complete list of the questions somewhere? people keep talking about them being standardized but i don't know what that means

 

[Txlinguist]

Anybody interviewing 2/4?

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

i'm gonna ask again...is there a complete list of the questions somewhere? people keep talking about them being standardized but i don't know what that means

It means that the specific questions you get asked will be the same as everyone else's.

Personal information won't appear in the questions you get asked. You won't get asked "Can you tell me why you got a C in Organic Chemistry?" Because that won't apply to everyone.

But it doesn't mean that you won't get asked for personal information. You could get asked "Can you tell me about a time when you didn't meet your expectations?"

It also means that they're not very likely to ask follow-up questions to anything you say, unless they are also very standardized. So they might be able to follow up the last question with "And can you tell me what you'll do to be successful in the future?" But they (theoretically) wouldn't ask you a detailed, specific question about the answer you gave.

There's a School Feedback section of SDN that shows previous questions from interviews. Poke around; you'll find PNWU. Take everything with a grain of salt--your questions might not be the same. In any case, hopefully you just intuitively know the answers to a lot of these questions... like, "Why do you want to be a doctor?"

 

[EagleMan1]

I just got an interview date and by doing a quick google search, I found this forum!

I interview on the 21st of January. I hope to see some of you there!

I do have a question though. Does it improve your chances of acceptance if you interview sooner rather than later? If anyone knows the answer, it'd be greatly appreciated!

I just got an interview on the 21st also see ya there, I will be the guy in a navy suit and white shirt. You cant miss me. Lol

 

[masscrash]

Hey everyone. I was just wondering how the new Caddwell building is. What did they put in it? Anyways, look forward to meeting some of you next year.

 

[Roberie]

Hey everyone. I was just wondering how the new Caddwell building is. What did they put in it? Anyways, look forward to meeting some of you next year.

Looks nice from the outside. There were some construction delays, so now the new timeline for moving in there is apparently the first week of February. I'm definitely looking forward to having more space.

 

[masscrash]

Thanks Roberie, keep us posted on it.

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Can anyone give me a recommendation for where to stay for my interview?

Here are some pretty obvious considerations:

• We'd like to stay close to the school
• We'd like a hotel that's not too ghetto
• We don't want to pay too much

Thanks in advance!

 

[sylvanthus]

I stayed at the Red Lion when I interviewed. They gave a discount and are within a couple miles of the school.

 

[Roberie]

I stayed at the Red Lion when I interviewed. They gave a discount and are within a couple miles of the school.

I also stayed at the Red Lion. Thought the price was still kind of steep. Funny thing was that a convention was being held at the same time and the hotel put a pretty nice gift basket in my room with wine and other gourmet goodies. I thought, "wow, Red Lion is pretty swanky", as I swigged down the free wine, only to find a card in the basket welcoming some guy named Duke Johnson...If you're out there, thanks for your wine, Duke!


I think a lot of people stay at the Oxford Inn, which is slightly closer to school. Sounded like their rates might be lower. I don't know.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

I also stayed at the Red Lion. Thought the price was still kind of steep. Funny thing was that a convention was being held at the same time and the hotel put a pretty nice gift basket in my room with wine and other gourmet goodies. I thought, "wow, Red Lion is pretty swanky", as I swigged down the free wine, only to find a card in the basket welcoming some guy named Duke Johnson...If you're out there, thanks for your wine, Duke!


I think a lot of people stay at the Oxford Inn, which is slightly closer to school. Sounded like their rates might be lower. I don't know.

I stayed at the Oxford and if you are at all sensitive to second hand smoke I would advise against staying here. There is half of a hallway that is designated as "smoking" rooms (yay! I got to relive the '80s!) on either the second loor. Originally I had a room next to them, so I got a room change only to find out it smelled nearly as bad 2 floors above them as the second hand smoke gets in the heating/air conditioning.

Ironically, these smoking rooms were filled with the contractors doing construction on the new building at PNWU.

 

[Limvostov]

I stayed at oxford and the best western Ahtanum. Either were decent enough for a night of sleep, but I'm glad I didn't need to stay in them longer.

 

[poopyhead]

For those that are OOS or who haven't received their secondary yet and want to get the questions out of the way...(rough translation)

1. Why Osteopathic Medicine
2. Who inspired you to pursue Osteopathic Medicine
3. Why PNWU

Can anyone post the exact secondary questions? Also, are there any character, word, or page limits or other restrictions, such as font size?

thanks ^^

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Can anyone post the exact secondary questions?

MLT2MT2DO's paraphrasing was quite good. The questions are barely any different, but here they are as requested:

...upload a one-page essay addressing the following questions:

• What personal qualities do you possess that will make you a successful osteopathic physician?
• Which experiences and people have inspired you to become an osteopathic physician?
• What inspired you to apply specifically to PNWU?

There you go!

Also, are there any character, word, or page limits or other restrictions, such as font size?

The directions say to write a one page essay. However many characters or words that is doesn't seem to matter. I would suggest that you use a normal font size... They want one standard page, so give them one standard page--this isn't the place for trickery

 

[Guek]

interviewed this last friday...thought i did well but we'll see

man, the wait till wednesday is TORTURE

 

[Zcrocodile]

me too and i feel the same

interviewed this last friday...thought i did well but we'll see

man, the wait till wednesday is TORTURE

 

[masscrash]

So Guek, did you need the whole list of 20 odd question? I'm glad you hear you think it went well. Good luck to both you and zcrocodile. I hope you get some good news.

 

[Guek]

So Guek, did you need the whole list of 20 odd question? I'm glad you hear you think it went well. Good luck to both you and zcrocodile. I hope you get some good news.

no i didn't, which was odd since i thought every applicant got the same string of questions no matter what. it was more like 15 or so questions

 

[Zcrocodile]

yea i got only about 15 also

no i didn't, which was odd since i thought every applicant got the same string of questions no matter what. it was more like 15 or so questions

 

[Guek]

so i'm remembering correctly when they said they'd call us on wednesday, not tuesday, right?

 

[heaterfeater]

3 things:

1. What I was told when I asked about the questions being the same each year is that it's easier to conduct research on the interview process when all the questions are standaridized.. nothing about the accredidation, just something helpful for a new school to be able to track.

2. Just b/c Portland has a regional coordinator doesn't mean expansion or anything, they already have students there to work with. Big sites, little sites, all rotations sites will or do have an on-site coordinator no matter how many students are there, portland just took longer to get someone.

3. The Cadwell building has a small classroom, a large classroom (for 100), a quiet study area, more small group study rooms, student activities room, and a student lounge.

 

[Guek]

so calls should be going out today, correct?

 

[Guek]

so i emailed hope and apparently they're in a meeting right now and will be calling people either later today or early tomorrow

 

[berryericberry]

1. What I was told when I asked about the questions being the same each year is that it's easier to conduct research on the interview process when all the questions are standaridized.. nothing about the accredidation, just something helpful for a new school to be able to track.


So does this mean the questions this year are the same as in previous years, or just that the questions for each person are the same this year? Just wondering cause most of the student doc interview feedback page information refers to previous years..

 

[Zcrocodile]

I got a call earlier today Im accepted yipee

 

[masscrash]

I got a call earlier today Im accepted yipee

Congratulations Zcrocodile! Let us know if you accept.

 

[thomdoc]

Accepted earlier today also!

 

[masscrash]

Accepted earlier today also!

Congrats to you as well. And where are you hailing from? What undergrad did you go to?

 

[Zcrocodile]

i am accepting

 

[Zcrocodile]

Im from Texas, born in Seattle though did my undergrad at University of Texas in San Antonio, and University of Texas Health Science Center SA, I cant sleep now lol

 

[thomdoc]

Congrats to you as well. And where are you hailing from? What undergrad did you go to?

I am from Seattle, got English and Communications degrees from UW, then did a pre-health post-bac at Seattle U.

 

[masscrash]

All that hard work and the long journey paid off and now it's only the beginning. I look forward to meeting you guys.

 

[Jnye33]

Letters in the mail today--choosing PNWU over Western (Lebanon). Better fit all around!