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Ahh. Okay.
William Carey University (WCU-COM) Discussion Thread 2016-2107
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I interviewed there on Monday and Dr. Weir said that they still have spots available
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Just got the call!!! I'm in!!
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How do you know only 3 were offered admission? People do say no if they see something they don't like. They have been interviewing more people with lower scores and GPA than what they normally do. Most likely "that lets see what they got" approach and most likely still noped them to push them towards the masters program.
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hey when do classes start again for the fall semester? I just got the acceptance call from Dr. Turner today.. thanks in advance!
so i have a couple of questions to the carey upper classmen?
why is carey still accepting students this late in the process? is it because they are having difficulty filling their class? Or is it just that the usual timeline does not apply because of the January tornado threw the admissions process out of whack?
I guess i am just not grateful that i got accepted and continue to expect the application process to be painful and enjoy being accepted. With that being, could the upperclassmen or even the folks who got accepted a lot earlier in the process tell me how things go after being accepted. Sure we got forms from both the COM and the financial office. I would really appreciate info on the timeline.
Finally, what time is the white coat ceremony going to be on July 29th?
thanks in advance for all your help, people!!!
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I've heard William Carey is slow in their admission process and accepts students up until orientation, especially off the waitlist, due to others turning down their acceptance or something else. However, I'm sure the natural disaster affected their ability to do simple things, like send emails out to prospective students lmao. Whether it is difficult filling up the class this time around? I don't know the answer to that question. I hear the quality of students being accepted is much higher than years before. But I also hear from WorldChanger that the kids being interviewed have lower stats. So I don't know the truth. I wouldn't worry about it though; you got into medical school. Why does it matter?
I think it's unreasonable to be "not grateful" hahaha if they accepted you, that means they truly want you there. It does not mean "I guess we'll take this kid because we need to fill spots." At the end of the day, it's a medical school and they deny students early in the process as much as later in the process, I'm sure of that. Also if you are getting interviews now, you have the same chance of being accepted as those who got interviews months ago. It's just how WCU does the process, which I personally love and respect.
As for the white coat ceremony, I've heard it is supposed to be at 3 pm. You will be added to the Facebook group which has everything you need and dream of. Contact Fred Rossi on facebook; he will add you to the group. his email address: [email protected]
Orientation starts July 24th. Classes start July 27th. White Coat Ceremony is July 29th, I believe at 3 PM.
Also, Dr. Weir told me that as soon as you get accepted, they send you the necessary forms and leave you alone for the rest of the summer. And when he said "leave you alone," he actually means leave you tf alone.
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Yes Carey is having trouble filling its class. It looks like the will be settling for a lower amount than they wanted. Tornado had no effect on the interview schedule.
After you get accepted you feel great and you take a deep breath of chill. Enjoy...
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Is it because of lack of applicants? Or because the applicants are not as desirable to WCU? Thanks.....askin for a friend
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Is it because of lack of applicants? Or because the applicants are not as desirable to WCU? Thanks.....askin for a friend
There are plenty of apps. While I am sure quite a few of the applicants sucked there is no way it was that many. Most of the trouble is many people just didnt like Carey and didnt want to take the risk and it made more sense to give another cycle a chance.
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And what exactly is the risk? Sorry, just interested.
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Misery and disappointment. You can fail. Poor board scores. Horrible match rates. Very very unlikely to get into a competitive residency. High possibility of being forced into a field you dont like.
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I saw 2 people matched general surgery last year; how did they do that?
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Also had one get into ortho so dont forget that. It was great for a handful of people, the rest not so much. They also still had the Aoa match you wont. The match will get harder and harder on DOs every year and the closer you are to the bottom the worse it is.
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I see. Idk, it's a little earlier to be making predictions like that. But then again, I'm not an expert.
Do you know what those students did differently to get those residencies? I know most students do PCP anyways.
What residency are you aiming for?
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So I guess WCUCOM's class is full now. Looks like I will have to reapply.
Why do you say that??
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Kovalchuck said earlier there may be 95 people in the class already, after that DoYouEven? got in, so there were probably a couple of people from his/her interview day that got in as well.
Their class size is only 110, iirc.
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Well, I would say that things like neuro/ortho surgery, dermatology, and specialties with fewer spots will be hard, especially since it's hard for any DO, but those things are hard to get into for anyone. There have been some anesthesiology residents from WCUCOM, which is fairly competitive. Really, though, if you come in and work your butt off then you might have a chance at any specialty. It's almost always a matter of personal effort that makes the difference. What I take WorldChanger's words to mean is that certain specialties will be an uphill battle because WCUCOM doesn't do anything to really help you in those areas. Not because the school refuses to help you, but because the school is newer and hasn't had any students/residents in those areas to help with the process. If you really want something like dermatology then work hard, do well on boards, and don't be an awkward turtle when you do audition rotations/interview. It's really not that complicated of a process, but it is something that's hard to achieve and realize.
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there isnt much research at our school, however it is possible to find a professor that is interested in research and to use the resources that are available either at our school or at USM which is an R1 institution in Hattiesburg. this can be incredibly time consuming and much effort would probably be spend on boards but there are things available which you could do over the summer for example. One of the anatomy professors does research with Ultrasound, there have been students have done OMM projects, and there are students who have a telemedicine drone project with different kits such as for trauma situations, disasters, rural situations etc. this project has received news coverage and has been shown to members of Mississippi emergency management association, FEMA, numerous federal and military agencies and will be featured on CNN as a part of their ongoing medical research news series.
To address the comments about this school not preparing students for boards etc: the issue with our recent graduating class being told to not take the USMLE ,
the issue was that the adm didnt know what was going to happen with the merger and how that would affect DO students. The classes under them have been advised by students in the newly graduated class to take the USMLE at all costs if they have prepared, taking it and passing opens more doors than not taking it. some students in my class have listened to that advice and some have not. SOme of my classmates will pass on board studying advice and tips for success to the class below us next year. there is time to study for boards during the semester but it takes dedication and perseverance on the part of the student. students that want to take the usmle and do above average will make that happen if they want it bad enough. I have found out that I need to intergrate things from year 1 with year 2 for instance biochemistry with micro or pharm that was not tied together for us in year 2 by our second year faculty, this could be because they do not understand how boards test us on integrated concepts or simply a "finite amount of time". Yes there are issues at my school but the professors and admin did work very hard when disaster struck us with the tornado and my friends and i were not separated and sent to different DO schools which shows dedication to their students. if you want to take the usmle and learn the knowledge to integrate different subjects together to not only do well on boards but to be a good doctor and understand how biochem relates to other topics in medicine affecting your patients you will put the time in, incoming students need to understand that they must fill in those gaps and they need to start preparing for boards early in year 2. there are issues at my school but if you are persistant and dedicated you will be more than happy with your board scores regardless of what other people have said about my school.
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Without Aoa match closed fields are Derm, opthal, urology and combined fields. 1/1000 match chance for the special snow flake neurosurgery, ortho, integrated surgeries,( plastics) rad onc and GI and cards fellowships. 1/100 match chance for the super hard working but lucky SOB ... EM, academic IM, and GS. 1/10 basically wide open good shot for all DOs.... peds, FM, community IM, Gas, gen rads, psych and many others.
The big point of my post is that some fields are out of reach and to be competitive for the ones you do qualify for you want every advantage. Carey wont give you this ( although you may with luck be able to make it work out ... ei special snow flake) but it does give you the chance to be a doc just dont expect ortho or derm.
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And why would you say they are closed?...with the merging of residencies, why would DOs be more disadvantaged than before? If we have competitive Step 1 scores, research publications, and all the other stuff we need to check off for our resume, why would we be disadvantaged more NOW than before?
It's always been competitive. But I want to know what basis you put this claim on?
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You wont have those things and all the other things you forgot to mention that you will need to be competitive. See you think the playing field is level but its more like trying to run a marathon against the best in the world without feet and you have to build your own prosthetics yourself after the race has started.
A competitive step 1 score isnt something that you just refresh a few things and bam look a 240. You have to understand and figure out what you were not taught and what you were taught wrong. See at Carey this is one of the bigger disadvantages, because there is a massive disconnect between what faculty want you to memorize and what you need to know for boards before you can even study for them. Not only that you have to pass every class and often boards and class disagree.
Where are you gonna get this research from? Gonna drive up to Jackson or to new Orleans and work at UMMC or LSU in your spare time and land the 3 to 5 publications in academic journals expected ( for derm).
How about a solid 3rd year rotation in an academic hospital, little too late in 4th?
How about a letter of recommendation from the non existent chair of derm at the William Carey college of osteopathic medicine?
How about a deans letter that doesnt require you attend DO days in order to get a good recommendation or one that is formatted in the formal MSPE instead of one that looks like it was written by your parents?
What about Alpha omega alpha?
What about not having a home program, let alone having a letter of rec from a home program?
Some programs only want MDs to even rotate 4th year. Some charge out of state students to rotate.
What about other disadvantages like having to waste a ton of time on OPP, having to take both COMLEX and USMLE, not having different departments of medicine where you can walk in and just talk to different people in the field, go to a school that people have heard of and being able to rotate your 3rd year in non preceptor based rotations?
Without the Aoa match you have to compete with people that not only have access to all of that but they have schedules tailored to make those requirements work well. The closed fields used to be competitive now DOs are not even on the radar and DOs at small schools like Carey are lucky as hell if they can match any anything.
Look I am in the middle of this and I am dealing with it. Sure you may be able to land an awesome Step 1 score but it is gonna cost you something else you will never get it all lined up.
Hey you dont have to take my word for it and you wont and thats great. Gotta find your own way right? If you care to find out for yourself what level you need to be at for a field a good place to start is the program director survey, look where people matched ACGME out of our school and see how many had to soap. Sure med school is what you make it but dont expect to build a skyscraper out of a few bricks.
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Unfortunately, I agree with Worldchanger. Jbuc mentions we have anesthesia residents, well we also had Silberg helping with connections and we don't really anymore. We finally had 1 person match Ortho and thats all because he worked for it. Gen surg isn't nearly as competitive as so many others and not comparative for that discussion. If you want Derm/plastics.... make your app better and go MD. The facts are that ANY DO is about to get exponentially harder. I really enjoy OMT, I even use it outside of school, and I would not have become a DO knowing what I know now, much less at a small school without resources. Especially NEVER after merger.
There are tons of little DO schools popping up everywhere but NO added Residencies, even worse, we're actually LOSING them. The residencies are getting harder to get too so that they can differentiate the people that really like their specialty or just fell into it. More "prerequisites" means you have to decide earlier. The new schools have less and less of a chance of success especially without the resources that worldchanger described. We get a few different types of rotations more than many schools and we even have 2 electives as 3rd years, but thats your only opportunity to see something you might really enjoy. A hospital affiliation to see more is almost vital at this point so that you can decide on a residency before 3rd year so that you can get all the required stuff in/b4 4th year.
I think the people at Carey are great. Even though everyone has different ways of learning mixing with different personalities, some people rub each other the wrong way. I think the administrative politics/drama is very apparent at this school. I want to believe it is because they all just want whats best for us and disagree on how, but I'm also drawn to conspiracy theories floating around. But when it comes to being nice people and a family feel, Carey is the best. We were given so much during the tornado, but I wish I could say the same when it comes to educational needs.
TL;DR All of the DO residencies are being decreased. No student really knows what they want to do coming in, but even primary care is dwindling. Its a super scary world in DO land, I highly recommend MD or well established DO.
There are tons of little DO schools popping up everywhere but NO added Residencies, even worse, we're actually LOSING them. The residencies are getting harder to get too so that they can differentiate the people that really like their specialty or just fell into it. More "prerequisites" means you have to decide earlier. The new schools have less and less of a chance of success especially without the resources that worldchanger described. We get a few different types of rotations more than many schools and we even have 2 electives as 3rd years, but thats your only opportunity to see something you might really enjoy. A hospital affiliation to see more is almost vital at this point so that you can decide on a residency before 3rd year so that you can get all the required stuff in/b4 4th year.
I think the people at Carey are great. Even though everyone has different ways of learning mixing with different personalities, some people rub each other the wrong way. I think the administrative politics/drama is very apparent at this school. I want to believe it is because they all just want whats best for us and disagree on how, but I'm also drawn to conspiracy theories floating around. But when it comes to being nice people and a family feel, Carey is the best. We were given so much during the tornado, but I wish I could say the same when it comes to educational needs.
TL;DR All of the DO residencies are being decreased. No student really knows what they want to do coming in, but even primary care is dwindling. Its a super scary world in DO land, I highly recommend MD or well established DO.
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So, all of current students here are testifying that DO gets less chance to be in desired or primary care residency, correct?
Then, how would you compare your chances with those IMG MDs?
How about those from Caribbean schools?
My personal experiences with such IMGs suggest that they talk about brighter future despite the prevaling stigma against them.
Additionally, not all MDs are the same first-class citizens, because they all comes in different educational backgrounds and board scores. Some of their schools are as new as wcu.
The shortage of residency is not solely for DO's problem; MDs experience the same.
Of course there are residency options only for MDs due to their allopathic discipline. However, I doubt we sould worry about these. If desired, DOs should work for it harder than MDs. We have to accept this because we will be DOs.
I have experienced many different types of medical disciplines, the east and the west.
It seems they maintain their boundaries pretty solid from each other through pride and political activities, which are weak here at US for DOs.
The merger at the begining will be rough for DOs becuase most MD graduates think of this as an golden opportunity to take DO's extra spots. But I don't think it would be the case due to but not limited to legal issues and increasing recognition for DOs among patients and physicians.
I have a few resident friends working in New Jersey and Houston. Many of them are MDs and highly spoke of DOs. My MD boss, a director of a cancer center, does not care about being a DO or a MD but board scores and clinical experiences.
Of course some of MDs I met think that they are better doctors than DOs simply becuase of their initial academic college grades. They are stubborn to accept anything outside of their learned realms, thus, skeptical about self-healing and other factors affecting health outcome.
The issues with a newer and less experienced school, these are what I have to deal with from the time when I committed.
No turning back for me, however.
I am just grateful to have an opportunity to study the great medical discipline (my first choice) with great people.
I do deeply appreciate sincere concerns from current students for the new class and would like to congratulate and encourage you; you have acheived great things for yourselves and for the school. Based on your accomplishments, the new class will achieve better and maintain such a tradition for the future classes. You have done great jobs!
Then, how would you compare your chances with those IMG MDs?
How about those from Caribbean schools?
My personal experiences with such IMGs suggest that they talk about brighter future despite the prevaling stigma against them.
Additionally, not all MDs are the same first-class citizens, because they all comes in different educational backgrounds and board scores. Some of their schools are as new as wcu.
The shortage of residency is not solely for DO's problem; MDs experience the same.
Of course there are residency options only for MDs due to their allopathic discipline. However, I doubt we sould worry about these. If desired, DOs should work for it harder than MDs. We have to accept this because we will be DOs.
I have experienced many different types of medical disciplines, the east and the west.
It seems they maintain their boundaries pretty solid from each other through pride and political activities, which are weak here at US for DOs.
The merger at the begining will be rough for DOs becuase most MD graduates think of this as an golden opportunity to take DO's extra spots. But I don't think it would be the case due to but not limited to legal issues and increasing recognition for DOs among patients and physicians.
I have a few resident friends working in New Jersey and Houston. Many of them are MDs and highly spoke of DOs. My MD boss, a director of a cancer center, does not care about being a DO or a MD but board scores and clinical experiences.
Of course some of MDs I met think that they are better doctors than DOs simply becuase of their initial academic college grades. They are stubborn to accept anything outside of their learned realms, thus, skeptical about self-healing and other factors affecting health outcome.
The issues with a newer and less experienced school, these are what I have to deal with from the time when I committed.
No turning back for me, however.
I am just grateful to have an opportunity to study the great medical discipline (my first choice) with great people.
I do deeply appreciate sincere concerns from current students for the new class and would like to congratulate and encourage you; you have acheived great things for yourselves and for the school. Based on your accomplishments, the new class will achieve better and maintain such a tradition for the future classes. You have done great jobs!
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You can call financial aid to make sure your application is accepted, but everyones $ gets released at the same time, 2 weeks after school starts. :-/
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If any incoming is looking for a roommate and place to live shoot me a message.
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LOL. There's one near Airport Blvd in Mobile, AL that I frequently spend one hour driving to from Southern Mississippi. I'm not ashamed whatsoever, either.
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I'm a Carey OMS-4, hoping to match in EM in Hattiesburg. If I do, we plan on driving to that Publix to do our grocery shopping every couple of weeks.
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never heard of Publix! I thought it was a restaurant. Is it a good place for grocery shopping, near campus?
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Unfortunately not, it's a regional grocery store chain, primary in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Closet one is about 2 hours away in Mobile.
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Kovalchuk,
I am only a lurker on these boards - I will be applying next cycle. Congratulations on your acceptances - I was impressed by your fortitude and perserverance. It must have been difficult seeing so many people get acceptances when you had to wait so long for yours. I wish you the best of luck in your medical career and hope I will be in your shoes soon.
I am only a lurker on these boards - I will be applying next cycle. Congratulations on your acceptances - I was impressed by your fortitude and perserverance. It must have been difficult seeing so many people get acceptances when you had to wait so long for yours. I wish you the best of luck in your medical career and hope I will be in your shoes soon.
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Current OMS2 here. I’m very new to SDN. I only heard about it after being in medical school for over a year and only due to the dramatic posts. I haven’t read everything posted here but I’ll give my 2 cents anyway.
Histology - professor is retiring and new one is awesome. One of my favorites. However I do not believe the previous professor was unfair. The averages on every test were in the low to mid 80s which is pretty high honestly, especially because most people did not put histology as their highest priority. As a tutor I compared last year’s tests to this year’s tests and found no difference in difficulty. I’m pretty confused as to why the grades are lower honestly.
Phys - hardest class first year but former Course Director stepped down. Will this make things better or worse? Who knows. I struggled in phys but I don’t think it was any fault but my own, it was just hard for me.
Attendance - they say 80/20 but half the profs don’t take attendance. This is really a rule set by the president of the Carey system not the COM. There was 0 attendance for 2nd year’s this spring.
Hattiesburg - I’m from a small town so I guess I don’t know better but I love it here. I’ve gotten to be involved in communities outside school as well.
Boards study - 2nd year finished 1st week of May so you get from then until the end of July (max) to soley focus on boards.
Overall I’m happy. When speaking to my friends at other schools it’s obvious all schools have issues but most of the time I’d rather deal with Carey’s issue than what they are dealing with.
Histology - professor is retiring and new one is awesome. One of my favorites. However I do not believe the previous professor was unfair. The averages on every test were in the low to mid 80s which is pretty high honestly, especially because most people did not put histology as their highest priority. As a tutor I compared last year’s tests to this year’s tests and found no difference in difficulty. I’m pretty confused as to why the grades are lower honestly.
Phys - hardest class first year but former Course Director stepped down. Will this make things better or worse? Who knows. I struggled in phys but I don’t think it was any fault but my own, it was just hard for me.
Attendance - they say 80/20 but half the profs don’t take attendance. This is really a rule set by the president of the Carey system not the COM. There was 0 attendance for 2nd year’s this spring.
Hattiesburg - I’m from a small town so I guess I don’t know better but I love it here. I’ve gotten to be involved in communities outside school as well.
Boards study - 2nd year finished 1st week of May so you get from then until the end of July (max) to soley focus on boards.
Overall I’m happy. When speaking to my friends at other schools it’s obvious all schools have issues but most of the time I’d rather deal with Carey’s issue than what they are dealing with.
You might want to repost this to the current cycle's thread for those deliberating their school choices.
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I know I am bumping, but reading this 4 years later and I couldn’t stop chuckling… this past year we had 2 people match ortho, out of 90 lol, so yea not a 1/1000 chance also we had 1 match derm, so yea once again not a 1/1000 chance, neither of the three had any crazy research aside case report publications, and they matched just fine… 2 years ago in 2019 we had 2 derm, 1 ENT, 1 neurosurgery, we also had urology at WVU and rad onc at Mayo last year, for EM, academic IM and GS, it’s def not 1/100 lol, for the past few years we have had 10-15 people in EM(at some solid programs) vast majority of our IM matches were at university programs(academic IM) or large community programs, we have had 3-5+ people match general surgery every year for the past couple of years, several at large university programs like UMMC, Ut San Antonio, penn state, WVU/CAMC etc.. other stuff like Anesthesia and rads and OB has also had 4-5+ out of a graduating class of 90-100, so you REALLY aren’t limited to anything at Carey, they newer schools have struggled the past few years and Carey hasn’t, like at UIW only like 2/16 matched categorical general surgery. Research is growing, we have a director of student research now, there’s opportunities with the school of PT here at Carey, one person I know has already has 2 published papers in the journal of spinal cord medicine for example by doing research at the PT department , this will continue to grow I suppose, there’s also USM in town, and the national diabetes and obesity research institute which has a collaboration with Carey as well… were there some problems in the past? Absolutely! But our level one pass rate has been 90-98% every year for the past few years. The attrition rate is better as well from what it seems, my class had 105 ish to start and we still have 94-95 I believe(so not terrible). The school has done a better job of trying to collaborate with residency programs as well and help us get SubI’s and audtions, we are affiliated with a program in NY that takes our students for 3rd year and 4th year and is a core site and has residencies in everything from derm to optho and surgery(huge plus IMO, lots of newer DO school lack this). The school will not hold your hand though and no DO or MD school does, if you want something(research, auditions in a certain specialty, board help you can reach out to the school and they will help you), we are given U-world and boards and beyond for a discounted price and for free(board and beyond) there’s about 8 weeks of dedicated board prep time. Yes you have to pass Comsae but if you can’t pass Comsae then the onus is truly on you and not the school…
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