WesternU/COMP class of 2006

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ariel

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Hey there, I just found out I was accepted into WesternU/COMP for class of 2006!!! I was wondering if any current students could give me information on housing, life in Pomona, etc. Also, I'm looking foward to chatting it up with other prospective 2006 COMP students. Catch ya later.
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Hey...I am a MS1 at COMP, and want to congratulate you...

We all did this last year...when we were first accepted...and I met a lot of my classmates on-line and got to know them before school started...good olde WesternU/COMP 2005....

Get people involved and get the word out...

Check out our websites at <a href="http://www.do2004.com" target="_blank">www.do2004.com</a> and <a href="http://www.do2005.net" target="_blank">www.do2005.net</a>
 
Hey Ariel,
Thanks for starting up the COMP 2006 thread! Nice to get an early start on things. As for housing, there are quite a few options depending on what your price range/preferences for living areas are.. some students live 3 minutes walking distance, others live a very convenient 5-15 minutes away. There are a couple that commute as well as far as an hour away or more.

As for life in Pomona, there are a few scattered things to do in the general vicinity. That being said, there is plenty more to do outside of Pomona.. and there are all sorts of activities and places to go including Old Town Pasadena, LA, Orange County, SD, etc. LA is about a 40 minute drive.. I hadn't spent much time in LA, but I seem to be going more often for parties here and there (I know I'm bad.. I should be studying, huh).

Anyway, just ask away and any of us will gladly give our input. I'll remind the folks in the COMP 2005 thread to check by this one too.
 
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I'm an MSI right now,

word of advice...Don't come here. I am sure starting to wish i didn't. All the crap the admin tells you about the school is bull crap. The only good thing about COMP is that it is in California. I'm sure wishing I went to Touro.

Most people that are here will be confined to primary care, not because they want to, but because they have no choice. The professors are still in the "weed out" mode, and try to screw us over. I mean come on, giving two students zeros becuase they miss one bubble? They make test questions WAY harder than they should be (Dr Bales comes to mind). Last year, 10-15 people got kicked out and are suing the school, another ~10 had to take anatomy in Nebraska during the summer, and a few have to repeat the whole year!!

when i was reading the med school diary, the TCOM class averages were high 80's, low 90's. Our averages are 79-82 percent, meaning many people get 70's and below, and there is barely a curve. nearly half the class will get C's. Its hard enough getting a specialty residency as a DO, but try getting one with a 3.0, and a DO.

There is no grade inflation, which is a bad thing. I would much rather have a 3.5-3.7 and ranked in the 50%tile, than a 2.7-3.0 and ranked in the 50tile. So if you're not in the top of the class, which most of us are not, then plan on primary care if you come here.

A school of 1500 students, and no cafeteria! there are a few cool professors, but my chief complaint is the grading system. Small to no curve means nearly half of our class gets C's in each class. Thats Bull ****. I'll admit, i've only been getting the mean on exams, which comes to about a B- average. that leaves me with the option of FP or IM in podunk noname hospitals. For me, coming here was a bad decision. Make sure you know the truth from students before you make a decision.
 
YOSH2,
I am still not quite sure why you chose to "piggy-back" off of my screen name...but I would really appreciate you picking a more "discernable" screen name in the future.
I understand what you are saying, and belive you are entitled to say what you want by all means...but it would be greatly appreciated if you used a different screen name...

Thanks....
 
Congrats on your acceptance ariel.... and just so you know...this school is not all that bad....I am here and I plan to stay. :D

YODA
 
Thanks for replying yosh and melancholy. Hey and maybe ya could show me the ropes in LA next
 
I'm going to try this posting thing one more time.... Anways thanks for replying to my message. And hey maybe you could show me the ropes in LA next year, melancholy. So, any more input on teaching quality????
 
I know this is like throwing acetone on a bunsen burner, but COMP's board scores are rather high for Biochem section. If you want to go to TOURO, ask people at Touro what they think about their curriculum and rotations. The lower average class scores are a problem because, as I've noticed, our test questions don't truly reflect board oriented material, they are actually harder and more twisted than some board review questions for subjects like anatomy and micro. And as far as grade inflation, be thankful this school doesnt curve DOWN (like some allopathic schools I know of). Make of it what you will, but I still think COMP is a great school. Well, time to go to take the anatomy practical.
 
My thoughts on COMP:

Click Here

Scroll down mid-page.. :oops:

-A
 
wow...I did not realize that the students at comp are so unhappy with the school. I am totally sad because I really wanted to go to comp...but I am not so sure anymore. After talking to students at Comp and other medical schools, it just seems as students at comp are getting screwed in terms of grading and the school itself does not have the greatest reputation amongst the medical community. My boyfriend goes to Columbia Med and he had nothing but negative things to say about COMP and he gives everything the benefit of the doubt. I wanna know if the students are at COMP b/c of the program or its ideal location. I just interviewed at UNECOM and although its cold and dreary in maine, the students there were so happy with the school and had nothing but nice things to say about the school. Student satisfaction has to say alot about the school itself, and as of now COMP is lagging!
 
the way COMP has set things up really sucks. Its bad enough that our grades are broken down to a percentage (while other school are just pass fail), but by making exams harder so that many students get 70's doesn't releive the competitive atmosphere that is already here. I know a few people who have gotten 70's on exams (myself included on a few subjects), and are worried about failing. And they WILL fail those students becuase they failed many students last year. I just feel we're getting screwed. On top of that, one professor wants to fail 2 students because they missed one bubble on the scantron, and the dean backs his decision. COMP just doesn't care about its students, despite what they tell you at the interview.

Although theres one good point for the 2006 class, your hours will be slightly cut. It was suppose to happen for our year, but we are still in class from 8-4/5 most days.
 
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Congrats Ariel and Rickymeister!!!

Don't worry, this school is fine. I like it here a lot, and don't have any regrets. The experience here will only be as good as you make it.
Best of luck, and look forward to seeing you guys next year!

Greg
MS1 WU-COMP
 
here's some advice to those who are thinking about coming to COMP.

lot of students here have some issues with the administration, but you know what? it makes the bond among students a lot better. we are a tight group of friends and everyone is willing to help eachother out. if you know that you want to become a doctor and you want to come to comp, expect to work your ass off and run into some hurdles. there's no doubt about that. then again you have to realize that nobody said medical school was going to be easy. EVERY medical school has its problems. in fact i heard that 3rd year students at TUCOM were so unorganized that some didn't even show up the the rotation that they were assigned to b/c they were scheduled to rotate at some other hospital. so you know what? take what we say with a grain of salt and choose the medical school that will fit YOUR needs (location, students, curriculum, diversity, rotation locations, residency opportunities, etc.). by the way i have no intention in going into general medicine or primary care and by no means do i feel limited in my choices. just do well and let your grades and boards determine the amount of options that open up for you once graduation comes. don't try to compare yourself to other students, or other schools, or averages for boards, etc., otherwise you'll get distracted from the bigger picture. frankly i don't care if you come to comp or not, just make sure you make the right decision and you are happy where ever you end up.

i love it here!
~pyo
COMP '05
 
I think WUHS-COMP is a great school and I have written posts in the past stating just that. The complaint about the grading system is a problem in my mind. I don't think this should be a deterrent to going there, but I do think current students should try to change this. Of course class rank will make up for the low GPA, but a 3.0 does NOT look good either even if it means that you are in the 50th percentile.

Also, what you've heard about 3rd years is much different than what a 3rd year at TUCOM says. The reason that some MS III and MS IVs do not show up for their scheduled rotation (I've done this) is because they've chosen to setup their own rotations. Many of my classmates and I chose to do a majority of our rotations at UCSF, Stanford, UC Davis, or other major hospitals. Unfortunately, we didn't always receive approval from those institutions in a timely manner. I'd say that 95% of the time it was the medical student's fault and if anything, it was great that the administration let us bail on the rotation we were scheduled at to do the one we really wanted to do. They could've said, "I don't care if you want to do Radiology at UCSF, you're gonna do Family Practice at Kaiser." I have been guilty on several occassions of forgetting to inform the administrators and thus no one showed up at the rotation they assigned for me. Sometimes it would just be that I let them know ahead of time that I was trying to get approval. Then when I did get approval, I would forget to tell them. I actually consider the flexibility of the clinical years at TUCOM as a strength of the program rather than a weakness. Considering that we were a new school going through the match for the first time (in 2001), we did pretty well. The reason for this is definitely due to the fact that many people had on their transcripts and on their LORs rotations through major hospitals. To be honest, one of the biggest complaints (in fact, some are downright pissed) I hear the most from WUHS-COMP students and grads that I have worked with and currently work with is the restrictions the administrators put on what and where you can rotate through. They may be organized enough to know where you are, but it doesn't help if you don't want to be there.

Bottom line is that WUHS-COMP in an excellent school, and I think it's awesome that they opened up a DVM school (smart move). Their is always room for improvement, just like TUCOM has many things I would like to see changed. Something like grading is really a minor thing that doesn't say much about the quality of education or clinical rotations. The reality is that a low GPA will hurt you in the match, even if you have a decent class ranking. If I were a COMP student, I would definitely try to get this changed.
 
I agree with the ideas voiced by several of the above classmates of mine. Yes, we do have some issues with administration on some issues. And Yes, every school has got them. The case in point for prospective students is for you to decide as an individual where you would be the most happy. I agree with pyoj that in certain ways the whole faculty issue does tend to form a bond in the class, which is good. We certainly have ones that are opinionated and strong-willed when it comes to their opinions and beliefs, but that's fine. That is how it is in the outside world. As physicians, there is always going to be issues. If you want to work in a hospital-orientated setting, dealing with administrators is going to require effort and patience not unlike what we are going through now. If you want to do FP, you get a whole other set of issues. Aside from the fact I don't think anyone looks forward to the "dark-side" of medicine, if medicine is what you want to do you have to accept that there is always going to be something you have to deal with that isn't fair or related directly to your abilities or concerns as a doctor. In the end that means you can either take steps to work within the system to change it and beat them at their own game, or just sit and complain and hope someone else does it for you, which probably will get old for most of your classmates.
To those prospective students who have already been accepted, congratulations. I wish you well at whichever school you decide to attend.
I also am happy here; but if we only had an In-n-Out on campus.... ;) but I digress....
 
I haven't started (COMP 2006), but I already love it here. I've been here dozens of times over the past several years. All of my friends who are MS's at COMP (in different classes and graduates) love it and all of the MS's that I've been introduced to love it. So, it's the dozens of happy COMP MS's and DO's that I've spoekn to vs. people who don't know jack but like to talk ****.
 
kostarringme- I understand your concerns about student happiness at your future school.. that was very important to me as well. How many students have you had the chance to chat with at COMP? I think for every disgruntled student you come across, there are many more satisfied students that are happy to be here. I feel like there is definitely a good mix of students in our class and I'm happy to be part of it.

From what I've seen on the SDN message boards, there is going to be someone who doesn't like things at a school and will promote that people not attend the school. Obviously, if you don't live in southern California, it may be harder to get a sense for what the school is really like. I can assure you that if you decide to visit, we'll try to accomodate however we can.. housing, showing you around the campus, labs, area, LA, etc.. having the chance to talk to MS-II's, student government officers, etc.

Anyway, any more concerns you have.. please feel free to post them because I'm sure we will all have some helpful information to contribute.
 
Oh.. one thing I forgot to mention was the fact the benefit of having other students around such as the PharmD's, PA's, PT's, nursing students, etc. In two years the vet. school will be open as well as well as a clinic across the street. Although I admit students from the other disciplines are on different schedules, I've made the effort to meet more of them and it has helped me appreciate having more students to meet and hang out with. Not that I don't love seeing my fellow MS-I's every morning/afternoon/evening.... :)

Ariel- Are you from southern California by any chance? I'm sure we can arrange something in case you want to visit and check out LA.. there are plenty of knowledgeable locals as well as a few students around that can spare an evening to go out. (not necesarily me)
 
COMP needs to focus more on student success within the institution rather than this intellectual 'bootcamp' that seems to be geared towards nothing in particular except this "it's really hard so they must be learning" mentality. I think the school's trying to prove something to the allopathic community by making our DO program more rigorous than some MD programs. COMP ought to strike a balance between the two tactics.

Tis better to work smart. Case in point: our current anatomy and pathology blocks.
 
Adismo,

Here! Here!

I completely agree. Just because we are surrounded by top MD schools, it seems as if our school is trying to prove something. Do we DO schools still have an inferiority complex?

The pharm school awards the PharmD degree, so there is no inferiority complex, and they are on the pass/fail system. Same institution, why can't we have uniformity among the schools? Is it because the DO school has to prove something to our MD counterparts because we offer a different degree?
 
Actually, the pharmD school which started a few years ago does have some issues with their students having to prove themselves at their externships and at conferences. Since the school is still relatively new, they have to work hard to represent Western at conferences where other pharm schools will traditionally have a presence at already. Western's pharmD school has a high pass/pass/fail system.. with high pass probably being an A. Talking with a variety of first year pharm students, they do feel like there is something to prove.. even with local pharmacies and hospitals that are not used to Western U students working there in their externships that they do every week.

I know our school has some of the longest hours in class/lab than other schools.. DO or MD. However, I don't know if the majority of DO schools on average have a more rigorous schedule overall compared to some MD schools.. so it could be a DO trend as well as our school's policy. That being said, I know that quite a few of the lecture hours could better be spent studying.. and we are making decisions every day when to stick in class and when to hit the books. I feel that if I can get through such a rigorous courseload and reach my goals after med school, that would definitely be an achievement. A challenge? Yes.. but not an impossible one.

(Am I being weird? Yes.. it's 3:30am and time to sleep. Night folks.)
 
Every year there seems to be a small minority of students at COMP that are disappointed with the administration or some of the professors. These students are typically those who did not get into allopathic programs and are resentful or those that are not doing to well and want someone else to blame. I find it ironic that a majority of my class (2004) are happy and seem to be doing fine with this so-called flawed system. I say take most of the opinions of those that post on this site (pre-meds or 1st years) with a grain of salt. Let's look at the facts! The first year sucks at all med schools! Where you learn your basic sciences is really not that important in the long run. However, where you do your residency is extremely important. If you do not believe me ask your doctor. Go to my class web site http://www.DO2004.com , and scroll to the bottom left hand side and you will see the recent match list of COMP graduates. COMP graduates are in residencies at Yale, Johns Hopkins, UCSF, UCLA, USC and a variety of good AOA residencies. You can bitch and moan all you want, but if you listen, learn, work hard and pass the boards, you too can succeed. The only people that seem to care too much about the MD vs. DO thing are pre-meds.Therefore, do not worry about it!
Ian MSII
COMP
 
The weekend is almost here.. rejoice! Paintball coming up in a week. Didn't quite make it to the Halloween party, but I did get out for awhile to relax some after a long week. Hope I will do fine in microbio on Monday.
 
Originally posted by rickmyster78:
•any good scholarships for med school out there besides the armed forces? thanks.•
Click to expand...

there is a national health service corps scholarship...for people who want to do primary care in underprivaleged areas. compensation is similar to the military scholarships. there are also a whole bunch of private scholarships. call up financial aid...they have a crapload of information.

good luck!
~pyoj
 
How's life going, future COMP'ers and those considering COMP? :)

--Sorry I'm a bit tired on a Friday afternoon and sitting in anatomy lecture looking at a gluteus maximus. :) --
 
I hope my fellow class of 2006ers are doing well..I'm in the process of saving my first grand for the Dec.14 deadline and keeping the grades up. Biochem can be a killer, even in undergrad. Stay well and start talking to each other!!
 
Rickmeister- What department are you currently a grad student in? If you're in Riverside, it's not too bad a drive. Next semester, if there are any big party gatherings we'll let you guys/gals know about it.. it's always nice to give people a taste to keep it real and to answer questions/chat, etc.
 
melancholy,

I'm with the environ. sci. department. I am actually in fontana, which is only 20 or so miles from western.

rick
 
In case any future COMP'ers are interested, Spyyder started a thread for the summer anatomy courses that COMP offers in this Osteopathic message board section...
 
Congratulations to all of the "soon to be"MS1's. I think that all of us at COMP look forward to meeting you!
As for the problems with the administration and policies that has been heavily publicized on SDN I thought it was fair to add some good news. The problems with biochem are over. No one is going to fail because they miskeyed their scantron. In fact I think that the policy that the MS1 class came up with will probably be applied to the whole school (pending approval). Hopefully this won't ever be a problem again.
 
teloola- thanks for posting the good news.. that's something I forgot about in the long Friday and pending weekend. It seems like they/he went for the proposal after all. If he really was sincere in his complaint about the extra work associated with mismarked scantrons, then I feel like he had probably felt his point was made. I believe people are a lot more aware about the information that has to be filled-in on scantrons now. I seriously check my info about 4-5 times before and once after I am done with the exam.

ariel- you still around? busy with life pending med school?

rickymeister- when do you get a winter break?
 
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Stay safe and don't forget to work out after eating lots of turkey!
 
Congrats those accepted to the COMP class of 2006!

I have an interview scheduled at COMP on 12/13. COMP is one of my top choices and I would appreciate any tips that any recent interviewees can provide.

Again, congrats to 2006 and thanks for the help!

O
 
Oscar,

When I interviewed at COMP in October I was interviewed by two DO's and a science faculty. Very laid back. I was asked questions mostly from my application. I didn't get any ethical questions or any questions regarding medical issues of the day. They asked me about the environment and my research. Make sure you know what led you to medicine and why you want to go into medicine (osteopathic medicine). That was my interview in a nutshell. Some other interviewees were asked about the anthrax issue and other stuff. Make sure you check out the <a href="http://www.interviewfeedback.com" target="_blank">www.interviewfeedback.com</a> site and take some notes regarding COMP interviews. Be polite to everyone (staff, admissions director, Susan Hanson and med. students) and dress conservative, etc. Everyone at WesternU are really cool. I really like the school, that's why I'm going to COMP. Good luck

Rick
 
Oscar,

I was at COMP's interview during late October. Most questions were based on my interview were based on my application and follow up question related to my answers- i.e. about my research, volunteer experience. They started with tell me about yourself and later asked about my strengths/weaknesses, and where do you see yourseelf 15 years from now. But mainly, stay calm and have a positive attitude about getting accepted. I really believe they can notice that.

have fun,

bird
 
Hi guys,

I have few questions about COMP.
1. Does anyone know what year WesternU/COMP became accredited for its D.O. program?

2. Also, where can I find the hospitals that COMP is associated/likes to send its students to do their residency in?
 
Bird and Rickymeister-

Thanks for the help. This website is very imformative, and I appreciate all the advice and support. I hope I hear good news by the end of the year.

One more questions: are the interviews 1-1 or group?

Thanks for the help!

O
 
Bird- I don't remember when COMP was accredited, but I'll try and check up on that since someone else should know. I know that they just received a re-accrediation for the longest possible number of years though.

Have you tried looking on <a href="http://www.do2004.com" target="_blank">COMP DO 2004 Home Page</a> for the recent residency match lists? That should give you a good headstart. There might still be old threads around SDN regarding our residency matches also. I'm sure there are other students/alumni who can answer more questions on that as well and give you a better idea of what residencies might be in the process of being added/developed at this time. (so it will actually be there by the time you go on residencies)

Oscar_meyer- The interviews at COMP usually have.. 3-5 interviewers, but only one interviewee at a time. (I know TUCOM has the group panel format for interviews. ) Last year I had an OMM professor, a second-year diff. Dx clinician, and an OMM fellow interview me. The interviews, from what I've heard, can range a bit depending on what faculty you get, but on the whole, I felt EXTREMELY laid back for the interview during my day there (talking to students and faculty). For whatever reason, I just felt very comfortable in that atmosphere as almost all the professors seemed very approachable (I didn't always feel like that back at my undergrad).

To me, if you have an interview, the acceptance spot is yours to lose (meaning the percentages are in your favor). I had relatively basic questions asked.. questions that could pop up at any interview for the most part such as asking about certain accomplishments/activities in my secondary application, asking about my strengths/weaknesses and what I could bring to the school, and asking what did I see would become a big issue 10 years from now in medicine. The questions seemed to stay pretty relevant to my application, although I did get a few basic questions about osteopathy (obviously, they would like someone who has done his/her research on osteopathy). Oh yes, they did ask why osteopathy and I don't recall if they brought up the question of whether I'd go to an allopathic vs. osteopathic. It's good to have thought about this ahead of time though as it will probably come up time and time again.

Did you attend any of the OMAC conferences at Western? Mentioning that can only help as well as it shows interest in the school. Dr. Redding, who is an OMM professor at COMP, gave the OMM demonstration when I went to OMAC and he was actually at my interview too! I believe the interview is to weed out students who might have the stats/accomplishments, but might not have the personal qualities that the interviewers are looking for. Being honest and open during the interview will definitely help a great deal as well. In the end, I think feeling comfortable at the school is important so keep that in mind while you're interviewing.

Hope this helps.. please ask if you have any other questions.. even just little things like traffic/parking/places-to-eat/etc.
 
Melancholy-

Thanks a lot for the advice! I am very impressed with your reply. I can't thank you enough. I will definetely let you know the outcome of the interview. The support on this thread alone represents how helpful the COMP student body is!
Wish me luck, and thanks to the class of 06 and 05 for the help!!

O
 
Hi there, ariel. I too got accepted and was for the longest time undecided about my choice because of the opportunities at some of the other DO schools. I'm pretty sure now that Western is my pick because of location.

I do have some questions for current students/graduates of Western-when I visited the campus, I was surprised at the small size of the school compared to other places. Where do students study? Certainly not in the noisy lounge! And it didn't seem like there is enough room in the library! Do most study at home or off campus? Do students study at nearby college libraries? Your input would be appreciated. Thanks and see you next fall!
 
Ok,

I am a third year student on Rotations at Western Univ. of Health Sciences/COMP. I agree that the school needs to improve with its administration, but our first two years are just as good if not better than most medical schools. As a third year I am finding that I am way better prepared than AZCOM and Touro students. Also, compared to Loma Linda students, we at COMP are just as good if not better. The third year is different, you have no assignments , no tests, no one telling you what to read or do. It's all up to the student to self learn and decide what they will study. I think COMP needs to improve third and fourth year rotations. The school ony worries about sending us out, but the do nothing to verify that we are learning what we are supposed to be learning. That is why I think we should have exams in the 3rd and 4th year. I suggest to all 1st and 2nd year students to really learn, not just memorize info for the exam, but to really learn the material forwards and backwards. I only studied my class notes for the COMLEX Level I and scored in the upper 80's, almost low 90's. SO my point is, COMP gets the job done when it comes to teaching us what we need to know for success on boards. It is up to the student if they learn and remember it for the exam. As far as residencies go, COMP students have been accepted into just about every residency program out there, including highly competitive MD programs. So there is hope for us D.O. COMP students! We are not restricted to FP by any means. I would encourage all of you to find what specialty you want early and pursue realistic goals, i.e. according to your own abilities .

MSIII
COMP class of 2003
 
Hey there folks...congrats to all my fellow 2006 classmates (rickmyster78, falconer, and angelfan)!!!! I look forward to meeting you all in the fall!!!

Melancholy--I'm from southern Idaho so if someone could just show me the ropes around LA and the surrounding area that'd be great!!! And yes I've been busy getting a presentation on cerebral angiograms ready for head and neck anatomy (ugh!!)

My question for the current students pertains to housing. How much do ya'll pay in rent and utilities and is the financial aid package granted by the school enough for living expenses????
Talk to ya'll later.
 
oscar, know about any difficult situations u have overcome and hurdles u have faced.......and why med, why osteo, and why Pomona!......weaknesses, like low MCAT, gpa, etc.....malik
 
i live in claremont and pay about $600 per month for rent, electricity, water for a 2bed/2bath (i split the $1060 for the apartment with roommate). people in chino hills pay more, people living in the plaza pay less for a similar setup.

have fun, good luck, see ya next year.
~pyoj
COMP '05
 
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