The Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) has a one year post-bac enhancement program which does not require the MCAT to be taken prior to entering and has an MCAT prep component. Here is the link to the program. For more information, please contact Jean Herndon, Director of Post-Baccalaureate Programs at jherndon@vcom.vt.edu
The program is new this year.
Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine
2265 Kraft Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24060
*** VCOM *** VCOM *** VCOM *** VCOM ***
William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Hattiesburg, Mississippi received provisional accreditation from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation last weekend and has joined AACOM. They will be added to the AACOMAS application service now and anticipate that applicants should be able to submit a designation for WCU COM by noon, Monday, September 21.
An online College Information Book page will be added to the AACOM.
The college’s own site is here.
WCU COM is the twenty-sixth college of osteopathic medicine in the US.
Tom Levitan
Vice President for Research and Applicant Services American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic
This message is from The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM).
AACOM is excited to share with you another great student advising resource. It is titled: Osteopathic Medical Student Profiles In their Own Words: A Snapshot of the Osteopathic Medical Student. The students profiled here have all made journeys similar to yours. They have completed all their pre-medical coursework, taken the MCAT, volunteered, shadowed a DO, and worked with their prehealth advisors to ensure a smooth transition to medical school. Now, they either are studying in osteopathic medical schools or have recently graduated and are beginning their careers as osteopathic physicians.
Note that UB’s own Mirna Martinez is featured! Undergraduate Studies: BS in Clinical Laboratory Science; minor in Spanish, State University of New York at Buffalo - Graduate Studies: MS in Biotechnology, State University of New York at Buffalo
We hope these profiles will encourage and inspire students from all walks of life to pursue their career goals of joining our community of physicians!
Gina M. Moses, M.Ed.
Associate Director of Application Services
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
Please consider checking the “ YES ” box on the 2010 AACOMAS application to authorize release of your data to the prehealth advising office at UB. This allows our office to report anonymous, group data regarding application and admission rates for current and prospective students. All information is held confidential.
Please see below:
“ I authorize AACOMAS to release information about my application to pre-professional health advisors at the colleges and universities that I attended to assist in the counseling of future applicants.” Yes
Additionally, please note that if you applied for the entering class of 2009 and are re-applying, you will be able to use a “roll-over” (carry over info from last application) feature, but you must “enable” pop-ups on their computer.
Gina M. Moses, M.Ed.
Associate Director of Application Services
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
D.O.s Could Play Key Role in Bolstering Primary Care Workforce, Say Academy Leaders
By Barbara Bein
5/19/2009
Like many students graduating from the nation’s colleges of osteopathic medicine, Richard Gray has chosen family medicine as his specialty. In fact, Gray, an AAFP student member from Fort Worth, Texas, and other soon-to-be doctors of osteopathic medicine, are an important part of the primary care workforce, says an Academy physician workforce expert.
“Traditionally, the osteopathic medical schools have attracted a larger proportion of young people interested in family medicine,” Perry Pugno, M.D., M.P.H., director of the AAFP Division of Medical Education, told AAFP News Now.
OSTEOPATHIC SCHOOL ENROLLMENT SEES STEADY RISE
For the past several years, enrollment at the 25 member colleges of the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, (2-page PDF; About PDFs) or AACOM, has been growing steadily.
Last fall, first-time enrollment among osteopathic medical students reached 4,768, an increase of 360 students, or about 8 percent, compared with the enrolling class of fall 2007, according to Tom Levitan, AACOM’s vice president for research and applicant services.
Most of the increase stemmed from the opening of two new osteopathic medical colleges in Yakima, Wash., and Parker, Colo. AACOM is expecting even more students to enroll this fall, with the opening of three new satellite campuses in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
The first-year enrollment growth in the osteopathic medical colleges parallels that in U.S. allopathic medical schools, which enrolled a historic high of 18,036 students last fall, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (6-page PDF; About PDFs)
PRIMARY CARE REMAINS CHOICE OF MANY OSTEOPATHIC GRADS
D.O.s have a long history of choosing primary care specialties, including family medicine, general internal medicine and general pediatrics, Levitan said. Even so, he noted, the results of annual AACOM surveys of graduating osteopathic medical students have shown a decline in self-reported interest in primary care from 40 percent of osteopathic graduates in 1999 to slightly less than 28 percent in 2007.
Interestingly, Levitan said, more osteopathic medical students opt for primary care specialties at the time they graduate than the number who said they planned to go into primary care when they entered school. For example, nearly 22 percent of students entering the nation’s colleges of osteopathic medicine in 2004 said they were interested in primary care. When those students graduated in 2008, slightly more than 29 percent chose primary care specialties.
According to the National Resident Matching Program, 45.1 percent of overall Match participants in 2008 chose residencies in family medicine, internal medicine (categorical) or pediatrics (categorical). By comparison, 55.3 percent of osteopathic medical students who participated in the 2008 Match chose one of those primary care specialties.
Levitan said he believes that osteopathic medical schools may provide a model for ways to produce more students interested in primary care careers.
Pugno agreed. For one thing, faculty at the osteopathic medical colleges who serve on admissions committees seem to seek students with characteristics that make them more likely to choose family medicine and primary care, such as coming from a rural background, he said. He noted that admissions policies are one component of the Academy’s overall strategy for attracting students interested in family medicine.
EXPOSURE TO PRIMARY CARE CAN GUIDE SPECIALTY CHOICE
Gray became a newly minted D.O. when he graduated May 16 from the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, or TCOM. In a few weeks, he will start his training in the St. Louis University/Scott Air Force Base family medicine residency in Belleville, Ill.
Gray said he learned about osteopathic principles as a physical therapy student at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. He worked full time as a physical therapist for eight years before entering TCOM in 2005.
During his first two years at TCOM, Gray said he was exposed to primary care repeatedly in the classroom, the clinic and the hospital. He did a preceptorship with a family physician in Fort Worth who still delivers babies. He also did a rural rotation with a group of four family physicians — three M.D.s and one D.O. — in the town of Littlefield in West Texas where he observed them practicing the full spectrum of family medicine.
“Excellent experiences with good family medicine preceptors throughout my four years at TCOM sparked my interest in the specialty. I believe that a family medicine residency will help me become the kind of physician I have always wanted to be,” Gray said. About 45 percent of the 128 students in his graduating class plan to go into primary care, he added.
Jason Dees, D.O., of New Albany, Miss., the new physician member of the AAFP Board of Directors, graduated from the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, or WVSOM, in Lewisburg and did his family medicine residency at The Medical Center in Columbus, Ga.
Dees said he considered becoming a surgeon, but chose family medicine as his career after his third year of medical school.
“WVSOM required every third-year student to do community-based family medicine as our first rotation,” he said. “As I saw the relationships that developed between doctor and patient, I was hooked. The focus on whole-person care was also very appealing to me.”
Pugno said both allopathic and osteopathic physicians are needed to meet the demand for more primary care health professionals in the coming years. ”We are partners with the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians and other osteopathic physicians’ groups in our endeavors to make a difference in American health care,” he said.
The Association of American Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) Announces Opening of 2010 DO Medical School Application Cycle
AACOM is very pleased to announce the live launch of the 2010 AACOMAS application today! Applicants will be able to begin their application to the nations’ 25 Osteopathic Medical Colleges and branch campuses, and submit as soon as they have completed it. The URL link is here.
They have implemented a few new enhancements to the 2010 AACOMAS which are highlighted below:
For applicants the most significant change is the opportunity for re-applicants to “roll forward” their 2009 application – this means that they will not have to enter all of their coursework again. This process does still require the applicant rolling forward data to review and affirm the data that are on each page of the application before submitting.
In the past, applicants who did not read the instructions for the application may have experienced a delay in processing when we opened their application for verification and discover that they did not entered any coursework. We have added a required checkbox for them to indicate that they have entered all coursework.
The Instructions for Completing the Colleges and Coursework section of the 2010 AACOMAS is also available from the library area in 108 Norton Hall. It was recently attached in a prehealth listserv announcement.
Applicants will now provide their 8-digit MCAT/AAMC number that was assigned to them when they registered for their MCAT exam. AACOMAS must have this number in order to accurately match their MCAT scores to their AACOMAS application.
Applicants will be asked the following on the 2010 AACOMAS: “I authorize AACOMAS to release information about my application to pre-professional health advisors at the colleges and universities that I attended to assist in the counseling of future applicants”: (X)Yes ( )No
Please consider checking off “YES” in order to allow your data to flow into the Advisor Information Center (AIC) portal for use (confidential) by the Office of Prehealth Advising Services.
Gina M. Moses, M.Ed.
Associate Director of Application Services
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
5550 Friendship Blvd., Suite 310
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7231
Please see the following important information/URL links for prospective students and applicants regarding international practice rights for Osteopathic (DO) Physicians.
Gina M. Moses, M.Ed.
Associate Director of Application Services
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
International Practice Rights for Osteopathic Physicians:
Currently, D.O.s have full practice rights in roughly 50 countries and partial practice rights in many more. More information on the specifics may be found at the following sites below.
American Osteopathic Association (AOA)
Canadian Osteopathic Association
Osteopathic International Alliance (OIA)
Potential applicants might be interested in purchasing and reviewing a copy of AACOM’s 2010 Osteopathic Medical College Information Book (CIB). This year, AACOM has released the CIB much earlier than in the past to facilitate early exploration among the more than 12,000 individuals who are applying to osteopathic medical schools. The AACOM reports that applications to the nation’s osteopathic medical colleges have grown by more than 30 percent in the last three years alone.
AACOM’s College Information Book (CIB) is the official guide for prospective students, applicants, pre-health advisors and others interested in gaining information about or applying to the nation’s osteopathic medical colleges. The publication has been expanded to cover a wealth of important, timely topics, including international practice rights, residency and matches, board examinations, licensure and much more. In addition, the book features six current or recent DO students discussing their personal stories, “In Their Own Words.”
To order additional copies of the 2010 CIB, visit the online AACOM Bookstore.
Please note that the AACOMAS 2010 application will become available in May. The application will be extremely user-friendly with no significant changes. While it is your decision, please consider releasing your information to your advisor, so we will be able to monitor UB students in mters of DO admission.
You are encouraged to begin (and complete) the application process early. Although some osteopathic colleges will continue to receive applications for 2010 through the spring of 2010, interview appointments and seats in classes fill early. With over 2.7 applicants per first year seat in the osteopathic medical schools, the earlier an application is submitted, the more comprehensive review that can be received.
Gina M. Moses, M.Ed.
The Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine will again host the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. The SURF program provides a wide variety of summer research opportunities for undergraduate students interested in careers in medicine or biomedical research. Participants in this program work in an active research lab under the guidance of a biomedical science faculty member. The goal is to expose students to the challenges, excitement and satisfaction of research.
The SURF program is 7 weeks in length and includes room & board, a living allowance, 8 quarter hours of biology credit and the potential for a guaranteed interview for the entering class at the medical school.
Detailed information, eligibility requirements, and application materials can be obtained by going to the SURF web site
The deadline is Feb 1.
If you have any questions about the program, please contact the OU-COM Admissions Office at 800-345-1560.
Director of Admissions
Assistant Professor, Department of
Social Medicine
Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine
102 Grosvenor Hall
Athens, Ohio 45701
800-345-1560
This past May and October, two Osteopathic Medical Schools received approval to open additional sites for students to pursue their medical school education studies.
LECOM to Expand Medical School to Seton Hill University
Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) has received approval to open an additional campus at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. LECOM will accept 104 students at this campus, growing LECOM Erie to 354 students. Another 150 students study at LECOM Bradenton, a branch campus in Florida. LECOM at Seton Hill University will open for the 2009 academic year.
MSUCOM Opens Two New Sites in Southeast Michigan
Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSUCOM) has received approval from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA) to increase its class size by 100 students, who will pursue studies at two new locations at Detroit Medical Center and Macomb University Center in Clinton Township. Detroit Medical Center is currently undergoing renovations to accommodate the expansion, and Macomb University Center will lease space to MSUCOM until a new building is constructed.
ALSO…
Western University College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific to Open Additional Site in Lebanon, Oregon
Additionally, Western University – College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific in Pomona, CA has received approval to open an additional campus in Lebanon, Oregon. The first class will matriculate in August 2011 and applicants will be able to apply in the AACOMAS 2010 cycle. For additional information, visit their website.
Gina M. Moses, M.Ed.
Associate Director of Application Services
American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine
