r/Osteopathic

Just finished a 4-week psych audition at Riverside in Kankakee, and I feel obligated to warn everyone before you start scheduling interviews. I went in hoping for a solid learning experience, but it was a total bait-and-switch. Needless to say, they are completely off my list.

Here is what rotating there actually looks like:

• The PD quit recently. I never met the guy once. I only found out he left because another medical student told me. Complete sinking ship vibe.
• Audition Hunger Games. They keep at least 10 medical students on service at a time. During my block, there were five of us auditioning for literally three intern spots. It’s like this year-round. You aren’t being evaluated; you’re just cheap labor.
• Interns are capped, you aren't. Interns are capped at 4 patients a day. Meanwhile, residents regularly dump 6+ patients on the students, plus 2-3 full psych H&Ps. You’ll bust your ass to finish 3 progress notes, and instead of telling you about new intakes in the morning, they’ll sit on them until 1 PM and dump them on you all at once. Students literally carry a heavier clinical load than the interns.
• Toxic Attending Dumping Ground. There is one attending who is brutally condescending, talks down to you, and takes an eternity to staff. The residents intentionally pawn all of her patients off on the students while hoarding the one good attending who actually wants to teach. I had exactly one patient overlap with the good attending all month, and I learned more in that single interaction than I did the rest of the rotation.
• Openly Demeaning Culture. You get maybe 10 minutes of resident interaction a day, just to be handed your list. On my literal last day, as I was going around saying my goodbyes, a resident looked at me and said, "Thank you for your H&Ps."

That last sentence sums up the entire culture. You aren't there to learn psychiatry; you are there to offload their charting. Save your money, save your sanity, and do not waste an audition or an ERAS application on this place. If you get an invite, cancel it before you schedule, taking an interview here just eats up a slot you could have used for a different program that actually values you.

Sorry I know this sort of post isn't especially relevant to this subreddit, but I'm hoping I can at least help out someone who googles this program. r/medschool requires comment karma and I have none.

Im feeling very disappointed and frustrated with DUQCOM with their lack of response and poor communication.

I submitted my primary very early in the cycle and my secondary on June 17. It’s now October, and I still never received a clear confirmation that my application was complete, nor did I receive any answers or acknowledgment to my inquiries.

I reached out 5 times overall: July, August, and September, basically once a month for three straight months.

In July, I asked about the science faculty letter requirement. My first email went to an address that bounced, so I immediately resent it to a working Duquesne address the same month.

In August, I followed up directly with the Assistant Dean of Admissions and also asked whether my application was considered complete.

In September, I followed up again because I still had no way to determine whether my file was complete. I also never received a portal link or instructions for accessing one; I only discovered the applicant portal on my own. Even then, it simply showed “Submitted,” with no useful checklist or indication of whether anything was missing or preventing review.

In the meantime, I could clearly see movement online. Applicants were getting interviews and even acceptances, which made the silence even more frustrating. The school was obviously actively processing applications, while I still couldn’t get a basic answer about whether mine was even complete.

Later that month, I sent an application update and again asked whether my file was complete and under review.

Nothing.

No substantive response. No application-complete confirmation. No answer to the letter question. No acknowledgment of my update.

That’s what has been so frustrating. I completely understand that application fees do not buy an interview or an acceptance, and I’m not expecting special treatment. But I do think it’s reasonable to expect enough communication to know whether your application is even administratively eligible to be reviewed.

The only reason I kept the application open this long was honestly pride and sunk cost. I paid the primary and secondary fees, and withdrawing made me feel like I had basically donated money to the school and they got to walk away with it without ever really doing what I thought I was paying for: at minimum, processing my application enough to tell me whether it was complete.

At this point I already have three DO acceptances and 6 upcoming interviews, so realistically DUQCOM is no longer a school I would prioritize even if an II suddenly showed up and I will likely officially withdraw later today. Keeping it alive just because I already paid for it doesn’t really make sense anymore.

I’m not posting this to bash the school. I was genuinely interested when I applied, which is probably why I’m so disappointed now.

Applicants are expected to be professional, responsive, and respectful throughout this process. I just wish that same basic courtesy was extended in return.

For other applicants, especially nontrads: would you have withdrawn sooner? Would you have handled this differently or done something else to try to get clarification? Is reaching out essentially once a month for three months without getting basic completion/requirement information enough to call it?

I have two As at WCUCOM and ARCOM as a 497 MCAT 3.6 sgpa applicant this cycle. Super grateful and these are the interviews I have/had: ARCOM, WCUCOM, LMUDCOM, UNECOM, KYCOM, ValleyCOM, KansasCOM.

I have my ValleyCOM in-person interview on November 9 (before KYCOM), and I am wondering if I should withdraw. This was my first interview invite and I genuinely thought I would not get into a better, established school so I accepted and did the earliest date in November. Now that I have 2 As and ik i can get into a better school im deciding if i withdraw it.

Again, really thankful to be in this "situation". Any advice would be appreciated!

I submitted my application in July and it’s my dream school but I haven’t heard anything from them. I was wondering if anyone else has?

I have a 499 MCAT with a 3.69 sGPA, and a 3.63 overall GPA. Applied in late August to some DO schools. Been waiting a while and haven't heard much back yet. Starting to get worried. Any thoughts/advice

I have been fortunate enough to receive interviews from each of these schools - a few more as well but I will likely not attend. I received As from ICOM and Burrell. My goal is to match into IM but also try for Gen Surgery if I get a high enough score on Comlex and Step. In terms of location ICOM is my favorite. The school meets my needs in every way - suburbs, family friendly location, campus built for med school, cadavers, integrated curriculum, access to nature, rural medicine option, etc. I ran some numbers for matches over last three years and ICOM doesn't appear to perform as high, but they are a relatively new school here they are:

Three year range:

IM | Gen surgery

NSU - 27% - 40% | 2.5-4%

ACOM - 27%-53% | 2.7-11%

ARCOM - 24.6%-28.4% | 1.5-6.8%

LECOM - batched - 23-29% | 3.3-4.8%

ICOM - 17.1% - 22% | 2 - 5.9%

MW - AZ - 25-30% | 2.6-9%

Can anyone give insight into factors to consider that impact these numbers?

I have zero psychiatry interview invites so far I’m a DO applicant. Should I be worried anyone else on the same boat?
Any advice or when should I be concerned?
I applied to 55 programs.