Med School Prep

Med School Prep

VCOM Guaranteed Acceptance Agreement
The agreement between SWU and VCOM is indeed for “Guaranteed Acceptance,” NOT “Guaranteed Interview”
for up to 10 SWU students.
 
But, as stated in the agreement, all conditions or criteria are to be met by students applying:
 
1.    Meet all general admission requirements  in Exhibit A
a.    Submit primary application to the American Association of College of Osteopathic Medicine Service
b.    Submit a secondary application to VCOM including a signature which attests the candidate meets the minimum health requirement and technical standards that are prerequisite to admission as listed in the VCOM catalog.
c.    Submit favorable letter of recommendation from the SWU pre-medical advisor/committee.
d.    Submit a favorable letter of recommendation from a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine.
2.    Complete all required courses as described in Exhibit B before graduation from SWU
a.    Biology: 8 semester hours
b.    General/Inorganic Chemistry: 8 semester hours
c.    Organic Chemistry: 8 semester hours
d.    Physics: 6 semester hours
e.    Biochemistry: 3 semester hours
f.     Additional Science: 6 semester hours in upper level science courses to be chosen from the following courses or like courses: anatomy, physiology, immunology, microbiology, genetics, virology, or bioinformatics.
g.    English: 6 semester hours.
3.    Present a science and overall GPA of 3.4 or greater
4.    Complete the medical college admissions test (MCAT)
5.    Obtain a minimum of 100 hours of health care volunteer (basically could do a 3 credit internship or just volunteer)
6.    Receive a positive interview evaluation from the SWU pre-medical committee/advisor and three VCOM faculty members including: a member of the admissions committee, a biomedical science faculty member and a physician.  VXOM values the interview as a highly important portion of the selection process.
7.    Are U.S. Citizens or permanent residents of the United States
8.    Comply with all other requirements set forth in this Agreement.
 
For more information about
The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine,
visit their web page at
www.vcom.vt.edu

Medical and D.O. School Tips

Invitation To Attend Greenville Hospital System Medical Experience (MedEx) Academy

My name is Al Squire. I am the Director of Workforce Development for the Greenville Hospital System in Greenville, South Carolina. I would like to extend an invitation to your students to participate in our Medical Experience (MedEx) Academy.

 

The MedEx Academy represents an important part of our workforce development efforts to get more young people into the health care career pipeline. It is also one of the key components of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville Expansion, particularly related to student recruitment.

Tier I of the MedEx Academy launched in 2010 and included 12 rising high school seniors. In 2011, this number expanded to 21 students representing 13 Greenville County high schools. Tier I students spend four weeks exploring not only the health care field but their comfort level and interests through simulations, tours, research and community service.  

Tier II students are college sophomores and juniors who are already working toward a degree in health care. In 2011, 13 students spent eight weeks focused mainly on research and clinical observations. They also participated in classroom didactics, which included a poverty simulation, career-associated lectures, MCAT practice and personal statement workshops. Tier II is in the process of expanding to include other collegiate institutions. More program information is available on our W ebsite : http://www.ghs.org/MedExAcademy/Application

Please share this opportunity with your students.

 

For more information about the University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville Expansion please visit our W ebsite at http://greenvillemed.sc.edu/.

 

Please contact me if I can be of assistance to you.

 

Take care.

 

-         A. Squire

Al Squire

Director, Workforce Development - Academic Development

Greenville Hospital System - University Medical Center

701 Grove Road

Greenville, SC 29605 - 5601

Phone: 864-455-3767

Fax:     864-455-8404

E-mail: asquire@ghs.org

 

Defining A New Era In Workforce Development - Miracles Begin With Young Minds

The Road to Medical School - Eric Cromer


          Eric Cromer graduated with Honors from SWU in 2010.  He participated in the Honors program and completed an Honors research project while pursuing a Pre-med degree.  Below are some of his reflections on preparing for medical school and his experience in that venture to date.

I began preparing for medical school right from the start of my freshman year of college.  I used that semester to really work hard to start off well academically, because it’s much easier to maintain a good GPA than to have to try and catch up later.  Studying well was one of the major parts of my preparation for med school, not only for the sake of my GPA, but also to build a solid foundation of knowledge to hopefully make it a little easier once I’m in med school and have to study even harder material.  Building good study habits also helped make studying for the MCAT a little easier too.  I found some MCAT study material in a library and then spent most of my summer after my junior year reviewing and studying that material and taking practice tests (which are very helpful).

            I didn’t just spend all of my time studying, though; I also got involved in a number of different opportunities on campus to get some experience in leadership positions and to build my interpersonal and communication skills.  Some of the things I did at different periods during my four years included tutoring for some of the science courses, lab assistant, cross-country, vice-president for Student Missions Focus, and resident assistant.  But I also did a few things purely for the sake of enjoyment, such as intramurals and the musical productions, because I didn’t want to spend so much time focusing on med school that I missed college.  Another great opportunity I had was to go on a medical mission trip to Zambia, Africa for a few weeks one summer.

            Since I decided to take a year off before starting med school, I had to wait until the end of my senior year to begin the application process.  Filling out the primary application was a rather large and daunting project.  It was a lot of information and I tried to put everything on it that I could think of.  Most of the schools then sent a supplemental application to be filled out as well; although those were generally much easier to fill out and did not take very long.  After that, it has simply been waiting and hoping for interview offers from the schools.

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