WILKES-BARRE – The Commonwealth Medical College will hold a local open house for prospective students on Monday, as the nation’s newest medical school gears up for the 2010-11 academic year.
Debra Stalk, director of admissions, said 2,734 applications had been received as of this week, more than twice the number that applied for the inaugural class that began its studies in September.
The application deadline is Dec. 15 and Stalk expects about another 1,000 applicants. Last year, 1,291 applications were received and the school accepted 60 students into its doctor of medicine program. It will accept the same number this time.
The school has changed its one-year Master’s of Biomedical Sciences requirements and expanded the class. The 13 students accepted for the 2009-10 academic year were required to pursue a career in medicine for acceptance. That could have been in dentistry, nursing, pharmacy or another medical field. This year, 30 to 40 students will be accepted, but they’ll have to be working toward becoming physicians.
The open house will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. on Monday at the Best Western Genetti Hotel, 77 East Market Street. It is open to prospective students, parents of prospective students and community members interested in learning more about the new school and its mission. Reservations are not required.
Clinical faculty and representatives of the school’s admissions, financial aid and student affairs offices will be on hand to discuss the programs and eligibility and admission requirements.
In addition to grades and MCAT score, a student’s geography will play a role in acceptance.
The school set a goal of 70 percent of its student body coming from Pennsylvania and a share of them from Northeast and Central Pennsylvania. Scranton-based TCMC has satellite campuses in Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport,
Stalk said about one-fifth of applicants for the second class are from Pennsylvania. In the inaugural class, 70 percent of the students were from Pennsylvania with 18 hailing from the region between Williamsport and the Poconos.
Dr. Robert D’Alessandri, the school’s dean and president, said students from all 50 states have applied for admission and now that the school is established, its name is being circulated at undergraduate schools across the country.
“Things have gone so well, it’s a little scary,” D’Alessandri said.
He pinned the low number of applicants last year on the fact half the application period occurred before the school received its national accreditation and because it wasn’t a known entity.
“We were a new school. People didn’t know about us,” D’Alessandri said. The number of applicants this year proves that’s changed.”
Source
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment