Pros and cons of attending Western?

[sabhad]

Is anyone able to speak about what it's like to be a student here or may have personal experience in this program? How is the IPE? I'm considering this school greatly primarily because of the rotations and lecture format.  

Edited January 30, 2021 by sabhad

[futurePA5359]

I wouldn't come to western just for the IPE or lecture format. In my opinion, the IPE is just busy work and is pretty much non-existent now because of COVID. Also, their lecture format is not that great and in my opinion is outdated. There are plenty of schools that are taking an active approach toward updating their didactic curriculum toward an organ system approach, and western is definitely not one of those. In a class size of 98, I feel that most students don't receive as much support as they need and would recommend a school with a smaller class size especially because of COVID. Throughout the COVID pandemic, we've had very limited amount of in-person skills days and is definitely going to hold us back during clinicals. 

Lastly, from what I've seen/heard from students in their clinical year, it is very difficult to receive good clinical rotations currently and you're usually on a rotation with several other PA/DO/MD students. And because of this you have much more limited exposure to cases throughout your clinical year. Overall, i'd recommend a program that puts more attention towards its students. Their have been multiple posters on this forum in the past, who have reverberated the point that western students are subpar in terms of their clinical studies and I can definitely see why now. Best of luck in whatever program you choose!

[sabhad]

On 2/1/2021 at 3:56 PM, futurePA5359 said:

I wouldn't come to western just for the IPE or lecture format. In my opinion, the IPE is just busy work and is pretty much non-existent now because of COVID. Also, their lecture format is not that great and in my opinion is outdated. There are plenty of schools that are taking an active approach toward updating their didactic curriculum toward an organ system approach, and western is definitely not one of those. In a class size of 98, I feel that most students don't receive as much support as they need and would recommend a school with a smaller class size especially because of COVID. Throughout the COVID pandemic, we've had very limited amount of in-person skills days and is definitely going to hold us back during clinicals. 

Lastly, from what I've seen/heard from students in their clinical year, it is very difficult to receive good clinical rotations currently and you're usually on a rotation with several other PA/DO/MD students. And because of this you have much more limited exposure to cases throughout your clinical year. Overall, i'd recommend a program that puts more attention towards its students. Their have been multiple posters on this forum in the past, who have reverberated the point that western students are subpar in terms of their clinical studies and I can definitely see why now. Best of luck in whatever program you choose!

thank you so much for replying! Are you a current/former student? The large class size is definitely a concern for me on top of their most recent PANCE score of 85%. I also didn't think that the IPE was much considering it is now virtual anyways as u stated. Thanks for the input about the rotations this really helps my decision process more than you know! 

[tt234]

On 1/30/2021 at 9:36 AM, sabhad said:

Is anyone able to speak about what it's like to be a student here or may have personal experience in this program? How is the IPE? I'm considering this school greatly primarily because of the rotations and lecture format.  

Hi Current WesternU student here !

I will completely have to disagree with my colleague above. Help is available if you seek it from the professors, I haven't had one problem being able to do so. Plus if you score under a certain percentage you are required to meet with them, and develop a strategy towards improving your study habits.  

In addition many people I know have actually received job offers from their rotations!

Overall  you reap what you sow. You are going to get of the program what you put in ! 

They are right about IPE though...

[FutureYearningPA]

Current second year student at WesternU here. Agreed with tt234 on everything he/she said. Every school had a decrease in PANCE score due to the change in PANCE blueprint and content in 2019. There is plenty of help, resources, and clinic rotation opportunities. You are set up with a mentor and you always can message them when you have questions or are having a hard time. COVID has affected all programs, not just us.

Edited February 22, 2021 by FutureYearningPA

[KFRRose]

On 2/4/2021 at 3:04 PM, sabhad said:

thank you so much for replying! Are you a current/former student? The large class size is definitely a concern for me on top of their most recent PANCE score of 85%. I also didn't think that the IPE was much considering it is now virtual anyways as u stated. Thanks for the input about the rotations this really helps my decision process more than you know! 

 

On 1/30/2021 at 9:36 AM, sabhad said:

Is anyone able to speak about what it's like to be a student here or may have personal experience in this program? How is the IPE? I'm considering this school greatly primarily because of the rotations and lecture format.  

I’m a current second year Western student. Forget IPE. It is busywork. But don’t listen entirely to whoever totally dissed the program. Firstly it is an organ based system curriculum. So I’m not sure where that person is getting there info from. Secondly, unless you pay to go to USC (and their extensive hookups) you will have the same type of rotation experiences as most programs in SoCal. I’ve had a couple rotations where there are other students from other programs. This is normal. Especially with covid, many many preceptors have closed or stopped taking students. Couple that with the additional PA programs now active in SoCal and you will find you’ll rarely ever be in a rotation alone. But I’m not with so many others I don’t hey to do anything. The sites that take a lot of students usually have a zillion patients so the ration of student to patient is appropriate. I usually see at least 8 patients a day (usually more) for the majority of my rotations thus far. Western isn’t the best at “caring about their students” but if you reach out there are resources. Idk where the comment about subpar clinical skills came from cause I certainly don’t agree with that. I’m not sure what kind of “clinical” skills one thinks they will master in their didactic year, but I guarantee the exposure will be similar. If you are considering western for the rotations I’ll let you know they actually are a step ahead of most programs in that you get to choose ahead of time your schedule. I learned from other students from different PA programs (MBK, Scuhs, Dominican) that they don’t have a say whatsoever in where they go. They will sometimes find out just two weeks before! That’s crazy to me. Covid had messed up every program up. I have a lot of issues with western but passing the PANCE isn’t one of them. My colleague was correct about the change in format. But either way, the tools have been given to us to pass. Pros and cons to every program. There are cons to western but I just don’t think futurePA person got it right as to what they are. 

[thechillpa]

On 3/14/2021 at 3:55 AM, KFRRose said:

 

I’m a current second year Western student. Forget IPE. It is busywork. But don’t listen entirely to whoever totally dissed the program. Firstly it is an organ based system curriculum. So I’m not sure where that person is getting there info from. Secondly, unless you pay to go to USC (and their extensive hookups) you will have the same type of rotation experiences as most programs in SoCal. I’ve had a couple rotations where there are other students from other programs. This is normal. Especially with covid, many many preceptors have closed or stopped taking students. Couple that with the additional PA programs now active in SoCal and you will find you’ll rarely ever be in a rotation alone. But I’m not with so many others I don’t hey to do anything. The sites that take a lot of students usually have a zillion patients so the ration of student to patient is appropriate. I usually see at least 8 patients a day (usually more) for the majority of my rotations thus far. Western isn’t the best at “caring about their students” but if you reach out there are resources. Idk where the comment about subpar clinical skills came from cause I certainly don’t agree with that. I’m not sure what kind of “clinical” skills one thinks they will master in their didactic year, but I guarantee the exposure will be similar. If you are considering western for the rotations I’ll let you know they actually are a step ahead of most programs in that you get to choose ahead of time your schedule. I learned from other students from different PA programs (MBK, Scuhs, Dominican) that they don’t have a say whatsoever in where they go. They will sometimes find out just two weeks before! That’s crazy to me. Covid had messed up every program up. I have a lot of issues with western but passing the PANCE isn’t one of them. My colleague was correct about the change in format. But either way, the tools have been given to us to pass. Pros and cons to every program. There are cons to western but I just don’t think futurePA person got it right as to what they are. 

What are the cons that you see at western? 

[KFRRose]

Cons: large class size. The time allowed for certain clinical lessons will always be limited by this. Also, the PA program at Western is like the red headed stepchild of the entire university. We are in the oldest building with the least amount of clinical learning resources. Forget going to the cadaver lab or getting extensive clinical lab experience. You get one experience for each organ system. The program has changed  a little bit cause professors have changed this past year so idk if that will be an improvement or not. They also don’t seem to “care” about you. Overall I would say the feeling/ expectation is that we are to just pass and not cause trouble. When I say trouble I don’t mean real trouble. I mean: don’t have a bad day when a test is scheduled. Don’t fail multiple tests. Don’t ask too many questions, don’t need to much help. I didn’t do any of this, except be sick on a test day. That alone made me annoyed at how I was treated. It felt like high school. I’m not sure how supportive other programs are.... could be the same elsewhere. This is also my subjective opinion so take that with a grain Of salt. I’m not a needy person but if I had been I don’t think I would have gotten much help. Also, academically..... if you can’t make it in the beginning, chances are you won’t make it. This isn’t the type of program where tutoring will make a huge difference. The best you can hope for is guidance on study habits. But if you’re lost with content? Sorry. No time to catch up. I don’t think that’s necessarily a con with Western. It’s just the nature of the beast. Each program will have cons. Pick the cheapest and most convenient one lol