COMP Enrollment Growth Approved with the Pacific Northwest as theTarget
Western University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine of the
Pacific (COMP) recently received approval to increase its enrollment.
The entering class for August 2004 will grow from 176 students to 206
students as the college implements a plan to recruit students from the
Pacific Northwest. The overall enrollment of COMP’s four-year program
could grow to over 800 students preparing to become physicians.
The Bureau of Professional Education, the accrediting arm of the
American Osteopathic Association, approved the increase after reviewing
the proposal from Western University. The university intends to recruit
students from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.
The 30 new spots are to be dedicated specifically to students from these
states.
Michael Finley, DO, Assistant Dean for Clinical Affairs and Chair
of Internal Medicine, is serving as the administrator of the Northwest
Track. Finley said that COMP is looking for students who have roots in
the Northwest either by residence or through the colleges and
universities they attended.
“”This new track will allow COMP to more directly serve the
northwestern region of the United States and at the same time build a
strong clinical training base there,”” said Finley. He explained that the
college is embarking on a growth phase that will include research,
faculty medical practice, and improved excellence in education.
President Philip Pumerantz said that Western University has in
recent years received numerous telephone calls and inquiries from
physicians, hospitals, medical groups, medicals societies and recruiters
from throughout the northwestern part of the country seeking to hire
graduates from the university’s Graduate Medical Education programs.
Pumerantz said that in keeping with the tradition of growth and
development of Western University, a feasibility study was undertaken in
October 2002 that resulted in the approved proposal.
Students accepted into COMP in the Northwest Track will spend the
first two years of their study at the university campus in Pomona. Upon
completion of their work, they will return to the northwest for two years
of medical rotations. A total of 21 four-week rotations will include
internal medicine, family medicine, surgery, ob/gyn, psychiatry,
emergency medicine, pediatrics, osteopathic manipulative medicine plus
electives.
Students interested in attending medical school or the Northwest
Track specifically, should review the admission requirements on the
Western University website at www.westernu.edu/northwest or call the
Admissions Office at (909)469-5329.