VCOM College Catalog and Student Handbook

prescribing physician verifying the prescription and medical necessity for the medication. Students who are prescribed such medications after matriculation must notify Clinical Affairs upon initiation of the medication and provide the same documentation. Use of such medications will be reviewed to determine whether the applicant can meet the Technical Standards for Admission and Successful Completion of the Osteopathic Program and safely participate in all required educational and clinical activities. Documentation of a valid prescription or a medically necessary treatment regimen does not guarantee a student's eligibility to participate in all educational, laboratory, simulation, or clinical activities. For example, VCOM recognizes that some states have legalized marijuana for medical use. Nevertheless, students must be able to meet the technical standards of the program and safely participate in educational and clinical activities. Because marijuana may impair judgment, cognition, perception, and psychomotor performance, its use, whether prescribed, recommended, or otherwise authorized, is prohibited by VCOM. The College reserves the right to have the Individual Assessment Team evaluate the use of any prescribed controlled substance or other medication that may result in a positive drug screen and underlying condition to determine whether the student can meet the Technical Standards for Admission and Successful Completion of the Osteopathic Program and safely participate in all required educational and clinical activities. Certain medications may impair cognitive, behavioral, physical, sensory, or psychomotor functioning necessary for participation in preclinical coursework, laboratories, simulations, assessments, and other educational activities. If a medication prevents a student from meeting the Technical Standards or safely fulfilling program requirements, the student may be deemed ineligible to continue enrollment, participate in specific activities, or progress in the program. In addition, certain clinical training environments may impose restrictions on individuals with positive drug screen results or the use of specific medications, regardless of whether the medication is legally prescribed. Students remain responsible for meeting all program and clinical training requirements and must be able to satisfy the Technical Standards for Admission and Successful Completion of the Osteopathic Program at all times. AACOMAS Application VCOM participates with other osteopathic colleges in a centralized application processing service called the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service (AACOMAS). In certain cases, an applicant who was deferred or who completed Bluefield University’s Master of Arts degree in Biomedical Sciences degree may be able to use an AACOMAS application from a prior AACOMAS cycle. To initiate the application process, prospective students must apply directly to AACOMAS. After applicants submit an application to AACOMAS they have several VCOM campus options. Applicants can: • designate one campus; • rank the campuses in order of attendance preference; or • designate all campuses. Applicants have the opportunity to be considered at the other VCOM campuses if their preferred campus is full. AACOMAS requires one designation (and fee) for each VCOM campus; however, a student may apply to only one campus and when the student is invited to submit a secondary application, he/she may utilize the secondary application form to designate additional campuses where they wish to be considered. VCOM only requires one secondary application fee when applying to more than one campus. In order to process the application, AACOMAS will require official copies of transcripts from all colleges/universities attended. High school information is documented by the applicant on the AACOMAS application (high school name, city, state, and year of graduation). VCOM’s Admissions staff may request further documentation in the form of the applicant’s high school diploma, which will be verified by VCOM. Applicants must also submit their official MCAT scores from AAMC to AACOMAS. Applicants who have taken course work

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