VCOM Faculty Handbook

Recruitment Priorities

VCOM has focused recruitment efforts in four major areas:

Appalachia and Delta Regions VCOM recruits students from the socioeconomically depressed states within the southern Appalachian and Delta regions. These include the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, and the surrounding states of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Southern Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, SE Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. Students from these states or region are a priority for recruitment to enable VCOM to meet its mission to improve healthcare to these rural and medically underserved populations. Students from these states and region, who meet VCOM’s minimum standards or greater, are a priority for interview. Rural VCOM has a commitment to recruiting additional students from all rural areas. It is VCOM’s commitment to meet the physician shortage in rural areas throughout the Eastern and Mid-United States, especially within Appalachia and the Delta regions as a priority recruitment area. Minority VCOM recognizes the lack of medical care to minority populations; therefore, VCOM actively recruits minority students from minority populations that are currently underrepresented in health care. The population of the United States is becoming increasingly diverse; thus, VCOM seeks a student body that will ultimately meet the needs of a diverse society. Each year VCOM ranks as one of the top osteopathic medical schools for minority students. Mission-Minded VCOM is committed to producing physicians to meet society's health care needs. VCOM seeks students who are compassionate, knowledgeable, and committed to quality health care for all. The Appalachian outreach and international outreach programs, in which all students may participate, were developed to assist students in developing the skills needed to provide compassionate and altruistic care whether for a rural area, a medically underserved population in an urban area, or in a developing country. VCOM seeks students who share this personal mission and commitment to those who are medically underserved and who have demonstrated a commitment to underserved populations in the past.

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