VCOM to expand with an Auburn campus?

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http://www.auburnvillager.com/story_...y-school-reps-

Seems like VCOM is taking interest in perhaps opening up a satellite campus at Auburn. The thing that I don't understand is that Alabama is already getting a new osteopathic medical school.

This would be interesting if it does happen, Auburn is a beautiful university with a lot of world class researchers.

not sure how i feel about this. auburn would offer a legitimate affiliated institution to be partnered with. but at the same time... thats another school opening with a shortage of residency spots available

Originally Posted by tenndoc

not sure how i feel about this. auburn would offer a legitimate affiliated institution to be partnered with. but at the same time... thats another school opening with a shortage of residency spots available

Seems like there's a game plan by the AOA to increase DO seats every year. It's hard to imagine that in 2007 there were roughly 4,528 seats open and now in 2012 there will be ~6250 seats open.

That's ~38% growth in just five years.

VCOM's a top choice of mine. They seem to be doing a great job but they do appear a bit aggressive in how fast they are expanding. That being said I don't think anyone could argue that adding Auburn would be a great addition to DO schools. And if that is what Auburn is looking to do then why not take the opportunity?

* I have no idea how close the other new DO school in the area is. Hopefully not too close as I doubt Auburn would have too much trouble getting a medical school, MD or DO. Or hopefully there are enough hospitals in the area to sustain both.

This won't happen in the near future. It took Alabama 4 years just to approve ACOM. Plus 4 medical schools in 1 fairly small state (~5M) doesn't seem logical.

Originally Posted by UrshumMurshum

Seems like there's a game plan by the AOA to increase DO seats every year. It's hard to imagine that in 2007 there were roughly 4,528 seats open and now in 2012 there will be ~6250 seats open.

That's ~38% growth in just five years.

it just gets me worried that i wont get a spot.

I think Auburn would be a great place to host a medical school but I don't really see a point in starting 2 new DO schools in one rural sparsely populated state at once. I was a huge proponent of the bama DO school being based out of Auburn rather than being in crappy Dothan. Honestly the state only needs one med school to serve its needs. If UAB could get their head out of their asses there really wouldnt be a need for South Alabama or the 2 new DO schools. Where are all these schools going to get students from? Alabama is literally the least educated state(besides MS) in the country and in the lower half of overall population. There aren't enough qualified students for 4 med schools.

Also I am really skeptical about VCOM's desire to become the new LECOM or Touro. I would rather the school be freestanding or affiliated with ACOM. VCOM really had a good thing going with the VT association. It sucks to see them turn into LECOM. (no offense to any lecom students)

Originally Posted by WDeagle

I think Auburn would be a great place to host a medical school but I don't really see a point in starting 2 new DO schools in one rural sparsely populated state at once. I was a huge proponent of the bama DO school being based out of Auburn rather than being in crappy Dothan. Honestly the state only needs one med school to serve its needs. If UAB could get their head out of their asses there really wouldnt be a need for South Alabama or the 2 new DO schools. Where are all these schools going to get students from? Alabama is literally the least educated state(besides MS) in the country and in the lower half of overall population. There aren't enough qualified students for 4 med schools.

Also I am really skeptical about VCOM's desire to become the new LECOM or Touro. I would rather the school be freestanding or affiliated with ACOM. VCOM really had a good thing going with the VT association. It sucks to see them turn into LECOM. (no offense to any lecom students)

There are plenty of brilliant students at Auburn and UA that would be thrilled to attend this school if it were to open. Lack of educated students would not be the problem.

Originally Posted by WDeagle

I think Auburn would be a great place to host a medical school but I don't really see a point in starting 2 new DO schools in one rural sparsely populated state at once. I was a huge proponent of the bama DO school being based out of Auburn rather than being in crappy Dothan. Honestly the state only needs one med school to serve its needs. If UAB could get their head out of their asses there really wouldnt be a need for South Alabama or the 2 new DO schools. Where are all these schools going to get students from? Alabama is literally the least educated state(besides MS) in the country and in the lower half of overall population. There aren't enough qualified students for 4 med schools.

Also I am really skeptical about VCOM's desire to become the new LECOM or Touro. I would rather the school be freestanding or affiliated with ACOM. VCOM really had a good thing going with the VT association. It sucks to see them turn into LECOM. (no offense to any lecom students)

i would assume it would draw students from the SEC area. i know TN students would flock there since our schools have lots of ppl that dont get in

Yes, it probably would have been better for the AL DO school to locate in a place like Auburn rather than Dothan... Because maybe, that would have paved the way for a new university-affiliated DO school, which the DO world desperately lacks. Enough with all the freestanding and tiny LAC-affiliated schools.

Originally Posted by WDeagle

I think Auburn would be a great place to host a medical school but I don't really see a point in starting 2 new DO schools in one rural sparsely populated state at once. I was a huge proponent of the bama DO school being based out of Auburn rather than being in crappy Dothan. Honestly the state only needs one med school to serve its needs. If UAB could get their head out of their asses there really wouldnt be a need for South Alabama or the 2 new DO schools. Where are all these schools going to get students from? Alabama is literally the least educated state(besides MS) in the country and in the lower half of overall population. There aren't enough qualified students for 4 med schools.

Also I am really skeptical about VCOM's desire to become the new LECOM or Touro. I would rather the school be freestanding or affiliated with ACOM. VCOM really had a good thing going with the VT association. It sucks to see them turn into LECOM. (no offense to any lecom students)

if the name is going to be Auburn University COM, and its going to open up a boatload of pgy spots...then cool. if not then ugh.

Originally Posted by tide11189

There are plenty of brilliant students at Auburn and UA that would be thrilled to attend this school if it were to open. Lack of educated students would not be the problem.

No offense and it pains me to say this but if you are brilliant you are probably not gonna go to AU or UA for college.

Originally Posted by donkeykong1

if the name is going to be Auburn University COM, and its going to open up a boatload of pgy spots...then cool. if not then ugh.

id def be down to do residency down in auburn.

Originally Posted by WDeagle

No offense and it pains me to say this but if you are brilliant you are probably not gonna go to AU or UA for college.

i know plenty of brilliant ppl who go to UA or AU b/c their folks went there and they grew up bleeding crimson or tiger blue just like i grew up bleeding orange

Should be interesting! Id go there! I was talking to a guy i know at VCOM and he was telling me about Auburn and actually Campbell in NC as well. Anyone know anything about Campbell?

Originally Posted by WDeagle

No offense and it pains me to say this but if you are brilliant you are probably not gonna go to AU or UA for college.

Well this is an example of ignorance everybody... I know people who did their undergrad at UA who are currently studying medicine at Harvard, Penn, and Hopkins.

Is it really a new school, or just a satellite campus?

Originally Posted by SoulinNeed

Is it really a new school, or just a satellite campus?

According to the article it would be a satellite campus, but with an anticipated class of 160 students. So effectively a new school.

Originally Posted by UrshumMurshum

According to the article it would be a satellite campus, but with an anticipated class of 160 students. So effectively a new school.

In that case, this is actually great news. More DO schools being associated with major public universities is a good thing, people.

Originally Posted by donkeykong1

if the name is going to be Auburn University COM, and its going to open up a boatload of pgy spots...then cool. if not then ugh.

Originally Posted by SoulinNeed

In that case, this is actually great news. More DO schools being associated with major public universities is a good thing, people.

Just being associated doesn't cut it though, it needs to actually be a part of the university and bear its name.

Originally Posted by user3

Just being associated doesn't cut it though, it needs to actually be a part of the university and bear its name.

No, it needs to have access to some of the University's resources. That's more important than just a name (though that would help too).

Originally Posted by user3

Just being associated doesn't cut it though, it needs to actually be a part of the university and bear its name.

Yea VCOM-Auburn sounds terrible. AUCOM sounds badass.

Is it really 180 students? That would be the largest school in the state. UAB is 160. ACOM will be 160 and USA is like 80. So 580 medical students graduating per year in a state with probably has less than 100 pgy1 residency spots per year. Of those pgy1 spots most are associated with UAB which rarely will take DO's for anything and hardly even takes its own students for residencies. The surrounding states have even less residency programs. It's really not fair to you guys who will be applying in the next couple of years. I was astounded by the amount of my classmates who didnt match this year. Really good candidates who were not even applying to competitive specialties did not match.

Having said that "AUCOM" would automatically be the coolest places to go to school out of the existing DO schools.

Originally Posted by WDeagle

Yea VCOM-Auburn sounds terrible. AUCOM sounds badass.

Is it really 180 students? That would be the largest school in the state. UAB is 160. ACOM will be 160 and USA is like 80. So 580 medical students graduating per year in a state with probably has less than 100 pgy1 residency spots per year. Of those pgy1 spots most are associated with UAB which rarely will take DO's for anything and hardly even takes its own students for residencies. The surrounding states have even less residency programs. It's really not fair to you guys who will be applying in the next couple of years. I was astounded by the amount of my classmates who didnt match this year. Really good candidates who were not even applying to competitive specialties did not match.

Having said that "AUCOM" would automatically be the coolest places to go to school out of the existing DO schools.

Not going to lie but this REALLY scares me!
So what happens to these students? do they just wait for the following year to get matched somewhere?

Originally Posted by angldrps

Not going to lie but this REALLY scares me!
So what happens to these students? do they just wait for the following year to get matched somewhere?

Scramble would be my guess.

Originally Posted by SoulinNeed

Scramble would be my guess.

There is nothing good left in the scramble especially for DO's. Most ended up doing traditional internships and will apply to residency all over again during internship. Really sucks. I know of people who didn't match MD and couldn't get TRI spots because scramblers from the DO match who went unmatched got them all. They ended up doing FM even though they were going for completely different fields.

Originally Posted by WDeagle

There is nothing good left in the scramble especially for DO's. Most ended up doing traditional internships and will apply to residency all over again during internship. Really sucks. I know of people who didn't match MD and couldn't get TRI spots because scramblers from the DO match who went unmatched got them all. They ended up doing FM even though they were going for completely different fields.

It's already gotten bad? But I thought class of 2012 predated the expansion of both MD and DO schools. If it's bad now it's only going to get ridiculous for class of 2017 if things remain the same.

A combined match would alleviate some of these problems, but nobody seems to want to do anything about it.

On the bright side, DO's had a record high match rate in the NRMP (75%).

Originally Posted by UrshumMurshum

It's already gotten bad? But I thought class of 2012 predated the expansion of both MD and DO schools. If it's bad now it's only going to get ridiculous for class of 2017 if things remain the same.

Yeah, this has little to do with expansion. It was probably just bad luck, or a combination of various issues. I would believe it was partly due to expansion in later years, but those guys' problems probably had little to do with a residency crunch.

BTW, for anyone freaking out, just look at this. http://www.nejm.org/action/showImage...07519&iid=f01&

And this doesn't include AOA spots. Yeah, it's getting bad, but nowhere near the doom and gloom people are projecting.

Originally Posted by UrshumMurshum

It's already gotten bad? But I thought class of 2012 predated the expansion of both MD and DO schools. If it's bad now it's only going to get ridiculous for class of 2017 if things remain the same.

2012ers were kind of at the beginning of expansion before it got really bad. As far as DO schools go there are a few new schools that started in 2008 or the 2 years before it (RVU, LMU, the northwest school, the at still in AZ, Touro-NY, and Im sure LECOM found another branch campus somewhere).

Originally Posted by SoulinNeed

Yeah, this has little to do with expansion. It was probably just bad luck, or a combination of various issues. I would believe it was partly due to expansion in later years, but those guys' problems probably had little to do with a residency crunch.

BTW, for anyone freaking out, just look at this. http://www.nejm.org/action/showImage...07519&iid=f01&

And this doesn't include AOA spots. Yeah, it's getting bad, but nowhere near the doom and gloom people are projecting.

Squeezing out Caribbean and fmgs