Deciding between Touro-MI and CCOM

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youngflesh

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I've been accepted to Touro-MI and CCOM and am trying to decide between the two. I am looking for some help that's less biased than the advice I get from friends and family. A list of what for me are positives and negatives:

TUCOM:
(+)
- Small class size ~125
- Small dissection team (4-5)
- Well-ventilated anatomy lab
- Teachers seem close-knit and interesting
- West coast: close to family and friends
- No snow
- Mountains, creeks, forest nearby
- Year-round bicycling
- San Francisco and Berkeley are close
- Bay-area mentality
(-)
- Newer school (~10 years old)
- Buildings are left over from old naval academy
- Hospital relationships aren't long-standing
- No electives in osteopathic manipulation

CCOM:
(+)
- Students and interviewees were very nice, seemed intelligent
- Facilities obviously have more money put ino them
- Very established (100+ years)
- Good relationships with area hospitals and other area medical schools
- Osteopathic manipulation electives are available
- Woods on campus
- Chicago's cultural scene is outstanding
(-)
- Flat for hundreds of miles around
- Freezing cold 3-4 months of the year
- Poorly ventilated anatomy lab
- Larger dissection group size (6-8 students)
- Larger class size (~175)
- Some classes combined with students from other programs

If I had to pick right now its Touro, mostly for location. I love the outdoors - the bicycling, hiking, and motorcycling are great in the north Bay. It has been suggested to me that I should downplay location, since I will be spending most of my time studying anyway. The main reason I am considering Chicago is the positive impression I have of their rotation sites. Any comments as to whether CCOM's rotation sites might be appreciably better than TUCOM's?

Thanks!

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Pick CCOM. Forget location. A school that's been around for more than a century will undoubtedly have a better clinical program than one that's ten years old. I would not even think twice about this. Unless Cali is home for your and you wouldn't have to move out to go to TUCOM, i'd take CCOM hands down, b/c it's the quality of education that should be paramount. I couldn't care less if the school was in hicktown, USA, as long as it was a damn good one.
 
i disagree. location is important. we can't help you much with the decision. Academically, CCOM probably is a little better, but if you love the outdoors a lot and hate the cold weather I would go with T-MI.
 
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wow i feel like you are my complete opposite ;) i've been accepted at tucom for next fall since this past july and i'm really really hoping to stay in illinois and go to ccom (i'm just on the interview waitlist..all i want is an interview!). i only listed ccom on my aacomas b/c since i was accepted at touro, no other school would have been really worth it unless it was in state for me. anyway, i agree...location is everything to me. my family is in illinois which is the main reason i want to stay here. so if you consider home to be Cali, i would give tucom some serious thought.. basic science education is virtually universal across all schools, but clinical rotations seem to vary from school to school in terms of opportunity. i would say ccom has better rotation opportunities b/c they are all in the chicago area at some great hospitals. I am unfamiliar with the hosptials in california so i do not know what rotations are like there...their rotation sites are more scattered, but it doesn't necessarily mean you will be moving all the time (you can do all your core 3rd year rotations at one hospital) Really though, rotation sites seem to matter more for 3rd year since your 4 th year will be very flexible ( i plan to spend my 4th year in chicago).

Choose a school thats comfortable for you and where you will be most happy..i would be happy at either school but most happiest at ccom. No matter what school you choose, it will only be as good as you make of it. :)

I've been accepted to Touro-MI and CCOM and am trying to decide between the two. I am looking for some help that's less biased than the advice I get from friends and family. A list of what for me are positives and negatives:

TUCOM:
(+)
- Small class size ~125
- Small dissection team (4-5)
- Well-ventilated anatomy lab
- Teachers seem close-knit and interesting
- West coast: close to family and friends
- No snow
- Mountains, creeks, forest nearby
- Year-round bicycling
- San Francisco and Berkeley are close
- Bay-area mentality
(-)
- Newer school (~10 years old)
- Buildings are left over from old naval academy
- Hospital relationships aren't long-standing
- No electives in osteopathic manipulation

CCOM:
(+)
- Students and interviewees were very nice, seemed intelligent
- Facilities obviously have more money put ino them
- Very established (100+ years)
- Good relationships with area hospitals and other area medical schools
- Osteopathic manipulation electives are available
- Woods on campus
- Chicago's cultural scene is outstanding
(-)
- Flat for hundreds of miles around
- Freezing cold 3-4 months of the year
- Poorly ventilated anatomy lab
- Larger dissection group size (6-8 students)
- Larger class size (~175)
- Some classes combined with students from other programs

If I had to pick right now its Touro, mostly for location. I love the outdoors - the bicycling, hiking, and motorcycling are great in the north Bay. It has been suggested to me that I should downplay location, since I will be spending most of my time studying anyway. The main reason I am considering Chicago is the positive impression I have of their rotation sites. Any comments as to whether CCOM's rotation sites might be appreciably better than TUCOM's?

Thanks!
 
i say tu-mi...so i can have your seat at CCOM. :laugh:
 
As I said above, my main misgiving about TUCOM is its youth. Does anyone reading this have good information on the quality of Touro's rotations? I see on their website that they have a lot of affiliated hospitals, but I am more wondering how integrated and well-run the programs are.

I have been making an assumption about CCOM's program. Anyone with specific experiences or comments can verify or dispute this?

Thanks!
 
You could probably get some sense of the differences by lurking on the Class of 09, or 10 threads...
I'd personally choose CCOM b/c of the rotations/affiliations, and wouldn't care about the cold - being from the NE anyway. I've lived in Chicago and it's no different to here, weather-wise.
If being in CA is really important to you, then you've got your answer. You just have to decide if it's more important to you than what you'll miss out on at CCOM.

BTW, I don't think sharing classes with students from other programs is really a minus! :confused:
You do realize that podiatry students, and others, take a lot of the same basic science classes that 1st & 2nd year med students take, right? So why should they be separated out?
 
I'm not on a superiority trip or anything. The sharing classes is a minus because of the nearly 400-person classes that creates. Having gone to UCSD where so many of the classes are huge, I know that I prefer smaller classes.

Thanks for the suggestion on browsing 09 threads, for some reason I haven't done so already... just general searches.... maybe I'm not ready for med school after all?
 
I didnt even apply to DO schools...and I am telling you to pick CCOM. :thumbup: its a good school...
 
When in doubt:
DKMsguide.jpg
 
When in doubt:
DKMsguide.jpg

The problem lies within the concept of "better location". Undoubtedly, the hospitals in chicago are superior...some of the best in the coutry and in the world. Tucom-NV isn't comparable in terms of clinical rotations. To me, this is location-based because those hospitals are specific to chicago. On the other hand, surroundings are also location-based. Chicago is a sight of amazing cultural experiences, and at Midwestern you're also a good distance out of the city if you want it to be relatively quiet. These factors are also part of location. Finally, his/her preference to stay away from cold and snow is also a preference. Compounded with a will to stay in cali, it's a very tough decision.

For instance, if I get into PCOM I will (almost regrettably) drop my CCOM acceptance largely due to proximity to where I grew up... I certainly like Chicago as a city better than Philly, but that's just me. If I have my choice, I will stay close to my family and my S/O in PA, although I certainly do not see PCOM as "settling". PCOM, when I started this process, was the only DO school that I was going to apply to bc of its stellar reputation on the east coast. These decisions can be fairly complex.

Best of luck! :luck:
 
The problem lies within the concept of "better location". Undoubtedly, the hospitals in chicago are superior...some of the best in the coutry and in the world. Tucom-NV isn't comparable in terms of clinical rotations. To me, this is location-based because those hospitals are specific to chicago. On the other hand, surroundings are also location-based. Chicago is a sight of amazing cultural experiences, and at Midwestern you're also a good distance out of the city if you want it to be relatively quiet. These factors are also part of location. Finally, his/her preference to stay away from cold and snow is also a preference. Compounded with a will to stay in cali, it's a very tough decision.

For instance, if I get into PCOM I will (almost regrettably) drop my CCOM acceptance largely due to proximity to where I grew up... I certainly like Chicago as a city better than Philly, but that's just me. If I have my choice, I will stay close to my family and my S/O in PA, although I certainly do not see PCOM as "settling". PCOM, when I started this process, was the only DO school that I was going to apply to bc of its stellar reputation on the east coast. These decisions can be fairly complex.

Best of luck! :luck:
Excellent points, but I never specified that a given city was better than another. That was simply an admonition to base your decision off of your own opinion of the location of each school.
 
I chose TUCOM-MI and declined my interview with CCOM after find out being accepted by TUCOM because I'm from north CA, so I definitely would want to stay close to home. Family and friends support is important for me, especially for 4 years of intensive studying! Besides med school is expensive already, so I don't want to spend extra money on traveling back and forth during the breaks. The affailated hospitals and rotation sites for TUCOM-MI are spread all over the bay area, but they are all pretty good hospitals like kaiser and sutter health systems, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. :)
 
both are good schools, but i think CCOM is better, simply due to their awsome clinical rotations... as far as family, yeah it can be difficult living away from home, but you need to go to the better school... in my opinion its CCOM... but thats my 2 cents....
 
TUCOM student here, so I'm obviously biased.

I think the importance of being happy during med school is very underrated. You are going to need a lot of support, and one major way to do that is by maintaining your relationships with family and friends outside med school.

TUCOM is a great school, but keep in mind that wherever you go, med school is basically hell on Earth, from a stress/workload point of view. You need to balance that - which mean different things for different people.

Good luck with your decision.

Hopping
 
I know you asked for unbiased opinions!!! well - i am a first year at touro and love it!! they definitely have a mold when choosing their students....i think haight is up to something. i am in the middle of block week, so i will keep it short...our class is badass! we have such a great time while studying. the professors rock, for the most part. More importantly, I, like you, love the outdoors. I go to Mt. Tam (35 min away) often to mountain bike (there are closer places, however), and have been to Tahoe snowboarding 3 times this winter....there is time, don't be fooled. On the block schedule, we get out (meaning hiking, climbing, snowboarding, SF, Napa, etc.) on the first 3-4 weekends of the block, and hit the books hard the 2 weekends before. Time management my friends...and for reference (not to boast in any way), I had very very successful fall semester...PM with any questions at all...good luck, u will be happier anywhere you go though.
 
CCOMs anatomy lab has poor ventilation? That's news to me since I had anatomy there last year.
 
CCOMs anatomy lab has poor ventilation? That's news to me since I had anatomy there last year.


Yeah when you gave us the tour, it seemed downright "fresh and airy" to me.
It really did not seem poorly ventilated at all to me.
Marcia
 
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