DO School Rankings

[GameNameJames]

Hi, I will be applying to DO schools in June but there is no official ranking on which schools are better than others. @Goro since you know more than anyone else here on SDN about DO schools, what would you say are the best schools? Can you give me maybe a top 10? Thank you for your time and effort.

Happy New Year

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[AlteredScale]

Hi, I will be applying to DO schools in June but there is no official ranking on which schools are better than others. @Goro since you know more than anyone else here on SDN about DO schools, what would you say are the best schools? Can you give me maybe a top 10? Thank you for your time and effort.

Happy New Year

Welp last time I did this I got reamed haha.

I think @DoctorSynthesis's ranking of the schools is good, no biases that I can see:

Certain school are highly regarded (been around awhile/state schools/desirable locations etc) for example-
Ccom
ATSU- KCOM/SOMA
Nsucom
PCOM
Nyit
Western
Dmu
Msucom
Azcom
KCUMB
Osucom (strong IS pref)
Rowan (strong IS pref)
UNECOM (stong IS pref)
TCOM (strong IS Pref)
Oucom (Strong IS pref, OOS must serve in Ohio for 5 years post-grad)

Certain school are meh (not as well established pretty stable but will get you where you need to go) for example-
WVSOM (IS pref?)
ACOM (new)
Lecom
RVU (Pretty new)
Touro
Vcom (VCOM-Auburn new)
Cusom (New)
PNWU

Certain schools are newer less stable and have more questionable admissions/rotations/quality
Lmu
Wcu
Lucom (New + very questionable institution)
Kycom
Pcom ga
Touro nv

 

[Dr. Hopeful]

Welp last time I did this I got reamed haha.

I think @DoctorSynthesis's ranking of the schools is good, no biases that I can see:

Certain school are highly regarded (been around awhile/state schools/desirable locations etc) for example-
Ccom
Nsucom
PCOM
Nyit
Western
Dmu
Msucom
Azcom
Osucom (strong IS pref)
Rowan (strong IS pref)
Kcumb
TCOM (strong IS Pref)
Oucom (Strong IS pref, OOS must serve in Ohio for 5 years post-grad)

Certain school are meh (not as well established pretty stable but will get you where you need to go) for example-
Lecom
RVU (Pretty new)
Touro
Vcom (VCOM-Auburn new)
Cusom (New)
PNWU

Certain schools are newer less stable and have more questionable admissions/rotations/quality
Lmu
Wcu
Lucom (New + very questionable institution)
Kycom
Pcom ga
Touro nv

If you get into any of the schools in the top list here, you should be very proud and should attend that school. If you have multiple invites from these schools, then start deciding on other factors (i.e. cost, location, match lists, curriculum, mandatory attendance or not). But any of the schools listed here will get you where you want to go.

 

[GameNameJames]

Out of curiosity, why is Lecom not regarded a a top school since their residency match is very good?

 

[ananasmed]

Out of curiosity, why is Lecom not regarded a a top school since their residency match is very good?

Now you're starting to understand why ranking DO schools is really stupid.

 

[edgerock24]

Welp last time I did this I got reamed haha.

I think @DoctorSynthesis's ranking of the schools is good, no biases that I can see:

Certain school are highly regarded (been around awhile/state schools/desirable locations etc) for example-
Ccom
Nsucom
PCOM
Nyit
Western
Dmu
Msucom
Azcom
Osucom (strong IS pref)
Rowan (strong IS pref)
Kcumb
TCOM (strong IS Pref)
Oucom (Strong IS pref, OOS must serve in Ohio for 5 years post-grad)

Certain school are meh (not as well established pretty stable but will get you where you need to go) for example-
Lecom
RVU (Pretty new)
Touro
Vcom (VCOM-Auburn new)
Cusom (New)
PNWU

Certain schools are newer less stable and have more questionable admissions/rotations/quality
Lmu
Wcu
Lucom (New + very questionable institution)
Kycom
Pcom ga
Touro nv

Why no UNECOM?

 

[AlteredScale]

Why no UNECOM?

Whoops! Sorry @edgerock24 . Fixed it for you.

 

[BurntFlower]

Where's WVSOM and ACOM?

 

[D4C]

Don't bother ranking DO schools. If you are deciding on a school however, look for one with teaching hospital affiliations. And for the love of god, don't make a decision based on a match list.

 

[lorddisick]

Don't bother ranking DO schools. If you are deciding on a school however, look for one with teaching hospital affiliations. And for the love of god, don't make a decision based on a match list.

THIS. Agreed 100%. Neurotic pre-meds often look at match lists as the golden standard when deciding how "good" one school is vs. another, but match lists are misleading, especially for DO schools. At DO schools, a large percentage of students typically want to go into primary care, and thus, you'll see a lot more family medicine, etc. residencies on the match list than you'd expect. Match lists aren't necessarily always a reflection of a school's "reputation" but are often more indicative of the student body's professional interests, especially at DO schools. (You also don't know what percentage of internal medicine matches will eventually subspecialize.)

Honestly, this "ranking DO schools" thing is utterly useless. (For the record, I believe ranking MD schools is also pretty useless, especially because most of the rankings are based off of capacity for research.) How many times have different variations of this thread appeared on SDN...? All US medical schools are difficult to get into and are more or less "good." Pick a school you're accepted to at which you feel you'll be happy.

 

[AlteredScale]

Where's WVSOM and ACOM?

Just added it to the list!

 

[AM508]

@AlteredScale and once again you leave out ATSU-KCOM....A T Still is likely sad that you have forgotten the founder

 

[AlteredScale]

@AlteredScale and once again you leave out ATSU-KCOM....A T Still is likely sad that you have forgotten the founder

This isn't my list! I knew I was going to get reamed on this one too. hahaha

 

[SLC]

This question hasn't been asked in a while. It has to have been at least since...oh I don't know...THURSDAY!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...e-me-a-rough-tier-list-of-do-schools.1113475/

OP, read that thread. Lots of good info there!

 

[AM508]

Haha I just notice that every time a list comes around, KCOM is always forgotten.

 

[AlteredScale]

Haha I just notice that every time a list comes around, KCOM is always forgotten.

And I'm always on the chopping block for it! but it's well deserved.

I'm sorry A.T. Still.

 

[Goro]

I have high opinions of many schools. I have a low opinion of LUCOM.

That's all I'll say.

Hi, I will be applying to DO schools in June but there is no official ranking on which schools are better than others. @Goro since you know more than anyone else here on SDN about DO schools, what would you say are the best schools? Can you give me maybe a top 10? Thank you for your time and effort.

Happy New Year

 

[hallowmann]

Welp last time I did this I got reamed haha.

I think @DoctorSynthesis's ranking of the schools is good, no biases that I can see:

Certain school are highly regarded (been around awhile/state schools/desirable locations etc) for example-
Ccom
ATSU- KCOM/SOMA
Nsucom
PCOM
Nyit
Western
Dmu
Msucom
Azcom
KCUMB
Osucom (strong IS pref)
Rowan (strong IS pref)
UNECOM (stong IS pref)
TCOM (strong IS Pref)
Oucom (Strong IS pref, OOS must serve in Ohio for 5 years post-grad)

Certain school are meh (not as well established pretty stable but will get you where you need to go) for example-
WVSOM (IS pref?)
ACOM (new)
Lecom
RVU (Pretty new)
Touro
Vcom (VCOM-Auburn new)
Cusom (New)
PNWU

Certain schools are newer less stable and have more questionable admissions/rotations/quality
Lmu
Wcu
Lucom (New + very questionable institution)
Kycom
Pcom ga
Touro nv

At best this list is subjective, at worst its got a lot of problems.

LECOM is far better established than all the other schools in its list and below it. They also have board scores well above the average, and first time pass rates between 97-100%. (Can you tell where I go)

UNECOM is mid-range (probably around where LECOM is). The same goes for the Touros (pretty much all of them - there's only 2 listed here, and I don't know which one is in the middle rank). ACOM and CUSOM are brand new, haven't even had kids sit for Level 1, let alone set up and send them on rotations, so the idea they'd be on the same level as LECOM, the Touros, and even RVU is ridiculous. And no offense to those who go to AZCOM, but there is no way it can be considered in the top. Far too new, and from what I hear they suffer from the same ClinEd issues that the rest in the middle have to deal with.

Now while I find the whole process of "ranking" DO schools to be ridiculous, this is at least a more accurate list:

Top: Well established, public, and/or high stats
Ccom
KCOM
Nsucom
PCOM
Nyit
Western
Dmu
Msucom (IS pref)
KCUMB
Osucom (strong IS pref)
Rowan (strong IS pref)
UNECOM (stong IS pref)
TCOM (strong IS Pref)
OU-HCOM (Strong IS pref, OOS must serve in Ohio for 5 years post-grad)

Mid-tier: established with solid record, but not in top
WVSOM
LECOMs
Touros
RVU
Vcom-VA and CC
AZCOM
SOMA
PNWU (don't know enough about this school, so I'm putting it here)

Low/No-Tier: Low stats, low boards/passing/matching, and/or "too new to tell"
Lmu
Wcu
Lucom
ACOM
MUCOM
CUSOM
Kycom
Pcom ga
VCOM-Auburn
Touro-Middletown?

Again, this is stupid, but at least this stupid list makes some sense based on record, stats, etc.

 

[AlteredScale]

WELP I can't argue with that list as you are very informed so thanks!

 

[AM508]

As far as the reliability of lists go, I think that that is probably about the best that can be done.

 

[GameNameJames]

Thank you all for your comments, as you all have been very helpful!

 

[hallowmann]

WELP I can't argue with that list as you are very informed so thanks!

Nope, it's pretty much just as bad... I hate lists...

FYI you're avatar now is either exceedingly creepy or hypnotizingly awesome (not sure which)

 

[AlteredScale]

Nope, it's pretty much just as bad... I hate lists...

FYI you're avatar now is either exceedingly creepy or hypnotizingly awesome (not sure which)

Yeah. I'm pretty sure that will be my last list on here for a while in regards to DO rankings haha. As I said on the first post, I got reamed last time for it and it happened this time too (and it wasn't even my list! hahaha).

I'll extend a thank you to you either way you feel it to be haha.

 

[breezy124]

Welp last time I did this I got reamed haha.

I think @DoctorSynthesis's ranking of the schools is good, no biases that I can see:

Certain school are highly regarded (been around awhile/state schools/desirable locations etc) for example-
Ccom
ATSU- KCOM/SOMA
Nsucom
PCOM
Nyit
Western
Dmu
Msucom
Azcom
KCUMB
Osucom (strong IS pref)
Rowan (strong IS pref)
UNECOM (stong IS pref)
TCOM (strong IS Pref)
Oucom (Strong IS pref, OOS must serve in Ohio for 5 years post-grad)

Certain school are meh (not as well established pretty stable but will get you where you need to go) for example-
WVSOM (IS pref?)
ACOM (new)
Lecom
RVU (Pretty new)
Touro*****
Vcom (VCOM-Auburn new)
Cusom (New)
PNWU

Certain schools are newer less stable and have more questionable admissions/rotations/quality
Lmu
Wcu
Lucom (New + very questionable institution)
Kycom
Pcom ga
Touro nv

This list is completely biased and some schools listed are wrong. The bolded are seriously wrong. East coasters and west coasters would not consider Touro NY meh. In fact it has the highest stats and good links to reputable residencies in NY/NYC.Not saying it is the best, but it belongs in the upper tier.

Wvsom, acom, and vcom are borderline with the 3rd tier as well. Touro Nv has a great match list and good curriculum. While match lists do not tell you how good a school is, it does indicate some threshold of it's reputation. In Touro Nv's case, that's probably mid-tier.

Also, i don't even see why SDN loves KCUMB so much. The location is less than desirable and I don't see anything special about the school, even the stats are on the lower side.

Generally: State schools are the best DO schools.

 

[AlteredScale]

This list is completely biased and some schools listed are wrong. The bolded are seriously wrong. East coasters and west coasters would not consider Touro NY meh. In fact it has the highest stats and good links to reputable residencies in NY/NYC.Not saying it is the best, but it belongs in the upper tier.

Wvsom, acom, and vcom are borderline with the 3rd tier as well. Touro Nv has a great match list and good curriculum. While match lists do not tell you how good a school is, it does indicate some threshold of it's reputation. In Touro Nv's case, that's probably mid-tier.

Also, i don't even see why SDN loves KCUMB so much. The location is less than desirable and I don't see anything special about the school, even the stats are on the lower side.

Generally: State schools are the best DO schools.

Welcome back.

As it has already been discussed. Lists don't matter and it's already been determined that everyone will have a different opinion of these lists.

Apologies for not having it all right for you. Thanks for the corrections.

 

[AM508]

This list is completely biased and some schools listed are wrong. The bolded are seriously wrong. East coasters and west coasters would not consider Touro NY meh. In fact it has the highest stats and good links to reputable residencies in NY/NYC.Not saying it is the best, but it belongs in the upper tier.

Wvsom, acom, and vcom are borderline with the 3rd tier as well. Touro Nv has a great match list and good curriculum. While match lists do not tell you how good a school is, it does indicate some threshold of it's reputation. In Touro Nv's case, that's probably mid-tier.

Also, i don't even see why SDN loves KCUMB so much. The location is less than desirable and I don't see anything special about the school, even the stats are on the lower side.

Generally: State schools are the best DO schools.

While I generally agree lists are inaccurate... in your bolded selections you indicate ATSU KCOM doesn't belong in the top tier. What criteria do you base that on? It is certainly better established than most of the schools and has numbers in the upper end of DO schools.

 

[breezy124]

While I generally agree lists are inaccurate... in your bolded selections you indicate ATSU KCOM doesn't belong in the top tier. What criteria do you base that on? It is certainly better established than most of the schools and has numbers in the upper end of DO schools.

Class of 2018
Applications Received 5,032
Applicants Interviewed 560
Average GPA 3.45
Average Science GPA 3.34
Average Age 25
Average MCAT 27

Stats wise: Sgpa is on the lower end. Mcat is average, but not a 29/30 like some schools.
location is less than desirable
I read somewhere here that the only good thing about the school was it's anatomy department.
It's also OMM heavy. There seems to be a pattern among the top DO schools - that is, they are not as omm heavy as the lower end ones.

 

[AM508]

You confuse KCOM with SOMA, the GPAs are 3.59 and 3.52 for KCOM 2018.

 

[breezy124]

You confuse KCOM with SOMA, the GPAs are 3.59 and 3.52 for KCOM 2018.

Ah, you are right. I assumed both are similar. SOMA does not belong upper tier.
I don't know much about KCOM

 

[AM508]

Ah, you are right. I assumed both are similar. SOMA does not belong upper tier.
I don't know much about KCOM

Yeah, I don't know a ton about SOMA myself as did not apply there because I was not interested in their curriculum, but based on the stats I would tend to agree with you on that point, not to mention that SOMA is fairly new. With KCOM, the stats are quite similar to DMU and as far as I know has a about the same emphasis on OMM as DMU. The only real difference being that DMU is in sizable city, whereas KCOM is in a small city. Myself, I prefer the smaller city, but location really isn't something that I take into account when judging a school as that is something that is purely personal preference.

 

[breezy124]

Yeah, I don't know a ton about SOMA myself as did not apply there because I was not interested in their curriculum, but based on the stats I would tend to agree with you on that point, not to mention that SOMA is fairly new. With KCOM, the stats are quite similar to DMU and as far as I know has a about the same emphasis on OMM as DMU. The only real difference being that DMU is in sizable city, whereas KCOM is in a small city. Myself, I prefer the smaller city, but location really isn't something that I take into account when judging a school as that is something that is purely personal preference.

I think , for some irrational reasons, location really makes a school. If you look at the non-state DO schools, many of the private ones in popular states/areas have the higher stats. NYC/Cali/Philly/florida/ohio/chicago

It's the ones in rural/middle america that tend be lower stats, with a few exceptions.

It's interesting, maybe people just care where their school is (residency options nearby could be an answer) more than it's curriculum and reputation. Touro Harlem shot up in stats when it was fairly new.

 

[AM508]

I think , for some irrational reasons, location really makes a school. If you look at the non-state DO schools, many of the private ones in popular states/areas have the higher stats. NYC/Cali/Philly/florida/ohio/chicago

It's the ones in rural/middle america that tend be lower stats, with a few exceptions.

It's interesting, maybe people just care where their school is (residency options nearby could be an answer) more than it's curriculum and reputation. Touro Harlem shot up in stats when it was fairly new.

I think that is the part that makes these lists especially tough and a bit inaccurate. Every time location comes up, people have strong feelings and it really depends on the individual. I know a lot of people who love and thrive in the big cities so those city schools appeal to them. In my case, I abhor living in large cities and opted to go the rural route as that is my background. Being from NY state and having stats competitive for any DO school, it would have been easy to go the NYC or Philly route, but since my background is rural, and that I see myself practicing rural, and that I would be fundamentally miserable in a big city, I went the rural route. I just hate to see rural schools that have good stats and are well established get overlooked, cast aside, and grouped in with other schools with lower stats and questionable rotations and match lists in favor of the big city schools.

 

[Dr. Hopeful]

This list is completely biased and some schools listed are wrong. The bolded are seriously wrong. East coasters and west coasters would not consider Touro NY meh. In fact it has the highest stats and good links to reputable residencies in NY/NYC.Not saying it is the best, but it belongs in the upper tier.

Wvsom, acom, and vcom are borderline with the 3rd tier as well. Touro Nv has a great match list and good curriculum. While match lists do not tell you how good a school is, it does indicate some threshold of it's reputation. In Touro Nv's case, that's probably mid-tier.

Also, i don't even see why SDN loves KCUMB so much. The location is less than desirable and I don't see anything special about the school, even the stats are on the lower side.

Generally: State schools are the best DO schools.

KCUMB is so highly regarded because of its match list, reputation, and new dean with a very proven resume bringing in a new proven curriculum. KCUMB matches a ton of students into ACGME residencies. You're basing your school ranks off of entering student stats, which is quite silly. Also, living in KC is a far more desirable place to live in than a majority of DO schools. The immediate surroundings of the school is somewhat ghetto, but I'll take a DO school in a poor area of the city over a school in the middle of nowhere any day, personally.

 

[meliora27]

KCUMB has also made a very clear commitment to becoming a respected research institution. Here's one of KCUMB's newest strategic additions:

http://president.kcumb.edu/2014/09/leading-als-researcher-joins-kcumb.html

 

[user3]

At best this list is subjective, at worst its got a lot of problems.

LECOM is far better established than all the other schools in its list and below it. They also have board scores well above the average, and first time pass rates between 97-100%. (Can you tell where I go)

UNECOM is mid-range (probably around where LECOM is). The same goes for the Touros (pretty much all of them - there's only 2 listed here, and I don't know which one is in the middle rank). ACOM and CUSOM are brand new, haven't even had kids sit for Level 1, let alone set up and send them on rotations, so the idea they'd be on the same level as LECOM, the Touros, and even RVU is ridiculous. And no offense to those who go to AZCOM, but there is no way it can be considered in the top. Far too new, and from what I hear they suffer from the same ClinEd issues that the rest in the middle have to deal with.

Now while I find the whole process of "ranking" DO schools to be ridiculous, this is at least a more accurate list:

Top: Well established, public, and/or high stats
Ccom
KCOM
Nsucom
PCOM
Nyit
Western
Dmu
Msucom (IS pref)
KCUMB
Osucom (strong IS pref)
Rowan (strong IS pref)
UNECOM (stong IS pref)
TCOM (strong IS Pref)
OU-HCOM (Strong IS pref, OOS must serve in Ohio for 5 years post-grad)

Mid-tier: established with solid record, but not in top
WVSOM
LECOMs
Touros
RVU
Vcom-VA and CC
AZCOM
SOMA
PNWU (don't know enough about this school, so I'm putting it here)

Low/No-Tier: Low stats, low boards/passing/matching, and/or "too new to tell"
Lmu
Wcu
Lucom
ACOM
MUCOM
CUSOM
Kycom
Pcom ga
VCOM-Auburn
Touro-Middletown?

Again, this is stupid, but at least this stupid list makes some sense based on record, stats, etc.

There seem to be fairly frequent complaints-- many even downright angry-- from students at even the most established DO schools (including PCOM, Western, and DMU).

I think the most solid schools are the state schools like TCOM, OU, MSU, OSU. They are not perfect institutions either. But all things considered, they seem to best have their act together and importantly, seem to be most stable with regards to clinical affiliations (example: MSU's SCS or OU's CORE). Stinging reviews (like in the pros/cons thread) or anonymous "I hate my school" threads also seem to be less common from these schools.

 

[breezy124]

KCUMB is so highly regarded because of its match list, reputation, and new dean with a very proven resume bringing in a new proven curriculum. KCUMB matches a ton of students into ACGME residencies. You're basing your school ranks off of entering student stats, which is quite silly. Also, living in KC is a far more desirable place to live in than a majority of DO schools. The immediate surroundings of the school is somewhat ghetto, but I'll take a DO school in a poor area of the city over a school in the middle of nowhere any day, personally.

Ah ok.

By using stats however, I am just judging the quality of students at that school. If you choose to classify that information as valuable or not is totally up to the individual.

And I do believe you. And you might even have higher stats than most DO students, It's just that you may be the exception rather than the norm.