KCOM vs. RVU

[TankTuck]

Hello, I am new to SDN, and wasn't sure if I should include my inquiry into the previous KCOM vs. RVU thread or create an new one. Anyway, I have been accepted to KCOM, however they do not currently have a seat available (they said April 15th would be the next time seats may open). I was set on KCOM until interviewing at RVU, who I will here from next week. They have been very picky on interview invites and accept 80% of interviewees. I understand that this is my choice to make, but I am looking for some input. Here are my pros and cons of each:

KCOM. Pros: Obviously, being the founding school, its prestige and name are top shelf. Cost of living is near to nothing. I assume the OMM program to be higher quality than RVU (this is an assumption, anyone know more about this?). Being a more established school the match list is superior. I was very intrigued by the ultrasound "living" anatomy. Not as many distractions. On campus gym. Cons: I have almost no idea when I will be offered a seat. Students on previous posts said they received seats in June, starting class in July. Isolated (positive and negative). Not as much to do ( I am very active). Board scores appear to be inferior to RVU. Its not a pressing concern, but I have heard that KCOM is great for married couples, what about being single?

RVU. Pros: Close too the highest board scores of DO schools (huge for residency placement). I have lived in Colorado my entire life, my whole family and support system is here. I am not opposed to branching out, but it may be even harder in med school. I plan on becoming very close with my classmates, but having family near by wouldn't hurt. I am extremely active and the front range provides me with every recreation I could ask for, short of a tropical beech. It seems that RVU students may be a more active group as well, everyone seemed to have a ski pass. The school is young (positive and negative), which allows them to be more open to suggestions, change and adaptation. The schools curriculum appears to be great, I love the idea of learning systems twice. First in concert with anatomy and the "norm," followed by systems pathology. Cons: I have lived in Colorado my entire life. The school is for-profit, which from my research is not an issue, but can be an issue with others. More distractions. The school is young, causing there to not be as many residency spots as KCOM (?).

Both schools have a very warm, cooperative and friendly feel to them. I am very passionate about learning as much OPP as possible, perfecting my OMM technique (the most effective treatment for my beat up body hands down), thus I really want to become an OMM fellow. RVU has four OMM fellow positions and KCOM has five. Sorry for the novel, any experiences with these fellowships or schools would be extremely appreciated.

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[ChodeNode]

Where do you see your career in medicine taking you? How do you see each of these schools preparing you and putting you on that trajectory?

 

[kinzav]

Hmm, so I had this decision to make, roughly a year ago.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/kcom-vs-rvu.1060120/

You can take a look at that to see how I felt back then. At the end of the day I chose KCOM. I wouldn't say there was a right and a wrong choice, and who knows, maybe RVU would've been way better than my experience at KCOM this year, but I'll just let you in on what I've learned.

First, I like the campus. I spend a lot of time studying, and that means either I'm on campus or at home. The thing about RVU was everything was in that one building and it was kind of isolated. KCOM's campus is kind of spread out and makes you feel a little less claustrophobic. Something I didn't care about before, but I really appreciate now.

Second, I appreciate the long standing tradition. I thought it was a load of bologna when I was considering it, but it means something to me to have successful professors and physicians telling you about their time when they were at ATSU. It told me that what was going wrong was my fault, and not the schools (a tough pill to swallow, but as a really self conscious guy, it affirmed my choice of KCOM).

Third, there's ample recreational stuff to do. I hate to say it, but the people you'll be socializing with are in your classes. The thought of dating someone not familiar with my school's demands seems crazy to me. And med students are friendly. Multiple classmates have relationships with each other throughout the year.

Fourth, boards are on you. I didn't really trust what people said before "board scores are a measure of an individual, not a school, etc.". It's true. I'd attribute the variances in schools more to the caliber student they accept than the curriculum they employ. If a school hits the jackpot with a bunch of gunners, their score will rise, and if they slump on admissions, their score will go down. It's an interesting thing to look at a review book. It's developed for all medical students, not for specific schools. We all use first aid, and we all learn the material at different medical schools, and it all correlates the same.

Fifth, I'm happy class isn't required. I started going to all the classes for the first semester practically. 8-12, then lab 1-4 or so, or maybe just more class 1-2, whatever. I would get home and wanna nap. Wake up at 6 and study till midnight or so. Watch some TV before bed, sleep by 1-2, wake back up at 8. I was getting tired. Then it was like, I can sleep in and watch the videos. At 2 times speed!! It's like you are gaining time in your day. You can shrink 4 hours of lectures into 2 and then you can sleep in 2 more hours. It's great, and you get to play with your schedule when you feel down or if you're excited for class... Anyways, glad I considered this.

Things I'm not as sure about: Residency. Don't know how it'll work, but when I looked at ATSU's placements I was much more impressed than RVU's, which was the biggest factor in my decision. When I see a lot of "____ Medical Center", I think it was a fall back, and more "____ University" I think it's more impressive. Either way it's not dependent on the school as much as you, but I don't like seeing trends like that. The other thing I don't know about, is how much fun Parker is. It didn't feel like anyone in Parker was all that aware of RVU when I visited, but ATSU dominates Kirksville. But Denver was close and seemed pretty sweet, whereas St Louis is 3 hours away and Columbia is 1.5 hours away (tho Columbia has everything you need).

Sorry for the megapost, but I came on here interested in telling my story and was super surprised that there was a post almost exactly like mine from last year. If you have any questions, just let me know. It's Spring Break now, so I might not be on very often but I'll definitely get back to you as soon as I can. Good luck with your decision bud!

 

[TankTuck]

Great response kinzav, thanks! No worries on the mega post, the more info the better. Its wild how similar our decisions are. Really if I didn't have any ties to Colorado, I would be all for KCOM. Makes me think that I should be all for KCOM, just trying to wrap my mind around living in Kirksville. Its a small price to pay for such a prestigious education. A good amount of my decision will come down to which school can offer me a seat first. I am happy to be accepted to KCOM, but I am not looking to wait a year and a half to start school if a seat doesn't open this spring. Even more so, I wouldn't want to be offered a seat within a month or a few weeks of class starting (I read experiences of this on other posts). Finally, I personally have a few more pros for RVU than KCOM at the moment, but your post has helped level that off.

ChodeNode, I am honestly not sure how I see each of these schools preparing me for my career. I want to enter medical school with an open mind and let my passions develop with experience (considering a specialty or primary care). What I do know is I am excited to learn osteopathic manipulations, as they have been so key to the rehabilitation of many injuries I have sustained. Furthermore I work in an osteopathic clinic and the two traditional osteopaths here have been great mentors to me. They mainly practice OMM and cranial osteopathy, with less emphasis on homeopathy and medical acupuncture. I was originally skeptical on the efficacy of these alternative treatments, until seeing first hand the massive amounts of patients that are helped by them. These physicians do nothing, promotion wise, and still receive 10-20 new patients a week. Patients are obviously happy and referring friends and family. So getting back on track, at the moment I could see myself pursuing an OMM/NMM specialty. Both of these schools provide an OMM fellowship, which I am looking to apply too at the moment. One of my pros for RVU comes from having a good friend who is an OMM fellow.

 

[67552931811]

KCOM.

 

[kinzav]

Just one more thing, I don't think it's a bad idea to send in your deposits while you're still making your decision. In the grand scheme of things, you'll be paying something like 250k for school. 2k in deposits isn't a bad investment to give you more time to make one of the biggest decisions of your life. I ended up paying all the RVU deposits, and getting off the accepted pending list the very next day. Either way man, you're gonna be a doctor, it's gonna be hard, but it's so awesome to make it.

 

[TankTuck]

I got placed on the alternate list for RVU (in this past this sounds about on level with a denial, unless you get lucky). After weighing my options, I want to go to KCOM more anyway. The biggest thing was wrapping my mind around moving away from my support system here in Colorado, but nothing good comes out of just wanting to be comfortable. KCOM isn't only more prestigious and established, but I believe overall it will provide the education I am seeking. The college seems extremely warm and welcoming as well, so I am sure it won't be a problem fitting in. Rent being cheaper than utilities doesn't hurt either.

I am still waiting for them to offer me a seat (so I haven't paid deposits yet), but they said there should be a good chance on this happening around April 15th. I have seen posts on SDN from the past about accepted students getting offered a seat less than a month before classes start. I really hope this doesn't happen, it will be a s***nado if so.

kinzav, thanks for the advice, I assume you are a second year. How has school been treating you so far? Any advice on what to do in this time before classes start? I am continuing to work full time, saving as much money as possible and will be taking a trip to Bocas del Toro, Panama with some friends.

 

[kinzav]

Haha, just have fun (which sounds like what you're doing already). Personally, I'd say think of medical school as little as you can and try to have as much fun as you can now. Not that you can't have fun in medical school, it's just not as relaxed once you start.

As far as school goes, it's tough, my girlfriend (who I met the couple months before school started cause I was enjoying myself a lot), had a rough year which made it harder, but medical school is manageable in that sense. If you devote yourself to medical school everyday, you'll do really well, if you give yourself some breaks throughout your week, you'll get by just fine.

As far as KCOM goes, it's doing fine, sometimes I think we do too much OMM, but that might be what you like, it just takes away time from resting up and studying other, more difficult stuff. Anyways, wish you the best of luck on your wait and try not to worry too much, haha.

 

[TankTuck]

For sure, awesome advice once again! I am trying to keep my mind off of school, but also want to be informed. Definitely making the most of my time and having fun (St. Patties made the last few days at work pretty rough). I am really excited about OMM, so at the moment, that is awesome. Who knows, that could change when I have a bunch of other tests to study for.

Its interesting what you said about your girlfriend. I understand its personal and don't share any more if your not comfortable. Was the year rough for her, because she had to adjust to not seeing you as much? I don't want to over think it, but I planned on going to Missouri by myself and breaking up with my girlfriend beforehand. It's not that our relationship is bad, but I am not sure if I want to spend my life with this girl. I have heard the stats on med school breakups. I would feel terrible if she followed me out to MO and I broke thing off. Furthermore, I do help talk her through a lot of personal issues and her parents and brother (in Colorado) are huge to her. I don't know if I can fill this void, while being 100% dedicated to classes and I suspect that she will have some serious issues of her own. I got to figure it out myself, but damn some decisions suck!

 

[kinzav]

For sure, awesome advice once again! I am trying to keep my mind off of school, but also want to be informed. Definitely making the most of my time and having fun (St. Patties made the last few days at work pretty rough). I am really excited about OMM, so at the moment, that is awesome. Who knows, that could change when I have a bunch of other tests to study for.

Its interesting what you said about your girlfriend. I understand its personal and don't share any more if your not comfortable. Was the year rough for her, because she had to adjust to not seeing you as much? I don't want to over think it, but I planned on going to Missouri by myself and breaking up with my girlfriend beforehand. It's not that our relationship is bad, but I am not sure if I want to spend my life with this girl. I have heard the stats on med school breakups. I would feel terrible if she followed me out to MO and I broke thing off. Furthermore, I do help talk her through a lot of personal issues and her parents and brother (in Colorado) are huge to her. I don't know if I can fill this void, while being 100% dedicated to classes and I suspect that she will have some serious issues of her own. I got to figure it out myself, but damn some decisions suck!

My thing was she was really squared away, she just got injured and had hospital stuff to get through, so I spent a couple hours a day FaceTimeing her. More than that amount of time and it would be almost too tough to get through med school. If you think she won't understand that you will be working hard and using your downtime to relax, which might not always mean talking to her, then it might be tough. Everyone's different, but an hour a day isn't bad, you can make it work, it'll eat into your tv time, or exercise time, but you can make it work. Once it gets more than that, you might start getting in trouble. This is something to consider even if she comes out to live with you. If she doesn't understand that you need to be alone and studying most of the day, and can only spend a couple hours a day socializing with her during the day, then maybe it's not good for her to move out there with you. Just my two cents, you know it's up to you to feel it out haha.

 

[Monkitty]

Just to give Kirksville it's fair due, while it is small, I think you will find plenty to do.

Thousand Hills State Park is only 15-20 minutes from town and is a wonderful little park. Plenty of hiking and biking trails, as well as camp spots. Fishing too if you like that. Great place to have BBQs and the like.

Truman State University (my alma mater!), honestly I think, breathes more life into Kirksville than KCOM does. While Truman isn't huge, we have had some nice folks stop by for concerts and the like. It definitely adds a touch of culture that wouldn't be there without it (it also has the only decent radio station in my mind).

It's been about 10 years, but rent definitely was cheap when I was there. The only thing that I think Kirksville really misses is some good dining. Pancake City (aka "****ties") is a great, greasy, down-to-earth diner. Pagliai's Pizza is a great little place and their "ronzas" (calzones) are pretty killer. We used to have a great pub called il Spazio, but it closed. Plenty of bars though if you just want to get your drink down.

As noted above, Columbia is only 80-90 minutes away, and it's pretty much got everything you'll need. Good for a weekend trip, day of shopping or catching a show.