School:
Pros: The school is very friendly and willing to look at you as a whole. They are very open to opinions and student feed back. The school is basically a a big family and everyone helps everyone, there is no cutthroat behavior (there is no need for that). The staff is very approachable and willing to help. Your success is the schools success and they know that and it is a key component of their mission. The school is very organized and does a great job at managing 200+ students, hiccups happen and will happen at any school, DCOM does a good job of recovering and making sure you get a great education and have plenty of opportunity to get where you want to go. The facilities are state of the art and technologically advanced. Each study room has 10-15 chairs with a TV available to group study, there are about 15 of these rooms in each building. Sim lab and OSCE labs are fantastic and help prepare you well for rotations. It has been expressed to the school many times that preceptors clinical rotations are very pleased with preparation that students receive to do a history and physical on a patient and actually do well. The school sits on a hill that over looks a gorgeous view. You cannot beat the scenery, seriously.
Cons: The school does accept about 220 students, it is a large class, but as I said in Pros, they do well on keeping it organized. It is a newer school, so we don't have a ton of practicing physicians in the field yet, not a big deal though, there will be 8 classes ahead of you that have paved a very nice pathway to residencies. Um... my experience here has been fantastic and I am very please with my choice to attend DCOM. I can't say I have that many cons on the school, truly.
Not really a con, just a note: Hiccups happen no matter where you go, the best way to evaluate a school is to gain an understanding of how a school handles the hiccups. DCOM does a great job at hiccup management.
The area:
Pros: It is gorgeous here. The mountains and the lushes green terrain is fantastic. The storms are fun to watch and the sun peaking up over the mountains as you head to school really makes the area shine. There is a lot of outdoor stuff you can do here. Plenty of adventure. It is an hour and a half away from Knoxville, so it makes it easier to focus and study as there is not a lot to do in terms of night life. If you do want to go see a movie there is a theater in Middlesboro, it is not nice by any means, but a new movie is much cheaper there than a nice theater.
Cons: It is an hour and a half away from Knoxville, so you do have to drive a little ways in order to get to something more than Palancos and Gondolier for restaurants and entertainment. The area is rural, which isn't necessarily a con as I actually enjoy a smaller town than a large city, but if you are from a city, it does make for an experience from what you are use too. But you can do anything for 2 years, then you can head to rotations and try to get a spot at a larger area like Knoxville, Memphis or Nashville.
If you are from the city, the way I look at it, you can come to DCOM and get more than just an education, you get to experience a different culture and way of life. When you are done with it all, you can aim for a residency in a larger city and still go back to your roots if you want. If you do this, then you have more to comment on in life than just a city life, as you experienced a rural one as well. All of this just adds to help make you a better well rounded physician.
Hope this helps.
