Midwestern U vs. PCO

[marsiren]

I was recently accepted to both Midwestern and PCO/Salus and am having some difficulty deciding between these schools. I was wondering if anyone would like to share their own personal pros and cons of both schools as either applicants or current students!

Any feedback is appreciated!!

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[Jalam]

Midwestern a lot of people tend to stay away from because it's one of the new optometry programs. Not sure where it's at now though.

 

[SunA21]

I applied to PCO and not Western, but I'll give you my PCO pro/cons.

Cons

• seems pretty expensive. It doesn't have the highest tuition/living costs, but the students seem to graduate with more debt, compared to other schools, which makes me think their financial aid may not be great. Source: http://www.opted.org/wp-content/upl...ent-Data-Report-2014-15-Updated-July-2015.pdf
• I don't know how much I like Philadelphia as a city
• they don't seem to care that much about community service
• I've heard negative things from a current student there, about how the curriculum isn't very well-organized.
• Avg OAT AA of matriculants is pretty low
• time-consuming/pricey to travel to and from home

Pros

• the campus itself is quite pretty and has nice amenities like the fitness center just across the street
• I want to go somewhere new for optometry school, and Philly counts as new