Need advice. PCO/NECO/ICO

[ywang]

Hi all, I am struggling with choosing one of these 3 schools: PCO, NECO and ICO. I got in all of them and I need to decide by next week. But my next interview at SCCO is in November.

I'm an international student and I won't be eligible for government loan. I am studying at a university in California right now. I want to practice in the US after graduation from OD school. All of these programs have things I love about.

PCO has great clinical program (18 months externship and all the diseases we can see from patients) and they give me some scholarship (not much though). Also the living expense might be slightly lower in Elkins Park?

NECO has the most diverse student population, and Boston is beautiful. Their outreach clinical program is unique as well.

I love ICO's curriculum because they have a tough first year and a less tough second year, so that students can gradually switch into clinical education in their second year. It's also very convenient to have all the facilities on campus (dorm, clinic).

I really can't decide. I have to admit that I also want to check the schools in California because they have small class size.
For each school, is it hard to get good GPA? I know GPA does matter a lot when matching the residency program. My major at my undergraduate school is really competitive so my GPA isn't that high, so that might be the reason ICO didn't give me scholarship. I also heard it's hard to get good GPA in ICO, is it true?

I'm sorry that I have too many questions. I try to know more about all parts of these schools. Since I'm alone in the US, the location of the school doesn't really matter. So I won't need to consider to be close to my family or something. And I don't mind getting a car for either PCO ot SCCO. Any advice will be appreciated, thank you very much!

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[mathcod]

1. I'd go to the school that is the least expensive and/or one that feels right for you. I went to ICO and I'm the kind of person who really values comfort/convenience so I sure did enjoy the perks of easy location/dorms. I've met students from each of those schools and I think they were pretty solid. I honestly don't think the clinic experience varies too drastically between the schools.
2. In regards only to ICO, I graduated with honors but didn't really work that hard. Undergrad was personally a lot more challenging for me and I was a B student in the UC system. I met classmates who struggled and classmates who also found it cake. But we all graduated with the same set of practical/clinical knowledge, and I know of many classmates who didn't graduate with honors who did residencies (GPA isn't super duper important) and are now more knowledgable than myself.

ICO is not needlessly difficult. The academic resources on campus are top notch and the material isn't anything abstract and should make sense to a person who has a science background. Difficulty would only stem from the fact that you have more tests more frequently requiring you to stay abreast of things (3-5/week); but I literally only had to study <5 hours per test to do well on them, and I'm not a brilliant person. I just read.

Conclusion: my opinion is that the choice shouldn't be anything to super worry about. All those institutions are not bad. Just go to the school that meets your needs most, aside from training which all should do probably equally fine. You can always reserve your seat and still interview as well.

 

[ywang]

1. I'd go to the school that is the least expensive and/or one that feels right for you. I went to ICO and I'm the kind of person who really values comfort/convenience so I sure did enjoy the perks of easy location/dorms. I've met students from each of those schools and I think they were pretty solid. I honestly don't think the clinic experience varies too drastically between the schools.
2. In regards only to ICO, I graduated with honors but didn't really work that hard. Undergrad was personally a lot more challenging for me and I was a B student in the UC system. I met classmates who struggled and classmates who also found it cake. But we all graduated with the same set of practical/clinical knowledge, and I know of many classmates who didn't graduate with honors who did residencies (GPA isn't super duper important) and are now more knowledgable than myself.

ICO is not needlessly difficult. The academic resources on campus are top notch and the material isn't anything abstract and should make sense to a person who has a science background. Difficulty would only stem from the fact that you have more tests more frequently requiring you to stay abreast of things (3-5/week); but I literally only had to study <5 hours per test to do well on them, and I'm not a brilliant person. I just read.

Conclusion: my opinion is that the choice shouldn't be anything to super worry about. All those institutions are not bad. Just go to the school that meets your needs most, aside from training which all should do probably equally fine. You can always reserve your seat and still interview as well.

Thank you so much for your reply. I am actually a UC student as well! I love ICO and Chicago.
Do you think the class size of ICO is too big and students could not have enough faculty interactions and attentions? Since your first year was the busiest, could you still retain what you learned while studying for boards in your third year?

 

[mathcod]

Class size: I didn't really care and feel like it had no impact on me, academically speaking. I actually thought it was a great class size because I really liked my class a lot. Couldn't imagine it being smaller. Faculty office hours were seldom used by my class.

If you check my other posts, I thought boards was easy. I cruised through optometry school and actually had no problem with first year because my undergrad essentially covered all of those topics. And I retained the knowledge because I read books and tutored the material. Other years repeat important topics that you learn as you go through classes because it builds on the previous knowledge. Most of first year was very low yield on boards.

 

[Rain Clouds]

I agree, couldn't imagine the class size at ICO being any smaller. You get to know your classmates and faculty plenty well.

PCO has the same class size, more or less.