NSU-KPCOM vs. LECOM Erie vs. ACOM

[Penguins87_71]

NSU-KPCOM
Pros

• Good location
• Match well into competitive specialties
• Lectures are not mandatory

Cons

• Lower comlex pass rates(?)
• Heard bad things about admin (not sure if this is still a thing)
• No cadaver lab (also not 100% sure if this is true)

LECOM Erie
Pros

• Got accepted into LDP pathway
• Close to home
• Match well and have high board pass rates

Cons

• Living in Erie
• VERY strict rules
• School does not really provide any support for taking step exams (at least this is what I've heard)
• Rotation locations seem to not be great and it's tough to get preferred spot in bigger city
• Not many research opportunities

ACOM
Pros

• High pass rates
• Match relatively well

Cons

• Living in rural Alabama
• Mandatory attendance (very strict about it)
• Faculty isn't super helpful (?)

Summary: NSU-KPCOM is in a great location, but I'm not sure if I would get as good of an education there or if it would set me up to do well on step exams. LECOM is close to home, but I have always heard the school is archaic in their policies and is not very supportive. I honestly haven't heard much about ACOM, but I'm not sure I want to be in rural Alabama for 2 years.

Any input or advice is appreciated thanks!!!

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[Hollow Knight]

So I haven't heard of NSU or LECOM Erie. I just came here to say that ACOM is alright. I know people who have gone there and seemed to do OK. It's not the best school, but some of the DO schools opening up recently (Like Lincoln Memorial University) are straight up scams in line with Caribbean med schools. LOL to living in rural AL being a con hahaha, hey, I get it, I wouldn't want to live in New York City for any extended period of time.

Things you should consider: go get the White Coat Investor's Guide for Students. As a DO (or any med student really), you're statistically most likely to end up in IM, FM, or peds. If you borrow $500,000 for DO school, it's gonna suck to pay that off as a primary care physician. (I'm not bashing DOs, I personally want to be an FM doc, and we have several DO faculty at my MD school whom I love. But, ya gotta consider the debt, these days it's outrageous).

Also, mandatory attendance SUCKS big time. If the prices aren't astronomically different, I would go to the med school that gave me the most free time. Some people do well in class, some people don't, but if it's mandatory, you don't get to choose.

I wouldn't worry too terribly much about board pass rates- think about it, but if you trust your school's curriculum for boards, you're doing it wrong. If you wanna pass step 1, you do UFAPS. I'm happy to expand on that, although that's not the purpose of this thread. However, if you can, it would behoove you to find out how much the school strays from step-prep resources in preclinical years. Studying for your school's curriculum and step 1 at the same time sucks if those two materials are vastly different.

Honestly, admin at several schools are jerks. I wouldn't be looking for admin who were nice; I'd be looking for admin who would leave you alone and let you study for boards and crank out research. I'm not sure how you find this out though.

Maybe some DOs or DO students can give some more insight here.

 

[Hollow Knight]

And hey, I'm not trying to crush your dreams if you wanna be a neurosurgeon or an ortho bro. You can do whatever you want at whatever DO school you go to. I say this because, when you're deciding to borrow all this money to get a DO degree, you should at least consider the possibility that you might not end up being the smartest person in your med school class. I got a 520+ MCAT score and I'm still an incredibly average med student. I'm not interested in ortho or derm, but I wouldn't have the grades to match them if I was interested.