OSUCOM vs. Western COMP

[futureinhealth]

Any advice or comparisons would be much appreciated, thanks! This is a really tough decision for me.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Any factors you want us to take into account such as friends or family in the area, cost, etc? Both schools will give you a great education. If no other factors are in place, go by cost.

 

[futureinhealth]

OSUCOM is cheaper at $43,571.50 for tuition and Western is $52,215.00. My family is in northern CA. OSUCOM has a teaching hospital associated with the school and a smaller class size. I am not sure how big of a factor these play into getting a good education. What do you think? Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate this

 

[MRSAful Fate]

It's also going to be way cheaper to live in Oklahoma. Sounds like rotation sites there are pretty stable too with having their own hospital. Sounds like a better deal unless being within driving distance of NorCal is of huge importance.

 

[futureinhealth]

Thats true. I've never lived in Tulsa, but I heard the weather gets really cold (snows), there are tornados, and summers get really hot and humid. Do you think these factors would be huge deciding factors? Thank you!!!!!

 

[koan]

If you want to stay in California for residency you're better off going to Western.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

OSUCOM is cheaper at $43,571.50 for tuition and Western is $52,215.00. My family is in northern CA. OSUCOM has a teaching hospital associated with the school and a smaller class size. I am not sure how big of a factor these play into getting a good education. What do you think? Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate this

If location is not something to bother you, I think OSUCOM would be the best bet. You save money AND you have a dedicated teaching hospital. While WesternU does have great clinical affiliations, nothing beats having a teaching hospital where you know you can stay put for all the important rotations. If you want residency in California, just make sure you do some away rotations in programs you're interested in.

 

[MRSAful Fate]

If location is not something to bother you, I think OSUCOM would be the best bet. You save money AND you have a dedicated teaching hospital. While WesternU does have great clinical affiliations, nothing beats having a teaching hospital where you know you can stay put for all the important rotations. If you want residency in California, just make sure you do some away rotations in programs you're interested in.

Western does have ARMC (although the clock is probably ticking on our time there), however many of our other sites are hit or miss. There are some awesome people working very hard on figuring out other rotations sites for Western but having the stability of an affiliated teaching hospital would be a big plus.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

Western does have ARMC (although the clock is probably ticking on our time there), however many of our other sites are hit or miss. There are some awesome people working very hard on figuring out other rotations sites for Western but having the stability of an affiliated teaching hospital would be a big plus.

Can you elaborate on the ARMC affiliation?

 

[MRSAful Fate]

Can you elaborate on the ARMC affiliation?

It's probably not going to effect you Western students for another couple cycles but:

http://www.sbsun.com/social-affairs/20140414/new-medical-school-planned-for-san-bernardino-county

 

[Postictal Raiden]

It's probably not going to effect you Western students for another couple cycles but:

http://www.sbsun.com/social-affairs/20140414/new-medical-school-planned-for-san-bernardino-county

Thank you for clarifying this. I was sweating bullets.

According to the article, this new med school will start it's first class in 2016, so it's students won't get to rotate at ARMC until 2018. Even then their initial class size will be only 50 students.

If anything I think students of this new school will be displacing those of Ross University before displacing WU's students. Wishful thinking on my part. Regardless, I will graduate before the crunch can be felt.

 

[guylewis]

It's probably not going to effect you Western students for another couple cycles but:

http://www.sbsun.com/social-affairs/20140414/new-medical-school-planned-for-san-bernardino-county

Wow seven medical schools just in southern California...four in the inland empire area (Western, Loma Linda, UC Riverside, Cal med), USC thirty minutes away, UCLA an hour away and UCSD two hours south. You gotta be kidding me

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

The argument they presented in the Cal Med article was hilarious. Just because 3,000 students from California went to the Caribbean doesn't mean they are quality students, and it doesn't matter if they came from Cal or UCLA undergrad.

 

[MRSAful Fate]

Wow seven medical schools just in southern California...four in the inland empire area (Western, Loma Linda, UC Riverside, Cal med), USC thirty minutes away, UCLA an hour away and UCSD two hours south. You gotta be kidding me

The problem is no one stays in the IE after finishing residency at ARMC or Loma Linda (or at least that is their reasoning for Cal Med). I can relate, there's no way I'm staying in the IE beyond training!

 

[guylewis]

.

 

[MRSAful Fate]

Thank you for clarifying this. I was sweating bullets.

According to the article, this new med school will start it's first class in 2016, so it's students won't get to rotate at ARMC until 2018. Even then their initial class size will be only 50 students.

If anything I think students of this new school will be displacing those of Ross University before displacing WU's students. Wishful thinking on my part. Regardless, I will graduate before the crunch can be felt.

It is hard to say what will happen for Western's rotations there in the future but it is clear that ARMC is going to be Cal Med's base hospital and those students will have priority. BTW, it's SGU and Touro CA that also rotate there not Ross.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

Wow seven medical schools just in southern California...four in the inland empire area (Western, Loma Linda, UC Riverside, Cal med), USC thirty minutes away, UCLA an hour away and UCSD two hours south. You gotta be kidding me

Actually eight (uci, ucla, USC, ucsd, loma Linda, westernu, ucr, and now cal med). However, the class size at some of these MD schools is significantly lower than that of WesternU. All in all, I'd say about 1200 med students graduate every year from med schools in SoCal. With the population of SoCal being over 22 million, the ratio of med students to population is well below that of the nation.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

It is hard to say what will happen for Western's rotations there in the future but it is clear that ARMC is going to be Cal Med's base hospital and those students will have priority. BTW, it's SGU and Touro CA that also rotate there not Ross.

My bad. I must have confused ARMC with RRMC.

 

[guylewis]

Actually eight (uci, ucla, USC, ucsd, loma Linda, westernu, ucr, and now cal med). However, the class size at some of these MD schools is significantly lower than that of WesternU. All in all, I'd say about 1200 med students graduate every year from med schools in SoCal. With the population of SoCal being over 22 million, the ratio of med students to population is well below that of the nation.

How could I forget

 

[MRSAful Fate]

My bad. I must have confused ARMC with RRMC.

RCRMC used to have Western and Loma Linda students but with UCR 3rd years starting there this year we are either no longer rotating there or our slots are being reduced. We pretty much only rotated there for peds and OB/GYN.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

RCRMC used to have Western and Loma Linda students but with UCR 3rd years starting there this year we are either no longer rotating there or our slots are being reduced. We pretty much only rotated there for peds and OB/GYN.

So the only solid rotation site we have left are pretty much Arrowhead and Downey.

Why do Loma Linda Students need RCRMC? Don't they have their own hospital in Murriet?

 

[Xenoblade]

lol, one of the hospitals with premier aoa residency spots are going acgme and opening an allo school instead of osteo. Sad when people turn their backs so fast on the field of osteo when they get the chance.

 

[Xenoblade]

Wow seven medical schools just in southern California...four in the inland empire area (Western, Loma Linda, UC Riverside, Cal med), USC thirty minutes away, UCLA an hour away and UCSD two hours south. You gotta be kidding me

There is also Charles drew.

 

[Jamie561]

Thats true. I've never lived in Tulsa, but I heard the weather gets really cold (snows), there are tornados, and summers get really hot and humid. Do you think these factors would be huge deciding factors? Thank you!!!!!

By reading your mind, I know that you're not much of a humid weather person, so stick to Western.

 

[Back 5]

Bumping this thread. A lot of doom and gloom for WesternU in here.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Bumping this thread. A lot of doom and gloom for WesternU in here.

WesternU doesn't care, which is why we have some 3rd year rotations in private offices.

 

[GUH]

RCRMC used to have Western and Loma Linda students but with UCR 3rd years starting there this year we are either no longer rotating there or our slots are being reduced. We pretty much only rotated there for peds and OB/GYN.

I can confirm that we no longer have third-year rotations at RCRMC.
There are still quite a few rotations at Arrowhead but that is now by far our biggest site in terms of being a large teaching hospital. Most other rotations are done at smaller facilities such as Downey.

 

[GUH]

lol, one of the hospitals with premier aoa residency spots are going acgme and opening an allo school instead of osteo. Sad when people turn their backs so fast on the field of osteo when they get the chance.

Agreed.
If we lose ARMC as a rotation site, that would be a huge blow to clinical education at COMP.
If we lose ARMC as an osteopathic GME site (or osteopathic-focused GME site after the merger), that would be a huge blow to osteopathic GME. It hosts a bunch of really solid AOA programs, and one of the few AOA neurosurgery programs.

 

[Siggy]

WesternU doesn't care, which is why we have some 3rd year rotations in private offices.

That's because good rotation sites cost money... something Western U isn't willing to part with. Why? Who knows.

 

[Back 5]

Well, that's depressing.

 

[hallowmann]

It's like this at almost every DO school. It is what it is. If you're ever in a position of power or setting regulations, remember this. Unfortunately, at this point none of us can really do that.

We'll all continue to lose quality rotations sites to places that pay or "contribute" more in other ways (research/grant money).

 

[bajastapler]

i blame irresponsible for-profit carribean med schools for the lose of core rotation sites. It's not just happening at western. it's happening nationwide. for-profit carrivbean schools horde money by letting in a ridiculous amount of 1st years. fail out 2/3rds of students, then throwing that money at rotation sites. there are a ton of bloomberg articles regarding this strategy employed by carribean schools. correct me if i am wrong, but i believe there is a bill proposal in the works that would ban carribean schools from "purchasing" rotation sites.

there was a pretty heated debate about this matter at another widely used medical school forum site, which shall not be named.

 

[costales]

Texas passed a law banning foreign-based schools from rotating in Texas hospitals. I don't know why other states haven't followed suit.