I graduated a year ago, so some of the info may now be out of date and I am going off of memory (inaccuracies should be expected). I remember thinking they were helpful and I finally have some free time during intern year so here it goes:
PREPARE for my terribly written novel of a post:
1st year- Systems based. They eased us in with "anatomy immersion" for about a month doing MSK of the body and we spent about 4 hours a day at the school for dissection. It wasn't really a graded course but was just to ease you in. At this time we also started OMT, and also some clinical skills labs/patient encounters. I think the blocks schedule was: Well patient (total joke don't think anyone ever failed), MSK (needed to recall immersion from one month ago for practical), Heme, immunology/micro, cardio, lung, GI, then GU.
For 1st and 2nd year your grades were based on--- Written exam (usually 80%), and anatomy practical (usually 20%). These blocks range from 2 weeks to 6 weeks. Most blocks are 4 weeks long. We had OMT lectures weekly, and one 2 hour lab on Wed (1st years in AM, 2nd years in PM) . ATTENDENCE to all lectures with the exception of labs was optional (there were some exceptions but they were very rare). Histology lab was also optional. All lectures were voice recorded and PPT slides were posted generally within 24 hours of the lecture.
During the year we also had clinical skills. Every Wed we had either a 2 hour lab of learning/practicing on each other or a clinical encounter with mock patients/SOAP notes. Generally, as we advanced you had more "patient encounters." Twice each quarter we would have graded OMM practicals and some of the clinical skills encounters were graded via video recordings/SOAP note grades. These exams always lined up with the course exams so approximately every 6 weeks you would have a week filled with exams and no lectures. Generally the clinical skills mirrored the blocks so that they reinforced knowledge, but during 2nd year it seemed to get more disassociated. Also every Thurs and Tues we had CBL which was a small group with a preceptor (usually MD/DO but sometimes MS IV or PhD) and you would go over cases together on Tues and then volunteer some assignments relevant to the case for each person to present on Thurs. During 2nd year we used this time to teach each other high yield Step I materials more than following the cases.
2nd year- Come back after having summer off!!!!!!! (IF students had to re-mediate they did it in the summer. There was a limit to how much you could fail before being forced to do the whole year over. I don't know many details as I was lucky enough to not fail anything. To my knowledge very few people had to re-mediate.)
Block schedule: Neuro, HEENT (Last anatomy/histology practical ever), Endocrine, OB/GYN, Pediatrics, Geriatrics/palliative care, time off for boards (about 3-4 weeks I can't remember), then a "prep" for third year after step 1, where you learn how to scrub in, do IV's, put in Foleys, open crap in a sterile fashion, intubate, and reinforce clinical skills/note writing. Some of the skills were very helpful, IV's we got to practice on fancy dummies and on each other, then we had to do foleys and stuff like that in front of preceptors so they could assess technique and sterility, etc. At this time we were recertified in BLS (did it originally before starting 1st year) and get ACLS certification.
During the beginning of the year you also did a system of ranking which hospital you want to be based out of for 3rd and 4th year. A few people stay in Athens with some poor souls getting stuck in Portsmouth OH. Otherwise about 95% of the class moves to Toledo, Dayton, Columbus, Akron, Cleveland, or Sandusky. You only travel for 4th year electives if you choose to. Some computer program usually gets about 90% of people into their top 3 choices (don't remember the actually stats). You can also "couples match" this can be a friend, significant other in the class, or spouse if you are married to a classmate.
3rd year: I was in Cleveland.
All base hospitals have residency programs (basics like FP, IM, ED and some have every conceivable specialty) but they are all community based (many are affiliated with some university centers in the area). At almost all of the hospitals some DMU, KCOM, and ATSU students will be with you for the entire year. Their schedules are generally very similar. Some of them stay for 4th year and some chose to leave and be nomads for 4th year. We attended all resident lectures 4-5 days a week at 7 AM before going to our rotations in the hospital or community. At my hospital you got $15 a day to eat, so I rarely bought groceries. Everyone starts with 4 wks FM. then its mixed bag. I think you get 6 weeks of electives during third year,but generally they have to be at your base hospital (should have most things). In 3rd year everyone does 2 more weeks of FM in residency clinic, 4 wks peds, 4 wks geriatrics, 4 wks medicine, 4 wks psych, 4 wks gen surgery, 4 wks OB/GYN, 4 wks ED, and 2 wks hospice/palliative. You are allotted 10 weeks of vacation to use over the last 2 years ( 2 required at Christmas of 3rd year so 8 wks at your discretion.) Also towards the end of 3rd year you go back to Athens to take a "mock" step 2 PE. It is set up very similarly. The students from the other schools had to come down as well to pass the mock exam (I remember they were Pissed).
4th year: Most people take 2-4 weeks to study for and take step 2 during the summer. In the spring (of 3rd year) you apply to away rotation electives at places you think you want to be a resident. Most people do these away rotations from Aug-Nov. The fall/early winter is comprised of going on interviews and trying to save your vacation as much as possible. The "official" school policy is that you are allowed to miss 1 day per week of rotation to go on interviews...otherwise you need to use vacation. The problem is that vacations can only be used in weekly increments, so you cannot just take an extra day here or there. Luckily, you learn what the easy rotations are and just do those. For example did a 1 wk radiology rotation that I showed up for 1 day, same with anesthesia,etc. Most of the preceptors and residents were understanding and didn't know/care about the policy, so it was easy to "get around." I even had some residents sign me in for lectures if I was out interviewing. It just sucked that you had to sneak around like that, but it is widely practiced by students. I remember going to morning lecture to sign in, then leaving to catch a flight. Haha, good times.
The rest of the year is pretty much electives. You have to do 4 more weeks of FM, and 2 weeks of Healthcare management where you go around and learn about healthcare policy, financing, insurance, paperwork,etc. We also had to do a paper (case report only like 6-7 pages double spaced), and both 3rd and 4th year we presented a few topics at resident lectures. Most students do ICU and CCU after interviewing because they realize they will soon become interns, but otherwise the year is very chill.
Location: Years 1+2 Athens, Ohio. Appalachia at its finest. Nearest mall is about 1 hour away in Parkersburg, WV. The city itself is a strange mix of college students, Appalachian folk, "hippies", and professors. The local Walmart had the most interesting mix of people I will ever see! The campus is actually quite scenic and the terrain is kind of pretty. Hilly with good hiking opportunities, fishing, canoeing, camping, etc. The town is about 25,000 excluding students, and there isn't much around off campus. Luckily it being a decent sized university (20,000 students or so) it has a decent mix of ethnic foods and cheap bars. You are pretty isolated though. I am fairly "outdoorsy" and I was very ready to go by the end of 2nd year. Athens has all the chain fast food places and Applebees, Ruby Tuesdays, Walmart, Lowes, Movie theater, farmers market (surprisingly good), and Kroger (big/decent grocery) in the "newer" part of town and that is about it.
After that it will vary. Most Midwestern cities are the similar except Chicago. Cleveland and Columbus offer the most (I think Cincinnati also now has a site). I grew up in Ohio, so to me they have everything I could ever want in a city, but to people who grew up/live in very large coastal cities they will probably seem boring.
Cost: Was the cheapest in the state when I started (in-state), now I think Wright State University is slightly cheaper. I guess overall it is one of the cheapest schools, but still feels expensive to me. OOS students can get residency after one year.
Faculty: Most good, some bad. Clinical faculty was kind of variable but overall I liked/learned from most of them. There were certainly exceptions though (surgery). If you are interested in a competitive specialty it would be wise to have your base hospital have residents in every field. My hospital only had FM, IM, and ED. So for my surgery rotations, subspecialties I rotated with private docs (they all also taught residents). For me it was awesome because hours were generally done by 5. My ortho rotation was awesome and the group let me do a ton in surgery (actually made me not hate the OR). However, if you wanted to do something like Ortho it would suck because a letter from a PP doc isn't worth as much.
Reputation: Seems pretty well respected in Ohio. We have many students go to CCF, OSU, etc each year. I do find it funny it isn't mentioned often on this site, but I suppose it has to do with the in-state bias and contract. I would say as far as organization and support from school in clinical years we are up there with MSU and some of the very old schools. I really hate that the name is now OUHCOM instead of OUCOM, but I guess the 120 million dollar donation warranted a change.
Clinical Rotations: Talked about this above. It will vary somewhat based on your home hospital.
Housing: Athens is cheap, but is also a party school. The town is pretty old so I had to lower my standards a bit, but it wasn't too bad.
Study areas: Med school library was nice but a bit small. Also the engineering building is basically attached and had a ton of private quiet rooms. You could also use the main library. I studied almost exclusively at home though.
Social Scene: It is a fairly large undergrad campus that melds into the town. Court street is the "downtown" of Athens and is in the center of the campus. The med school building is about 0.5 miles away. There are probably 40 bars/restaurants in that area with many being co-op owned, organic, ethnic, etc. Some bars and cafes had local music, etc (nothing great). It is known as a party school so it can be pretty fun/wild, but there are some more "grown-up" places. Surprisingly, my favorite Indian restaurant is in Athens and I miss it dearly.
Local Hospitals: One tiny hospital that I rarely entered. During the first 2 years you had a few CCE's where you would basically shadow a doc a few times a quarter. They varied from educational to a waste of time. Some inpatient some in offices.
Board Prep: In the fall of 2nd year a few companies (Kaplan, Falcon, Doctors in training) buy the class lunches and try to sell their product. The class usually picks one and gets a "special" deal. The peds, geriatrics/palliative blocks in the spring of 2nd year are pretty easy so most people do the minimum for those from April until Step 1. This was a point of contention with some faculty as a few lectures 1-2 people out of 110 showed up for lecture. One faculty then didn't record his lecture..... so there was a bit of an ordeal. Honestly though you have plenty of time. Like I said I think you have about Jun 5 --> early July completely off.
Specialty: PM&R (allopathic only)
Other Comments:
The school pushes very hard for students to stay in the CORE system ("OU's" residencies) and also pushes for family medicine. I did very little/no OMM after 2nd year, and it isn't a required clinical rotation (YEAH!!!) Overall, the school seems to get its wish as a lot of my class is doing FM and staying in Ohio. It seems OU and MSU affiliated residencies comprise about 1/2 of all osteopathic residencies. So if you are interested in a competitive specialty, I do think it is advantageous to come here. You will likely be able to stay at the hospital for all of 3rd and 4th year to schmooze the residents and faculty in your prospective field.
Grades:
Curriculum: B+
Location: C
Cost: A
Financial Aid: B (Financial aid ladies were very approachable and on the ball, but our schedule was slightly different from undergrads so there were times the med school had to give out an emergency loan (no interest) to the students if needed, because the money didn't come in until the undergrads quarter started)
Faculty: B+
Reputation: A in Ohio, but ?? elsewhere (I'm going to the East Coast for residency)
Technology: B+ (Would prefer video taped lectures)
Study Space/Library: C, just because med school library was small (I studied at home)
Library technology/Resources: B+
Rotations: A, compared to most other schools it seems among the best.
Social: A+ if you still party like undergrad. I mellowed out so for me a B
Hospitals: Variable. I give mine a B+
Post Grad: A. One of the only DO schools that has more affiliated residency slots than students per year.
Overall Grade: A-. Worth looking into, but I am of course biased. I think the contract stipulates that each year of residency in Ohio counts for 1 year of the contract, and 1.5 if doing primary care. So if you stay in Ohio for residency you can get around it. However, I heard that the residency MUST be osteopathic. In addition, it seems a lot of people left Ohio that were originally OOS for residency, so perhaps there are ways out. Again, this is just hearsay but shouldn't be overlooked by OOS applicants. I also loved that in 1st and 2nd year you didn't have a test every week (usually just once every 4). It gave the class time to relax and hangout together.
Hope this helps. Sorry about the monster post and 3rd grade writing style.
