WesternU COMP-Northwest VS. ATSU SOMA

[DatPiff]

Long time lurker first time poster. I have been accepted by both COMP-Northwest and ATSU SOMA and I am having a difficult time making a decision.

I want to end up practicing in Oregon and what has made the decision difficult for me is that I placed into the Portland track at SOMA.

Any input and help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!!!!!

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[racerwad]

Someone else had the exact same question. I'm sure that if you searched, you could get some feedback from their discussion.

The two schools have really different philosophies about teaching. I don't like SOMA's clinic based model, but that's just me. You need to think about what sort of clinical exposure and bias you'd like and what sort of medicine you hope to practice as a physician. That should help guide your decision making process.

Also, I would imagine that COMP-NW's Portland rotations are a lot stronger and better established than SOMA's.

Good luck.

 

[Strateego]

Long time lurker first time poster. I have been accepted by both COMP-Northwest and ATSU SOMA and I am having a difficult time making a decision.

I want to end up practicing in Oregon and what has made the decision difficult for me is that I placed into the Portland track at SOMA.

Any input and help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!!!!!

I am on the Alternate List for COMP-NW, so I would say you should accept ATSU-SOMA.

ATSU is $7,000 a year cheaper.

 

[SLC]

The two schools have really different philosophies about teaching. I don't like SOMA's clinic based model, but that's just me. You need to think about what sort of clinical exposure and bias you'd like and what sort of medicine you hope to practice as a physician. That should help guide your decision making process.

Also, I would imagine that COMP-NW's Portland rotations are a lot stronger and better established than SOMA's.

Good luck.

Our curriculum isn't "Clinic based", it's based on the clinical presentation model of medical education. This is not the same as learning in a clinic, it means we are taught our basic and clinical sciences in the context of the ways patients present. It's really cool, you should check it out.

Clinical exposure at SOMA is similar or the same as any other Osteopathic School, with the exception that we start regular clinical exposure during our second year.

And as far as Portland Rotations, I can't speak for the comparative quality of SOMA vs COMP-NW rotations except to say that I've encountered COMP-NW students at various SOMA rotation or 2nd year Clinical sites. I don't know where else COMP-NW students rotate at though, I've seen them in outpatient FM and OMM practices where SOMA students also rotate.

SOMA-Oregon places students in rotations all over the Northwest, though the vast majority are in and around Portland. And they have some very solid rotations in Portland. I know students are rotating inpatient at Legacy Emmanuel, Providence St. Vincent's, OHSU, and Providence Portland MedCenter. Those are some of the better (if not best) hospitals in the Portland area.

I'd say these schools are relatively similar with the main difference being curricular. Both schools even have video-recorded lecture if I'm remembering correctly (though SOMA has live lecture in AZ for 1st year).

 

[SLC]

Long time lurker first time poster. I have been accepted by both COMP-Northwest and ATSU SOMA and I am having a difficult time making a decision.

I want to end up practicing in Oregon and what has made the decision difficult for me is that I placed into the Portland track at SOMA.

Any input and help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks!!!!!

Your residency will have more to do with you practicing in Oregon than your 3rd and 4th year rotations. You could go to NSUCOM and if you managed to match to OHSU or one of the new SOMA FM residency positions you'd have a better chance of staying in Oregon.

The tendency is for people to practice where they do residency, there are plenty of exceptions to this of course but that's the general trend.

Additionally, there's nothing except possibly job availability that prevents you from practicing anywhere you like once you finish residency.

In other words, don't assume that you have to rotate in Oregon to be able to practice in Oregon.

 

[dsoz]

Someone else had the exact same question. I'm sure that if you searched, you could get some feedback from their discussion.

The two schools have really different philosophies about teaching. I don't like SOMA's clinic based model, but that's just me. You need to think about what sort of clinical exposure and bias you'd like and what sort of medicine you hope to practice as a physician. That should help guide your decision making process.

Also, I would imagine that COMP-NW's Portland rotations are a lot stronger and better established than SOMA's.

Good luck.

I think SOMA has better PORTLAND rotations, but COMP has better OREGON rotations. Do you want to be in Oregon, or do you want to be in Portland?

I know several of the physicians that the SOMA students rotate through in Portland. They are all good people.

I applied to both, and would have gone to either. But both of them required me to move out of my house for a year or two (at least) and my spouse to quit the job that will provide money for the mortgage and health insurance for us. I am blessed to be accepted to the school in Portland so I am not required to move.

Good luck with your decision. I hope you have a good experience at whichever school you decide. Maybe I will see you in Portland on a rotation in a couple of years.

dsoz

 

[WannaBADOctor]

I think SOMA has better PORTLAND rotations, but COMP has better OREGON rotations. Do you want to be in Oregon, or do you want to be in Portland?

I know several of the physicians that the SOMA students rotate through in Portland. They are all good people.

I applied to both, and would have gone to either. But both of them required me to move out of my house for a year or two (at least) and my spouse to quit the job that will provide money for the mortgage and health insurance for us. I am blessed to be accepted to the school in Portland so I am not required to move.

Good luck with your decision. I hope you have a good experience at whichever school you decide. Maybe I will see you in Portland on a rotation in a couple of years.

dsoz

I'm curious as to why you would say this. COMP-NW was just given their rotation sites recently for the upcoming third year rotations, do you know where these are at?. From what I have heard COMP-NW had good rotations in the Portland area already established from the NW track. I would think COMP-NW would be able to have solid rotations at the big hospitals such as Prov.St. V, Prov. PDX, Legacy Emanuel, and Legacy Good Sam to name a few. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I'm just honestly curious what you are basing this statement on and assuming their sites aren't as good.

 

[racerwad]

COMP-NW rotates at all of the major hospitals in Portland, just like SOMA. There aren't that many places to go in Portland.

If it were me, I'd rather have a someone local to help with rotation site stuff than someone who is out of state.

 

[dsoz]

I'm curious as to why you would say this. COMP-NW was just given their rotation sites recently for the upcoming third year rotations, do you know where these are at?. From what I have heard COMP-NW had good rotations in the Portland area already established from the NW track. I would think COMP-NW would be able to have solid rotations at the big hospitals such as Prov.St. V, Prov. PDX, Legacy Emanuel, and Legacy Good Sam to name a few. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I'm just honestly curious what you are basing this statement on and assuming their sites aren't as good.

Yes, COMP had the NW track, but there were only 30-50 people each year. Now there will be 107 people. They had to expand and add rotation sites. I was not saying that COMP's sites were not good, just not as much in PORTLAND, they are spread out more in OREGON. I actually think that this is better for Oregon, because it gets more coverage out in the rural areas, and exposes student to physicians that could possibly want to work out in the rural areas. This is one reason I was excited to apply to COMP.

Most of my information is coming from when I interviewed in October, or before. COMP was talking about sites from Medford to up in Washington, from Bend to the coast. There is also a major rotation site in Corvallis, and I believe Eugene. It gives good coverage to the STATE but did not limit the rotations to PORTLAND.

From the sounds of it, SOMA rotations are spread out over Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. But the majority of them are in Portland, but not as much across the state. I could be wrong because I did not go to my interview at SOMA because I canceled it once I was accepted to COMP. No point in hoping that I could return to Oregon for rotations when I would not need to leave here to begin with.

I agree that there are not a lot of major hospitals to rotate through,and most med students in Oregon will rotate through most of the same places. Students from OHSU will work right next to students from SOMA and COMP. Each will bring a set of strengths and weaknesses. And in the end we will all work together as physicians. Who cares about the letters after your name.

I would have been just as happy to go to COMP, but I own a home in a Portland suburb and I cannot sell it because of the housing market around here, and renting it out would be a pain. My spouse works and can pay the mortgage and will carry our health insurance. This would not be possible if we moved to Lebanon. Therefore, the financial choice was to stay in Portland and go to OHSU.

dsoz

 

[SLC]

COMP-NW rotates at all of the major hospitals in Portland, just like SOMA. There aren't that many places to go in Portland.

If it were me, I'd rather have a someone local to help with rotation site stuff than someone who is out of state.

You make a lot of assumptions, do you think we don't have local faculty at each site? We have people in charge of teaching, scheduling rotations, everything.

I assure you we do have local people (physicians for that matter) who help with rotation securing. They work hard for us, they're part if the reason we just secured a Portland Family med residency program with Virginia Garcia/Legacy Emannuel.

 

[racerwad]

You make a lot of assumptions, do you think we don't have local faculty at each site? We have people in charge of teaching, scheduling rotations, everything.

I assure you we do have local people (physicians for that matter) who help with rotation securing. They work hard for us, they're part if the reason we just secured a Portland Family med residency program with Virginia Garcia/Legacy Emannuel.

Hey I wasn't knocking SOMA here, I was just saying that it was something to consider - our infrastructure vs SOMA and how they compare to one another. Calm down.

Honestly, I could care less where the OP goes, but I do know that when I was in their shoes, I'd like some info from the perspective of a upperclassman.

 

[SLC]

Hey I wasn't knocking SOMA here, I was just saying that it was something to consider - our infrastructure vs SOMA and how they compare to one another. Calm down.

Honestly, I could care less where the OP goes, but I do know that when I was in their shoes, I'd like some info from the perspective of a upperclassman.

I don't need to calm down, I'm not getting upset. The written nature of internet conversation makes it tough to get things across efficiently a lot of times the way they are intended but I assure you I wasn't upset.

I'm just saying that in two successive posts you say incorrect things about SOMA as though they are fact, both of those things were incorrect and needed to be corrected. That's all.

I agree, upperclassmen perspective is helpful, which is what I'm trying to offer as well. I also couldn't care less where anyone chooses to go, but it would be a shame for that choice to be made based on false information.

 

[Strateego]

It looks like the OP picked COMP-NW, which is a bummer for me because I wanted his spot.