Deciding on a med school- GA vs AZ

I am in a dilemma. I have been accepted to two osteopathic schools (both I really liked) and am waiting on the Texas system (tcom, a&m, uthscsa) to get back to me. I have to make a decision in the next few days between the two school so that I can save my seat in the class. The two schools

PCOM-Ga campus

vs.

Midwestern- AZCOM

I really liked Georgia- the facilities are great, they rotate with Emory students, and it's in an area of the US I would like to be. The only downside is that they have yet to graduate any students from their program, thus it makes it a bit more difficult to gauge the strength of the program.

Arizona supposedly has a little better name and the residents which have been coming out of the program are really strong physicians. It has new facilities and nice faculty. The only problem is that they are increasing their class size and with the increase, there may be limited spots for rotations in the hospital.

Any help would be amazing. Thanks.

This is the easiest question that has ever been asked on this website. Can you guess what my answer is going to be?

I vote AZCOM. 😀

I vote PCOM-GA, the south always wins

Yeah, from my very biased opinion, GA-PCOM is the correct choice. They have the smallest class size you will see, which will give you excellent opporitunities for making contacts for residency, which AZCOM will be struggling with. Atlanta has a huge population to work with and only 2 other medical schools in the area. The PCOM name is also a draw, but the fact that the faculty seems to really know what they are doing and they really enjoy teaching medicine is also a big factor. I personally really like the way the classes are broken into trimesters and the way all the subjects are integrated together to show the bigger picture. Comlex pass rates were supposed to be really high for the first class. Don't worry about not graduating a class yet, it will happen soon. GA-PCOM is committed to being one of the top medical schools in the south and I feel like they are definitley on the right path with what they are doing right now. 👍

Actually I change my mind you should choose AZCOM, that will leave more spots open for me at PCOM-GA, AZCOM all the way

I really didn't think of class size as a big deal until I went to KCUMB and sat in on a lecture. They take 270 people, and it was just jam-packed in the lecture hall. I left KCUMB knowing that GA-PCOM was my top choice, beyond almost any doubt.

Now I went to UT-Austin, and I am used to big classes, but in medical school, I want my professors to be easily accessible to me. AZCOM is expanding to 250/class, and that would just be too much for me.

Also, Atlanta has a lot of things that I would like to take advantage of as an aspiring physician.

I wouldn't worry about residency placement. Its freaking PCOM. They know what they're doing.

EEL08 said:

I vote AZCOM. 😀

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Ooooohh TT isn't going to be friends with you anymore for that! 😉

prionsRbad said:

Ooooohh TT isn't going to be friends with you anymore for that! 😉

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Actually I like Laura's way of thinking. I change my vote to GA-PCOM so that will leave a spot open for my husband at AZCOM. 😀

Another thing to consider is that your deposit is only $250 for GA-PCOM. If you're waiting on the TX schools, and you get into one of them, you've wasted less money on a deposit. I think AZCOM is like $1,000

Which school did you feel more comfortable at? Where can you see yourself living after med school? GA or AZ?

I don't know much about either school, but I'm from Atlanta. PCOM-GA is in Gwinnett county right? Where are all the rotations at? Is it near the school or do you have to head down town? You can easily spend well over 1.5 hours in traffic from Grady up 85 to Gwinnett.

That said, Atlant is a great place to live.

Class sizes aren't as important in med school IMO. Most of the time, you'll be on your own anyway.

Both schools:
Both of them are established from good osteopathic roots so reputation wise, I would say they are even. More I learn about how doctors interact, I dont think others care where you went. They just know you based on how well you perform. I am volunteering in ER where they have a DO from NSU and PCOM with MDs. I see no difference in care what so ever including how attendings interact with them. To certain degree, the DOs seem little more popular with the nurses.

Class size:
I am not sure even if this makes a difference. I am also a UT grad and didnt think my education was anyway faulty because of the number of students. Profs were still easily available. All the time I ever went to the profs, I wasnt waiting in lines to speak with them. I have taken two medschool courses and is has never been a problem to talk/chat/email with profs. They are all very good about it.

I would say the first year, the class will stay full or up until the first exam. Afterwards, people figure out how they like to approach it. There were students who never showed up to the school unless they had to and used the internet lectures to study.

In the second year class, I hardly ever see anyone in there. Very select few go to the class. Every time I pass by the lecture hall, there are empty seats everywhere.

What I do like about small class size is that you can really get to know everyone. Even if there are clicks within, everyone knows each other. To me, this is a huge plus for smaller class size.



My advise: Think about why you like/dislike each school. facilities, weather, tuition, potential, administration, clinical site, curriculum. Asking others where YOU SHOULD go to school is not a way to make a decision. These people won't be around when you have to decide between which lipid lowering drug you should prescribe.

Next: Go in the previous class groups and ask people who go to the school. What they like and dislike once they are attending the school. Seems everyone in Sdn are good about helping each other... especially the DOs... 🙂

Last: how are their board scores? I think both schools have been around long enough to find this. I think it is a good indicator of their curriculum and teaching, especially if they have no match list history.

I have to agree about the class size thing. One of my biggest concerns about going to KCUMB, other than living in KC 👎, was the large class size of 250. But the girl that I stayed with told me that they were separated according to last name for OMM and that you got very close to those people in your group. You may not get close to the whole class but maybe just a quarter of it. That's OK with me, I don't NEED to be close to the entire class to do well and perform on the boards. I've never been one to go to office hours or ask obvious questions that I could answer with a google search in class just so the professor noticed me anyway. In the end, I came to the conclusion that other factors such as curriculum, reputation, the feeling I got at the interview, the people I would be around, matchlist and potential residency opportunities, etc were more important. Overall, I think you just have to go with you gut and what you feel is right and what your most important factors are in choosing a med school because, as Porco Rosso said, no one can really know what is good for YOU.

OP,

If you already interviewed at three placed in TX, chances are very likely that you will get a spot somewhere. Yeah, maybe choose as a backup but I am pretty sure you are good to go in TX 👍

t-funk said:

...as Porco Rosso said, no one can really know what is good for YOU.

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I interviewed and was accepted at both schools two years ago - I would have been happy at either, but here's why I ultimately chose to go elsewhere:

AZCOM - tuition was very expensive and seemed to rise more quickly and dramatically than other schools I had looked at. Nice campus, but the big increases in class size turned me off. Curriculum sounded very lecture heavy which is not my style. Students I spoke with said they never went to lecture, which made me question the value of paying so much in tuition....

GA-PCOM - Bear in mind this was two years ago - but things at that time seemed a bit disorganized on the admissions side. Personally, I didn't really care for the location/setup of the school - one building is fine, but it didn't seem like there was really anywhere to even sit and have lunch outside the building. Having lived in Atlanta, I was also not looking forward to dealing with the traffic again.

I'd really encourage you to follow your instincts on this decision. All my paper analysis went out the window after visiting a couple schools, and the school which started out in last place on my list ended up at the top. Two years later, I still feel I made the right decision.