Drexel IMS vs PCOM

I have the deposit sent in for both programs. However, I am leaning towards Drexel (33 mcat so I have the guarenteed interview), mainly because the courseload seems to be more rigorous and also because of simple name recognition.
However, am I making a huge mistake, i.e. are there any specific reasons why I should sway the other direction?

hobbs185 said:

I have the deposit sent in for both programs. However, I am leaning towards Drexel (33 mcat so I have the guarenteed interview), mainly because the courseload seems to be more rigorous and also because of simple name recognition.
However, am I making a huge mistake, i.e. are there any specific reasons why I should sway the other direction?

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I had to make that decision too, and chose Drexel. I agree that the coursework is more rigorous there -- the PCOM classes are "dumbed down" slightly from the corresponding COM classes (with respect to clinical correlates, etc). Which is not to say that it's a bad program, but given the option I'd rather be graded directly against the medical class. The other consideration is that both programs favor their students for medical admissions, so if have any feelings on MD vs. DO, that makes the choice easy.

I think the fact that you already have the 33 MCAT seals the deal for Drexel, since you'll only have to worry about grades (rather than retakes) this fall to keep the interview.

See you in three weeks! 👍

I think the underlying question from all that is what is your main aim? Osteopathic or allopathic school?

The name for PCOM carries weight like few osteopathic schools can equal to and it reflects on the admissions decisions when they see that you completed a program upon looking at your primary. But if you wanted allopathic schools, an allopathic program almost always carries higher weight than that of an equivalent program taken at an osteopathic school and Drexel IMS has been around for a long time.

To clarify 2 points that Deuces actually made on the "dumbed down" courses and graded against the medical school class that is true yet not at the same time for both. If PCOM's program is equivalent to that of another osteopathic program that I know more personally, then they compact all the first and second year medical student courses into a single year and as such, need to remove some material to squeeze it all in (ie. anatomy doesn't test the extremities but everything else).

The other point I wanted to make was graded against the medical school class for the Drexel program is yes and no in my opinion. While you do get the same live feeds as the actual lecture that is going on in Queen's lane, the grading is mostly against that of the IMS class only but they will selectively disclose vague percentages in the committee letter on your performance against the medical student average. I do not wish to take the effort to go back and find the certain few posts from past IMS students as solid evidence but it was echoed several times on SDN. So if you want to take my word for it or search for it yourself, no you're not actually graded most of the time against the medical students but yes there will be a vague mention of it in the committee/advisory letter going out. It is my guess that Drexel will have all of these numbers themselves and that they will work for/against you during the guranteed interview.

Some other numbers that may prove useful/worthless are that PCOM accepted only 11% of their first and second year MBS students back into their class last year according to MBS students. Though this is uncharacteristically low for osteopathic programs, it should be worth mentioning that many received acceptances elsewhere prior to their late guaranteed interview at PCOM and chose to go elsewhere so the 11% back into PCOM is not an accurate representation of those that made it into medical school.

Hopefully this was helpful and unbiased for you.

jslo85 said:

To clarify 2 points that Deuces actually made on the "dumbed down" courses and graded against the medical school class that is true yet not at the same time for both. If PCOM's program is equivalent to that of another osteopathic program that I know more personally, then they compact all the first and second year medical student courses into a single year and as such, need to remove some material to squeeze it all in (ie. anatomy doesn't test the extremities but everything else).

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I actually didn't realize that, since I really only researched programs in the Philadelphia area (of which PCOM was the only osteopathic postbac/SMP), so I had few places to compare it to.

jslo85 said:

The other point I wanted to make was graded against the medical school class for the Drexel program is yes and no in my opinion. While you do get the same live feeds as the actual lecture that is going on in Queen's lane, the grading is mostly against that of the IMS class only but they will selectively disclose vague percentages in the committee letter on your performance against the medical student average. I do not wish to take the effort to go back and find the certain few posts from past IMS students as solid evidence but it was echoed several times on SDN. So if you want to take my word for it or search for it yourself, no you're not actually graded most of the time against the medical students but yes there will be a vague mention of it in the committee/advisory letter going out. It is my guess that Drexel will have all of these numbers themselves and that they will work for/against you during the guranteed interview.

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I mostly meant that I personally wanted to see how I fell against the MS-1 curves on tests -- whether or not the information is disseminated fully to adcoms -- and to know exactly what I would have in store the next year. Plus, as you noted, DUCOM itself would certainly know exactly how you did and how your performance compares to their students.

jslo85 said:

Some other numbers that may prove useful/worthless are that PCOM accepted only 11% of their first and second year MBS students back into their class last year according to MBS students. Though this is uncharacteristically low for osteopathic programs, it should be worth mentioning that many received acceptances elsewhere prior to their late guaranteed interview at PCOM and chose to go elsewhere so the 11% back into PCOM is not an accurate representation of those that made it into medical school.

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Wow I actually thought the acceptance rate was a fair bit higher than that, especially counting the 2nd year students as well. I would have said that Drexel had the overall lower chance of getting into the med class, but 11% sounds like roughly their figure for admission after the IMS year.

I'm not sure on PCOM's curriculum exactly but it's what LECOM does for theirs and as both programs are similar in the coursework titles offered, I would assume this was the case for the compacted coursework. LECOM's purpose was to get an accurate gauge at how a student would perform in the basic sciences and other medical student courses and as such squeezed everything together.

The curves themselves from my guess are disclosed from time to time depending on the class for IMS but I could be wrong. All I remember reading was that one student was somewhat peeved that he/she was expecting more from taking the medical school classes but only received a partial mention on the letter. Remember that medical students in general are required to recieve about a 70% whereas most SMP students are required to have an 80% or better because their curriculum is lighter thus they are held to a higher standard to compensate.

As for PCOM's percentages, they fluctuate from year to year by 2-3 spots if you want to look over a range of years past. The only consistencies that are pretty much set in stone is they accept at least 4 spots outright whereas others will filter in off the waiting list. They offer the interview "late" in around March or April which turn off many of their MBS students to look elsewhere if they had earlier interviews or acceptances at other places. But MBS students are supposedly given high priority on the waiting list as they are already in PA and "quite a few" end up making it through. The 11% was a number given to me by a recent MBS graduate when I had put the % more of at 14% initially. It varies from osteopathic school depending on where you choose to do your SMP but LECOM accepted 76% of their class back into their own schools and I know Touro NV and NSU have quite high %s as well. But I digress. My general point was just to say that PCOM students usually go elsewhere if you want to look at the entire class if you were adamant on staying in Philadelphia. It's arguably the top osteopathic school in the nation though and definitely in the top 4 so coming out of its graduate program carries heavy weight around the other DO schools.

Main point if you want allopathic school, you should attend an allopathic program (IMS in this case) and vice versa. Not to say you can't attend an osteopathic school after attending an allopathic SMP (many do) but if you want to look at percentages, not many (understatement) SMPs can boast better than 75% back into their own school or even come close to that. IMS is a known program and imho, its efficacy is low compared to other known programs such as EVMS and UCinn to go back into DUCOM but if you stand out, there are some SDN members that are currently medical students as proof it works.

Hobbs,

I was actually faced with this same decision. I ended up choosing the PCOM MBS program for several reasons, of which the main three of which were that it allowed me to hold a full-time research position simultaneously (classes are at night as opposed to all day), the lower cost, and my preference for osteopathy. I will be entering the D.O. class this fall and can personally attest to the validity of this program. Also, I know quite a few people who have attended the I.M.S. program at Drexel and would be happy to provide you with more insight if you feel like pm'ing me.

Best of luck with your decision if you have not yet made one!