Why CCOM

MilitaryMed said:

Hello,

I have been accepted to both CCOM and LECOM-E.

I am starting this post to ask about CCOM. I have read much about LECOM and have heard many positive and negative things about the school that are making my opinion of it a little cloudy... however, I do not want to discuss that here.

So.. Why CCOM?

Can former students chime in on this?

Quality of the professors-

Quality of the courses-

What type of community service opportunities are there-

Quality of 3rd/4th rotations, how are they selected, what is general information on them-

Quality of the facilities-

If I go, I would probably live on campus (cheaper cost, will not need a car the first and second year probably, etc.). How is it living on camps-

Tell me about the student body-

I know there is quite the price tag on this school. Is it justified? Am I really going to have to worry about loads of debt. What if I choose primary care? What if I choose a specialty?-

Thanks for all of your help! I know this post is long...

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your user name suggests that you may be on a military scholarship, if so, choose CCOM as it is the better school in every aspect other than the cost. I would seriously consider LECOM if you will be taking loans however.

Do not go to CCOM. LECOM is a much better school. I am a graduate from CCOM and can tell you that they will make it very difficult to pursue your goals there. They are only interested in their own numbers (i.e. precent match rate). They could care less is everyone went into family medicine, as long as you match. If you want to go to a specific program, and it requires an elective there, they will make it very difficult. The administrators and faculty are very rigid in their rules and will not budge to fail or expel you. For example, if you receive an invitation for a interview 2 weeks before the interview date, they will not accept it. You will have points deducted from your grade. If a spot opens at for a rotation at a site that was previously closed, and it is past the CCOM deadline, they will not let you rotate there. These are just a couple examples, but trust me when it comes to electives and interviews and deviating from the schedules they create, you will have to go through hell before reaching there, if you even get there. And if you do end up matching at a good program, or tough speciality, they will take all the credit for it. I was lucky enough to match into the specialty of my choice, but only due to my own hard work, and having to jump though 100s of hurdles with CCOM to get there. Biggest downside to CCOM, they DO NOT prepare you well for boards AT ALL. I have met students from LECOM and their pass rates and avg board scores are higher. And at the end of the day, when it comes time to interviewing and matching, board scores play a major factor.

I created a new username to keep my anonymity.

See below for answers to your other questions.

MilitaryMed said:

Hello,

I have been accepted to both CCOM and LECOM-E.

I am starting this post to ask about CCOM. I have read much about LECOM and have heard many positive and negative things about the school that are making my opinion of it a little cloudy... however, I do not want to discuss that here.

So.. Why CCOM?

Can former students chime in on this?

Quality of the professors-
decent, not great. Lectures are not geared to boards, and exams given don't correlate well.

Quality of the courses-
see above

What type of community service opportunities are there-
plenty, chicago is a good place for that, but you can find that anywhere

Quality of 3rd/4th rotations, how are they selected, what is general information on them-
see above. electives will be your biggest challenge in terms of getting what you want. others go through a lottery system. sometimes a lot of driving involved (eg. to indiana)

Quality of the facilities-

If I go, I would probably live on campus (cheaper cost, will not need a car the first and second year probably, etc.). How is it living on camps-

Tell me about the student body-
well rounded

I know there is quite the price tag on this school. Is it justified? Am I really going to have to worry about loads of debt. What if I choose primary care? What if I choose a specialty?-

A DO school is a DO school. CCOM isn't ivy league so you can't compare it to the rest, its all in the same pool. I have seen kids from all over the US during my interview trail (interviewed for anesth and ENT), and yes you should worry about the cost. It is not justified. Go to a school that will get you the highest board scores and look at where people matched.

Thanks for all of your help! I know this post is long...

Click to expand...

I am a CCOM grad. I did not encounter any of the hurdles in arranging electives, problems w faculty, being unprepared for boards, etc (nor did my roommates/friends to my knowledge) that the previous poster mentioned. The clinical sites are hit or miss. At several sites you feel as a third wheel and frankly do not receive that much teaching. The first two years are decent. The professors are good. The loans are absurd however - especially if you live in Chicago 3rd and 4th year. PM me w any ?'s.

So.. Why CCOM? Because it was the best school I got into. I applied broadly (see my mdapps) and went on a few interviews including a couple of MD schools. In retrospect perhaps moving was a bit more of an adjustment than I thought but I'm happy I did so because I'm strongly interested in the MD match and in my opinion CCOM is one of/if not the best when it comes to strength of rotations and ease of getting quality rotations that can set you up for a successful MD match. Furthermore the advantage of having 6 other MD schools in the same city is priceless. I've had the opportunity to do research with attendings from Rush's residency programs as well as attended workshops at Northwestern. It's not as difficult as people think to get involved with other schools faculty, especially if their hospital is affiliated with our school. Not many other DO schools offer opportunities like this in your home city.

Can former students chime in on this? I know plenty of them and most are doing very well for themselves. It was their hard work that got them there but CCOM was their pathway.

Quality of the professors- Just like any other school there are some strong and some not. I would say the biggest disadvantage to our school is the lack of electronic technology corporation into the curriculum. It has gotten much better in the 3 years I've been here but has a long ways to go compared to other med schools, especially some of the state funded ones. Over all I'm not one who typically goes to class, used to be but found I learn better on my own utilizing quality resources like Pathoma, DIT, Board review materials.

Quality of the courses- Some departments are strong others are weak. The Anatomy and Micro departments are the most intense/difficult but those are also the main courses of MS-I, II so I expect each school has their own "tests". It really just matters how you learn and your decision to supplement your courses with something else (if anything) to achieve competency in that area.

What type of community service opportunities are there- There are student run clinics where you can volunteer along residents to see patients. You can essentially put as much time into these as you want. However it is required once a quarter (ECCP) to ensure you get some patient exposure.

Quality of 3rd/4th rotations, how are they selected, what is general information on them- There is a wide array of quality, it really just depends on what you're interested in. If you want peds or ob/gyn then do your rotations at Christ. Possibly one of the best residency programs in the city. If you don't wanna do surgery then drive to podunk Indiana for a cush rotation. If you do wanna do surgery well I think Masonic and Cook County can give just about any place a run for their money. Rotations are selected by a lottery and then after you can switch with classmates if you want a different one or one that is closer.

Quality of the facilities- You interviewed, what did you think? Even though I'm of the opinion that facilities don't matter during MS I, II because you're just book learning it certainly is nice to have the ones we have. The new science building is awesome and the new anatomy lab is on the top floor with wide windows and great views. Quite a bit better than the dungeon I spent my afternoons in as a MS I.

If I go, I would probably live on campus (cheaper cost, will not need a car the first and second year probably, etc.). How is it living on camps- I lived in the Pines for 1.5 years on campus. They are small apartments that have a tiny kitchen area, living room, bathroom. They are a bit pricey compared to the area but the convenience of walking to the gym and not digging my car out to go to 7:30am exams was priceless. I wouldn't ever live in the dorms but I would live in the Pines again for first year. Second year I would move off campus to the burbs around the school to save money. Third and fourth year I'd go live in the city around Lincon park area to have some fun.

Tell me about the student body- The student body has a good feel to it. There are lots of intramurals you can get involved in. There is just about every club imaginable on campus. Aside from things like that there is probably going to be little difference from other schools that have the same campus style layout as opposed to commuter schools like COMP.

I know there is quite the price tag on this school. Is it justified? Am I really going to have to worry about loads of debt. What if I choose primary care? What if I choose a specialty?- This is really a personal decision. I'm going to end up with a fair amount of debt by the time I'm done. Basically nothing in medicine is a sure thing at this point. If you have the option to save 20k/year then you better think long and hard on that. If you MUST be in Chicago or a city then I suppose you better be ready to live like a resident for your first couple years as an attending. Over all I would say the price is managible compared to other private DO schools but I really think the price of medical education is ridiculous right now and we will see changes coming in 10 years when there are more grads than residencies.

Hope this helps.

bbake87 said:

I am a CCOM grad. I did not encounter any of the hurdles in arranging electives, problems w faculty, being unprepared for boards, etc (nor did my roommates/friends to my knowledge) that the previous poster mentioned. The clinical sites are hit or miss. At several sites you feel as a third wheel and frankly do not receive that much teaching. The first two years are decent. The professors are good. The loans are absurd however - especially if you live in Chicago 3rd and 4th year. PM me w any ?'s.

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Im a grad also, what up brother baker!

As for clinical sites being hit or miss, I missed only twice. I had to do two of my 24 rotations at St James which is a f'ing hike when you live in the City. The rest were at Cook County (badass) and Swedish Covenant (fairly upscale, pretty posh).

The loans are absurd, maybe thats why I went into ortho. I chose CCOM over my instate school OUCOM. I wouldn't trade anything for living downtown in the city of Chicago for 3rd and 4th year. How many times are you going to get to do that?