Pros/Cons of Several Schools

jmaxwell_wsu said:

1. Kansas City COM
2. Arizona COM
3. Chicago COM
4. Des Moines University
5. Philadelphia COM
6. Western U-COMP (Western Track)
7. New England COM
8. Touro

These are the schools I am thinking about applying to. I'm a pretty strong candidate (3.75 GPA, 28-30 MCAT-guessing, just took it) with pretty strong ties to KCCOM (uncle is a neurosurgeon alumn). I'd like to shorten this list to 4 or 5 schools (along with maybe 10 MD schools).

How would you guys rank these schools as far as student success on boards, quality of rotations, quality of instruction/facilities, etc? Which are the best places to live?

Thanks for your help!
Jake

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AZCOM:

Pros: new school with a brand new campus & phoenix is a great town to live in (4 hours from vegas, LA, and the Mexican coastline).

Cons: poorly established clinical rotations, that require a great effort on your part with a large amount of travel

jmaxwell_wsu said:

1. Kansas City COM
2. Arizona COM
3. Chicago COM
4. Des Moines University
5. Philadelphia COM
6. Western U-COMP (Western Track)
7. New England COM
8. Touro
9. Oklahoma State -- I forgot this one!

These are the schools I am thinking about applying to. I'm a pretty strong candidate (3.75 GPA, 28-30 MCAT-guessing, just took it) with pretty strong ties to KCCOM (uncle is a neurosurgeon alumn). I'd like to shorten this list to 4 or 5 schools (along with maybe 10 MD schools).

How would you guys rank these schools as far as student success on boards, quality of rotations, quality of instruction/facilities, etc? Which are the best places to live?

Thanks for your help!
Jake

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I interviewed at KCUMB (what you must be referring to as Kansas City-COM) and OSU-COM

KCUMB pros: Good school with a good reputation. Great anatomy lab facilities. Big city with lots of resources and excitement. Well renovated and modernized facilities in historic (in a good way) looking buildings.
cons: Located in the 'hood. Not much land area to expand. Big city with all the problems. Kind of on the expensive side (especially the deposits, you almost have to be making doctor money to go there 🙁 ).

OSU-COM pros: Great school with 100% pass rate on board exams recently, gotta like that. Everyone there is super cool. Tulsa is a medium to large city with the best of both worlds (small town, big city). Facilities are nice. Great living areas near campus (some say good, some say bad, it looked fine to me and I'm from St. Louis). Great professors.
cons: State school, so kinda hard to get in unless you're from OK. Students are a little too obsessed with ping pong. 😀

OSU-COM:

To add onto what JKHamlin said,

OSU-COM has the largest osteopathic hospital in the nation, and has affiliated hospitals in the 2 largest cities in the state (Oklahoma City & Tulsa.)
As a result, OSU-COM has a large pool of affiliated residencies throughout Oklahoma, and other residencies in Missouri & Arkansas.

The 100% board pass rate was for both USMLE & COMLEX.

The match list speaks for itself---residents place in the top allopathic & osteopathic residencies in the nation.

OSU-COM is highly ranked in Family Medicine, Rural Medicine, and Primary Care, by US News.

AZCOM:
Pros = awesome matchlist! 70% to allo residencies and the list looks good, check it out! 100% COMLEX pass rate. Facilities some of the nicest among MD and DO schools combined. Phoenix is great. 🙂
Cons = As mentioned, 3rd year is a bit different than most 3rd years...4th year is fine. If you want a competitive specialty you will probably have to do some legwork and traveling your 3rd year to get good rotations outside of Phoenix. If you want to be a generalist, the system should work just fine for you. Either way you may see it as a pro to get to spend a few months in various cities during your third year.

crys20 said:

AZCOM:
Pros = awesome matchlist! 70% to allo residencies and the list looks good, check it out! 100% COMLEX pass rate. Facilities some of the nicest among MD and DO schools combined. Phoenix is great. 🙂
Cons = As mentioned, 3rd year is a bit different than most 3rd years...4th year is fine. If you want a competitive specialty you will probably have to do some legwork and traveling your 3rd year to get good rotations outside of Phoenix. If you want to be a generalist, the system should work just fine for you. Either way you may see it as a pro to get to spend a few months in various cities during your third year.

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OSU-COM was the only 100% COMLEX step I pass rate last year. Perhaps you are referring to step II, which gives no indication of basic sciences education.

I would highly recommend UNECOM; it is the only school on that list that gave UMDNJ a run for the money for me. Ironically, money was the deciding factor.

Pros: Awesome anatomy course; double the hours of most medical schools and only second to Johns Hopkins, 4 people to a cadaver. Excellent clinical exposure with opportunities up and down the east coast. A beautiful peaceful area to study in. And most importantly, the student body is awesome; I had a great feeling there and was drawn in. Small class size of 120 per class.

Cons: Very, very, very expensive. Cold weather, mandatory attendance, traditional curriculum.

Having said that, you may want to consider UMDNJ. If you want to read my most recent rant on why I chose UMDNJ read here http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=198429

OSUdoc08 said:

OSU-COM was the only 100% COMLEX step I pass rate last year. Perhaps you are referring to step II, which gives no indication of basic sciences education.

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Not last year, but I remember from my interview day back in November that they have hit 100% several times, and the other years were all extremely high as well...which IS a good indication of basic sciences education.

ornis4 said:

Not last year, but I remember from my interview day back in November that they have hit 100% several times, and the other years were all extremely high as well...which IS a good indication of basic sciences education.

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Hmm. Odd that they didn't mention this to me when I interviewed in September of 2003.

crys20 said:

http://mwunet.midwestern.edu/academic/AZCOM/Docs/azcomCOMLEX.pdf

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Wow, the overall took a major dip in '03. There must have been some significant test changes that year.

I know it, my gosh! But all to verify that AZCOM did indeed have a 100% pass rate.

PCOM -
Pros - great reputation and well respected by allopathic schools (not just saying it), most allopathic osteopathic school there is. Many hospitals to rotate through. Major healthcare hub of the US with 5 allopathic and 1 other Osteopathic school in the area. (UMDNJ, Penn, Drexel, Jefferson, Temple, Penn State) as well as the largest concentration of Pharm. Companies and Medical Research in the US. OMM faculty has practically written a 1/4 of the FOM book. Lecturers from all the med schools I listed above. Physiology prof is an MD, PhD who is an Emed doc at Einstein in Philly. Plenty of research if interested, basic science and OMM. OMM dept is well funded with an extensive research dept. Pathology taught by a pathologist who was a family doc before he was a pathologist. Great Parking. Great gym and facilities thanx to the 76ers. Lectures are scribed and recorded on MP3 files which are available online.

Cons - OMM dept. can't keep faculty around very long and they are heavy on the HVLA and muscle energy. They are nice people though. Radiology is in limbo as they are w/o anyone permanent to teach it right now. All Rad lectures for cardiovascular, renal, and pulmonology 1st year classes have been put off until further notice. Lack of planning got them into this bind by relying on a very old prof that has multiple medical problems. Primary care skills class is run by the chair of FM who is also the residency director, like he doesn't already have enough to do. Class size is too large for my liking but then again I came from a very small undergrad. No hospital of their own. They had one but it was in financial turmoil when they bought it, so now it is a vacant lot next to the school. Tuition is an arm and a leg. You'll often have two of the same lecture starting in the 3rd trimester b/c the lecturers are coming from say UPENN and PCOM. No biggy and it is usually taught in reference to something else, but there is quite a bit of repetition in the clinical lectures. There are many other little things but they are probably just my pet peeves.

I second that. Cheaper/state, excellent school at UMDNJ is a better choice.

Pros: Great faculty, Great Pass Rate and Great Match.
Great student co-operation, Great reputation of producing Great Physicians. Great environment to learn, Amazing surrounding if you like nature.
Compared to other Private schools same (cheaper than few). Attendence is not mandatory. Living cost is cheaper than most cities. For some like myself, I prefer the dictation curriculum.

Cons: Location needs to have a car. Yeah I guess the cold weather can be negative. But I am living in similar weather now, so not too much change. I would not want to live in Humid south. I guess I prefer 4 seasons. Main prob is the need for car.

Nate said:

I would highly recommend UNECOM; it is the only school on that list that gave UMDNJ a run for the money for me. Ironically, money was the deciding factor.

Pros: Awesome anatomy course; double the hours of most medical schools and only second to Johns Hopkins, 4 people to a cadaver. Excellent clinical exposure with opportunities up and down the east coast. A beautiful peaceful area to study in. And most importantly, the student body is awesome; I had a great feeling there and was drawn in. Small class size of 120 per class.

Cons: Very, very, very expensive. Cold weather, mandatory attendance, traditional curriculum.

Having said that, you may want to consider UMDNJ. If you want to read my most recent rant on why I chose UMDNJ read here http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=198429

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Oh by the way.. if you want a glance at 2005 match results.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=2607452#post2607452

post ~565.

Touro - great school! Not to be overlooked. Some of the highest scoring students at any DO school go to Touro, attracted by the location and the high likelihood of getting a CA residency after school. Touro is a new school, but in one of the fastest growing counties in the US. New hospitals are being built which will provide awesome clinical opportunities for students.