OSUCOM or AZCOM?

OSU without a doubt. AZCOM has astronomical tuition. It's just not worth it if you can go to another school that is established.

If you are instate at OSU its a no brainer. I think OSU has a fantastic program and it is a stable program with a variety of clinical rotations as well as their main hospital is undergoing major renovations.

I would probably still choose OSU over AZCOM even out of state just because I have personally seen how things work there. I like the class size, rotations, and of course there is goljan board review which everyone tries to seek out. Its a great school with a supportive administration and the classes seem pretty cohesive as a group.

I have to agree with MSH. OSU is a great, established school. I have worked with a great many physicians from there on a regular basis, and I have several friends that are currently attend and have been through the program. There are a lot of clinical rotation sites and it is very exciting at what the hospital has in store for the future. AZCOM, if I'm not mistaken, is a new school, or newer school and there may still be some bugs to work out. Not too mention the weather in AZ, HOTT!! Go with where you feel more comfortable and where you feel you fit is the best answer. Good luck with your choice.

It depends on how you feel about living in Tulsa. OSU has the advantage of smaller classes, less horrible test schedule (I think), and more stable clinical rotations in that you can stay in Tulsa almost the whole time. However, if Tulsa would make you miserable and you'd rather be somewhere nicer, AZCOM might be a better choice. The tuition difference is pretty marginal if you're oos -- adding an extral $40k to your loans won't mean much in the long run.

Also AZCOM was established and associated with midwestern as well. It really depends on what YOU want out of a school and which one you feel is the best choice for you.

same reasons, osucom. also it never drops below 100F in the late spring.

ScootDoc said:

I'm OOS. I'm from Utah. Truth be told. I feel quite priveleged to have been accepted by OSU, considering they only matriculate ~8-12 OOS students. It is cheeper and I do like the idea of having clinical rotations basically right on campus. The new Senate bill that was passed in favor of state funds for the school and hospital is also a good deal, since it will only make things better. I think four years is plenty of time to get the ball olling. I think the residencies will especially benefit.

On the other hand, AZCOM has had 99% pass rate for 5+years running. They have good residency placement, and it's closer to Utah. I also have a lot of friends that will be attending AZCOM. HARD DECISION!

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Before you toot your own horn too much, the fact that 8 to 12 oos students matriculate doesn't mean only 8 to 12 oos students are accepted.

Doctor Bagel said:

Before you toot your own horn too much, the fact that 8 to 12 oos students matriculate doesn't mean only 8 to 12 oos students are accepted.

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I don't think he was "tooting his own horn". He was expressing gratitude to have been considered and accepted.

San_Juan_Sun said:

I don't think he was "tooting his own horn". He was expressing gratitude to have been considered and accepted.

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Maybe. I probably wouldn't have made my comment if I weren't familiar with his other posts, though. Anyway, it's a stupid reason to pick a school. Also, from being around sdn long enough, it appears that the oos admitted students at osu aren't necessarily groovier than the instate admitted students. Both groups seem to be pretty comparable.

Doctor Bagel said:

Maybe. I probably wouldn't have made my comment if I weren't familiar with his other posts, though. Anyway, it's a stupid reason to pick a school. Also, from being around sdn long enough, it appears that the oos admitted students at osu aren't necessarily groovier than the instate admitted students. Both groups seem to be pretty comparable.

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1) I've never read any posts from this person, so maybe you have insight I don't have.

2) People on SDN choose schools for lots of stupid reasons. I've seen more than one person pick a school because the Admission staff were nice to them. Seriously.

3) Since I'm an AZCOM atudent, I can't comment on OSUCOM too much. All I've ever heard are good things. For any anxious premeds out there, if you are a solid student you'll do well wherever you go (for the most part). There have been other threads talking about top DO schools, etc. While this is a HIGHLY subjective topic, AZCOM's board scores are match lists are very solid. I don't think there's any question that AZCOM is a solid school.

So to the premeds, here's the short list of important criteria when picking a school: 1. $$$ 2. location 3. how you fit in.

4) I'm sure that there are "groovy" students from everywhere.

Doctor Bagel said:

Maybe. I probably wouldn't have made my comment if I weren't familiar with his other posts, though. Anyway, it's a stupid reason to pick a school.

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And people wonder why I have a bad impression of the OU Medical school.

eh?

I would say definatly OSU-COM, but I am probably a bit biased.

Also, Tulsa is a great city to go to medical school in. Super cheap to live here and the town is big enough that there is a good amount to do.

ScootDoc said:

It is cheeper and I do like the idea of having clinical rotations basically right on campus.

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This would be a consideration for me as well, I do not know how AZCOM does it, but I've seen their students all over the country for "required" rotations. I don't know exactly what that means, but if it means they travel as much as the students from there that I met, I'd not be so keen on that.

However, OSU's programs do still need some work. The IM and EM programs are strong and will only get stronger. I don't know about the surgery program, but from my rotations through it and seeing how allopathic programs have a rather larger didactic portion associated with their surgery programs, I can't help but wonder, but I'm going to be an Internist, so I'm obviously biased.

The OMM month was pure crap, IMHO, and this is coming from someone who uses OMM frequently. The good thing about not sticking around for their IM program is that I won't have to hear the "borne out by clinical experience" meme that is preached by some of the professors who present some rather exuberant claims about the benefit of OMT.

The FM program isn't too shabby, however, alot of this is dependent on where you end up. Everyone goes through the OSU clinic, and it's not too bad as they have decent lectures series. But the rural rotations are highly variable in how much you do or see or how well (if at all) the Docs teach.

Psych, varies from site to site. I loved my month, short days, a doc that loves to teach and does it succinctly, and a bunch of wacked out in-pt crazies (yes, this is a DRG billable code.).

Peds, most students go through the OSU peds program, and it's not too bad. And I would imagine it's only getting better as they had just brought on some new docs and were making some changes. Dr West was the new Peds hospitalist, and he seemed damn good at that. There are some students who go through private peds offices, and I can't comment on them.

While the hospital is getting lots of money to invest, there are somethings which they probably will not be able to fix. The nursing staff is......lacking. They have a rather high turn over rate and have even more agency nurses. And there is, on one floor in particular, a cast of rather angry and malcontent nurses that you'll ever meet.

OB, I wasn't that impressed, but despise all that is OB/GYN to begin with, so I'll not comment on this one beyond that it is one of the few 5 year OB residencies in the nation.

Something else that turned out to be cumbersome when setting up electives, is that OSU uses months as the basis of rotation dates (i.e. Feb 1-28th) while most other places are on a 4 week system.

I can't comment on AZCOM and will not put them down as those I've met from there seemed like they had obtained a decent education from there. I'm just commenting on OSUCOM. You won't go wrong with OSU, there are a lot of good things about the school and I've enjoyed my time there and would choice to go there again were I to do it all over.

So hopefully some of the things I commented on will give you some ideas of things to ask people from AZCOM about to compare the two and see which is right for you.

eh?

oops.

Scootdoc,

I have read many of your posts since you began the campaign to attend OSU. I don't really think that changing your mind or fully weighing your options is a bad thing. I do think that everyone should abstain from personal attacks.

Though I don't personally know Dr. Bagel either, I also fallow many of her posts. I can tell you that she does not have rude or malitious undertones in her posts. What she posts is what she means.

As for your question....I don't know much about AZCOM. I have some friends there who love it and friends at OSU also. I know a lot of folks from Utah attend AZCOM and KCOM as well. I am sure that you will make the right choice for you.

Best of Luck

T

Regarding the OU vs. OSU idea.....


Let's all be mature enough not to judge a school by a few of the students that we may or may not have met. I say this from experience. I was not too keen on OU Med either, but after going and seeing what it is about, the students do have a lot of pride in their school because it offers a great education.

As stated earlier, there are Groovy students and bums at every school.

Sorry to get off topic

Peace

Hernandez said:

And people wonder why I have a bad impression of the OU Medical school.

eh?

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Hey, you don't agree? You said you got into both OU and OSU and choose OSU because you liked it more. OU is more competitive than OSU, so I think you must agree with my assertion that it's a stupid reason to pick a school.

I'm also wondering if you're familiar with scootdoc's posts. If not, I don't think you can comment on my motivation.

Editing to add that I think it's a bit selective to say OU's not a nice place based on my meanie posts. Honestly, I'm the biggest a&&hole poster OU has -- in fact, I think I'm the only a&&hole OU poster on sdn. Consequently, I think OSU has OU well beat in the sdn jerk category. I've got nothing on that charmer OSUdoc. It looks like your incoming class also has some real nice folks with that snoopy guy and Mr. op here.

Tiagao said:

Though I don't personally know Dr. Bagel either, I also fallow many of her posts. I can tell you that she does not have rude or malitious undertones in her posts. What she posts is what she means.

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Ahh, that's nice. As for the instate/oos thing at OSU, I'm just saying that they tend to have comparable numbers and accomplishments. The oos students aren't necessarily going to be the smartest or best at OSU.

As for my thoughts about scootdoc, I admittedly had just read his horribly rude post in a prior thread where an excited student had posted about getting into LECOM. He essentially rained on her parade and told her LECOM was desperate to accept people. After reading that and then reading about how honored or whatever he was to be accepted to OSU, I got the impression that maybe he's a little full of himself.

Tiagao said:

Regarding the OU vs. OSU idea.....


Let's all be mature enough not to judge a school by a few of the students that we may or may not have met. I say this from experience. I was not too keen on OU Med either, but after going and seeing what it is about, the students do have a lot of pride in their school because it offers a great education.

Peace

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it's more than just a few students I know, it's the Administration which I've had dealings with. I don't appreciate being called a liar (to my face) erroneously on top of several other condescending and unsubstantiated digs directed towards me during every communication and even worse during the interview.

I am sorry to hear about your experiences. Best of luck with whichever school you choose.


Scootdoc, have you come to a decision yet?