NOVA vs AZCOM

Two schools have similar class size, and AZCOM has just signed and secured new rotations. AZCOM's last year match is mostly FM and IM, but it claims to have almost 100% COMPLEX passing rate whereas NOVA has only one radiology match.

Anyway, my question is which school prepares you best for USMLE, and have excellent rotation during third and fourth year? I cannot really find the curriculum for NOVA, and I noticed a lot of OMM and Rural rotations which I am not really interested. But people keep saying how great NOVA is, so I just need some unbiased comparisons.

Thank you very much!

StriveToBeDr said:

Two schools have similar class size, and AZCOM has just signed and secured new rotations. AZCOM's last year match is mostly FM and IM, but it claims to have almost 100% COMPLEX passing rate whereas NOVA has only one radiology match.
Thank you very much!

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^^^stupid reasons to base what school you will go to.

What kind of reason is intelligent?

Quality of clinical rotations: is it at a large, university-affiliated teaching hospitals with didactics, or is it at some community hospital in the middle of nowhere, where your exposure to pathology, or cases will be much lower? How structured is it? How many electives do they allow you to complete, and would that be enough to help you really rotate through a variety of specialties so you can reach an informed conclusion about what you like and don't like?

This should be the single most important factor in deciding where to attend medical school. As for the 'go where you get a 'good vibe'' approach, consider this: Your first two years will be very different, and far less significant than your last two. The two years of basic sciences are more or less the same anywhere, so that should not be a major consideration.

Wow, thanks! Go Canucks!👍
So in your opinion, which one of the schools satisfies your requirement better?

No contribution to this thread, but it's COMLEX not complex. Although the COMLEX can be complex.

Also, it changes by year where people match. Every DO radiologist I know has come from NOVA (about 10), so it isn't impossible.

i love it when people call it the complex. lol.

StriveToBeDr said:

Wow, thanks! Go Canucks!👍
So in your opinion, which one of the schools satisfies your requirement better?

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I really can't comment on AZCOM's rotation sites. I think you should contact them and ask about it yourself. What would be even better is if you could contact 3rd/4th year AZCOM students and ask them what their rotations were like, were they happy, etc. You can even do the same for NSU, and not have to take my word for it, as I am only a lowly M1.

As for NSU, I know at least one of the hospitals is level I trauma, and there are a few university affiliated hospitals where we rotate at, such as Mount Sinai, and Jackson North, which are affiliated with U Miami, and even have residency programs offered by them.

StriveToBeDr said:

What kind of reason is intelligent?

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Stuff like:

- tuition & cost of attendance
- location & year-round environment
- what current & former students have to say (always get a second opinion)
- curriculum (Nova's is on http://medicine.nova.edu/current_students.html)
- your impressions of faculty & administration from interview day
- how you felt about the students you met, and how you felt about being there as you left on interview day
- clinical rotation sites at teaching hospitals where students get to do stuff
- scheduling freedom for audition rotations

With respect to board scores, pass rate is fine, but passing doesn't make you competitive. The school can't help make you competitive, beyond teaching an accredited curriculum and providing time & support for you to prepare.

With respect to residency match lists, if you must look, then look at multiple years. Look for individuals going into programs that you're interested in. Those individuals, IF THEY'RE GOOD RESIDENTS, have forged a path that becomes your slip-n-slide. If you look at 3 years of match lists for school X and there's not one single rads residency, then you can assume that you'll be doing the hard work all by yourself to establish school X as a source of good rads candidates to residency program directors.

If you want to take the USMLE and try for an ACGME residency, then it's a magnitude easier with a DO precedent from your school. This program will be happy to see more Touro-CA applicants, for example. The only way I've found to confirm that an ACGME program has DOs in it is to go site-by-site and look for DOs on the list. If an ACGME program is at a hospital that has DO internships or otherwise takes DOs, that's a magnitude easier than being the first DO they've ever met.

In summary, if you're accepted at both Nova or AZCOM, two well-established schools in warm climates, this is a sweet-*** problem to have. Don't nickel and dime yourself on board scores and residency placements. Go where you'll be happy.