2022-2023 Midwestern University (Chicago, Illinois) CCOM

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Anyone else radio silence? completed since early July, MCAT- 514, GPA- 3.80
 
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Interview Invite 10:10 AM !!!! So shocked could not believe it!! If anyone has interviewed here please DM me and throw me some tips!!!

IS, 506, 4.0
 
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Pre-II R - Nontrad/ IS, 511, 3.3 cGPA. Bummed that I didn't get any love from an IS school :( Congrats on those that got As!
 
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II today. OOS, LM ~68, complete late August. The email went to my spam
 
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II earlier today! OOS, LM 67. Also went to my spam folder.
 
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doctorj2 said:
Does anyone have any information on housing/great apartment complexes in the area? Are there any group chats for accepted students?
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hi! feel free to DM me if you're still looking for info! I'm a current student and can talk a little more about this! :)
 
Hey everyone! Any interview tips for this school specifically?
 
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To anyone who is applying this cycle and has gotten a response from CCOM or is even remotely considering it...I would highly advise you AGAINST applying here. I am a third year student who has been absolutely mangled by how atrocious the scheduling system and curriculum is at this school. I have not spoken to a single one of my colleagues thus far who haven't said they regret coming to this school. The students are at a huge tension point with the administration right now because of how poorly we are treated. This school will put you through hell and back with how inconsiderate they are of your sanity and mental health. I wish I listened sooner and went to my other option as I guarantee I wouldve been happier. The quarter system, the short 4 weeks of dedicated, and lack of attention from teachers, the grading AND ranking system, and the weekly examinations are all enough to convince you against applying or attending here. All this for a ridiculous tuition of 80k a year. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but all of you need to know the truth, do not sacrifice your sanity for this hell hole of a school.
 
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CheesyMacaroni said:
To anyone who is applying this cycle and has gotten a response from CCOM or is even remotely considering it...I would highly advise you AGAINST applying here. I am a third year student who has been absolutely mangled by how atrocious the scheduling system and curriculum is at this school. I have not spoken to a single one of my colleagues thus far who haven't said they regret coming to this school. The students are at a huge tension point with the administration right now because of how poorly we are treated. This school will put you through hell and back with how inconsiderate they are of your sanity and mental health. I wish I listened sooner and went to my other option as I guarantee I wouldve been happier. The quarter system, the short 4 weeks of dedicated, and lack of attention from teachers, the grading AND ranking system, and the weekly examinations are all enough to convince you against applying or attending here. All this for a ridiculous tuition of 80k a year. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but all of you need to know the truth, do not sacrifice your sanity for this hell hole of a school.
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For those of you that do not believe me or are still skeptical. AZCOM, our sister school gets 8 weeks of dedicated studying period for STEP and COMLEX and we get half that. I cannot recall a single week where we had less than two assessments. Our curriculum is set up in the worst way possible where each subject teaches their own system, which makes it super inefficient and leaves you to cram for an exam rather than truly learning the material. All my friends and I had to relearn 90% of material for our boards because of how poorly the curriculum taught us. We share one (1) testing center with 8 other colleges on the campus and having an exam at 6 pm one day and them 7 am the next is not uncommon, our finals weeks had this occurence practically every quarter. If you are still on the fence about attending this school. Then I beg you to avoid it. I wouldve much rather taken another gap year had I known about the reality of this school.
 
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Hi Everyone, I'm a current student at CCOM and enjoying it. Not that CheesyMacaroni's experiences aren't valid, but I'd strongly disagree that it should be skipped. As an M3, they would have been right during COVID, so would have had a pretty unique few years, whereas it feels like things are getting back to normal now. Yes we do have quizzes and exams every week, but if you stay on top of classes, you won't have to cram continuously, and if anything it forces you to not put things off too long. True the classes don't always synergize, but they build during the progression of the course so you can learn that through-line. Even though there are grades and rankings, lots of other schools have pseudo-grades and still have rankings, so not sure if that's really an issue. I know there are lots of MD schools that are pure pass/fail, but I can't imagine residency match will put too much weight on pre-clinical grades when they'd have nothing to compare against MD counterparts. And that's still in flux with Step 1 being pass/fail as well. Our class still shares tons of resources with each other, but maybe that's because we've had much more in person things than the COVID years people.

There are some downsides for sure. I'd love to be on a systems based curriculum so they could line up perfectly with all the 3rd party resources, but I still watch plenty of B&B and Bootcamp videos, I just need to search a little more to find the right one. The 4 weeks of dedicated isn't ideal, but I'm not sure I'd list that as a deal breaker. And the exam timings can suck (not always a morning person), but again staying caught up on classes means it's just some basic review and not cramming. I had crappy exam times in undergrad too, this isn't anything unheard of.

Like I said, not trying to say that Cheesy's experiences didn't happen or their feelings aren't valid, but just giving a different perspective and opinion.

Happy to answer any questions too.
 
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CheesyMacaroni said:
To anyone who is applying this cycle and has gotten a response from CCOM or is even remotely considering it...I would highly advise you AGAINST applying here. I am a third year student who has been absolutely mangled by how atrocious the scheduling system and curriculum is at this school. I have not spoken to a single one of my colleagues thus far who haven't said they regret coming to this school. The students are at a huge tension point with the administration right now because of how poorly we are treated. This school will put you through hell and back with how inconsiderate they are of your sanity and mental health. I wish I listened sooner and went to my other option as I guarantee I wouldve been happier. The quarter system, the short 4 weeks of dedicated, and lack of attention from teachers, the grading AND ranking system, and the weekly examinations are all enough to convince you against applying or attending here. All this for a ridiculous tuition of 80k a year. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but all of you need to know the truth, do not sacrifice your sanity for this hell hole of a school.
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So basically you're saying your first and second years were atrocious? Were you affected by Covid-19 at all during your classes? I know a lot of people who attend CCOM and from what I hear, 1-2 years are tough as any school is. Sure a lot more testing and quizzes / exams at CCOM than any other college maybe. I've yet to hear any BAD news from any of my M3 or M4 friends who attend CCOM. One of them even got married and took a month off. And another one is about to have a 2 month break. Could you elaborate more on your time as a current M3, how does it compare to your first two years? Thanks!!
 
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Graduated from CCOM a couple years ago. Here's my rebuttal to CheesyMacaroni:


"I am a third year student who has been absolutely mangled by how atrocious the scheduling system and curriculum is at this school."
- I've heard there have been some issues with rotations. This is likely due to COVID and sites adjusting who they allow in the clinical settings: This should likely improve as I never had issues during my time there. I know some of my classmates had to make changes to their schedule due to attendings taking vacations, leaving the hospital/practice, etc.

"The quarter system"
- Nothing wrong with the quarter system, it breaks up evenly between classes (although some classes span over multiple quarters).

"the short 4 weeks of dedicated"
- I was a middle of the pack medical student and 4 weeks was adequate time for dedicated. I started studying for boards in at the end of the quarter in December and ramped it up those 4 weeks of dedicated. 4 weeks is enough time, and allows the students to have an extra block of vacation during rotations (which is greatly appreciated).

"lack of attention from teachers"
- Never had this issue, all professors had an open door policy

"grading AND ranking system"
- All medical schools internally rank. This is not an issue.

"Weekly examinations are all enough to convince you against applying or attending here"
- You should know this is the schedule going in to CCOM. It's not for everyone. I was fine with it as it made me consistently study. I feel if I went to a school that had a comprehensive exam after each system, I would have not studied until a few days prior to the exam.

"All this for a ridiculous tuition of 80k a year"
- Agree, this school is way over priced and I am now left with a significant amount of loans.


As someone that is currently a resident at a large academic center, I felt prepared going into intern year, and have been complemented at my medical knowledge as well as physical exam skills compared to other MD students who went to the "Top Ranked Schools." Is CCOM perfect? No. Is it overpriced? Yes. But I have no regrets choosing CCOM, and am well on my way to doing what I love as a career and will get paid accordingly.
 
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CoomassieBlue57 said:
Graduated from CCOM a couple years ago. Here's my rebuttal to CheesyMacaroni:


"I am a third year student who has been absolutely mangled by how atrocious the scheduling system and curriculum is at this school."
- I've heard there have been some issues with rotations. This is likely due to COVID and sites adjusting who they allow in the clinical settings: This should likely improve as I never had issues during my time there. I know some of my classmates had to make changes to their schedule due to attendings taking vacations, leaving the hospital/practice, etc.

"The quarter system"
- Nothing wrong with the quarter system, it breaks up evenly between classes (although some classes span over multiple quarters).

"the short 4 weeks of dedicated"
- I was a middle of the pack medical student and 4 weeks was adequate time for dedicated. I started studying for boards in at the end of the quarter in December and ramped it up those 4 weeks of dedicated. 4 weeks is enough time, and allows the students to have an extra block of vacation during rotations (which is greatly appreciated).

"lack of attention from teachers"
- Never had this issue, all professors had an open door policy

"grading AND ranking system"
- All medical schools internally rank. This is not an issue.

"Weekly examinations are all enough to convince you against applying or attending here"
- You should know this is the schedule going in to CCOM. It's not for everyone. I was fine with it as it made me consistently study. I feel if I went to a school that had a comprehensive exam after each system, I would have not studied until a few days prior to the exam.

"All this for a ridiculous tuition of 80k a year"
- Agree, this school is way over priced and I am now left with a significant amount of loans.


As someone that is currently a resident at a large academic center, I felt prepared going into intern year, and have been complemented at my medical knowledge as well as physical exam skills compared to other MD students who went to the "Top Ranked Schools." Is CCOM perfect? No. Is it overpriced? Yes. But I have no regrets choosing CCOM, and am well on my way to doing what I love as a career and will get paid accordingly.
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Thank you!
 
For those that have read my previous post about my experience, and for those that have responded:
I would like to say that although our experiences will differ, there's no denying that mental health and school-life balance is a crucial part of any program/school. It's been super difficult to balance both as a student, especially if you're in the lower half of the class and need more passes of the material compared to some peers that master it with one review. I did not give specific examples in my last post and therefore will be providing them in this one.

- My first year was all good and dandy for the first couple of months as the school did a decent job at weaning us into the curriculum, but we've had our fair share of horrible scheduling. There would be weeks where we would have no exams and suddenly be bombarded with 3 exam/quizzes in a week along with some dissection labs or group workshops for biochem. We would constantly wonder why they would cram everything in one week when the previous one was empty, this resulted in students more often dedicating the majority of their time to study for the difficult classes (histo/anatomy 1st year and CSI/micro 2nd year) and left to cram the other assessments in a day or two. When confronting the professors about the bad scheduling their responses every single time would be "it is not under out control, the testing center arranges it". This was a huge issue in it of itself since it wouldnt even be the professors who would organize examinations, it would be some people in an office who have no clue about the workload we have going on outside of the testing center, indicative of the poor attention given to the students well-being/balance. If you were someone who manged just fine without issues, thats good for you. but for majority of my classmates/friends it was a nuisance.

-The frequent examinations absolutely did not serve as a means to keep you "in check" or allow you to organize your time efficiently. Quite the opposite, actually. When you've just had a brutal week of 2 exams and 2 quizzes (which is not uncommon) the last thing on your mind going into the weekend is "let me prepare for the next exam". You'd be so burnt out from the week prior you wouldn't even want to think about studying. Second year was its own nightmare considering subjects like Micro would go into so mcuh detail about bugs and disease processes that would not even be mentioned in boards simply because the professor wants you to know a specific exotoxin/endotoxin and every little thing about it. 70% of our micro class was irrelevant to boards, and because of how much time it took to study the materials it would all feel like it was for nothing. But hey, its all about balance amirite

- Because there was no cohesiveness to the material being taught you would learn the organ system in chunks and then have to relearn it all over again. As an example, we take anatomy first year and then go on to review all the pathology of the different organ systems second year. If you are a normal, run of the mill student who isnt cranking anki 24/7 youre bound to forget the majority of it and then have to relearn it all the second year. It just doesnt make sense how you don't follow a system based curriculum when just about every other school in the country does it because it works.

-Theres a constant gap between the administration and the students, we have a student government that listens to our complaints about basic resources that need improving on campus such as super slow wifi, outdated and dirty common areas, an overcrowded library with not enough places to study. The administration would just act shocked and never actually try to fix the problems. But low and behold, they suddenly have the means and facilities to establish a veterinarian school when their existing colleges have so many flaws to begin with.

-Lastly, the OMM department is a joke. The majority of the students would come out of the OMM lab with nothing but bad things to say because their teaching system would be so lackluster. If you're going to be DO school, supposedly the best DO school in the country, then at least make the one subject that defines you interesting to attract more students to it. So many students considered it a thorn in the road and would half-ass the lab just to get out and go finish studying for other classes.

Again, this is simply my experiences as well as points mentioned by my friends who come from different backgrounds. We unfortunately did not have a good time with this school and to this day we actively discourage all our friends/peers that think about applying here. Take it with a grain of salt, I would suggest asking as many people as possible, the gunners and the ESPECIALLY non gunners because they will give it to you as blunt as you need to hear it.
 
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CheesyMacaroni said:
For those that have read my previous post about my experience, and for those that have responded:
I would like to say that although our experiences will differ, there's no denying that mental health and school-life balance is a crucial part of any program/school. It's been super difficult to balance both as a student, especially if you're in the lower half of the class and need more passes of the material compared to some peers that master it with one review. I did not give specific examples in my last post and therefore will be providing them in this one.

- My first year was all good and dandy for the first couple of months as the school did a decent job at weaning us into the curriculum, but we've had our fair share of horrible scheduling. There would be weeks where we would have no exams and suddenly be bombarded with 3 exam/quizzes in a week along with some dissection labs or group workshops for biochem. We would constantly wonder why they would cram everything in one week when the previous one was empty, this resulted in students more often dedicating the majority of their time to study for the difficult classes (histo/anatomy 1st year and CSI/micro 2nd year) and left to cram the other assessments in a day or two. When confronting the professors about the bad scheduling their responses every single time would be "it is not under out control, the testing center arranges it". This was a huge issue in it of itself since it wouldnt even be the professors who would organize examinations, it would be some people in an office who have no clue about the workload we have going on outside of the testing center, indicative of the poor attention given to the students well-being/balance. If you were someone who manged just fine without issues, thats good for you. but for majority of my classmates/friends it was a nuisance.

-The frequent examinations absolutely did not serve as a means to keep you "in check" or allow you to organize your time efficiently. Quite the opposite, actually. When you've just had a brutal week of 2 exams and 2 quizzes (which is not uncommon) the last thing on your mind going into the weekend is "let me prepare for the next exam". You'd be so burnt out from the week prior you wouldn't even want to think about studying. Second year was its own nightmare considering subjects like Micro would go into so mcuh detail about bugs and disease processes that would not even be mentioned in boards simply because the professor wants you to know a specific exotoxin/endotoxin and every little thing about it. 70% of our micro class was irrelevant to boards, and because of how much time it took to study the materials it would all feel like it was for nothing. But hey, its all about balance amirite

- Because there was no cohesiveness to the material being taught you would learn the organ system in chunks and then have to relearn it all over again. As an example, we take anatomy first year and then go on to review all the pathology of the different organ systems second year. If you are a normal, run of the mill student who isnt cranking anki 24/7 youre bound to forget the majority of it and then have to relearn it all the second year. It just doesnt make sense how you don't follow a system based curriculum when just about every other school in the country does it because it works.

-Theres a constant gap between the administration and the students, we have a student government that listens to our complaints about basic resources that need improving on campus such as super slow wifi, outdated and dirty common areas, an overcrowded library with not enough places to study. The administration would just act shocked and never actually try to fix the problems. But low and behold, they suddenly have the means and facilities to establish a veterinarian school when their existing colleges have so many flaws to begin with.

-Lastly, the OMM department is a joke. The majority of the students would come out of the OMM lab with nothing but bad things to say because their teaching system would be so lackluster. If you're going to be DO school, supposedly the best DO school in the country, then at least make the one subject that defines you interesting to attract more students to it. So many students considered it a thorn in the road and would half-ass the lab just to get out and go finish studying for other classes.

Again, this is simply my experiences as well as points mentioned by my friends who come from different backgrounds. We unfortunately did not have a good time with this school and to this day we actively discourage all our friends/peers that think about applying here. Take it with a grain of salt, I would suggest asking as many people as possible, the gunners and the ESPECIALLY non gunners because they will give it to you as blunt as you need to hear it.
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Hey Cheesy, thank you for the detailed explanations! It sounds like you've had a very rigorous journey. Thankfully that's over now.. Do you mind sharing a little on how your 3rd - 4th years were like at CCOM?
 
FutureDoc2028 said:
Hey Cheesy, thank you for the detailed explanations! It sounds like you've had a very rigorous journey. Thankfully that's over now.. Do you mind sharing a little on how your 3rd - 4th years were like at CCOM?
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My 3rd and 4th years were mostly positive. I was able to get within my top 3 ranks for each rotation, and rotation track. So overall I had a good experience, and didn’t have to drive very far for most of my rotations (some rotations are in Indiana or Rockford). Surgery sucked, but that’s universal throughout most medical student surgical rotations. As I mentioned above, my clinical training was on par with my peers in my residency program who came from “Top Programs” as evidence by the feedback I received as an intern. If you have any specifics about clinical rotations 3rd and 4th year feel free to ask. It’s good to get insight from current students and recent graduates such as myself.
 
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CoomassieBlue57 said:
My 3rd and 4th years were mostly positive. I was able to get within my top 3 ranks for each rotation, and rotation track. So overall I had a good experience, and didn’t have to drive very far for most of my rotations (some rotations are in Indiana or Rockford). Surgery sucked, but that’s universal throughout most medical student surgical rotations. As I mentioned above, my clinical training was on par with my peers in my residency program who came from “Top Programs” as evidence by the feedback I received as an intern. If you have any specifics about clinical rotations 3rd and 4th year feel free to ask. It’s good to get insight from current students and recent graduates such as myself.
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Thank you for your reply! Insight from alumni and recent graduates is great, like you said current students as well. What did you end up going into for residency / what are you practicing now ?
 
Also does anyone know how decisions work? I interviewed Jan 9th, there was also 3 more dates, I believe the 11th, 16th, 18th. Do they go through all the interviewees and presumably next week (end of January) send out decisions? Thanks in advance!
 
FutureDoc2028 said:
Also does anyone know how decisions work? I interviewed Jan 9th, there was also 3 more dates, I believe the 11th, 16th, 18th. Do they go through all the interviewees and presumably next week (end of January) send out decisions? Thanks in advance!
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they review applications at the end of the month i believe
 
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FutureDoc2028 said:
Also does anyone know how decisions work? I interviewed Jan 9th, there was also 3 more dates, I believe the 11th, 16th, 18th. Do they go through all the interviewees and presumably next week (end of January) send out decisions? Thanks in advance!
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So I went back and checked the past three application cycles, and if the trend continues this year then CCOM should be releasing decisions for the January interviewees tomorrow.
 
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Premed2Med1 said:
So I went back and checked the past three application cycles, and if the trend continues this year then CCOM should be releasing decisions for the January interviewees tomorrow.
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My stomach has been turning the past few days, every time I get a phone call or hear the Gmail notification LOL. My heart would like pulse out of my chest and it'll be some spam call.
 
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FutureDoc2028 said:
My stomach has been turning the past few days, every time I get a phone call or hear the Gmail notification LOL. My heart would like pulse out of my chest and it'll be some spam call.
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Seems like the trend will not be continuing this year. Unless people have been getting decisions today but no one has posted.

From what I could tell they call you if you're getting an A but if its a waitlist/R then you get emailed later that same day
 
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Premed2Med1 said:
Seems like the trend will not be continuing this year. Unless people have been getting decisions today but no one has posted.

From what I could tell they call you if you're getting an A but if its a waitlist/R then you get emailed later that same day
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Hopefully we receive a phone call tomorrow or the week after :D
 
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FutureDoc2028 said:
I'm thinking Monday will seal our fates. If not it has to be Wednesday LOL :D
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Of course I can't be sure, but I feel like they meet on one of the last days of the month and release the decisions the next day. So my guess is Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hoping for sooner! But with my luck I know I'll build this up in my head and then get hit with a WL 😅
 
Does anyone know what the post-II acceptance rate is? Especially for later in the cycle?
 
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dideperfect123 said:
Does anyone know what the post-II acceptance rate is? Especially for later in the cycle?
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I don't know how the acceptance rate varies based on time in cycle but the only source I can find about acceptance rates for CCOM have them at 75% for in-state and 85% for OOS
 
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No phone call or email yet, but I've been logging into my portal daily and my matriculation and accepted student checklist appeared!! $200 deposit due by Feb 27th!!
 
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accepted :) interviewed 1/19
 
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