A Few Random Questions

[xtina0]

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1. Can you put “DO” on your license plate? I’ve never seen it and just am curious.

2. Med school is expensive and I honestly don’t have that much saved up, what should we be doing at this point as far as applying for scholarships or grants? Anyone have any websites on scholarships we can apply for. I am pretty sure I want to go into primary care and have heard there is a lot of funding out there, where should I look?

3. Okay now I need everyone’s opinions. I have been accepted to three schools and I don’t have a clue where I should go. I’ll give a short list of my pros and cons and I would really appreciate any feedback you guys have. THANKS!!!



LECOM- With the money situation described above this school is the cheapest. It would cost about 200K for all four years. It’s about 7 hours from where I live which is good (I can study with no distractions) and bad (away from my family). I did like the school, the very professional environment and administration and staff seemed top notch. Now the two things I am unsure about, the snow and the rotations. I know I would not fare well in the snow. I want to do me residency in New York City area (any one of the five boroughs) I know LECOM has rotations in NY but they’re only in Long Island. And I also heard that students often get dropped from hospitals they are rotating in, which isn’t LECOMs fault but it is still a risk. So going to LECOM may not set me up to be in the best possible situation to land a NYC rotation.

PCOM- WOW this school was so beautiful! I was so impressed with the school; everything was so nice, clean and organized. The students seemed so happy and administration and staff all seemed very friendly. Lecture Hall=Awesome! Okay so it costs more than LECOM and it is more expensive to live in the Philadelphia are so maybe I’m looking at 240-250K in the hole after 4 years. Again rotations are mostly in the Philly area for third year I think they only have one hospital in the Bronx, I think fourth year you can go wherever you want but am unsure of how you would set that up and I would also hate to travel for rotations. Again I’m worried about landing residency in NY. I also know that this school is prestigious but I am also aware when you cross over into the non-osteopathic world not many people know about the prestige of the DO schools.

NYCOM- To me the school had all the technology that PCOM had but it was a little more run down and disorganized which I guess isn’t a biggie. Staff seemed okay, I’m sure there wasn’t enough room there for all the students. Everywhere we went there were students, how do they all find room to study? So NYCOM has NYCOMEC which is why I really like this school. So many hospital affiliations in the NYC area!!! If that is where I need to be in 5 years this seems the obvious path, I think. Anyway I live 40 minutes from NYCOM so I was thinking I could possibly save the money and travel from home so maybe I would only owe 220K. And when I start rotating, hospitals are even closer to home so it definitely would be no problem.

4. Does anyone know how these three schools offer board prep come time to take COMLEX. I know LECOM calls you back to take a mock exam. What about PCOM and NYCOM?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks! 😀

 

[JaggerPlate]

1. I'm pretty sure it's just 'MD' to signify physician. I've never seen DO. Interestingly enough, in CA, they started printing this stickers for physicians to put on their cars and they say ' MD California Physician DO.' So the sticker has both degrees (wonder how pissed the DO hating people are about having that on their car hahah).

2. Scholarships ... good luck. Schools offer some, you can go to other agencies to get some, but in my opinion, it's just not like undergrad. There are certain ones that are awesome for certain ethnic groups, like native americans, but other than that ... not a ton. As far as grants, you can do things where your education will be paid for if you agree to practice in a PC field in an underserved area for X number of years after medical school, or you can go HPSP through one of the armed forces.

3. My instinct and opinion based on the way you felt would be PCOM. Take the family into account when thinking about LECOM though, but if you liked the 3/4 at PCOM, felt confident about the school, etc, that should go a long way towards success.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any further questions on this thread or PM me or whatever.

1. Can you put "DO" on your license plate? I've never seen it and just am curious.

2. Med school is expensive and I honestly don't have that much saved up, what should we be doing at this point as far as applying for scholarships or grants? Anyone have any websites on scholarships we can apply for. I am pretty sure I want to go into primary care and have heard there is a lot of funding out there, where should I look?

3. Okay now I need everyone's opinions. I have been accepted to three schools and I don't have a clue where I should go. I'll give a short list of my pros and cons and I would really appreciate any feedback you guys have. THANKS!!!



LECOM- With the money situation described above this school is the cheapest. It would cost about 200K for all four years. It's about 7 hours from where I live which is good (I can study with no distractions) and bad (away from my family). I did like the school, the very professional environment and administration and staff seemed top notch. Now the two things I am unsure about, the snow and the rotations. I know I would not fare well in the snow. I want to do me residency in New York City area (any one of the five boroughs) I know LECOM has rotations in NY but they're only in Long Island. And I also heard that students often get dropped from hospitals they are rotating in, which isn't LECOMs fault but it is still a risk. So going to LECOM may not set me up to be in the best possible situation to land a NYC rotation.

PCOM- WOW this school was so beautiful! I was so impressed with the school; everything was so nice, clean and organized. The students seemed so happy and administration and staff all seemed very friendly. Lecture Hall=Awesome! Okay so it costs more than LECOM and it is more expensive to live in the Philadelphia are so maybe I'm looking at 240-250K in the hole after 4 years. Again rotations are mostly in the Philly area for third year I think they only have one hospital in the Bronx, I think fourth year you can go wherever you want but am unsure of how you would set that up and I would also hate to travel for rotations. Again I'm worried about landing residency in NY. I also know that this school is prestigious but I am also aware when you cross over into the non-osteopathic world not many people know about the prestige of the DO schools.

NYCOM- To me the school had all the technology that PCOM had but it was a little more run down and disorganized which I guess isn't a biggie. Staff seemed okay, I'm sure there wasn't enough room there for all the students. Everywhere we went there were students, how do they all find room to study? So NYCOM has NYCOMEC which is why I really like this school. So many hospital affiliations in the NYC area!!! If that is where I need to be in 5 years this seems the obvious path, I think. Anyway I live 40 minutes from NYCOM so I was thinking I could possibly save the money and travel from home so maybe I would only owe 220K. And when I start rotating, hospitals are even closer to home so it definitely would be no problem.

4. Does anyone know how these three schools offer board prep come time to take COMLEX. I know LECOM calls you back to take a mock exam. What about PCOM and NYCOM?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!! Thanks! 😀

 

[xtina0]

1.HAHA I LOVE IT, I hope they implement that in NY.

3. Thanks, I think I'm going to visit the schools again but yeah reading my post back I do seem really leaning towards PCOM which I didn't notice while writing.

 

[sonofva]

the National Health Service Corps also has a scholarship program similar to HPSP. They send you to an indian reservation or underserved area for a few years after you graduate and do residency.

The only catch is that you have to be willing to do primary care (peds/im/fp)...they don't take no neurosurgeons...🙂

 

[AMEHigh]

If you have any specific questions about PCOM I can try and answer them. I really love it and don't really have many negatives to say about the school. Good luck with your decision.

 

[xtina0]

If you have any specific questions about PCOM I can try and answer them. I really love it and don't really have many negatives to say about the school. Good luck with your decision.

Yes, for PCOM is there much traveling involved for rotations? Or are most rotations right in Philly?

 

[st2205]

the National Health Service Corps also has a scholarship program similar to HPSP. They send you to an indian reservation or underserved area for a few years after you graduate and do residency.

The only catch is that you have to be willing to do primary care (peds/im/fp)...they don't take no neurosurgeons...🙂

With regards to the NHSC being like the HPSP, the stipend is less (about $1,200/mo pre-tax), there is no signing bonus, but you're never deployed. You also won't be sent to a reservation, as that is something different. It is a year of service for each year of the scholarship. Also, the specialties for the scholarship are FP, IM, Peds, OB/Gyn & psych.

In short, the program is ineffective in accomplishing the mission it was meant for and is a collosal waste of tax payer money.

 

[sonofva]

You can definitely be sent to the res. as a NHSC scholar. It may not be as part of the Indian Health Service, but you can definitely work at reservation community health clinics (see - Fort Washakie Health Center...etc.).

I also wouldn't describe it as a "collosal waste of taxpayer money." it may not be the most efficient program, but the physicians at NHSC definitely provide much needed primary care to those who need it.

you wont deploy to some sandbox for 1-2 years at a time, which is an advantage to some people.

 

[st2205]

I also wouldn't describe it as a "collosal waste of taxpayer money." it may not be the most efficient program, but the physicians at NHSC definitely provide much needed primary care to those who need it.

Yes, but let's be realistic about where these PCPs are coming from. They're given money (and with the new health bill as it stands, to the tune of 12-ish billion dollars) to recruit students/physicians into primary care, underserved areas. Their entire selection criteria weeds out anyone who isn't serious about being an underserved PCP (i.e. the ones who could actually be termed recruits), thus the money the government 'throws' to 'solve' the problem goes to the same physicians who will be filling these positions in to begin with.

you wont deploy to some sandbox for 1-2 years at a time, which is an advantage to some people.

This is true, which is also why I don't advocate one over the other. From the recepient's perspective it's a great deal. From a taxpayer's perspective, this program is counterintuitive, if they were to really sit down and think about it instead of thinking that a little bit of money will solve everything.

 

[xtina0]

Well I'm really interested in EM but if I could get one of these grants I would do PC, so I guess sometimes it does persuade some physicians to practice PC. The only thing is that I wouldn't want to be deployed anywhere, there are plenty of underserved areas where I live. With that risk for me it's not worth it ecspecially because I read if you breach contract they fine you $840,000 😱.

 

[JoshUNCW]

you wont deploy to some sandbox for 1-2 years at a time, which is an advantage to some people.

Just wanted to point out HPSP doctors serve 3 months out of every 15 in a sandbox during their owed time. Otherwise, they just work in the states.

 

[st2205]

With that risk for me it's not worth it ecspecially because I read if you breach contract they fine you $840,000 😱.

Which is one of many reasons why it weeds out people who aren't set on PC anyway.

 

[teacherman84]

Just wanted to point out HPSP doctors serve 3 months out of every 15 in a sandbox during their owed time. Otherwise, they just work in the states.

None of the services deploy for only 3 months. The AF, which had the shortest of the 3 branches, moved from 4 month deployments to 6 months this year. Navy, from what I have been told is at 6 months. but there are talk of increasing that and Army is around 12 months, though I know some in army medicine who were told 12 months and ended up closer to 15.

 

[xtina0]

So what type of grants are availiable if you want to go into primary care are willing to serve an underserved area for x years but don't want to be deployed and the underserved area is a area that you get to choose and not a random placement by the government

 

[st2205]

So what type of grants are availiable if you want to go into primary care are willing to serve an underserved area for x years but don't want to be deployed and the underserved area is a area that you get to choose and not a random placement by the government

The NHSC program (scholarship program) pays all your tuition w/~$1,200 stipend each month. You are able to decide where you want to go (out of a list of areas that qualify, but there are other people competing for those positions). However, they've recently been changing the criteria of how they define HPSA relative to those on the scholarship. The other aspect of the NHSC is loan repayment, and they seem to be saving the more attractive locations for loan repayment recruiting, since they can do more or less whatever they want with the people who already signed on to the scholarship. You can check more in to it in the financial aid forums.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

Yes, but let's be realistic about where these PCPs are coming from. They're given money (and with the new health bill as it stands, to the tune of 12-ish billion dollars) to recruit students/physicians into primary care, underserved areas. Their entire selection criteria weeds out anyone who isn't serious about being an underserved PCP (i.e. the ones who could actually be termed recruits), thus the money the government 'throws' to 'solve' the problem goes to the same physicians who will be filling these positions in to begin with.



This is true, which is also why I don't advocate one over the other. From the recepient's perspective it's a great deal. From a taxpayer's perspective, this program is counterintuitive, if they were to really sit down and think about it instead of thinking that a little bit of money will solve everything.

The point you are not acknowledging is the fact that many people who go into med school wanting to be a PCP change their preference of specialty to a more lucrative one so they won't be burdened with school debt for forever and a lifetime.

 

[sonofva]

the point you are not acknowledging is the fact that many people who go into med school wanting to be a pcp change their preference of specialty to a more lucrative one so they won't be burdened with school debt for forever and a lifetime.

+1

 

[felix2]

2) now that's definitely not easy to get a a grant in the field of medicine... hope, you'll manage to do this. good luck!

 

[ttjones]

The NHSC program (scholarship program) pays all your tuition w/~$1,200 stipend each month. You are able to decide where you want to go (out of a list of areas that qualify, but there are other people competing for those positions). However, they've recently been changing the criteria of how they define HPSA relative to those on the scholarship. The other aspect of the NHSC is loan repayment, and they seem to be saving the more attractive locations for loan repayment recruiting, since they can do more or less whatever they want with the people who already signed on to the scholarship. You can check more in to it in the financial aid forums.

Actually if you read the website on this scholarship, they send you where ever the greatest need is at the time you finish your residency. I really don't think you get to pick. Maybe...but from what I read, it sounds like they choose for you.

 

[xtina0]

Thanks everyone for your reponses. Any other opionions on these schools? Any information on board prep? I still can't decide 😕

 

[xtina0]

I still can't make a decision 😕 any help is greatly appreciated. Reading through the pros/cons thread in the medical students forums a lot of negative feedback for NYCOM can anyone confirm this?