ACOM match VS LECOM Erie match

[BillsMafia28]

With ACOM's first match out I am curious what everybody thinks about ACOM compared to LECOM. They both had some good residency matches. Someone from ACOM matched Johns Hopkins gas. Pretty impressive. ACOM matched 2/116 students into orthopedic surgery compared to 6/270 at LECOM Erie. For gen surg ACOM matched 4/116 students and Erie matched 13/270. I realize that this isn't the best statistic to evaluate a schools residency placement but it should at least be recognized. A better statistic would be the total number of students who matched into their top choice residency.

Comparing the two matches by this and all the other factors such as rotation quality, reputation, and OPTI connections to surgery residencies, would you say you have a pretty equal opportunity to match into surgery, so long as you put in the work and get the board scores/grades/audition rotations? Or would you say you have a slightly higher chance of matching a more selective residency such as gen surg or ortho at one of these schools?


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[zukunft195]

General surgery isn't generally viewed as a selective specialty (though it may become far more difficult for DO students to enter GS after the merger, since it's possible that DO residency spots in GS will start being filled by MDs).

Anyway, if you're gunning for a selective specialty, go to whichever school you feel you'd be more academically successful at. In order to have a shot at competitive specialties (e.g., orthopedic surgery) as an osteopathic student, you will need to graduate at the top of your class with astonishingly high Step I and II scores -- preferably with rotations in the specialty of interest (which you would likely have to seek out on your own) and with research/publications.

 

[BillsMafia28]

General surgery isn't generally viewed as a selective specialty (though it may become far more difficult for DO students to enter GS after the merger, since it's possible that DO residency spots in GS will start being filled by MDs).

Anyway, if you're gunning for a selective specialty, go to whichever school you feel you'd be more academically successful at. In order to have a shot at competitive specialties (e.g., orthopedic surgery) as an osteopathic student, you will need to graduate at the top of your class with astonishingly high Step I and II scores -- preferably with rotations in the specialty of interest (which you would likely have to seek out on your own) and with research/publications.

Yeah that's a good point. It would probably be easier to be on top of class in a smaller class size ACOM 162 compared to LECOM E 270. But at LECOM I was accepted to dsp so I would prob have more time to study. I also think it's nice that LECOM has OPTI locations for gen surg and orthopedic surg.


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[zukunft195]

Yeah that's a good point. It would probably be easier to be on top of class in a smaller class size ACOM 162 compared to LECOM E 270. But at LECOM I was accepted to dsp so I would prob have more time to study. I also think it's nice that LECOM has OPTI locations for gen surg and orthopedic surg.


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Class size is irrelevant to how hard it would be to end up at the top 5% of the class. In a class of 160, you have to beat out 152 people to be in the top 8. In a class of 270, you have to beat out 257 people to be in the top 13. As class size increases, you have to beat out more people, but there's also more room at the top.

Less time spent in class means more time you can spend on USMLE prep. I've heard some mixed reviews, but DSP at LECOM sounds like a solid option.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Going to ACOM or Lake-Erie won't make much of a different. Go to the school you feel will help you succeed the most. Both schools had top tier anesthesia matches (ACOM, Hopkins this year; and Lake-Erie, MGH last year). So it is really a lot of it is under your power.

 

[BillsMafia28]

Going to ACOM or Lake-Erie won't make much of a different. Go to the school you feel will help you succeed the most. Both schools had top tier anesthesia matches (ACOM, Hopkins this year; and Lake-Erie, MGH last year). So it is really a lot of it is under your power.

True do you think that family will play a big role because one school is 2 hours away and the other is like 18 hours


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[Mad Jack]

With ACOM's first match out I am curious what everybody thinks about ACOM compared to LECOM. They both had some good residency matches. Someone from ACOM matched Johns Hopkins gas. Pretty impressive. ACOM matched 2/116 students into orthopedic surgery compared to 6/270 at LECOM Erie. For gen surg ACOM matched 4/116 students and Erie matched 13/270. I realize that this isn't the best statistic to evaluate a schools residency placement but it should at least be recognized. A better statistic would be the total number of students who matched into their top choice residency.

Comparing the two matches by this and all the other factors such as rotation quality, reputation, and OPTI connections to surgery residencies, would you say you have a pretty equal opportunity to match into surgery, so long as you put in the work and get the board scores/grades/audition rotations? Or would you say you have a slightly higher chance of matching a more selective residency such as gen surg or ortho at one of these schools?


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Match lists don't mean a whole hell of a lot. People have different interests. US News recently published a report on which schools match the most students to their first choice of program, and three DO schools made the list. Why? Because, crazy as it sounds, a lot of DO schools actually select for people that want to go into IM, FM, and peds, and these people tend to get their top choice of residency. At UNE, we have a very heavy IM/FM/EM/Psych skew from day 1, we're not looking to go into ortho, ophtho, and all of these other hypercompetitive specialties for the most part. I'd imagine the situation is the same at most DO schools. So go where you want to go, the match list doesn't mean a damn thing.

 

[DO2015CA]

True do you think that family will play a big role because one school is 2 hours away and the other is like 18 hours


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I would go to the one closer

 

[IslandStyle808]

Match lists don't mean a whole hell of a lot. People have different interests. US News recently published a report on which schools match the most students to their first choice of program, and three DO schools made the list. Why? Because, crazy as it sounds, a lot of DO schools actually select for people that want to go into IM, FM, and peds, and these people tend to get their top choice of residency. At UNE, we have a very heavy IM/FM/EM/Psych skew from day 1, we're not looking to go into ortho, ophtho, and all of these other hypercompetitive specialties for the most part. I'd imagine the situation is the same at most DO schools. So go where you want to go, the match list doesn't mean a damn thing.

As to their first choice that is relative, is that first choice based on interviews or based on where they first applied? These DOs who choose IM, FM, and peds won't have MGH on their minds like their MD counter parts. So they pick programs they know they can match into and also look at their first choice from the stand point of where they interviewed (not where they applied).

I agree with everything else.

 

[MADD!!!]

If we HAD to pick a school that would get you more odds with all else being equal.... LECOM for sure. Nice OPTI, they've contracted with a lot of good hospitals, they fill residency pockets in good programs across the nation, and they have residents/graduates all over. ACOM is up and coming, set up no GME (JUST starting to open one up this year for IM I believe?), has no reputation and the affiliated hospitals don't seem too spectacular as far as GME offerings go.