Hello everyone! Im very thankful for these forums as they have guided me throughout this year while applying/interviewing. On that note, this is my first post as I am officially in need of personal advice, as opposed to general information. I am fortunate enough to have been accepted to both ACOM and WVSOM with no other interviews on the horizon. With that said, I must put down a deposit to one of these schools within the next 3 weeks. Admittedly I should have been a bit more proactive with this post as I've been having this dilemma for about a month.
Below, I will be posting what I believe are pro's/con's or just general information regarding each school. If I happen to make a mistake, I urge any user to please correct me. I am OOS, from NY with no allegiance to practicing medicine in any particular part of the country (although I would like to leave NY, but perhaps remain in the northeast sometime in the future). As of today I would like to pursue Internal Medicine and eventually sub-specialize. I know a lot could change between now and 4 years from now, so I am not really considering that when determining which school to pick (since both have established IM residency)
ACOM: 1) Warm weather
2) Surrounding area more developed (shopping, restaurants, etc)
3) Mandatory Attendance (~80% for lecture)
4) New school (I have a family member who will be apart of the first graduating class in '17, he scored well on his boards and has had no issue pursuing anesthesiology residency at hospitals with an allopathic affiliation)
5) Every student appeared to be very happy, almost too happy. Seemed like they were trying to sell me something which rubbed me the wrong way, but I understand)
6) Tuition: ~46,000 (up from ~$40,000 for the first class) At the rate ACOM is rising, I imagine they will be roughly the same price within a year or 2 and for that reason Ill consider it negligible.
7) Board Scores: I wont consider the numbers at either school, as I believe they are largely dependent on the student and I understand some schools may alter the statistics to yield a better %. However, ACOM is partnered with "wolfpacc" and therefore has a mandatory ~4 week board review class.
8) Housing: Several new housing options, one of which is pretty much located in the same parking lot that the school is in. I believe rent is roughly the same depending on how you choose to live.
WVSOM🙂 1) Colder and snow (which I am used to from NY, but wouldn't mind not having to deal with it when I should be studying)
2) From my brief stay, Lewisberg appears to consist of a Walmart and an Arby's. I am not exactly one to climb mountains.
3) Lecture is non-mandatory
4) Established school (one of my biggest difficulties in this decision is trying to figure out how to determine the strength of rotation sites. I have been judging them off of bed size (if there is a better way of determining this, please let me know. Each school appears to have similar rotation sites in terms of amount of beds. So really my question is, is WVSOM as an "established" school really a reason to knock ACOM as "new")
5) Students appeared to be more "serious" with their studies. I only met ~10 students at each school so the sample size is too small to really make the generalization that I made.
6) Tuition: ~$53,000 1st year, and decreases to ~$50,000 for years 2-4.
7) From what I've read, WVSOM gives the most time for independent dedicated board prep (~7 weeks at the end of year 2)
8) Housing: No affiliated housing, student is on their own to find roommate, house, landlord etc
At this point I am slowly realizing how long this thread is becoming, and that the more I type, the less likely it is to be read. For that reason, I will stop. If I have made any errors, or if you believe I am looking at something the wrong way, please do not hesitate to say something. I am very grateful to have been accepted to 2 schools and would appreciate any insight or guidance that either a current student or accepted student may have.
Below, I will be posting what I believe are pro's/con's or just general information regarding each school. If I happen to make a mistake, I urge any user to please correct me. I am OOS, from NY with no allegiance to practicing medicine in any particular part of the country (although I would like to leave NY, but perhaps remain in the northeast sometime in the future). As of today I would like to pursue Internal Medicine and eventually sub-specialize. I know a lot could change between now and 4 years from now, so I am not really considering that when determining which school to pick (since both have established IM residency)
ACOM: 1) Warm weather
2) Surrounding area more developed (shopping, restaurants, etc)
3) Mandatory Attendance (~80% for lecture)
4) New school (I have a family member who will be apart of the first graduating class in '17, he scored well on his boards and has had no issue pursuing anesthesiology residency at hospitals with an allopathic affiliation)
5) Every student appeared to be very happy, almost too happy. Seemed like they were trying to sell me something which rubbed me the wrong way, but I understand)
6) Tuition: ~46,000 (up from ~$40,000 for the first class) At the rate ACOM is rising, I imagine they will be roughly the same price within a year or 2 and for that reason Ill consider it negligible.
7) Board Scores: I wont consider the numbers at either school, as I believe they are largely dependent on the student and I understand some schools may alter the statistics to yield a better %. However, ACOM is partnered with "wolfpacc" and therefore has a mandatory ~4 week board review class.
8) Housing: Several new housing options, one of which is pretty much located in the same parking lot that the school is in. I believe rent is roughly the same depending on how you choose to live.
WVSOM🙂 1) Colder and snow (which I am used to from NY, but wouldn't mind not having to deal with it when I should be studying)
2) From my brief stay, Lewisberg appears to consist of a Walmart and an Arby's. I am not exactly one to climb mountains.
3) Lecture is non-mandatory
4) Established school (one of my biggest difficulties in this decision is trying to figure out how to determine the strength of rotation sites. I have been judging them off of bed size (if there is a better way of determining this, please let me know. Each school appears to have similar rotation sites in terms of amount of beds. So really my question is, is WVSOM as an "established" school really a reason to knock ACOM as "new")
5) Students appeared to be more "serious" with their studies. I only met ~10 students at each school so the sample size is too small to really make the generalization that I made.
6) Tuition: ~$53,000 1st year, and decreases to ~$50,000 for years 2-4.
7) From what I've read, WVSOM gives the most time for independent dedicated board prep (~7 weeks at the end of year 2)
8) Housing: No affiliated housing, student is on their own to find roommate, house, landlord etc
At this point I am slowly realizing how long this thread is becoming, and that the more I type, the less likely it is to be read. For that reason, I will stop. If I have made any errors, or if you believe I am looking at something the wrong way, please do not hesitate to say something. I am very grateful to have been accepted to 2 schools and would appreciate any insight or guidance that either a current student or accepted student may have.
.
. Your understanding of established vs reputable seems pretty spot on. 
KCU is my #1 but I better go look at their rotations in comparison to ACOM in that sense.
