I have been accepted to both schools and I am trying to decide which one to go to. From a lot of what I have heard, seeing how the 3rd and 4th years are structured should be considered when making a decision on schools. I'm looking for some genuine responses with cons as well as pros. I know I can find information on clinical years on the school websites, but obviously drawbacks will not be advertised.
I was wondering if anyone could provide some information on:
1. Are you satisfied with how you were assigned to rotation sites? Was it difficult to obtain a good site and did you feel like you had support from the school or were you left to do mostly everything on your own?
2. How are the rotations structured? Is it mostly shadow work or do you have some kind of role where you could learn from experience?
3. During rotations, are you evaluated by an attending who is taking care of the patients or a preceptor?
4. In retrospect, what do you wish you would have known about the school before you decided on it? - and would that have changed your decision?
5. Anything else you would like to mention that might be useful in my decision making.
Thanks in advance.
With regards to LECOM-SH, their rotation sites and even selection process is practically identical to that of LECOM-Erie. The site is decided through the student government of the class based on a combination of ranked site preferences, special circumstances, and an algorithm. Spots are shared with LECOM in PA and Bradenton students get the remainder of the sites.
1. Yes, but this may vary to some degree year to year depending on your student government, so choose them wisely. It is very doable to get good training as you rank your top spots and there are a number with good sites. Individual days may be hit or miss, but overall its very doable to get the type of experiences you're looking for provided that you do research prior to ranking your preferred sites. The core rotations are almost exclusively done at your core site. Selectives and electives, you set up. Most stites offer opportunities for you to do those rotations there, but the whole point of those rotations is to get out there a bit. Geri is done in Erie for everyone as far as I know.
2. This really varies from site to site. I have had very few "shadowing" days, and have had no rotations where that's what I did on a daily basis. Most sites will let you get your hands dirty, but again, this really varies and its up to you to talk to upper classmen and research the individual sites yourself.
3. Attending (your preceptor is an attending) or resident(s) depending again on the individual sites. I have had evals done by a mix of attendings and residents depending on the rotation.
4. I knew this going in, but chose the school for different reasons, but the major con is the limitation on interview days and the rigidity of the rotation schedule. We officially have 10 days off for interviews including travel days. We also are limited to no more than 5 days off per rotation, which includes holidays. For example in the current rotation, if you have 5 days off for holidays, you can't take a day off for interviews. This is difficult because many interviews take place in Nov-Dec. In addition, the rotation are set into 4 wk blocks that are immobile. You can't for example shift it a week to accommodate another sites schedule for an elective, unless your elective is bounded by your vacation month. Your vacation month is set in stone. Only under rare circumstances can you change when it occurs.
Now, as I said, I knew this going in, and even so it has been a huge headache and ultimately has cost me a ton of extra money (I guess still minuscule compared to the cost of my education) traveling for interviews and getting back in time for my next workday. It has fortunately not hindered my interviews at any of the places I really want to go to, but it has made the process harder. Even still, it wouldn't have changed my decision, because I feel my education at LECOM was excellent, and I had many other important reasons to choose the school.
5. You are deciding between 2 very different schools. There are huge reasons to choose one over the other, and they are all more related to you than anyone else.
For one they are on opposite ends of the country, and I can tell you from experience that if you plan to do residency in one area or the other, that will make a difference. For example, in terms of my application, which is a strong one considering the field I'm applying to, I received an invite to every program that I applied to on a 3-4 hr radius. I also applied on the west coast and had a significantly less impressive response. I will also say that for every program that I interviewed in out west, the only other DOs I saw were from COMP, Touro-CA or NV, AZCOM or SOMA. Now obviously there's a selection bias, but judging by how many of them were doing on the west coast interview trail and some of their stats, region seemed to make a difference. If you want better chances of being out west, go to Touro, if you want better chances of being in the northeast/midwest go to LECOM.
Second, they are very different in terms of cost. LECOM is about $20k per year cheaper. That's $80k over the course of the degree and probably closer to $100k when taking into account compound interest and associated loan fees. Touro also has seen higher rates of tuition increase than LECOM pretty consistently. Now this might not matter to you, but it certainly can matter to you depending on your situation.
Third the curriculum at both schools are very different. Touro-NV follows a more course based traditional curriculum. LECOM-SH is completely PBL based. It is very different from the traditional system, and depending on which you prefer, you may have a very different academic experience there.
You should be easily able to make this decision based on the characteristics above and your own goals. I highly doubt that the quality of clinical education will be much different between LECOM-SH and Touro-NV, but in all honesty, I have no idea what its like at Touro-NV. In the end though, you'll come out of both with a DO degree and you'll place into GME provided you do your own part.
