Any DO school with below the average board scores?

[zoner]

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So one annoying thing I noticed in my interviews so far as been that everyone school I attended so far boasts that their board scores are far above the national average. If that is really the case 🙄 what schools are actually below the average or on the average? There are only twenty some DO schools out there, so there can't be that many DO schools that are above the average

 

[costales]

Good luck finding the board scores. I believe there is an agreement among schools - DO and MD - not to publish this information.

 

[moneytree]

so one annoying thing i noticed in my interviews so far as been that everyone school i attended so far boasts that their board scores are far above the national average. If that is really the case 🙄 What schools are actually below the average or on the average? There are only twenty some do schools out there, so there can't be that many do schools that are above the average

pcom

 

[LifeTake2]

pcom

Since they don't publish scores this has no way to be validated, however since PCOM is one of the oldest and most established DO programs I find I highly doubtful there is anything wrong with their scores. Given the number of ACGME matches each year they apparently produce students competitive on both COMLEX & USMLE.

 

[zoner]

i think s/he was kidding about pcom

 

[411309]

im willing to bet every DO school has pretty much average to above average board schools.

 

[moneytree]

im willing to bet every DO school has pretty much average to above average board schools.

No. Statistically impossible.

 

[411309]

No. Statistically impossible.

consider this, after doing some digging i found that the national average pass rate for the comlex was 86.5%. so evidently id say most,if not all, schools are doing ok. There may be one or two schools dragging that average down, but I wouldn't say their average would be THAT low.

 

[abolt18]

No. Statistically impossible.

+1 It's called an average for a reason.

 

[411309]

hence why I said "pretty much average'. meaning youll have some that are a little below average. But I agree with the thinking of most people that board scores depend on the person.

 

[Kevin Baker]

Yeah, about half of them 🙂

 

[411309]

Yeah, about half of them 🙂

lol.

i thought your sdn name said kevin bacon at first.

 

[MedPR]

No. Statistically impossible.

+1. What are you thinking smalls? 🙂

 

[411309]

you people are far too anal. I meant, that most people fall close to the average. If you have people that are slightly below and people that are slightly above..hence you have an average. I mean the board scores cant be bad overall with an 86% pass rate...

good lawd, I feel like some people read SDN 24 hours a day waiting for that right moment that makes their day when they can correct someone, lol.

 

[Druggernaut]

No. Statistically impossible.

It actually kind of makes sense if you think about it. It does seem like every school claims to be "above average" or better. But if almost everyone's at and 89-91% first time pass rate, or has a very narrow distribution of scores (depending on if you're looking at pass rate or score, either one potentially works), with two or three schools around 75%, they'll pull the mean down, so that far more than half of the schools are "above average" when you look at the mean. If they were going by median, this wouldn't be possible.

I always assumed that they were either lying, or the only places I was hearing about did better on boards. I never considered mean vs. median as the average. Maybe far fetched, but a possibility.

 

[moneytree]

you people are far too anal. I meant, that most people fall close to the average. If you have people that are slightly below and people that are slightly above..hence you have an average. I mean the board scores cant be bad overall with an 86% pass rate...

good lawd, I feel like some people read SDN 24 hours a day waiting for that right moment that makes their day when they can correct someone, lol.

 

[DrBumblebee]

hilarious

 

[BabyDoc86]

So one annoying thing I noticed in my interviews so far as been that everyone school I attended so far boasts that their board scores are far above the national average. If that is really the case 🙄 what schools are actually below the average or on the average? There are only twenty some DO schools out there, so there can't be that many DO schools that are above the average

LOL, I noticed this too.

 

[DrMeows]

My guess is if u go to an interview and they mention nothing about their board scores....they are one of the below average ones lol. Anyone been to an interview where this happened?

 

[zoner]

Not yet. I have been to four so far

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[xxstevecxx]

I work in a EM residency program and consistently the DO's have outscored the MD applicants on the USMLE's. The highest USMLE score on our last round of MS-4's was 242 I believe. Also, there is a direct correlation between crushing the COMLEX and crushing the USMLE's.

 

[zoner]

Maybe your program was an outlier. I have seen statistics thay dos score lower thanm md counter part even though those who take usmle are self selecting group

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[cliquesh]

I work in a EM residency program and consistently the DO's have outscored the MD applicants on the USMLE's. The highest USMLE score on our last round of MS-4's was 242 I believe. Also, there is a direct correlation between crushing the COMLEX and crushing the USMLE's.

So, if you know, what's the average usmle for pgy1 DOs and MDs at your program? From what I've experienced so far, as a DO, you need to do about 10 to 20 points higher on the usmle than the average us-md applicant to be considered for a particular program.

 

[Mbeas]

Maybe your program was an outlier. I have seen statistics thay dos score lower thanm md counter part even though those who take usmle are self selecting group

I have heard this too, but remember, you are trained to take the COMLEX as a DO student. From what I have heard, the USMLE and COMLEX are two different beasts with some overlap. Of course we don't have any MD's who take the COMLEX to compare information, but they would probably do worse on the COMLEX than DO's because they aren't trained to take it.

 

[cliquesh]

I have heard this too, but remember, you are trained to take the COMLEX as a DO student. From what I have heard, the USMLE and COMLEX are two different beasts with some overlap. Of course we don't have any MD's who take the COMLEX to compare information, but they would probably do worse on the COMLEX than DO's because they aren't trained to take it.

Most of my classmates agree that the usmle is an easier test. If it is true that DOs have lower board scores, which i dont doubt is true, then I'd imagine it's because DOs, in general, are poorer test takers.

 

[Mbeas]

Most of my classmates agree that the usmle is an easier test. If it is true that DOs have lower board scores, which i dont doubt is true, then I'd imagine it's because DOs, in general, are poorer test takers.

Well, you have the advantage of experience here, but would you agree that MD's would do worse than DO's on the COMLEX?

I don't think it's a representation of test taking ability but more a reflection on curriculum.

 

[cliquesh]

Well, you have the advantage of experience here, but would you agree that MD's would do worse than DO's on the COMLEX?

I don't think it's a representation of test taking ability but more a reflection on curriculum.

Yea, I agree. MDs would do worse on the comlex mostly because of OMM. I think if you removed all of the Omm questions, the average us md student would do better than the average do. I could be wrong, obviously.

 

[DrMeows]

All this is fine and dandy, but aren't we getting off topic? I thought this thread was talking about board scores for DO schools and asking which DO schools are below average (not that comparing MD and DO scores is important because it is lol) I would still love to the know the answer to that question though! 😳

 

[zoner]

Maybe it's the difference between do school s in the deep south and other locations?

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[Mbeas]

All this is fine and dandy, but aren't we getting off topic? I thought this thread was talking about board scores for DO schools and asking which DO schools are below average (not that comparing MD and DO scores is important because it is lol) I would still love to the know the answer to that question though! 😳

be honest with yourself, what threads stay on topic around here?

 

[DrMeows]

Maybe it's the difference between do school s in the deep south and other locations?

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That's what I'm thinking (although I don't want to be biased without actual information). Because they seem more interested in fulfilling their missions (rural medicine/regional bias because of it) which makes their applicant pool they pull from smaller - resulting in lower MCATs and GPAs going into med school. Whether or not this equates to lower board scores I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's been stated that your performance on the MCAT is somewhat related to your performance on the boards (right?). So that's a fair assumption on your part I think.

 

[DrMeows]

be honest with yourself, what threads stay on topic around here?

true story!


I was trying to shift it back to the first question because I'm curious 😳 (...curious like a cat! 😀)

 

[zoner]

so it s not rvucom. they're board scores look similar to other more competitive do schools

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[DrMeows]

How about we compile a list of the schools we know claim to have higher than average? Zoner said RVUCOM. I also know CCOM and AZCOM claim above average, and LECOM-B too. Any other additions? (I know there's more I just don't want to state it without knowing for sure).

 

[zoner]

Lecom b makes their students take a pretest before they can take the board so do they still count?

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[zoner]

CCOM
AZCOM
RUVCOM
Western U
LECOM-B ?

 

[DrMeows]

Lecom b makes their students take a pretest before they can take the board so do they still count?

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Lecom e also does this I believe. I think so - because in the end the board scores are still more than average, right?

 

[MedPR]

Lecom e also does this I believe. I think so - because in the end the board scores are still more than average, right?

All I know is LECOM (all of them?) have a higher pass rate than other schools. I don't think schools actually release their average scores, so it's really impossible to say if higher pass rate == higher average.

Plus, if you are someone interested in going ACGME, then the COMLEX statistics for each school are meaningless.

 

[zoner]

All I know is LECOM (all of them?) have a higher pass rate than other schools. I don't think schools actually release their average scores, so it's really impossible to say if higher pass rate == higher average.

Plus, if you are someone interested in going ACGME, then the COMLEX statistics for each school are meaningless.

no ****

 

[IslandStyle808]

All I know is LECOM (all of them?) have a higher pass rate than other schools. I don't think schools actually release their average scores, so it's really impossible to say if higher pass rate == higher average.

Plus, if you are someone interested in going ACGME, then the COMLEX statistics for each school are meaningless.

no ****

There are a lot of ACGME residencies that would prefer osteopathic students have taken the USMLE. However, from what I have read on the forms, some ACGME residency programs accept COMLEX scores alone.

 

[dudeliness]

There are a lot of ACGME residencies that would prefer osteopathic students have taken the USMLE. However, from what I have read on the forms, some ACGME residency programs accept COMLEX scores alone.

I was also told this at a couple of interviews by people presenting during the day.

 

[MedPR]

There are a lot of ACGME residencies that would prefer osteopathic students have taken the USMLE. However, from what I have read on the forms, some ACGME residency programs accept COMLEX scores alone.

When you take pre-reqs for medical school do you only take only 1 semester of organic chem because some schools only require 1 semester of organic chem? No, you take both semesters so you have all your bases covered. Same deal with USMLE.

 

[IslandStyle808]

All I know is LECOM (all of them?) have a higher pass rate than other schools. I don't think schools actually release their average scores, so it's really impossible to say if higher pass rate == higher average.

Plus, if you are someone interested in going ACGME, then the COMLEX statistics for each school are meaningless.

When you take pre-reqs for medical school do you only take only 1 semester of organic chem because some schools only require 1 semester of organic chem? No, you take both semesters so you have all your bases covered. Same deal with USMLE.

Okay here is what I meant. In your initial post you are saying that knowing the COMLEX statistics are meaningless. You are still required to do the COMLEX as an osteopathic student. So if you are ever in a bind for time and not able to take the USMLE, then you should check and make sure that the ACGME residency program is willing to only take the COMLEX. I am telling you this as a last resort and not to be lazy.

Now in response to your second quote. Yes you are correct to say you have to have your bases covered. This also means scoring well in both the USMLE and COMLEX. So the statistics for the COMLEX are not meaningless in this sense.

 

[A Nony Mouse]

CCOM
AZCOM
RUVCOM
Western U
LECOM-B ?

Not Ccom:

COMLEX PART I BOARD SCORES (2001-2012)

92.1 % pass rate for first-time test-takers

COMLEX PART II BOARD SCORES (2001-2012)

93.0 % pass rate for first-time test-takers

 

[zoner]

Thats not above?

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[Prncssbuttercup]

Last year LECOM-B had a 100% first time pass rate, Erie wasn't far behind, RVU was ~98%. However, ALL of these schools make students pre-test and take a prep-course for the COMLEX. My understanding is that most of the schools do this, but I could be misinformed... AZCOM/CCOM, SOMA/KCOM, KCUMB all have high pass rates...

 

[zoner]

I didn't know that about RVU...

CCOM I doubt it since they don't even give students enough time to study for the test (they only give them like 2 weeks!)

 

[Slane]

Last year LECOM-B had a 100% first time pass rate, Erie wasn't far behind, RVU was ~98%. However, ALL of these schools make students pre-test and take a prep-course for the COMLEX. My understanding is that most of the schools do this, but I could be misinformed... AZCOM/CCOM, SOMA/KCOM, KCUMB all have high pass rates...

100% pass-rate still means there's a possibility 99% of the class could have passed with 401's and been way below the average. Pass-rate is useless unless you're just worried about getting through the test, all of the schools are going to withhold actual scores and claim they prepare you the best, it'd be bad business practices otherwise. And Erie definitely did not have a 100% pass rate this year, probably closer to 90%. Since they made the exams harder this year, a lot of my class slacked off and failed level one... Our administration is ticked.

 

[zoner]

you mean they made their pre test hard?


Western's dean claimed that the scores and the passing rates were both above the average

 

[A Nony Mouse]

Thats not above?

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Oh I thought this list was schools below average- sorry!