Any risk going to a school under provisional accreditation?

[Papa Oso]

Would hate to go through 1-3 years of Med School just so that my program isn't accredited and end up "up the creak without a paddle" so to speak.

Thanks in advanced!

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[mathnerd88]

There is always a little bit of risk, but usually, all schools who are provisionally accredited will become fully accredited.

The risk isn't the accreditation itself; it is more that it is not established and well known. Going to a new medical school would pose some hiccups in the curriculum and administration, since it is so new.

Don't worry about the accreditation; worry about getting into a school you like and think you will succeed in.

 

[Papa Oso]

Thanks @mathnerd88 ! I heard that if the school doesn't get accredited, they have to find you a seat at another school. Where can I look up which school I would end up at in this worst case scenario? I am thinking about applying to CUSOM.

 

[mathnerd88]

Thanks @mathnerd88 ! I heard that if the school doesn't get accredited, they have to find you a seat at another school. Where can I look up which school I would end up at in this worst case scenario? I am thinking about applying to CUSOM.

CUSOM will be fully accredited. There should be NO worries that it wouldn't. At my interview, they mentioned that there were no deficiencies COCA had in their inspections.

 

[Papa Oso]

That is fantastic! Since you interviewed let me ask you: Do California DO schools have the same bias for in state residents like California MD programs? Visited the state recently and absolutely loved it. Would love to study medicine there.

 

[mathnerd88]

That is fantastic! Since you interviewed let me ask you: Do California DO schools have the same bias for in state residents like California MD programs? Visited the state recently and absolutely loved it. Would love to study medicine there.

Yes, I believe they have some bias for in state residents. I have never interviewed at CA schools, nor do I have any intention of attending there. I'm an East Coast guy myself, preferably attending a school in the northeast. California is way too competitive, and they export medical school applicants like crazy due to how competitive it is. At almost every interview I attended, at least 1/4 to 1/2 of those being interviewed were from California. (I interviewed at 5 schools so far.)

The only other DO school I would consider not on the east coast would be CCOM. I got accepted there, and absolutely loved the location and resources the school had to offer. I couldn't stomach the high tuition cost, so I decided to go to my in state medical school instead.

 

[OverlyRomantic]

As far as I know, every single provisional accredited DO school has reached full accreditation. Chances are this will continue, so apply!

 

[skeletor06]

Thanks @mathnerd88 ! I heard that if the school doesn't get accredited, they have to find you a seat at another school. Where can I look up which school I would end up at in this worst case scenario? I am thinking about applying to CUSOM.

Current CUSOM MS-1 here. To answer your question, there's no way to know, because that stuff isn't given out. It only says in the accreditation guidelines that effort has to be made to place students elsewhere. But seriously, don't worry about the pre-accreditation status here. It's only because our first class hasn't graduated yet. The school has had no issue at all with COCA visits from my understanding, and the inaugural class did quite well on COMLEX.

Not that it has anything to do with accrediting the school, but CUSOM has also received institutional ACGME pre-accreditation to move its residency programs to ACGME accreditation (current ones are listed on the school website. We're definitely also starting a Peds program in Fayetteville next year. I've heard rumors about a general surgery program at some point, but no specifics.) What makes that more interesting, to me, is that the school has 363 residency slots, but hasn't graduated a class yet. Definitely putting their money where their mouth is in terms of upping residency availability. Any other questions, feel free to ask in the CUSOM 2020 thread. There are several MS-1's and -2's in there that can help you.

@sb247 knows more than I do, so I'll defer to them. But as far as I know, the info I provided above is correct.

 

[Goro]

I don't know if you get to pick where you would get sent following an accreditation disaster. COCA might very well do it for you.

But to OP, no, there's nothing wrong with going to a provisionally accredited school.

Thanks @mathnerd88 ! I heard that if the school doesn't get accredited, they have to find you a seat at another school. Where can I look up which school I would end up at in this worst case scenario? I am thinking about applying to CUSOM.

 

[WalterDonnie]

Something to consider with these brand new schools is it will weaken your residency application when the time comes. Applicants from known schools will always have a leg up on u.

 

[skeletor06]

Something to consider with these brand new schools is it will weaken your residency application when the time comes. Applicants from known schools will always have a leg up on u.

Sure, known schools are a known quantity. I get that. But, keep in mind that per the 2014 NRMP PD survey, only 48% of PDs think "graduated from highly-ranked medical school" was even important enough to list as a factor. For ranking applicants post-interview, that drops to 38%. And let's be honest, to many ACGME PDs any particular D.O. school is the same as all the others, with minor exceptions for geographic familiarity. Go where you feel comfortable.

 

[Papa Oso]

Thank you all for the replies! I personally don't believe that a younger school means it's inherently worse than more established programs (FIU for example is pretty new, and is a heck of a program). Was just wondering what the overall consensus was on that.

 

[jl lin]

I am not going to lie. It would make me nervous.

 

[Papa Oso]

@jl lin Care to explain why?

 

[jl lin]

Well, everyone needs to do what they need to do. But I also look at education as an investment, and as a consumer, I have concerns about provisional accreditation, accreditation somehow or another on the line, and the potential outcome of sound, clinical alliances.
Everyone is so hot to just get an acceptance, and I get that. But in most cases, it is not like the individual is not paying for the education he or she is to achieve--and then some.

And so, this person has made a good point as well:

Something to consider with these brand new schools is it will weaken your residency application when the time comes. Applicants from known schools will always have a leg up on u.

And PS, I am not necessarily talking about a highly ranked school.

Some people have various anti-religious issues for not liking LUCOM, for example. I get that. But an even greater concern to me is how their students will fair with clinical options, which is a vital issue.

 

[Papa Oso]

Some people have various anti-religious issues for not liking LUCOM, for example. I get that.

Wait what?! What's up with LUCOM?

 

[jl lin]

Wait what?! What's up with LUCOM?

Some people have issue with it's religious affiliation/s, and some don't. You can do a LUCOM search.
As I recall, it new and under provisional accreditation, and I have no idea what they use for clinical sites--or the quality of those sites. Other than that, I hear it's a beautiful, new school. I know nothing more really, so you should do a search here on it. I would read first what the students that actually attend there have to say. Otherwise, it's sort of like reading a book review from someone that didn't bother to actually read the book.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

The worst possible scenario for provisional accreditation is that it loses its provisional status and even if that happens you will still come out better off than you went in. You will most likely be placed in a more established school just based on the ratio of established to newer school, and every new school has an escrow account with MILLIONS saved up as a contingency for failure or hiccups in the program. They save these funds until they become fully accredited, therefore money should be of worry either. So, no, there is absolutely nothing to worry about with provisional accreditation. For some of those people out there who say residency positions are tough to obtain at a new school, well, this may be true to some extent but I am willing to bet if you do really well on boards, have good letters of rec. and honors in your shelf exams, also maybe with a little research added in there, you WILL Land a good residency. Research is not anywhere near as prominent as it is at MD schools, but luckily for myself the college I am attending requires research to even graduate. So, take your choosing!

 

[jtm0021]

They mentioned to me at my ACOM interview that no school has ever not been accredited.