Would you mind elaborating on this a little? For example, how would they differ from say DMU or KCUMB, which also send students all over (often to the same sites)?
Need to state a few disclaimers first ...
1. I am a pre-med and I am a little biased in this situation
2. I did not interview at DMU or KCUMB, but I am aware of how they do their rotations (for the most part).
Here is why I think KCOM is unique in the rotation aspect:
NorthEast Regional Medical Center. I interviewed at schools that had amazing rotations (CCOM), I interviewed at schools that had really, really close affiliates and hospitals where school sponsored residency programs were based (lots actually), but I did not interview at another osteopathic school with a hospital literally connected to the medical school. The day of my interview, I was walking through the school with a representative from the admissions office, down hallways, past students, etc, then we walked through one door and BAM in the middle of a hospital. I even went to undergrad at a huge research university, hospital ranked top of tops, etc, and the hospital was still across the street from the school. It was seriously amazing that not only was the hospital (and huge patient clinic) part of the campus, but this hospital also housed KCOM students and numerous residency programs (derm, gas, facial plastic surgery, etc), and was the only hospital essentially in NorthEastern Missouri. Pretty insane.
Now, the rebuttal here is that the hospital only has rotation spots for a small number of KCOM students. This is true, but I have a theory. People can doubt me here, err whatever, but I personally think this is simply a demand situation (IE it isn't there), and KCOM knows people want to/maybe should get out of Kirksville to do their rotations. As great as some of the pathology may be coming into that hospital, K-Ville is a small town, and I think a big draw of KCOM is getting those first two years at a world renowned university, then going to places like Des Peres or essentially anywhere else in the nation for SOLID rotations. Furthermore, the school recently built a technology center and raised 12 million dollars in donations from alumni alone. The school listens to it students and clearly has support from alumni, staff, the community, students, etc, if the demand was really there and people were dying to stay ... I really think they could do something to get a LOT more people in NE Regional. Personally, I just don't think there really is a need for it, and I think the majority of people want to do their rotations elsewhere in all these awesome regional sites.
Now, how is this different than schools that ship people all over to meet core rotations??? KCOM is essentially giving you the choice of where you want to go and how you want to do it. They are not saying look, we couldn't find you an OB/GYN rotation in the same state as our school, so you have to go half way across the nation to get one ... good luck. They are saying, we have thousands of OB positions in our numerous regional sites ... where do you want to go? Or, do you want to stay in the area OR even try to stay at our home hospital? They have had a LONG time to build up these solid relations with hospitals in different regions, and it shows. Personally, to me, this is a good thing. I'm from the Western part of the US, but have been told by multiple people that KCOM rules. There are also residency programs I am very interested in out here where I'm fromish. So, I am now able (theoretically) to go to KCOM for two years, study my butt off, then, if luck smiles in me in the lottery (something like 90 ++ percent of the students get one of their top 2 choices, then there is a swap period, then you can appeal, it goes on and on ... super student friendly school), boom, I'm out here for my last two, setting up my life, doing audition rotations etc.
This is how I see it as different and unique. KCOM just gives you a super established, professional feel, and it makes one feel confident about their rotations. Clearly I am very pro KCOM, so I hope my response didn't come off as some advertisement. Hopefully this helped, go check it out and see what you think. Good luck.
