ATSU-SOMA vs VCOM-CAROLINAS

[bubba83]

I live on the east coast Florida and got into VCOM Carolina’s as well as ATSU-SOMA. I don’t know which school to pick. It’s nice that at VCOM carolinas I’m not too far of a flight from home in Florida and I have cousins in North Carolina. At atsu soma I don’t really have any family support. However, my fiance lives in Chicago so rotations options being there seems really nice.

VCOM's tuition - $49,800
ATSU-SOMAS- $64,700

ATSU SOMA- pass fail system but still ranked, cased based discussion learning no lectures

VCOM - graded, mandatory 60% attendance for lectures

VCOM is 1 hr from airport with direct flights
ATSU is 20 mins from phoenix airport

ATSU affiliated sites for rotations: Chicago, Hawaii, California, Arizona, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington.

VCOM's affiliated rotations sites: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Louisiana, and Alabama.

Residency placements:
ATSU

https://www.atsu.edu/pdf/2023_SOMA_postgraduate_positions.pdf

VCOM

Residency Match Locations | VCOM

www.vcom.edu

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[StudentDOcter]

I'd personally go with VCOM (I'm attending VCOM-VA in July). I say this because VCOM is a more established school and is the second biggest medical school in the country (across all their campuses). They're cheaper and even though attendance is mandatory for a portion of all the classes, students have told me you can treat them like a study hall and just focus on whatever you'd like while the professor teaches. They don't get offended. I personally like listening to all lectures in person but if you learn better on your own you can utilize that time to study for a different class if you'd like. This will also force you to get up and be more productive in my opinion and allow you to have the opportunity to have constant exposure to your professor and potentially lead to a better relationship with them (which leads to writing a better LOR for residency). Because VCOM has 4 campuses across many states you have a significant amount of rotation options and they do really will with giving you your top choice. While they do have a letter grading system, it is simply to gauge where you stand on how well you know the knowledge and doesn't make a difference whether you're an A, B or C student. Something one of my professors in the program I'm currently in told me is that, once you graduate none of your patients will be asking how well you scored on your exams. It is truly more important how well you can apply the knowledge in a clinical setting with patients. Although, I haven't done a crazy amount of research about ATSU-SOMA I've heard they've had some administrative problems, however, I'd urge you to look further into this. I was accepted to VCOM, ATSU-SOMA, and 4 other DO schools and decided to go with VCOM.

 

[bubba83]

I'd personally go with VCOM (I'm attending VCOM-VA in July). I say this because VCOM is a more established school and is the second biggest medical school in the country (across all their campuses). They're cheaper and even though attendance is mandatory for a portion of all the classes, students have told me you can treat them like a study hall and just focus on whatever you'd like while the professor teaches. They don't get offended. I personally like listening to all lectures in person but if you learn better on your own you can utilize that time to study for a different class if you'd like. This will also force you to get up and be more productive in my opinion and allow you to have the opportunity to have constant exposure to your professor and potentially lead to a better relationship with them (which leads to writing a better LOR for residency). Because VCOM has 4 campuses across many states you have a significant amount of rotation options and they do really will with giving you your top choice. While they do have a letter grading system, it is simply to gauge where you stand on how well you know the knowledge and doesn't make a difference whether you're an A, B or C student. Something one of my professors in the program I'm currently in told me is that, once you graduate none of your patients will be asking how well you scored on your exams. It is truly more important how well you can apply the knowledge in a clinical setting with patients. Although, I haven't done a crazy amount of research about ATSU-SOMA I've heard they've had some administrative problems, however, I'd urge you to look further into this. I was accepted to VCOM, ATSU-SOMA, and 4 other DO schools and decided to go with VCOM.

Thanks so much for your input!! I’ve also heard the same things so that makes me feel very at ease with my decision. I am going to pick VCOM Carolina’s