AZCOM basic sciences

[JEWmongous]

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Hey all,
I am planning on applying to the podiatry program at Midwestern University - Glendale for the class of 2012. I understand the podiatry students take all their basic science classes with the DO students (take all the same tests, same curve, etc).

I'm just curious how the basic sciences are at AZCOM? Since the pod program is very small (30 students), I thought I would get more responses on the osteopathic student thread. One of the pod med students told me the curriculum is not set up very well and the courses really focus on the minute details. Any details/opinions about this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much for your help!

 

[LukeWhite]

I didn't find AZCOM to focus on minutiae at all. Or rather, I thought a bunch of the stuff was minutiae and then I took boards and found out that if it was minutiae, I had to know it.

I found the courses to be quite clinically appropriate. Pharmacology in particular was extraordinarily strong and I dearly wish I hadn't thrown my notes away.

 

[jgrady]

MWU/Glendale Podiatry (AZPOD) has to be one of the tougher POD schools out there, because you get a pretty thorough education. The only weak department we have with you guys IMHO is Micro during second year, and it's getting better. Dr. Jensen just took over the Dept last year and has been introducing changes steadily. The rest of the departments are very strong.

I don't know enough about your Boards to know if the classes are too detailed, but I didn't hear any AZPODs complaining about quality.

 

[JEWmongous]

Thank you both for the info. I really appreciate it. 👍 From researching the school, Midwestern-Glendale sounds like a very good place.

Just curious, what did you think of taking classes with the pod students? Granted there are only around 30 in each class and I think around 150 of DO students. For me, it sounds awesome because the pods get a great basic science background. I think all the pod schools should be affiliated with MD/DO schools in this same manner as AZCOM. With pod graduates completing 2 or 3 year surgical residencies nowadays (majority are 3 year residencies), students need a strong basic science and clinical background. Also, it lets the medical students understand more about what pods do.

Anywho, can you tell who's in the DPM and DO programs or does everyone mix together? I would think everyone would stick together because they are all going through the same stressful courses.

AZPOD and Des Moines are regarded by most people as the "best" podiatric medicine programs. They are the only two schools where pod students take the first two years with the DO students (same tests, curves if any, etc). Also, both these schools have the highest admissions stats of the podiatry programs.

Thanks again for your help. Any other info/opinions on the basic science program at AZCOM would be greatly appreciated.

 

[LukeWhite]

I left before the podiatry school opened, and don't volunteer my view on the thing, but since you asked: Well, I'm wary. I can't help but wonder if the curriculum will subtly shift to accomodate podiatric foci and burden the DO students with information that isn't necessarily high yield.

My totally uninformed guess is that eventually the two will split again. AZCOM apparently has plans to massively increase the size of its DO class and I'm skeptical that they'll keep the podiatry numbers static. Eventually something's got to give.

AZCOM has a long history of making changes that are expedient for AZCOM, labeling them as cutting-edge educational innovations, and then promptly discarding them when they're no longer useful. Case in point: away rotations during clinical years were trumpeted for years as a forward-thinking way of getting students into diverse practice environments. Now that AZCOM isn't quite so locked out of Phoenix hospitals as it was, the away rotations are going away with the explanation that Phoenix students do better.

It's a great school and I'd go there again. My word of caution would be to ignore their explanations regarding why Feature X is so great. Either it's useful to you or it isn't, but whatever spin they give it is liable to change.

 

[JEWmongous]

Good to hear your feedback.

I've understood the point of putting the pods with the DO's is to give them a very strong, general basic science background (plus you save money by having one set of professors). While the DO's take OMM and osteopathic medicine I, the pods take "intro to podiatric medicine" and "pod biomechanics". During the summer after first year, the pods will take a lower anatomy class/lab, podiatric medicine 2, etc. I believe the DO students are free during the summer after first year while the pods have classes all year round.

I don't think think they would shift the basic sciences toward pod related material considering theres about 130 DO's and only 30 DPM students. Furthermore, students take the general sciences together and take their own profession related classes separate. Maybe students who went to AZCOM with the AZPOD students could comment on this area.

Anywho, I've heard as well that AZCOM is increasing the class size (I think up to 250 students). I also heard a rumor that the podiatry program may switch and take the basic sciences with the dental program (opens in 2008 I believe). Again, only a rumor.

Thanks for your opinion. Take care!

 

[JEWmongous]

bump

 

[doclm]

I left before the podiatry school opened, and don't volunteer my view on the thing, but since you asked: Well, I'm wary. I can't help but wonder if the curriculum will subtly shift to accomodate podiatric foci and burden the DO students with information that isn't necessarily high yield.

My totally uninformed guess is that eventually the two will split again. AZCOM apparently has plans to massively increase the size of its DO class and I'm skeptical that they'll keep the podiatry numbers static. Eventually something's got to give.

AZCOM has a long history of making changes that are expedient for AZCOM, labeling them as cutting-edge educational innovations, and then promptly discarding them when they're no longer useful. Case in point: away rotations during clinical years were trumpeted for years as a forward-thinking way of getting students into diverse practice environments. Now that AZCOM isn't quite so locked out of Phoenix hospitals as it was, the away rotations are going away with the explanation that Phoenix students do better.

It's a great school and I'd go there again. My word of caution would be to ignore their explanations regarding why Feature X is so great. Either it's useful to you or it isn't, but whatever spin they give it is liable to change.

I am not sure if they would split or not. I do know that recently, there are a much larger number of people applying to Podiatry school. Therefore, only the applicants with the highest GPA and MCAT will get in. I go to Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine, and heard that this last year had a lot more applicants than the past 10 years. However, there was only room for 20% of them.

On the other hand, you may be correct about the split. One reason why the Scholl students and Chicago Medical School students don't take more classes together is because of class sizes.

 

[surgdo]

You have to remember the university has to do whatever it can to lessen the burden on the basic science faculty as they are getting squeezed with the increased class sizes. I would not be surprised at all if once the auditorium is built that D.O. pod and dentistry take all the same classes at the same time and then split lab time.