AzCOM VS SOMA

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navnav said:
Anyone have an idea which is a better school? Which has better residency and speciality match rates?

thanks,

nn
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SOMA doesn't have residency match rates since their first class just started last year. I would personally choose AZCOM for many reasons but one is because I'm not too sure about the curriculum at SOMA.
 
Agree with EEL08. AZCOM has very impressive matches and incredibly impressive COMLEX pass rates. SOMA is too new to tell. Both schools have new facilities (AZCOM is only ~12 years old and has seven new buildings currently under construction), so that's a pretty level playing field.
 
If I was 110% sure I was going to go primary care, I would consider SOMA. I think its a really interesting idea and am definately going to watch it closely. However, I am not sure if I want primary care and I am afraid to lock myself into it.

Also, I want those two full years of classes. And complete dissection, not just prosection. I know they have classes in their second year, but its just not quite the same. I'm sure everyone will be watching that first set of COMLEX I scores closely.

It might be a wonderful approach to training primary care physicians, it'll be interesting to see how everything goes over the next few years.

On the other hand, I love AZCOM. I think they are a great school and I hope they let me in!
 
bioteach said:
If I was 110% sure I was going to go primary care, I would consider SOMA. I think its a really interesting idea and am definately going to watch it closely. However, I am not sure if I want primary care and I am afraid to lock myself into it.

Also, I want those two full years of classes. And complete dissection, not just prosection. I know they have classes in their second year, but its just not quite the same. I'm sure everyone will be watching that first set of COMLEX I scores closely.

It might be a wonderful approach to training primary care physicians, it'll be interesting to see how everything goes over the next few years.

On the other hand, I love AZCOM. I think they are a great school and I hope they let me in!
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Finding out the better school is always a tough question. I had the opportunity to visit both and interview at one school and I have to honestly say that both schools have great qualities. I highly recommend VISITING the schools that your interested in, even the schools that your kind of interested in. You'll be surprised how your impressions might change.

What I found works for me is to write a list of about 10 qualities about a school that you find important. For example, in no particular importance, for me its:

1)Location
2)Clinical experience during the first 2 years
3)Preceptorships
4)Rotations
5)Exposure to managed care and jurisprudence.
6)Friendliness/Helpfulness of Staff
7)Work-Study
8)Upper Quartile COMLEX Scores
9)Curriculum
10)Facilities

Then I rank the list of ten. I'm a very methodical when it comes to this so I rank them as follows:

I decide which is more important #1 or #2. If I decide #1 is more important I put a tally mark next to #1. Then I compare #1 and #3, then #1 and #4 and so forth. Then #2 and #3 and on and on. till you compare #9 and #10. Once you've compared all the possible senarios, just count the number of tally marks next to each quality. The quality with the most tally marks is the most important quality.

Try this method to try and narrow down which school is better for you.
 
I am partial because I attend AZCOM, but I think they are both great schools. to echo what bioteach said, SOMA has a heavy emphasis on primary care built into their CHC curriculum. I interviewed at SOMA and loved it, but I do not want to commit to primary care.

On the other hand, AZCOM is increasing their class size from 140ish to 250 next year and that would make me uncomfortable as an incoming student. Early clinical experience in the first two years are kind of up in the air right now, they got rid of the early clinical experience aspect of the ICM course. However, if you are genuinely interested in clinical experience, there are plenty of shadowing opportunities, homeless shelters, etc that give you the opportunity to get out and experience medicine, instead of just reading about it.
 
I've read from previous interviewees that even with 170 students in a class, it was difficult for them to get decent 3rd/4th yr rotations. How is it going to be when the class size increases to 240? I'm starting to regret accepting an interview invite from them...
 
ocwaveoc said:
I've read from previous interviewees that even with 170 students in a class, it was difficult for them to get decent 3rd/4th yr rotations. How is it going to be when the class size increases to 240? I'm starting to regret accepting an interview invite from them...
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AZCOM has plenty of rotation available for their students. They are in the process of establishing new residency programs. Increasing class size is not their decision. It is state government in AZ who requested to create more spots to meet the shortage of physician in the state of AZ. U of A cannot increase class size rapidly because it requires funding from government. AZCOM is a private institution and it is easy to add new spots. Coming here is probably one of the best decision I made.
 
Doc2007 said:
AZCOM has plenty of rotation available for their students. They are in the process of establishing new residency programs. Increasing class size is not their decision. It is state government in AZ who requested to create more spots to meet the shortage of physician in the state of AZ. U of A cannot increase class size rapidly because it requires funding from government. AZCOM is a private institution and it is easy to add new spots. Coming here is probably one of the best decision I made.
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Oh, sorry. I think some of the students at AZCOM were saying "quality rotations were lacking".
 
bioteach said:
If I was 110% sure I was going to go primary care, I would consider SOMA. I think its a really interesting idea and am definately going to watch it closely. However, I am not sure if I want primary care and I am afraid to lock myself into it.

Also, I want those two full years of classes. And complete dissection, not just prosection. I know they have classes in their second year, but its just not quite the same. I'm sure everyone will be watching that first set of COMLEX I scores closely.

It might be a wonderful approach to training primary care physicians, it'll be interesting to see how everything goes over the next few years.

On the other hand, I love AZCOM. I think they are a great school and I hope they let me in!
Click to expand...

Well, SOMA is "primary care-oriented" the way "all" DO schools are "primary care-oriented". I wouldn't be too deterred by that fact alone. Plenty of my classmates are interested in specialties. However, the downside of SOMA is that is in it's first year, so it's hard to tell where things are going.

I'd recommend checking out both schools. Afterall, Arizona is a pretty cool place to live.
 
Just to clarify my esteemed colleague/classmates remark, remember ALL primary care fields are specialties. FP, OB/GYN, Peds, etc etc. all require residencies and you specialize in those fields.

With that cleared up, I myself am very happy with the choice I made to come to SOMA but I can completely understand the hesitance of coming to a brand new school with no proven track record. Now the good thing is that SOMA is an ATSU school which means there is a proven track record behind the whole organization. Granted, as in any new school (or any school for that matter)there are bumps in the road, things that need to be ironed out. But the administration realizes this and have done an excellent job working with the students.

I second Green Shirt, go and visit the schools and see what you like, see where you fit, and finally trust your insitinct in choosing. Good luck!
 
To add to what my classmates have already said, I would suggest that you really read up on the curriculum before you choose to come. It is the major factor that seperate this school from the others. For me personally, it is serving me well. I think I am learning alot better than I would if I was in the traditional med school. I am not set on any specially at the moment but some of my classmates are interested in Orthopedic Surgery, so as you can see not everyone here will be going into general practices, but you should be willing to spend some times (year 2-4) at a Community Health Center (we are still not sure how the rotations will work out but they are working on it).
So when it is set and done, whether you get into the residency of your choice has to do with your board scores and your clinical skills.
 
GreenShirt said:
Ah, you get used to it. At this point, if it drops below 90 degrees, I want to put on a jacket and scarf.
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:laugh: Yeah, I'm just spoiled because I live in San Francisco and it's 65-70 year round. 😀
 
Atsu/Soma needs to start inviting more people for interviews or else azcom will take all the good people.
 
shadowclaws said:
Atsu/Soma needs to start inviting more people for interviews or else azcom will take all the good people.
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I second that. I'd like to stay in AZ and can't afford more than one deposit so whoever accepts me first. Interviewing 10/25 at AZCOM and still no word from SOMA
 
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