AZCOM vs UACOM

[butterflyDoctorwee]

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I'm trying to decide between AZCOM (Midwestern Glendale) and UA - Tucson. Obviously one is a DO school and one is an MD school (I'm not concerned about the differences between MD and DO, that question has been answered haha). I was lucky enough to get funding so tuition is roughly the same for both. Both schools have average board scores; however UA seems to offer more extensive test prep for boards. Both schools have students matching into specialties that I am interested in as well. I have family in the Tempe area which is about 45 minutes away from Glendale and 1.5 - 2 hours from Tucson. At this point I'm not quite sure how to decide between the two, and I was wondering if anybody could provide some insight.

I'm not sure if this was the right place for this thread so I am sorry if this is the wrong area (I couldn't find a pl.

 

[s5260205]

UA >>>>>>> AZCOM. Don't even need to think about this. Just send in your deposit for UA.

 

[IslandStyle808]

I would choose UA.
1) You don't have to worry about taking 2 sets of boards
2) Board prep sound more extensive at UA
3) You will most likely have more research opportunities at UA
4) I am assuming it has its own teaching hospital (so there is a standardized quality level) EDIT: just checked, yep they do
5) Matching will be better

As the poster above stated, their are far more pros here for UA.

 

[WastedTime]

UA is the easy choice

 

[JimmyB123]

The reply you will get on SDN whenever this type decision comes up is:

MD>>>>>>>>>>>>DO

It makes me vomit a little because no one seems to take into account family, significant other, preferences, location, culture, etc. But, ::sigh::, such is life. Always go with the MD...

 

[s5260205]

The reply you will get on SDN whenever this type decision comes up is:

MD>>>>>>>>>>>>DO

It makes me vomit a little because no one seems to take into account family, significant other, preferences, location, culture, etc. But, ::sigh::, such is life. Always go with the MD...

I do not deny what you said and would agree with you to a certain extent, but the decision with this particular case is apparent. AZCOM has one of the highest tuition among all medical schools, DO or MD, with varied quality of clinical rotations (preceptor based, no affiliated hospital). The distance to family for OP is minimally different. Same thing with cost of living. UA in this case is clearly a better option.

There was a similar post a few weeks ago comparing TCOM with a private MD school. In this case, TCOM is arguably a better choice for its location, reputation, and tuition (at least 30k cheaper per year compared to the private MD), but this is a rather rare situation. I would argue that unless you get in-state tuition for TCOM (20k per year), MD is always a better option than DO.

 

[user3]

lol, AZCOM is a joke compared to UA.

 

[JimmyB123]

I do not deny what you said and would agree with you to a certain extent, but the decision with this particular case is apparent. AZCOM has one of the highest tuition among all medical schools, DO or MD, with varied quality of clinical rotations (preceptor based, no affiliated hospital). The distance to family for OP is minimally different. Same thing with cost of living. UA in this case is clearly a better option.

There was a similar post a few weeks ago comparing TCOM with a private MD school. In this case, TCOM is arguably a better choice for its location, reputation, and tuition (at least 30k cheaper per year compared to the private MD), but this is a rather rare situation. I would argue that unless you get in-state tuition for TCOM (20k per year), MD is always a better option than DO.

Totally agree with you man. I would never encourage someone to go MD over DO in any case. But let's just take a pause and look at the match list from TCMC (an MD school, albeit low-tier):

Class of 2014
Internal Medicine (16)

Carolinas Medical Center, NC
Case Western/University Hospital Case Medical Center, OH
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, CA (2)
Cooper University Hospital, NJ (2)
Georgetown University Hospital, DC
Hershey Medical Center/Penn State, PA
Johns Hopkins/Bayview, MD
Medical University of South Carolina, SC
North Shore-LIJ Health System, PA
Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, NJ
Temple University Hospital, PA
Thomas Jefferson University, PA
Winthrop University Hospital, NY
Wright Center, PA

Radiology-Diagnostic (4)

Albert Einstein Medical Center, PA
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, PA
Maimonides Medical Center, NY
University of South Florida COM-Tampa, FL

Medicine-Preliminary (5)

Exempla St. Joseph Hospital, CO
Hershey Medical Center/Penn State, PA (2)
Lankenau Hospital, PA
St. Mary’s Hospital, CT

Surgery-Preliminary (3)

Brooklyn Hospital Center, NY
Hershey Medical Center/Penn State, PA
Medical University of South Carolina, SC

Transitional (2)

Lehigh Valley Hospital, PA (2)


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I know that judging an institution by it's match list is not very conclusive, but that match list looks oddly similar to to that of a DO school, no? Some of the more established DO schools boast better matching results actually. I'm not meaning to start an argument or something but I do think that in SOME cases, a well established DO school can provide you a better career trajectory than some of the brand new mission-based MD schools. There aren't many MD schools like that honestly but TCMC comes to mind right away. If I had to choose between CCOM & TCMC right now, I would really have to think about that decision for a while.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

An account that was made just yesterday asking if an MD school is better than a DO one... awesome.

 

[kp11]

I'm a first year at AZCOM, so if you still have any questions, just PM me.