AZCOM vs. Western Pomona

[passerbyca]

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Hello everyone, I used the search function and found some helpful threads but many seemed to be outdated. Both schools made an amazing impression on me, so I am really stumped in regards to this decision. Some background info is that I am a CA resident and have resided/attended undergrad in SoCal all of my life. Also, I'm pretty set on pursuing EM in the future, so I would like to attend a school that will set me up for that path. Here are a list of Pros/Cons I've compiled:

Western
Pros: close to home, tuition is cheaper (maybe? ~54k but have to take COL into account), great COMLEX 2 scores, lots of clinical focus during didactic years, great match statistics, organ system approach (?), supportive faculty
Cons: pomona isnt the nicest area, curriculum issues lately, COMLEX 1 scores have been slighly declining, campus is meh

AZCOM
Pros: beautiful campus and surrounding area, faculty open door policy, great match statistics/board scores, traditional curriculum (?)
Cons: Expensive! (~63k w/o COL), have to relocate for 3rd year rotations, mainly preceptor-based rotation sites (?), large class size

There are likely others things that I can't remember, but this is what ive compiled so far based on my research and some hearsay. Anything that has a (?) next to it means that I don't necessarily know if its a good thing or not and would like to hear some experiences or thoughts. Thank you in advance!

 

[0dee]

I prefer the traditional curriculum that AZCOM has, and you will have a test every Monday (If they haven't changed that lately). You don't need to worry about quality of rotation if you end up in Phoenix, Chicago or LA.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

Hello everyone, I used the search function and found some helpful threads but many seemed to be outdated. Both schools made an amazing impression on me, so I am really stumped in regards to this decision. Some background info is that I am a CA resident and have resided/attended undergrad in SoCal all of my life. Also, I'm pretty set on pursuing EM in the future, so I would like to attend a school that will set me up for that path. Here are a list of Pros/Cons I've compiled:

Western
Pros: close to home, tuition is cheaper (maybe? ~54k but have to take COL into account), great COMLEX 2 scores, lots of clinical focus during didactic years, great match statistics, organ system approach (?), supportive faculty
Cons: pomona isnt the nicest area, curriculum issues lately, COMLEX 1 scores have been slighly declining, campus is meh

AZCOM
Pros: beautiful campus and surrounding area, faculty open door policy, great match statistics/board scores, traditional curriculum (?)
Cons: Expensive! (~63k w/o COL), have to relocate for 3rd year rotations, mainly preceptor-based rotation sites (?), large class size

There are likely others things that I can't remember, but this is what ive compiled so far based on my research and some hearsay. Anything that has a (?) next to it means that I don't necessarily know if its a good thing or not and would like to hear some experiences or thoughts. Thank you in advance!

Western. Two most important things is cost and location both of which is better at western for you it seems. Board scores and how pretty the building is isnt important.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Board scores aren't everything.

Western U is a pretty sweet school and you get to stay in California for clinical years.

 

[takis]

i'm going to make it hard.

i recall western being recently been squeezed for rotation spots, as i expect it probably always has given that it is so close to other schools + in hot spot for IMG rotation. it is probably just as preceptor based as AZCOM. anyways, both will probably have some issues with stable clinical rotations, as do all DO schools.
COL is probably very similar given that phoenix is probably 25% cheaper to live in than pomona.
it seems like pretty much every school has curriculum issues nowadays and you can only hope you aren't part of that year that gets boned with a really out of the field experimental curriculum.
pomona's area is crap, but at least it's not an oven like phoenix, unless you like perpetual sunshine for the entire year.
"lots of clinical focus during didactic years" to me is just a marketing point during interviews. i don't even think most med students care about that stuff too much besides trying their best to keep up with their basic sciences (and boards), prep for their research block in the summer if they have one, and keeping their sanity.

if you really want to thoroughly compare residency placement. you can compile the lists from recent years and sort all that crap out by specialty, matriculant:total-match rate, and doximity (placement reputation).

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Western. Two most important things is cost and location both of which is better at western for you it seems. Board scores and how pretty the building is isnt important.

Board scores aren't everything.

Western U is a pretty sweet school and you get to stay in California for clinical years.

Sorry to break it to you guys, but board scores ARE everything. It doesn't matter how much of a nice guy you are, how close you were to your family or how you performed on XYZ class if your board score is low. You will be at a disadvantage matching every point your board score drops.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

Sorry to break it to you guys, but board scores ARE everything. It doesn't matter how much of a nice guy you are, how close you were to your family or how you performed on XYZ class if your board score is low. You will be at a disadvantage matching every point your board score drops.

Board scores are important but I don't believe it's the schools responsibility. It's the students!

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Board scores are important but I don't believe it's the schools responsibility. It's the students!

It is, yet curriculum can have an impact. Speaking for my school only, they are concerned about board scores and are toying with ending the curriculum earlier so we get more than just 2 months to study for boards.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

It is, yet curriculum can have an impact. Speaking for my school only, they are concerned about board scores and are toying with ending the curriculum earlier so we get more than just 2 months to study for boards.

OP so we are clear albino goes to western.

Either way schools can make small impacts but there are students who do well on boards from every school. I really don't think this should be much a factor. This is something in the students control. When picking a school consider the things you can't control.

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

Can anyone comment on whether the cost to attend both schools comes out to about the same or not quite after factoring in the reduced cost of living in Arizona?

 

[KP2AZ]

Many of the CA student go to AZCOM because they have rotations in LA, SD, and Modesto. Also- worry about board scores.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

i'm going to make it hard.

i recall western being recently been squeezed for rotation spots, as i expect it probably always has given that it is so close to other schools + in hot spot for IMG rotation. it is probably just as preceptor based as AZCOM. anyways, both will probably have some issues with stable clinical rotations, as do all DO schools.

I don't know if you can make that claim. The three main hospitals that students rotate out of are all ward based...

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

Board scores are important but I don't believe it's the schools responsibility. It's the students!

I dont think anyone claims it to be the schools "responsibility". However, institutional support does clearly correlate with performance...

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

I dont think anyone claims it to be the schools "responsibility". However, institutional support does clearly correlate with performance...

Weak correlation! Don't care what your school does at the end of the day its what you do that matters.