Burrell vs. William Carey

[Dorsey DO]

Hi, I'm sitting on two D.O offers at this point in the cycle. All I know is that I'm 99% sure I want to do internal medicine, and match to a competitive I.M. program, potentially even at an academic setting. I haven't researched deeply on both schools, so below is a skeleton list of pros/cons of what I see. Both schools seem similar to me in terms of prestige, matching, etc. so would sincerely appreciate y'alls thoughts.

Burrell
Pros

• I'm a laid-back, type B personality, and on my visit, it felt like a fit culturally, socially, etc. The school fits who I am.
• From a glance, living in Las Cruces (peaceful, mountainous area) seems to beat living in Hattiesburg (middle of nowhere) Mississippi.

Cons

• Heard some shady stuff about attrition, administration. It's a for-profit school, so obviously they have an agenda.
• Majority of students matched into a community-health setting, and I'm certain I want to match to a brand-name institution.

William Carey
Pros

• First class graduated 2014, whereas Burrell's was 2020, so slightly more established.
• I see they have a few, multiple matches to Mayo Clinic. That's quite impressive for a low-tier DO school, as Mayo is a top-5 IM program. That's great if they have that pipeline/connection. Maybe that's indicative of better matching than Burrell.

Cons

• Living in middle of nowhere Mississippi. What is there to do, and what outlet will I have after studying all day for 4 years.
• I'm also non-white, so doesn't bode well in such an area.

Summary: Both seem pretty similar to me in terms of prestige, matching, etc. I'm leaning towards Burrell just because it's a better fit socially, culturally, etc. But on the other hand, maybe I'm missing something about William Carey. The fact that they had multiple matches to a top-5 IM program at Mayo Clinic is insane. But again, I'm just a naive pre-med and this is just a surface level list. Appreciate the input.

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[drthedude]

William Carey, not a lot of negative history, they have hard raw data on what you are trying to accomplish. Your cons as compared to Burrell's cons really won't matter in the long run once you get used to the area you will be living in

 

[sean1020]

Honestly, I would take Las Cruces over Hattiesburg any day of the week.

 

[LlMITBREAKER]

I don't know if your final decision or not, but WCUCOM has a 100% match rate this year. I was really surprised they placed 3 in ortho lol.

William Carey:

Anesthesiology
Barnes Jewish Hospital/ Wash U, St Louis, MO

Diagnostic Radiology
LSUHSC Shreveport, Shreveport, LA

Emergency Medicine
UMMC, Jackson, MSx2
Memorial Healthcare System, Pembroke Pines, FL
Jefferson Health, Stratford, NJ
HCA Medical Center Healthcare, Arlington, TX
University of Illinois COM-Peoria OSF, Peoria, IL
Prisma Health- U of SC SOM, Greenville, SC
Crozer-Chester Medical Center, Upland, PA
LSU SOM Baton Rouge, LA X2
Merit Health Wesley, Hattiesburg, MS
UT Ascension St. Thomas, Murfreesboro, TN
St Agnes Medical Center, Fresno, CA
Maine Medical Center, Portland, ME
Inspira Healh Network, Mullica Hills, NJ
Orange Park Medical Center, Orange Park, FL

Family Medicine
HCA Healthcare Kansas City, Lees Summit, MO
Ascension Genesys Hospital, Grand Blanc, MI
St Vincent's Medical Center, Jacksonville, FL
LSU SOM Rural Track, Bogalusa, LA
The University of Nevada Reno SOM, Reno, NV
OMECO, Tulsa, OK
North Mississippi Medical Center, Tupelo, MS
University of Florida Shands Hospital, Gainesville, FL
University of Texas HSC, Tyler, TX
Unity Health Searcy, AR
Providence- St. Peter Hospital, Olympia, WA
Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, Yakima, WA
University of Buffalo SOM, Buffalo, NY
Beaumont Health, Grosse Pointe, MI
Ascension- St John Hospital, Detroit, MI
Texas A&M Bryan/College Station, Bryan, TX
MS Medical Education Research Consortium, Greenville, MS
Elson S Floyd COM/WSU, Pullman, WA
East Jefferson General Hospital, Metairie, LA

General Surgery
Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital, Warren MI
McLaren Health Care, Lansing, MI
Health One/Skyridge Med Center, Lone Tree, CO

General Surgery-Prelim
Samaritan Health Services, Corvallis, OR
HCA Healthcare/USF Morsani GME, Brandon, FL

Internal Medicine
Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Portsmouth, NH
North Mississippi Medical Center, Tupelo, MS
LSU New Orleans, New Orleans, LAx2
University at Buffalo SOM, Buffalo, NY
University of Tennessee SOM, Knoxville, TN
ZuckerSOM Northwell Lenox Hill, New York, NY
Carilion Clinic- Virigina Tech-Carilion SOM, Roanoke, VA
HCA Healthcare LewisGale Hospital, Blacksburg, VA
Baylor Scott and White Medical Center/Texas A&M, Temple, TX
East Alabama Medical Center, Opelika, AL
University of Central FL/HCA Healthcare GME, Ocala, FL
UAB Huntsville, Huntsville, AL
Baptist Memoral Hospital Golden-Traingle, Columbus, MS
Baptist Memorial Hospital North-MS, Oxford, MS
HCA Medical City Healthcare, Arlington, TX

Internal Medicine- Prelim
Greater Baltimore Med Ctr- Baltimore, MD
USAF, San Antonio, TX

OBGYN
UHS So California Med Ed Consortium, Temcula, CA
Good Samaritan Hospital Med Center, West Islip, NY
Danbury Hospital, Danbury, CT
Ohio Health-Doctor's Hospital, Columbus, OH

ONMM
Lake Granbury Medical Center, Granbury, TX

Orthopedic Surgery
Mclaren Health Care. Lansing, MI
Kettering Health Network, Dayton, OHx2

Ophthalmology
Larkin Community Hospital

Otolaryngology
Montefiore Medical Center/Einstein, Bronx, NY

Pediatrics
Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Baton Rouge, LA
University of Vermont Medical Center, Burlington, VT
University of Texas HSC, San Antonio, TX
St Luke's Hospital, Anderson, PA
UAMS, Little Rock, AR
University of Oklahoma COM, Oklahoma City, OK

PM&R
UCF/HCA GME, Pensacola, FL

Psychiatry
Univ of Florida Shands Hospital, Gainesville, FL
UMMC, Jackson, MS
UAMS, Little Rock, AR
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Bethesda, MA

Transitional
Tuscon Hospitals Med ED, Tuscon, AZ

 

[obiwan]

I see they have a few, multiple matches to Mayo Clinic. That's quite impressive for a low-tier DO school, as Mayo is a top-5 IM program. That's great if they have that pipeline/connection. Maybe that's indicative of better matching than Burrell.

I don't have access to their match list but would clarify if those Mayo Clinic matches are to the main Rochester program versus the Florida/Arizona programs which have a less "prestige" factor compared to the main program. Also, most people don't really consider Mayo Clinic a top 5 IM program which is not to say that it is not a good training program with great fellowship potential

 

[LlMITBREAKER]

Hi, I'm sitting on two D.O offers at this point in the cycle. All I know is that I'm 99% sure I want to do internal medicine, and match to a competitive I.M. program, potentially even at an academic setting. I haven't researched deeply on both schools, so below is a skeleton list of pros/cons of what I see. Both schools seem similar to me in terms of prestige, matching, etc. so would sincerely appreciate y'alls thoughts.

Burrell
Pros

• I'm a laid-back, type B personality, and on my visit, it felt like a fit culturally, socially, etc. The school fits who I am.
• From a glance, living in Las Cruces (peaceful, mountainous area) seems to beat living in Hattiesburg (middle of nowhere) Mississippi.

Cons

• Heard some shady stuff about attrition, administration. It's a for-profit school, so obviously they have an agenda.
• Majority of students matched into a community-health setting, and I'm certain I want to match to a brand-name institution.

William Carey
Pros

• First class graduated 2014, whereas Burrell's was 2020, so slightly more established.
• I see they have a few, multiple matches to Mayo Clinic. That's quite impressive for a low-tier DO school, as Mayo is a top-5 IM program. That's great if they have that pipeline/connection. Maybe that's indicative of better matching than Burrell.

Cons

• Living in middle of nowhere Mississippi. What is there to do, and what outlet will I have after studying all day for 4 years.
• I'm also non-white, so doesn't bode well in such an area.

Summary: Both seem pretty similar to me in terms of prestige, matching, etc. I'm leaning towards Burrell just because it's a better fit socially, culturally, etc. But on the other hand, maybe I'm missing something about William Carey. The fact that they had multiple matches to a top-5 IM program at Mayo Clinic is insane. But again, I'm just a naive pre-med and this is just a surface level list. Appreciate the input.

I grew up in Mississippi since my family immigrated when I was 3. I am also non white (Indian) and I can tell you, that the state is pretty accommodating. People typically are friendly if you initiate the convo and leave you alone if you chose not to. Of course, Mississippi does have a lot of shady places, but you can just avoid those easily. I have not felt discriminated or uncomfortable anyway, but I am also super extroverted so maybe that's why. IDK take it with a grain of salt.
As for being in nowhere Mississippi, bro lemme tell you, when breaks come, all my friends just go to NOLA (New Orleans) just a few hours away. Big party city with lots of culture. Hattiesburg itself where WCUCOM exists is no slouch either because they got 2 college campuses. I grew up in Starkville, MS where it had just 1 college (MSU) and it was popping enough. With 2, I believe Hattiesburg will be twice the fun. I will say, when I visited Hattiesburg touring WCUCOM, it was pretty busy and not as pretty as Starkville. There really is not that much fun stuff to do alone and traffic was understandable crazy with colleges. But I think that wont matter because once you make friends, going places and doing stuff together is what is fun (atleast for me) anyway. My roommates are gonna be 3 other dudes who are not from my state so as a native, its up to me to show em around so you already know we gonna be making roundtrips when we not downloading the sweet medical knowledge to our brains 😆

As for matching IM (although I am biased since I will be starting at WCUCOM) its pretty easy residency for DO's to match to in general. I would not use that typically to decide between Burrell and WCUCOM because I am sure both schools can get you there. Maybe because I am just matriculating into med school, the prestige of the residencies is not as valuable to me right now. That might change in 3rd year maybe. But I think if you got your good scored, good extracurriculars, etc. In order, then you should be able to confidently apply to prestigious IM residencies comfortably from both schools. I will caution you against Burrell regarding for profit model. I know as a student, we do not really care about politics and such because our prize is to be doctors, but note that OG's of SDN dont like it strongly = they know history of shady stuff there for a long time. See thread:

Do private, for-profit schools care if grads stay in state? Speculation on essay theme pandering

I'm speculating on the best practices to write an essay for a for-profit school. Generally, very prestigious schools care little about their students having ties to the school's state. My theory is that as a school becomes stronger and more desirable (academic excellence, selective admissions...

forums.studentdoctor.net

Also, on the 2023 Burrell thread, discussion is going on about the attrition seeming to be high with the new match data there. Check it out.
Finally, here is the data showing DO students of 2022 matching into desired specialty

I'm aiming for Diagnostic Radiology. Although Burrell had 3 people getting it and WCUCOM had only 1, WCUCOM had 3 getting Ortho which is harder to get into. Therefore, I am confident I will have the resources to get into Rads there without the issues at Burrell. Just my 2 cents and please take my biased opinions with a grain of salt 🙂