Hi scubadiva,
I've been accepted to four schools so far and I chose CCOM. One thing that attracted me to CCOM immediately were the people and the sense of community I felt when I was walking around campus. Everyone seemed very happy to be there and were very kind to me. It reminded me so much of my undergraduate institution and I feel that I could be successful here.
The facilities seem nice to me. They have a nice cafeteria too (if that's important). I plan on living on campus and they have several options, including meal plans. (They have dorms, living/learning center and on-campus apartments--it's nice to have a choice--the trick is getting your first choice).
This isn't too important to me but I know it is for others--there are plenty of opportunities to participate in sports or work out on your own. They look like they have good facilities (at least to me).
And of course, I absolutely love Chicago and the thought of doing rotations in the Chicago area excites me.
They seem to have a good match list--if you got a copy of it at the interview, you'll see that there are big name insitutions on there. It even looks like about 1/2 allopathic and 1/2 osteopathic (not sure if that's bad or not, but I thought that was interesting). They have a preceptorship program during the first two years, so you definitely get clinical exposure during the pre-clinical years.
The only drawbacks I see about CCOM: the bird poop (which is a really LAME drawback, but that shows me that I really like the school), and I'm a little shaky about the quarter system. But medical school is going to be difficult anyway no matter where I go. So I'm sure I'll adjust. I am coming from an institution that has the quarter system, so I am used to the scheduling of classes (changing every 10 weeks). So maybe I'll prefer it anyway. Who knows.
Those are my thoughts....anyone else wants to add?
Lari
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