CCOM or NYCOM?!?!?!
- Thread starter SuperDOgirl
- Start date
SuperDOgirl said:
i have a similar decision to make!! i must choose between CCOM, KCOM, NSU-COM, and NYCOM. and i'm not sure if you've made yours already (your signature seems to imply that you chose CCOM) but here are most of my thoughts/experiences (which i'll post in my thread as well):
-i interviewed at NSU-COM first. i really like the campus (huge!) and general atmosphere. the mandatory attendance policy i can see as getting annoying, but i think that doctors should go to class anyway! i also don't like the fact that you can't wear flip flops - in florida! but those are minor. i also appreciate the fact that everyone who got into nova (on these student forum boards) is SO excited to go there. i think it speaks to a lot of general enthusiasm for the student population and community. it has a strong pass-rate for the boards, which is encouraging as well. however, i'm not sure if it has a strong a reputation as, say, NYCOM, CCOM, or KCOM. i just don't know - it might be a regional thing. i also like the fact that there are so many other health-professional schools in the general vicinity - great learning environment and great for making connections later in life! florida is great, a bit humid, but i think i could get used to it. one of the student ambassadors invited the interviewees who were staying the night to a round of drinks at the hard rock cafe....
-i interviewed at NYCOM second... i was talking with a student ambassador and asked how big her MS-2 class was. she replied that she thought they were about 288 now but started off with about 320. that attrition rate kinda spooked me. in addition, my interviewer had gone to NSU-COM and said that he thought the NYCOM program was stronger. on the other hand, the NSU-COM boards pass rate was like 95% or something around the mid-90's and that's pretty impressive as well. the admissions people at NYCOM would NOT tell us their board pass rate! they were like, "well we have the statistics on that, but they're really not that important - you just really have to put in the effort yourself to do well on them. we are "right in the middle of the pack."" and i completely understand that - you don't ride on the coattails of previous success - but a general percentile would have been helpful.
i like NYCOM because it's near NYC (where i'm from) and so as close as i'm gonna get to a lot of my social support (friends and family). they also have a great rep., as you mentioned above. i was even talking with a dean at a NYC MD school (an old friend of my mom's) and he mentioned that NYCOM has a great rep. a thing that was mixed with me was that the classes are all videotaped, which is great if you miss something, but it also seemed like a lot of people just don't go to class at all... i liked the setting of the college - in the woods - and wish i'd gotten more of a feel for the students. everyone seemed nice (though one of the ambassadors did all the talking while the other one was pretty silent).
-i interviewed at CCOM right after that. i was impressed by the campus' technology and like the fact that it's in chicagoland. (love that word!) it was also very cold. very very very cold. i did not like that. it also has a great reputation and i'm sure it's well-deserved and i wish i knew more about the rankings of residencies so i could figure out which is the "best" (for me). one interviewer said she had taught at NYCOM and basically raved that CCOM was a lot stronger in the basic sciences. of course, i think that one of the admissions committee chairs was sitting right next to her, so she might feel obligated to say more-positive things - i don't know. our tour guide was very enthusiastic about the school. he was very talkative and very honest about the school, which i definitely appreciated. he also had some very republican pins on his backpack. although i'm not hugely political, i am a moderate-liberal person. i wish i had been able to meet more students to see if most people were more conservative, etc. i've always imagined myself more on-the-coasts of the US and it would probably be a culture-shift to go to a chicago suburb....
ok so those are most of my thoughts... (i've been thinking about this stuff a lot!) good luck with your decision!
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So, I thought I would give my 2 cents about living in the chicago burbs. Not only did I spend my entire life in the burbs, it was actually in Downers Grove, and I live on the CCOM campus before it was CCOM (it was some other school) with my parents. It is an amazing school, however be forewarned that though there is an express train to Chi town (25 min.) it is the soccer mom, often conservative, strip mall covered, sleepy burb. There are alot of wonderful forest preserves and other scenery, and I had a wonderful childhood (if you have kids this can be a great place), but don't look to the adult population for inspiration and deep thoughts. We have a bowling alley, a 24-hr restaurant and pool hall, and a 30-theater cineplex. If you go there, make fast friends with you med school colleagues.
