CCOM vs. KCU-COM

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futuredoctor1995

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Hello

I have been accepted to both CCOM and KCU since December and I am having a hard time deciding between the schools. Which is the better school? They both have 100% match rate and good board scores and they are both in the city. Is CCOM worth the tuition cost it is asking for? I know CCOM has awesome research opportunities and rotation sites but is it worth going into 400K-500k debt? Thank you so much!


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Anesthesiology is not at all a competitive field (even programs like MGH and Hopkins, among the very top in the world of anesthesia, are taking DOs). If you want to go to a strong program and/or not limit your options (especially as a DO), you will still need research. Research is the name of the game when it comes to ACGME. But like I said before, make sure you will actually be doing research. Otherwise, it's a lot more money for CCOM for really no reason.

And for God's sake, don't listen to anyone who equates the DO and MD degrees in terms of ease of attaining residency...

How/why are those DO's getting placed into MGH and Jopkins anesthesia programs? Is it because of super high step scores & research?
 
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Can someone please explain this to me? We haven't heard anything about this as first years....
Normally second years get May off to study for boards we now have all of May schedules with mandatory lectures and labs daily for clinical skills ..... and I mean all the way until May 31st
 
Normally second years get May off to study for boards we now have all of May schedules with mandatory lectures and labs daily for clinical skills ..... and I mean all the way until May 31st
Every day? That's insane...
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm looking at our calendar right now and it looks completely clear starting June 3 & we're required to take COMLEX before July 19th...that's 6 weeks of pure dedicated. On top of that the clinical rotation training for the 2 weeks before that is only 2-3 hours/day. And they are still adjusting the schedule to maximize our "pure dedicated" studying time because so many people have complained.

I was worried about our time being reduced too, especially because I have to take mine by July 1st, until I spoke with a few 3rd years, including a close friend of mine. He had 9 weeks of pure dedicated. He peaked at week 6 or 7 (272) and ended up under-scoring because it was way too much dedicated time. He said if he could go back he would have taken it in 6 weeks.

I'm not saying I'm happy about having some time taken away - I'm not - but 6 weeks of pure dedicated is standard for dedicated. If you're taking both exams and still pretty nervous, you can start reviewing earlier in the semester, or just use that 2 weeks of 2-3 required hours of low pressure P/F clinical training prior to "true dedicated" as a mental break from studying each day.
 
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm looking at our calendar right now and it looks completely clear starting June 3 & we're required to take COMLEX before July 19th...that's 6 weeks of pure dedicated. On top of that the clinical rotation training for the 2 weeks before that is only 2-3 hours/day. And they are still adjusting the schedule to maximize our "pure dedicated" studying time because so many people have complained.

I was worried about our time being reduced too, especially because I have to take mine by July 1st, until I spoke with a few 3rd years, including a close friend of mine. He had 9 weeks of pure dedicated. He peaked at week 6 or 7 (272) and ended up under-scoring because it was way too much dedicated time. He said if he could go back he would have taken it in 6 weeks.

I'm not saying I'm happy about having some time taken away - I'm not - but 6 weeks or pure dedicated is pretty freakin' standard for dedicated. If you're taking both exams and still pretty nervous, you can start reviewing earlier in the semester, or just use that 2-3 required hours of low pressure P/F clinical training as a mental break from studying each day.
6 weeks is perfect. If we get that, I'm fine with it. I agree that longer is just redundant and you just burn out by then.
 
6 weeks is perfect. If we get that, I'm fine with it. I agree that longer is just redundant and you just burn out by then.
6 weeks is not enough. As a first year you don’t fully understand the sheer volume of material you will need to go through. MD schools get out in April to study and now the residency match is merged.. do you really want to sacrifice another entire month of board studying? And I would argue studying for 6 weeks post another entire month of mandatory classes daily would create far more burnout than studying say 8 weeks
 
6 weeks is not enough. As a first year you don’t fully understand the sheer volume of material you will need to go through. MD schools get out in April to study and now the residency match is merged.. do you really want to sacrifice another entire month of board studying? And I would argue studying for 6 weeks post another entire month of mandatory classes daily would create far more burnout than studying say 8 weeks

Fairly certain that most MD schools get the same allotted time of 4-6 weeks to study before clerkships start.
 
6 weeks is not enough. As a first year you don’t fully understand the sheer volume of material you will need to go through. MD schools get out in April to study and now the residency match is merged.. do you really want to sacrifice another entire month of board studying? And I would argue studying for 6 weeks post another entire month of mandatory classes daily would create far more burnout than studying say 8 weeks
I think most places get anywhere from 4-8 weeks...I've heard 6 as the average for most places. 6 weeks being enough is just my thoughts based on speaking from people who already took Step and did well-- they said they were just ready to take it by the time dedicated started winding down. I do agree with you though, that overall it sucks. Especially for people who need to take it by July 1st. Also, it makes any vacation time basically impossible unless you want to have <4 weeks for dedicated.
 
6 weeks is not enough. As a first year you don’t fully understand the sheer volume of material you will need to go through. MD schools get out in April to study and now the residency match is merged.. do you really want to sacrifice another entire month of board studying? And I would argue studying for 6 weeks post another entire month of mandatory classes daily would create far more burnout than studying say 8 weeks

This runs contrary to everyone I've talked to, and I only take board advice from people who kill it. The people who take 8 weeks at my school all burned out hard last year.
 
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