CCOM vs. Rowan

[paradoxshift]

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I was fortunate enough to receive acceptances to my top choices of Midwestern University: CCOM and Rowan SOM. I am a NJ resident and my goal applying to medical schools was to leave NJ and expand my experiences because I've been in NJ my entire life. When I interviewed at CCOM, I felt at home and could really see myself as a student here, especially with Chicago being so close where my sister used to live. The major thing holding me back is the crazy tuition of CCOM, so I'm not sure what to do. My gut is telling me CCOM but practicality is telling me Rowan. I can see myself practicing medicine in both places.

To throw it out there, my interests for residencies include surgery (ortho and ENT particularly right now), cardiology, oncology, EM. If you guys know more pros/cons and could give insight from experience, that would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!

My list I created:

CCOM

Pros

· Top quality clinical rotation sites in the city + suburban hospitals
· One of the most established DO schools with more connections
· 7 medical schools in Chicago (adding to to quality education)
· Above national average board scores
· 100% match rate
· Liked the feel of the campus, felt right
· Work with students of other healthcare tracts (building interprofessional skills, not sure if this is even important/big factor
· Huge life experience living in a new area near a big city (my goal is to leave NJ)
· The city of Chicago is right there, and I actually don't mind the cold (unpopular opinion)

Cons

· COST (~70K/year*4 = ~300K)
· Being away from family/friends
· Less of a chance to match on the east coast if I would want to return? (not sure about this)


ROWAN

Pros

· One of the top DO schools
· CHEAPER IS tuition
· Rowan affiliated with both MD & DO school (more opportunities)
· Could live from home and have support group closeby
· Emphasis on community service and got a better family feel from school
· Has some of its own residency programs
· Osteopathic only students on campus (again, not sure how big of a factor this is)
· Higher chance of matching with east coast residencies?

Cons

· Higher emphasis on FM, something I’m not highly interested on(12 weeks mandatory rotation I believe)
· Small campus located in a poor town
· Wouldn’t leave my comfort zone and have an enriching life experience without the same friends/people I've known

 

[absie107]

First of all, congratulations!!!!!! With regards to the CCOM match locations, their site says about half the class matches to residencies in-state and others go to 25 other states. They did also provide the match list at the interview so you could look that over for locales? I'm very sad about the tuition also but for the positive reasons you listed above it's where I'm going next year. For me the huge sellers are the rotation sites and overwhelmingly positive feedback from local DOs I know who went there.

Best of luck with this decision. I feel like you can't really go wrong with either choice. Hope you come to CCOM though 🙂

 

[mathnerd88]

I would say RowanSOM...you're paying $27k more per year to attend CCOM over RowanSOM. That amounts to about $120k more in tuition, and also add on interest. It would become more than $140k by the time you graduate. Also, the cost of living near CCOM is much greater than that of RowanSOM. Factor in everything, you may have increased that debt to over $150k-$175k.

I was also in the same boat as you. Although CCOM is fantastic, and is in a fantastic location, I couldn't justify that large tuition. CCOM would've been my second choice, however.

Know that the debt is real, and it would take a while to pay that back. Although Chicago is an awesome city, you're not going to be able to enjoy it much because you're going to be studying and working very hard during your medical years.

I wouldn't consider campus being located in a "poor town" as a con. In fact, it seems very suburban to me when I visited there. There is everything near that you need; malls, restaurants, bars. You are also actually much closer to Philadelphia than CCOM is to Chicago. Yes, CCOM seems to be in a wealthier area, but you're also going to be paying that extra in rent.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

I was fortunate enough to receive acceptances to my top choices of Midwestern University: CCOM and Rowan SOM. I am a NJ resident and my goal applying to medical schools was to leave NJ and expand my experiences because I've been in NJ my entire life. When I interviewed at CCOM, I felt at home and could really see myself as a student here, especially with Chicago being so close where my sister used to live. The major thing holding me back is the crazy tuition of CCOM, so I'm not sure what to do. My gut is telling me CCOM but practicality is telling me Rowan. I can see myself practicing medicine in both places.

To throw it out there, my interests for residencies include surgery (ortho and ENT particularly right now), cardiology, oncology, EM. If you guys know more pros/cons and could give insight from experience, that would be much appreciated. Thank you so much!

My list I created:

CCOM

Pros

· Top quality clinical rotation sites in the city + suburban hospitals
· One of the most established DO schools with more connections
· 7 medical schools in Chicago (adding to to quality education)
· Above national average board scores
· 100% match rate
· Liked the feel of the campus, felt right
· Work with students of other healthcare tracts (building interprofessional skills, not sure if this is even important/big factor
· Huge life experience living in a new area near a big city (my goal is to leave NJ)
· The city of Chicago is right there, and I actually don't mind the cold (unpopular opinion)

Cons

· COST (~70K/year*4 = ~300K)
· Being away from family/friends
· Less of a chance to match on the east coast if I would want to return? (not sure about this)


ROWAN

Pros

· One of the top DO schools
· CHEAPER IS tuition
· Rowan affiliated with both MD & DO school (more opportunities)
· Could live from home and have support group closeby
· Emphasis on community service and got a better family feel from school
· Has some of its own residency programs
· Osteopathic only students on campus (again, not sure how big of a factor this is)
· Higher chance of matching with east coast residencies?

Cons

· Higher emphasis on FM, something I’m not highly interested on(12 weeks mandatory rotation I believe)
· Small campus located in a poor town
· Wouldn’t leave my comfort zone and have an enriching life experience without the same friends/people I've known

Rowansom is the smarter choice. Living in a new city won't be that cool when your in med school. When you become a doc live where you want! Do residency were you want. Rowansom has its own hospital and is much cheaper. It's the smart choice.

 

[ananasmed]

Rowan. Med school isn't the best time to leave home just for kicks, especially when there are major incentives ($$$) at stake to stay home. I'm a CCOM student, love it here, would encourage anyone to consider our school, but it doesn't sound like the best choice for YOU.

P.S. Interprofessional classes are def not a pro lol

 

[AlteredScale]

Rowan and CCOM are about equal when it comes to resources. Because of that, you can start looking at price and def Rowan would be the better hand for that. UCSD took their first DO into their EM residency from Rowan and he's a great dude. Had a lot of awards and what not but if you were every interested in rotating there you now have someone from a school that they can attest produces some great docs (same goes for CCOM).

Good luck with your decision!

http://healthsciences.ucsd.edu/som/emergency-med/education/residency/Pages/Current.aspx

 

[DO2015CA]

Rowan without a doubt. Chase the dollar, you will be happy in the long run with how much more expensive CCOM is. You can go wherever you like for residency.

 

[paradoxshift]

I appreciate all the feedback, thank you guys so much. I'm still torn between the 2 despite all the voices saying to stay with rowan but at least I'd rather be in this position than none at all

 

[tunicaexterna]

.

 

[deleted659912]

Hate sounding like a parrot but I would definitely pic Rowan. CCOM costs much more than 70k per year, it's like 63k for tuition THIS YEAR ONLY and they increase it 5-10% every year. By the time you graduate you'll be in over 300k of debt for tuition alone, not including COL which is pretty high in the suburbs especially because you need a car to get around.

 

[DrEnderW]

The cost of CCOM is absolutely ridiculous. Agree with the above posters that it will be much more than $70k unless you're getting help from elsewhere.

 

[deleted659912]

The cost of CCOM is absolutely ridiculous. Agree with the above posters that it will be much more than $70k unless you're getting help from elsewhere.

I have no idea how they justify it when for-profit schools like California Northstate, BCOM and Rocky Vista are 10k less per year. People say the cost is due to the excellent rotations but Rosalind Franklin also lacks its own hospital and does the same rotations but charges significantly less for all 4 years. And even if CCOM has to pay for rotation sites, there's no reason for the 5-10% tuition increase every year. Who knows what that money is going to

 

[mathnerd88]

I have no idea how they justify it when for-profit schools like California Northstate, BCOM and Rocky Vista are 10k less per year. People say the cost is due to the excellent rotations but Rosalind Franklin also lacks its own hospital and does the same rotations but charges significantly less for all 4 years. And even if CCOM has to pay for rotation sites, there's no reason for the 5-10% tuition increase every year. Who knows what that money is going to

Admittedly, they do have a really nice campus and is bigger than the other DO schools. They also have dormitories available for their students. The facilities seem renovated and up to date.

Downer's Grove seems to be a wealthy area, so naturally, the cost of property/land/etc is going to be high. Most DO schools aren't in wealthy, and "ritzy" areas.

 

[PSiloveU2013]

What's more important to you- having your support system close by or trying something new by moving to a different city for school? I think this is just as important as the financial aspect. I agree the cost difference between the two schools is ridiculous but saving money (and yes I understand it is a lot) shouldn't be the only deciding factor.

 

[mathnerd88]

What's more important to you- having your support system close by or trying something new by moving to a different city for school? I think this is just as important as the financial aspect. I agree the cost difference between the two schools is ridiculous but saving money (and yes I understand it is a lot) shouldn't be the only deciding factor.

You are correct, but not wanting to be near home isn't worth $150k or more. Both schools are considered established and really good. Rowan even has its own affiliated university hospital and has more research opportunities available in its academic center.

 

[deleted659912]

Admittedly, they do have a really nice campus and is bigger than the other DO schools. They also have dormitories available for their students. The facilities seem renovated and up to date.

Downer's Grove seems to be a wealthy area, so naturally, the cost of property/land/etc is going to be high. Most DO schools aren't in wealthy, and "ritzy" areas.

I live by CCOM and I wouldn't call it particularly expensive or ritzy especially compared to schools actually located in a major city. Cost of dormitories should be maintained by the people that choose to live in them, not the general student body. And it's not like CCOM is building new dormitories or buildings as far as I could tell. Yes, the facilities seem up to date but are they updating so frequently to justify the annual 5-10% increase? In addition, isn't there an LCME rule set up where schools must have diversified funding and can't rely on tuition hikes to compensate for certain things?

OP having the Chicago experience isn't worth it. If you want new experiences and getting out of your comfort zone, try backpacking Europe or Southeast Asia for a month or two. Will cost like 95% less than picking CCOM over Rowan. I did the number crunching and would've had over 400k in debt if I accounted for the annual tuition hike, COL and interest accrued during medical school and 4 years of residency. Thankfully I got accepted at another Chicago school and even if I didn't I would've gladly moved away instead of dealing with that amount of debt.

 

[mathnerd88]

I live by CCOM and I wouldn't call it particularly expensive or ritzy especially compared to schools actually located in a major city. Cost of dormitories should be maintained by the people that choose to live in them, not the general student body. And it's not like CCOM is building new dormitories or buildings as far as I could tell. Yes, the facilities seem up to date but are they updating so frequently to justify the annual 5-10% increase? In addition, isn't there an LCME rule set up where schools must have diversified funding and can't rely on tuition hikes to compensate for certain things?

OP having the Chicago experience isn't worth it. If you want new experiences and getting out of your comfort zone, try backpacking Europe or Southeast Asia for a month or two. Will cost like 95% less than picking CCOM over Rowan. I did the number crunching and would've had over 400k in debt if I accounted for the annual tuition hike, COL and interest accrued during medical school and 4 years of residency. Thankfully I got accepted at another Chicago school and even if I didn't I would've gladly moved away instead of dealing with that amount of debt.

In my experience interviewing at other suburban schools, CCOM has probably the nicest area out of all of them. The others are usually in more rural areas.

At CCOM, you have Costco, a nice luxury outdoor mall, hotels, shopping centers, many restaurants, etc, all within a mile radius.

If the mall that's a mile away (Oakbrook Terrace) has stores like Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany's and Louis Vuitton, then you know you are in a wealthy area. Not sure what you mean Downers Grove not being ritzy. You also notice many drive luxury cars around there. Generally speaking, I would say a school that's in an area like that would probably have a higher tuition cost vs. somewhere like BCOM. Location makes a huge difference in pricing.

You certainly won't find luxury stores like that around LECOM-E/B, CUSOM, or even RowanSOM.

 

[deleted659912]

That's pretty standard for the upper quarter of Chicago suburbs idk it's nice but nothing fancy. It's not like CCOM is located directly in some old, historic building on Michigan Avenue or something. Yes, property taxes suck in Illinois but do schools even pay that? Not to mention property taxes aren't annually increasing at 5-10%. Plus wealthier area doesn't always mean a better experience.

 

[mathnerd88]

That's pretty standard for the upper quarter of Chicago suburbs idk it's nice but nothing fancy. It's not like CCOM is located directly in some old, historic building on Michigan Avenue or something. Yes, property taxes suck in Illinois but do schools even pay that? Not to mention property taxes aren't annually increasing at 5-10%. Plus wealthier area doesn't always mean a better experience.

You are correct. But I've been to several DO schools and I don't get as much wow factor in terms of location as CCOM does.

I'm pretty certain schools have to pay some fees or taxes to Illinois. What really going on is supply and demand. CCOM knows they can charge a lot and students will still go there. At my interview, I saw students in Porsches driving into the parking garage. I bet many of them do the military program or have family helping financially.

I work at BU, and I see it happening here too. BU has an expensive tuition and many students rely on wealthy parents to pay their school tuition or get scholarships. Unfortunately I don't have someone to rely on financially for my loans. I believe it would be the similar for CCOM.

 

[absie107]

I'm just gonna do my best to live frugally (except for buying Dunkin Donuts coffee, the vice I refuse to kick) for the next 10 years. Part of why I'm currently okayish with the CCOM mega-debt is because I know I for sure don't want kids, or to get married/have any sort of lavish wedding, or a big place to live. I figure if I live well within my means and then contribute large portions of my paycheck to my loan balance my first few years out of residency, I won't be in a bad place. I'm also considering HPSP and FAP, which could help a lot, but obviously would change my life in other big ways. Stupid... money...

 

[ananasmed]

I live by CCOM and I wouldn't call it particularly expensive or ritzy especially compared to schools actually located in a major city. Cost of dormitories should be maintained by the people that choose to live in them, not the general student body. And it's not like CCOM is building new dormitories or buildings as far as I could tell. Yes, the facilities seem up to date but are they updating so frequently to justify the annual 5-10% increase? In addition, isn't there an LCME rule set up where schools must have diversified funding and can't rely on tuition hikes to compensate for certain things?

OP having the Chicago experience isn't worth it. If you want new experiences and getting out of your comfort zone, try backpacking Europe or Southeast Asia for a month or two. Will cost like 95% less than picking CCOM over Rowan. I did the number crunching and would've had over 400k in debt if I accounted for the annual tuition hike, COL and interest accrued during medical school and 4 years of residency. Thankfully I got accepted at another Chicago school and even if I didn't I would've gladly moved away instead of dealing with that amount of debt.

Won't comment on other aspects of cost but yes, they are constantly building and renovating (see: old dorm being torn down on campus currently/new somethingerother being built, gigantic brand new Auditorium building that opened earlier in 2015, etc).

 

[PugsAndHugs]

In my experience interviewing at other suburban schools, CCOM has probably the nicest area out of all of them. The others are usually in more rural areas.

At CCOM, you have Costco, a nice luxury outdoor mall, hotels, shopping centers, many restaurants, etc, all within a mile radius.

If the mall that's a mile away (Oakbrook Terrace) has stores like Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany's and Louis Vuitton, then you know you are in a wealthy area. Not sure what you mean Downers Grove not being ritzy. You also notice many drive luxury cars around there. Generally speaking, I would say a school that's in an area like that would probably have a higher tuition cost vs. somewhere like BCOM. Location makes a huge difference in pricing.

You certainly won't find luxury stores like that around LECOM-E/B, CUSOM, or even RowanSOM.

Someone sounds a little materialistic...

 

[mathnerd88]

Someone sounds a little materialistic...

How is my response make me materialistic? I was just commenting on how nice and ritzy the area is compared to other DO schools.

I was just merely pointing out my observations. There's nothing materialistic about noticing your surroundings...

When you have a sister and ex-gfs who are into designer clothing and you're forced to go shopping with them, it doesn't make me materialistic.

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

In my experience interviewing at other suburban schools, CCOM has probably the nicest area out of all of them. The others are usually in more rural areas.

At CCOM, you have Costco, a nice luxury outdoor mall, hotels, shopping centers, many restaurants, etc, all within a mile radius.

If the mall that's a mile away (Oakbrook Terrace) has stores like Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany's and Louis Vuitton, then you know you are in a wealthy area. Not sure what you mean Downers Grove not being ritzy. You also notice many drive luxury cars around there. Generally speaking, I would say a school that's in an area like that would probably have a higher tuition cost vs. somewhere like BCOM. Location makes a huge difference in pricing.

You certainly won't find luxury stores like that around LECOM-E/B, CUSOM, or even RowanSOM.

You can find that stuff in Philadelphia

 

[mathnerd88]

You can find that stuff in Philadelphia

Of course, but not in the same town as Rowan...you can also find that stuff in any major city...

I was commenting about the immediate area the school is in. I can tell you RowanSOM is not in wealthy area, and Camden is literally next town over, one of the most dangerous places in the US.

 

[PugsAndHugs]

How is my response make me materialistic? I was just commenting on how nice and ritzy the area is compared to other DO schools.

I was just merely pointing out my observations. There's nothing materialistic about noticing your surroundings...

When you have a sister and ex-gfs who are into designer clothing and you're forced to go shopping with them, it doesn't make me materialistic.

Just joshin' with ya. You painted the scene really well though. No hate 🙂

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

Of course, but not in the same town as Rowan...you can also find that stuff in any major city..

I was commenting about the immediate area the school is in.

Also as an aside there a bunch of DO schools in nice suburban areas. Nyit, Pcom, azcom come to mind. Ccom as well.

 

[mathnerd88]

Also as an aside there a bunch of DO schools is nice suburban areas. Nyit, Pcom, azcom come to mind

True, but most DO schools are not like that. The schools you listed have near the highest tuitions for DO schools and COA, except PCOM, which is still just slightly above average.

 

[Dr. Death]

Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan Rowan

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

Apply HPSP and go CCOM!

 

[mathnerd88]

Apply HPSP and go CCOM!

Only if the OP wants to go into the military...Personally, either school will get him/her where she wants to go.

If it was CCOM vs. another non-established school, then CCOM would be worth the extra tuition.