Chicago COM? How is it?

[Denilson]

hello, anyone attending chicago COM, can you let me know how it is?...area, people, facility, faculty, etc...thanks!

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[frombeyond]

great place

 

[Popoy]

I haven't stayed too long in Chicago, but my first impression seems to be that it's a great place to practice medicine.

 

[roughgod]

Very nice campus.....and Chicago is.... Chicago.....need I say more?

 

[Popoy]

I just got back from Chicago.... and I thought I'd share this story. One of the things I wanted to do was visit the CCOM campus.... I forgot to bring my CCOM materials so I didn't know where it was located.....So first I looked at the phone book.... There was NO indication that CCOM existed (yellow and white pages).... Then I check the AAA Map.... The map indicated that it was on 52nd street.... So I decided to go check it out.... The old CCOM campus was turned into condominiums. Luckily, I asked an old lady walking by the area and found that she use to work at CCOM and indicated that Michael Reese Hospital is where the FP and Peds moved to for CCOM.... SO I went in search for Michael Reese, found it, and when I asked the people on the fifth floor (osteopathic FP and Peds) they told me that the CCOM students do do their rotations there and what nots..... and from the mouth of the receptionist there... she said "CCOM no longer exist in one location." She said that the student records are in a different city and the medical records as well....

By this time, I gave up..... With all the medical schools there, it seems as if CCOM was very insignificant.... No one knows what it is and no one knows it existed....

I just got back and found out that the campus is on 555 31st Street.... Next time I'll check it out and see for myself whether or not the campus is nice....

I wanted to share this experience because it was a bit disheartening that CCOM is not even known there by any of the chicagans....

 

[doughboy]

Dude, where have you been? I believe CCOM moved into the western suburb of chicago like 8-9 years ago. Their DO hospital in Hyde Park (where the old campus was) is definitely condos now. There are like a zillion hospitals in the chicago area and like some 5-6 medical schools who have their own university hospitals so I'm sure that has a lot to do with people not knowing students from CCOM. Plus, I think the DO hospital they use is in Olympia Fields which is like 45 min southwest of Chicago. But I heard students rotate through Lutheran General, Cook County, Christ Hospital, Edgewater, Illinois Masonic for their rotations. I thought UIC students went to Micheal Reese Hospital. Anyways, maybe you could have tried Midwestern University instead of CCOM. Isn't that their school name?

 

[doughboy]

By the way, Loyola University's hospital is also outside Chicago. I drove by it one time and its like west of the city. I think the big names are Northwestern and Rush and UIC because all their hospitals are located in the city. No DO school can compete with those powerhouses for name recognition.

 

[Popoy]

Remember that I forgot to take with me my materials from CCOM thus I had to rely on outside secondary and primary sources....

Yup, I did look up and asked about Midwestern University and got the same responses.... I'm not shutting down CCOM, by all means.... It's just sad that no one knows it exist.... I think a part of the reason is that there are other more well known schools around there.... Every time I mention anything about a medical school on top of all the other things I asked, they would mention UIC, UofC, Loyola, Rush, etc.... but not CCOM.... I tried absolutely everything to find it....

I decided to share the story because if a general person was to simply ask around, use 411, use the telephone book, use the map, etc.... they won't be able to locate CCOM.

Another thing interesting, I thought, was that under the heading of "Physicians and Surgeons - Osteopathic" in the yellow pages they had a DPM and a DC but only a couple of DO's....

 

[Popoy]

Originally posted by doughboy:
• No DO school can compete with those powerhouses for name recognition.•

Yup, that's what I gathered....

 

[frombeyond]

CCOM is now included in the Midwestern University system. There are several health science programs here such as a PT,OT, PA, and Pharm program. The school used to be located in Hyde Park, but has since moved to Downers Grove, IL. ( a suburb west of Chicago) Perhaps your everyday common person may not know of CCOM because the school no longer owns a hospital but our school, program, and our students have a very good reputation in the Chicago land area. Our students do their clinical rotations throughout hosiptals in the area. Our students are well liked because it has been said that they are known as very hard workers. I myself am a second year student and am looking forward to the start of rotations in my third year.

 

[ebola95]

first and foremost, sorry to hear that you went to Hyde Park...and that was SEVERAL years ago that we moved out of there....

CCOM (which is listed under Midwestern University in the phone book) is our in Downers Grove...but you are right, most people do not even know that we are there...the campus is set farther back from the road and we are right next to a nature preserve...

the anonymity of our school works both ways....it is nice to not be a huge school...there are not a lot of parties and ruckus on campus, but it also suck because when people ask where you are from "Midwestern" and they ask "you mean Northwestern??" because they have never heard of it...oh well, that just means that we get a chance to get out into the community and inform them all.

i would say that the two MAIN hospitals that we are associated with are Olympia Fields and Good Samaratian...during 3rd and 4th years, we will rotate through about 15 different hospitals (Michael Reese, St. Bernards, Edgewater, just to name a few)all around the Chicagoland area.

the campus is just that, a campus...you go there to study and for lectures...that is it...it is functional, but not like other undergrad campuses that you may be used to (there is not large student union, no big monuments of the founder of the school, no big abstract art pieces strewn about campus, etc.) but i think that it works....we have a new library, new OMM facilities, they just added on to the anatomy labs (and made you guys changing rooms too...no more changing in the hallways!)

though it is smaller, i think that CCOM has a lot to offer considering that downtown is only 20 mins away!

any other questions, i would be more then happy to answer them.

by the way, does anyone remember a string a few weeks ago about someone trying to find a DO to shadow in the chicago area? i lost the email and i can;t respond to them....thanks

 

[Dagny]

does anyone remember a string a few weeks ago about someone trying to find a DO to shadow in the chicago area? i lost the email and i can;t respond to them....thanks

Ebola, thanks for your post.
Here's the link to July 23, 2001 "Finding a good DO in Chicagoland Area": http://www.studentdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=002043

 

[doughboy]

ebola95, Is Good Samaritan the hospital that is near the Downers Grove campus? What kind of rotations do you do there as one of your main hospitals?

 

[doatc]

Good Sam is not one of the major rotation sites for CCOM. There are a couple of rotations that involve the hospital, but only because the Physician your are rotating with has privilages there.

Bill
CCOM M4

 

[realruby2000]

Im thinking of attending CCOM... i've got a 3.6 overall and about a 3.7 sci gpa ...and probably gonna get a 25-26 on the mcat this august. Do you know any students who got in with these stats?

thanks

 

[mazzy]

real ruby,
how do you know you are probably going to get a 25-26 on the mcat?

 

[realruby2000]

Im takiNg tpr...and according to the practice teSts...my scores fall around tHAt range...I hope i do even better when i take the reaLL one on sAt thougH

 

[ebola95]

hey doughboy.....yes, good sams is right around the corner (literally!) from campus

ps-thanks for helping me find that string too dagny

 

[jdaasbo]

People know what CCOM is. If you ask a secretary they won't most of the time.

Yes CCOM could do a better job with visibility.

As far as hospitals go, Good Sam is not at all one of the main ones we rotate at. I have not heard of anyone in my class rotating there, nor have i seen it on any recent list of rotation options.

One we do rotate at are: Olympia Fields (formerly olypia fields osteopathic hospital), Michael Reese, Lutheran General, Christ, Illinois Masonic, Edgewater, Cook County, Mount Sinai, St. Margaret Mercy (dyer indianna), Provident (of Cook County Hospital), St. Francis (in Evanston) and St. Bernard's. They are all over the Chicagoland area. I would say that Olympia fields is becoming less of our "base" hospital. I have spent a total of only three months there in my third and fourth years.

We rotate with other chicago area med students (mostly UIC and Chicago Med) at a majority of these hospitals. You will even bump into a carribean student here and there. This is really the trend in Chicago, that most teaching hospitals have more than one medical school affiliation.

By the way, the new library is open, though i have not seen it myself yet, I hear it is fantastic.

Feel free to email me if you have questions.

 

[doatc]

Yes the library is open and all I have to say is that I AM JEALOUS!!

Bill
M4 CCOM