castlehoff
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- Pre-Medical
Hello SDN! I'm looking for guidance on which medical school will be a better choice for me, considering all factors. I'm a resident of MI and am interested in staying in the Midwest for rotations and residency, I'm interested in almost any specialty besides neurosurgery/cardiovascular surgery. I've received acceptances and currently am deciding between MSU COM (DO) and Central Michigan University.
I'd prefer the location of EL for MSU COM, but am fine with going to Mount Pleasant if it's the better medical school. I know MD programs generally are better but I'm worried in this case it may not be, as MSUs DO school has affiliated residencies for DOs, rotations all over the Midwest and is connected to a good hospital system. MSU is also much older and more established, whereas CMU is much newer and appears to primarily only have rotations in Michigan.
MSU COM also bolsters strong match lists, 25 specialties with 37% going into primary care. Moreover strong percentages per specialty (5% anesthesiology, 3.3% ortho, 3.6% rads etc...).
The only potential downside I see with opting for MSU COM is having to take extra boards (COMLEX), potential residency bias for being a DO (although negligible in michigan) and slightly heavier workload with OMM, I am interested in learning OMM though.
Lastly regarding MSU COM, it has a very strong network of resources for research being affiliated with a university as large as Michigan State, with lots of overlap with the MD students at Michigan State.
CMU has similar tuition, and is in Michigan which is a pro. It seems like a solid program, with affiliated hopsitals in more rural Michigan and is an MD program so should be slightly less resistance for my path. I'm concerned that CMU has less research availability but am unsure and need more clarification on what opportunities look like there, and if they are as good as or if not better than those at MSU.
My largest concern with this program is their match, I'm not interested in practicing in a rural enviornment for my entire career and that is this schools primary focus, as well as having physicians go into primary care. They had 74% of their class pursue primary care in 2025 and consistently bolster high numbers in FM/IM every year. They don't actually post a match list and it's very difficult to find information on data from recent classes. Is CMU more limiting for specialties, even being an MD? Their class sizes are considerably smaller (~100) so I wonder if a large proportion of students interested in only primary care skew this data.
What do connections and strength of reputation look like for CMU? I'd like to be swayed to CMU to get an MD for an easier path if the school truly is better, but currently it appears at surface value that MSU COM is superior by nearly every metric besides affording a DO degree.
I'd prefer the location of EL for MSU COM, but am fine with going to Mount Pleasant if it's the better medical school. I know MD programs generally are better but I'm worried in this case it may not be, as MSUs DO school has affiliated residencies for DOs, rotations all over the Midwest and is connected to a good hospital system. MSU is also much older and more established, whereas CMU is much newer and appears to primarily only have rotations in Michigan.
MSU COM also bolsters strong match lists, 25 specialties with 37% going into primary care. Moreover strong percentages per specialty (5% anesthesiology, 3.3% ortho, 3.6% rads etc...).
The only potential downside I see with opting for MSU COM is having to take extra boards (COMLEX), potential residency bias for being a DO (although negligible in michigan) and slightly heavier workload with OMM, I am interested in learning OMM though.
Lastly regarding MSU COM, it has a very strong network of resources for research being affiliated with a university as large as Michigan State, with lots of overlap with the MD students at Michigan State.
CMU has similar tuition, and is in Michigan which is a pro. It seems like a solid program, with affiliated hopsitals in more rural Michigan and is an MD program so should be slightly less resistance for my path. I'm concerned that CMU has less research availability but am unsure and need more clarification on what opportunities look like there, and if they are as good as or if not better than those at MSU.
My largest concern with this program is their match, I'm not interested in practicing in a rural enviornment for my entire career and that is this schools primary focus, as well as having physicians go into primary care. They had 74% of their class pursue primary care in 2025 and consistently bolster high numbers in FM/IM every year. They don't actually post a match list and it's very difficult to find information on data from recent classes. Is CMU more limiting for specialties, even being an MD? Their class sizes are considerably smaller (~100) so I wonder if a large proportion of students interested in only primary care skew this data.
What do connections and strength of reputation look like for CMU? I'd like to be swayed to CMU to get an MD for an easier path if the school truly is better, but currently it appears at surface value that MSU COM is superior by nearly every metric besides affording a DO degree.
