I've narrowed it down to these three schools, but am still undecided, and want to make this decision independent from school cost. At this point, family practice and emergency medicine in rural areas interest me. I'm from Oregon and love the Pacific Northwest, but am not sure I want to remain solely in Oregon for the next four years.
At Comp-NW I felt completely at home and loved the collaboration of students and faculty. I like that the students do their own anatomy dissections as well. I know the third and fourth year rotation sites and believe they are quite good (at least in Portland). The drawbacks are staying in Lebanon and I'm not sure about the smaller size of the facilities.
I also loved the collaboration and smaller class size I witnessed at AT Still (Mesa). The Students seemed genuinely happy and to already know their instructors quite well. The 3 years of clinicals are extremely appealing, and I got my first pick (the NW where I can move around from site to site and state to state). Drawbacks- distance learning during year two, increased workload of rotations plus studying for boards and classes as well as not dissecting your own cadaver (unless you join anatomy club).
AZCOM seemed to have their routine down completely. They seemed to stress the basic sciences more than Western or AT Still, but still had many clinical learning opportunities. Their facilities were the most impressive (14 sims, huge anatomy labs where students do their own dissections, "real campus" feel). Also, I feel that the school may have more opportunities for students wishing to specialize.
Drawbacks- the school didn't have quite the same friendly, tight knight atmosphere. The class size is over double Western and AT Still and I got the feeling that students are more competitive with each other (less collaborative).
Thanks for your thoughts/input!
At Comp-NW I felt completely at home and loved the collaboration of students and faculty. I like that the students do their own anatomy dissections as well. I know the third and fourth year rotation sites and believe they are quite good (at least in Portland). The drawbacks are staying in Lebanon and I'm not sure about the smaller size of the facilities.
I also loved the collaboration and smaller class size I witnessed at AT Still (Mesa). The Students seemed genuinely happy and to already know their instructors quite well. The 3 years of clinicals are extremely appealing, and I got my first pick (the NW where I can move around from site to site and state to state). Drawbacks- distance learning during year two, increased workload of rotations plus studying for boards and classes as well as not dissecting your own cadaver (unless you join anatomy club).
AZCOM seemed to have their routine down completely. They seemed to stress the basic sciences more than Western or AT Still, but still had many clinical learning opportunities. Their facilities were the most impressive (14 sims, huge anatomy labs where students do their own dissections, "real campus" feel). Also, I feel that the school may have more opportunities for students wishing to specialize.
Drawbacks- the school didn't have quite the same friendly, tight knight atmosphere. The class size is over double Western and AT Still and I got the feeling that students are more competitive with each other (less collaborative).
Thanks for your thoughts/input!