Current DO students help me: choosing list to apply to

[DD214_DOC]

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All you current DO students can help me out some. I'm compiling my list of schools to apply to, and wanted some first-hand information. Those who have been accepted to one of these schools can also help out. Below you will find my current list and a few questions I would like you to answer.

List of Potential Schools:

PCOM
UMDNJ-SOM
NYCOM
UHS-COM
CCOM
KCOM
OUCOM
NSUCOM
UNE-COM
DMU-COMS
PCSOM
LECOM

Please answer the following questions regarding your respective school of attendance.

(1) Your opinion about the school (ie; quality of facilities, general attitude of faculty and other students, quality of education, etc.)

(2) Your opinion of the surrounding area of the school, in regards to safety, activities, cleanliness, beauty, etc.

(3) Your CGPA, SGPA, and MCAT scores (sorry, I don't have a copy of the MSAR)

(4) Available Housing

Thanks for all your help, and I hope to join some of you within the next year or two.

 

[NUgirl]

Hey JKDMED,

I can help you out with the schools on your list that I interviewed at: CCOM, NOVA, and UHS. Out of all the DO schools I applied to, I liked CCOM and NOVA best. I chose CCOM in the end.

(1) Your opinion about the school (ie; quality of facilities, general attitude of faculty and other students, quality of education, etc.)

The quality of facilities at NOVA, CCOM, and UHS were top-notch. NOVA has this really incredible system, HARVEY, which no other DO school has. I can't give you too much info about it though, unfortunately. I found the students to be extremely friendly and helpful at all three schools. I can't say anything about the faculty, haven't personally experienced them yet. I liked that UHS had a systems based curriculum, unlike CCOM, which is more traditional. All three matched extremely well too so that says a lot about the education they provide.

(2) Your opinion of the surrounding area of the school, in regards to safety, activities, cleanliness, beauty, etc.

I found the areas surrounding NOVA and CCOM to be extremely safe and beautiful. CCOM is located in an affluent suburb about 20-30 min from downtown. The school is surrounded by a forest preserve. CCOM is also gated, which adds to its safety. NOVA was also very safe and beautiful. It was only 25 min from Miami, and it's in the heart of Ft. Lauderdale. And it's approx a 10 min drive from the beach! There is plenty to do in both places. I didn't find UHS's location safe at all. Safety was a big issue with me, and I was turned off by the surrounding area. The school itself is very pretty though, and seemed safe enough.

(4) Available Housing

CCOM has both dorms and on campus apts to live in. There are plenty of apts in the surrounding areas too, but they are expensive. UHS doesn't have dorms, but there is an apt compex(Century Towers) right across the street where a lot of students live, and they are VERY reasonably priced. I don't remember the living situation at NOVA.

I hope this helps, and good luck with choosing the schools you apply to! The above three mentioned are wonderful! You can't go wrong with them. Just go where you feel like you belong. 🙂

 

[Ca$h MaNi]

JKDMED,

I interviewed and was accepted to CCOM, Nova, DMU...and turned down interview offers at KCOM, LECOM, UHS-COM after hearing other people's reviews and comparisons to Nova(the school I eventually chose even though I am from the burbs of chicago). Let me try and answer those questions from my view..

(1) Your opinion about the school (ie; quality of facilities, general attitude of faculty and other students, quality of education, etc.)

CCOM, Nova, and DMU all had great facilities and real friendly students and faculty...CCOM, during my experience and relations with friends of mine who go there, was a bit more competitive than the other schools(more cases of competitive wanna-be MD's being that there were 7 MD schools in the state of illinois). The quality is top-notch at all three schools and they all have great reputations. DMU and Nova are a bonus with the "Harvey" cardiologic simulator(a "patient" that simulates virtually all heart and blood pressure defects and sounds..using infrared stethoscopes). Nova's facilities seemed a bit more attractive with a brand new library where you can check-out "wire-less capable" laptops and a campus that was entirely "wireless"(2 mile radius)..that was very attractive to me.

(2) Your opinion of the surrounding area of the school, in regards to safety, activities, cleanliness, beauty, etc.

CCOM is in a nice suburb with a major hospital in its backyard(some midwestern students do rotate here)...but its campus was just not as attractive in terms of the buildings and facilities in comparison to Nova for me. The layout was much nicer at Nova and I think the sun and outdoor pools on campus helped as well. Nova has affiliations with nationally-recognized and ranked hospitals(i.e. the best teaching hospital in its bed-class- Palmetto General)...so you get excellent, top-notch rotations. Cleanliness and beauty are by far a plus with Nova....CCOM is clean but not as beautiful when you consider palm trees lining the walkways on campus. All campuses are in very safe areas(DMU seems the safest in regards to that)...in terms of activities, Nova has some unique to the area including SCUBA lessons on campus!

(3) Your CGPA, SGPA, and MCAT scores
CGPA = 3.0, SGPA = 2.9 ....MCAT = 22, 24, 25..best total set = 26
and I still got into MD schools as well and turned them down to go to Nova(a couple of people I know even turned down UIC..an in-state MD school to go to Nova)

(4) Available Housing
The housing available at Nova is plentiful and affordable. There are on-campus dorms, which are more like apartments. And the "off-campus" apartments are virtually across the street or just surrounding the campus(within walking distance to class) and range from about $400-$600 a month for places that have pools and fitness centers in their complexes or even a balcony. Ofcourse there is housing that is below or above the range I provided...but many students find housing within the above-mentioned range.

Overall, I think any medical school will do you well as long as you feel that it "fits" you...you really cant tell until you visit any of the schools you mentioned yourself. As you can see people will always boast about there school and why they turned down the other schools as I have, but it doesnt do any justice unless you have visited the campuses yourself and believe the words you see here for yourself. Good luck in your search for a good match...wow...I remember it just like it was yesterday..oh wait..it was! hahaha...NSUCOM here I come!!!!!


Mani

 

[DD214_DOC]

I appreciate the information that you two have posted so far. From my own personal research, reading the forums extensively (I spend easily 3-4 hours per day on here), and reading your opinions, I'm pretty certain my top choices so far are PCOM, Nova, CCOM, and DMU.

I was born and raised near Indianapolis, but have lived in South Carolina for the past 11 years or so. I'd prefer Nova, since I love the south 😀

Keep'em coming!

By the way, did you have any extraordinary things to add to your application? Most of the class profiles I have seen have shown GPAs in the 3.4 area.

 

[DocWagner]

I know you are asking current students, but it wasn't that long ago that I was applying to med school.

I graduated from UHS-COM not long ago, and I am originally from Indy also! All of your choices are great, and all produce good residents ( I have worked with many). I can tell you that Nova, CCOM, and UHS produce alot of grads that eventually go to great residencies, my class had a SUPERB match...that gives one an idea of the excellent opportunity for graduates at UHS. Personally the choice should be made on tuition factors, quality of living (city etc), COMLEX scores, residency match, and most of all the VIBE the program gives you during the interview. Man, I just had a good feeling about the place.
The biggest negative is the outrageous tuition! THe neighborhood is no big deal as we went jogging daily behind the school...though there were some car break ins...but that is life in the big city! KC is a nice place.

 

[DD214_DOC]

Dr. Wagner,

Thanks for the info. My first choice is actually USC School of Medicine, followed by MUSC. Yes, these are both allopathic schools but that isn't the reason those two are my first and second choices: USCSoM is about 20 minutes from where I live now and MUSC is about an hour. My fiance isn't too thrilled about the possibility that I may be moving out of state, (she's a nursing student who is two years behind me; we have been together since my junior year of high school) so I promised her that I would apply to my state's two schools and go there if accepted. Of course, those are both allopathic schools and my GPA is a tad under their averages. (3.4x versus their 3.5-3.6 averages) Other than those two schools, I'm not applying to any MD schools.

For now, it seems Nova is my top DO choice. I have enjoyed my life living on the coast and in a climate that doesn't see much snow, and would like to keep it that way 😀 UHS and DMU are also up there as of now.

 

[MOZ D.O.]

one thing you may also want to factor in is the quality of the omm program at each school. here at nsucom we have excellent omm teachers and facilities where you will get a good foundation in manipulation. the one down side is that omm is poorly integrated into our curriculum as whole. also after 2nd year there is no formal training in omm so you won't really learn how to treat hospitalized patients using manipulation unless you happen to have an attending that uses or you do a 4th year elective. the lack of omm in the clinical years seems to be endemic to most schools from what i've read in various publications. although i believe schools like kcom and ccom try to incorporate it somewhat. overall though i am very satisfied with my education thus far at nsucom and have no regrets.

MOZ D.O.

 

[bokimbo]

For a lot of people (including me) KCOM started out on the bottom of my list simply because it was out in the boonies. Coming from the suburbs of Chicago, I thought it would be a difficult adjustment. But after interviewing at KCOM, I fell in love with the school. The staff and and the atmosphere are so supportive. I was accepted at DMU and KCOM and chose KCOM despite the location factor. DMU is a great school too, but I just loved KCOM. I would advise everyone to at least interview at KCOM to see what it has to offer.