Current Osteopathic Student Reviews

[Iridescent]

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Hello all,

I was looking for a thread in which current students review their own school. Reason being is I came up with a list of factors to decide on which school I would like to attend. Here is the list:

1. Comfort – perception – feels

a. Students connected/nice?
b. Relaxed atmosphere?
c. Any particular X-factor that interests me?
d. Do I connect with the school’s mission?
e. Social Scene​

2. Clinical rotation quality

a. Does the institution have a core teaching hospital?
b. Rotations with lots of inpatient settings with residents?
c. Overall Quality (hands-on approach/ supportive / not too crowded / learn to be a proper resident)
d. How cooperative administration is administration in setting up rotations?
e. Preceptor clerkships available?
f. Rotations at tertiary trauma centers?
g. How far do we have to travel? ​

3. What and how much research is being done?

4. How much time to study for boards (Both USMLE and COMPLEX?)

5. Is attending class mandatory?

a. Are lectures available online?
b. Is there a strict uniform policy? ​

6. How are classes graded?

a. What help is available if we need it?​

7. Location

a. Will I be feasibly match on the East coast, preferably NYC?
b. How close would I like to be to family?​

8. Cost of attendance / living expenses

a. What about during rotations?​

9. Curriculum

a. Trad. Lecture / PBL / mix?​

10. Match list strength

11. Single Student Review and year written


I found the bolded items, relatively difficult to find through school websites. And yet, as many have suggested on SDN, factors like rotations are extremely important. Although I did find student written reviews on schools that answer my questions, many were written in 2010/2011 or even earlier. Since a lot has probably changed in each school over the past 5+ years, I was wondering if anyone would like to post a review of their school that potentially answers the bolded questions/topics.

Thanks!

 

[MaduNotSoff]

This thread has a lot of student reviews of their DO schools. It goes back a few years but still some good info. Hope it helps!
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pros-and-cons-of-your-do-school.407104/

 

[hse]

This thread has a lot of student reviews of their DO schools. It goes back a few years but still some good info. Hope it helps!
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pros-and-cons-of-your-do-school.407104/

+1
it seems that current students prefer to use that big thread and they're doing a pretty good job at updating it ... sporadically

 

[Iridescent]

I legit spent the time going through each post in that thread, these past few days. Over those 1200+ posts, I learned so much about what to look for in schools, especially in rotations. My only issue is that it severely needs to be updated when it comes to specific schools, which is why I posted this, in hopes of receiving more recent information. Especially when it comes to schools like UNECOM and NYCOM that are really bashed in student reviews. The posts also talk a lot about current/future changes and now that they are probably implemented, I would love to hear how schools are doing today.

 

[Iridescent]

If I don't get any replies, then I'll probably hit current students up on Facebook. I'll see if I can post what I learn through that method.

 

[Bill Brasky]

I'm an M1 at Nova. I can't tell you a lot about clinical education for obvious reasons, but here goes

1. Comfort – perception – feels

a. Students connected/nice? Depends, our class is extremely social. The M2s are very cliquey and do not go out in large groups like we do. The upper classes are VERY helpful with the younger classes, though.
b. Relaxed atmosphere? Ha, no. There is no such thing in medical school. At NSU it's a busy building with all the other health professions running around. South Florida is not a relaxed atmosphere, period. It's a high-energy place.
c. Any particular X-factor that interests me? Unbeatable climate 9 months out of the year, 20 minutes from the beach. It's south Florida!
d. Do I connect with the school’s mission? You tell me, here's the mission: http://medicine.nova.edu/aboutus/mission.html
e. Social Scene Few schools can match Nova. You are right next door to Fort Lauderdale and the beach and 40 minutes from Miami. Orlando and Disney Freaking World are 3 hours away - a bunch of us volunteered at the Special Olympics in November at Wide World of Sports one weekend and had a blast. If you can't find anything fun to do with your free time, you have some issues.​

2. Clinical rotation quality

a. Does the institution have a core teaching hospital? It will! Plantation General will be relocating to NSU's campus and building a brand new 200+ bed teaching hospital in the next few years. This is an outstanding achievement for a DO school.
b. Rotations with lots of inpatient settings with residents? http://medicine.nova.edu/do/clinical_rotation.html The biggest institutions are Mt. Sinai, Jackson Memorial, Broward General, Memorial and PBCGME. All but Memorial have multiple residencies. All have a ton of traffic in all specialties, this is a massive metropolitan area.
c. Overall Quality (hands-on approach/ supportive / not too crowded / learn to be a proper resident) Not having done any rotations, I can't answer this.
d. How cooperative administration is administration in setting up rotations? Not having done any rotations, I can't answer this.
e. Preceptor clerkships available? I don't know what you mean. Do clerkships have preceptors? As far as I know, always.
f. Rotations at tertiary trauma centers? Mt. Sinai, Jackson, Broward, St. Lucie Medical Center - definite yes
g. How far do we have to travel? Most can stay in the area. A small number will have to (or want to) go to other parts of Florida, Georgia, or New York.​

3. What and how much research is being done? I don't know much about this, I am not very interested in research. They are building an enormous new collaborative research center on campus (RIP Health Professions parking structure once it opens...). Check here for more stuff on Nova's research: http://medicine.nova.edu/epr/index.html (And as an aside, explore the website, it's very informative)

4. How much time to study for boards (Both USMLE and COMPLEX?) Second year ends early May. M2 is heavily front-loaded in the fall so that spring semester affords much more free time to study for boards. I was told by the 3rd and 4th years that I've met that they felt they had adequate time.

5. Is attending class mandatory? Yes and no. A few classes and all labs are, but most lectures currently are not.

a. Are lectures available online? All of them.
b. Is there a strict uniform policy? Uniform policy yes, strict no. Either business attire or scrub pants and scrub top or scrub pants and any Nova t-shirt in class. Outside of class sessions you are free to be on the premises in any clothes you want (within reason).​

6. How are classes graded? 0-100%, no letter grades. A handful of small classes are Pass/Fail

a. What help is available if we need it? There is always tutoring - if you are less than 70% in a class at any time (minimum for passing) you get tutoring for free. M2s run biweekly review sessions on a rotating schedule of different classes, usually whichever ones have the closest exams.​

7. Location

a. Will I be feasibly match on the East coast, preferably NYC? NYCOM and Rowan are probably the best DO schools for matching NYC because they are well-known, the rest will not hurt you in any way. A qualified applicant is a qualified applicant, just make sure that your programs of interest have DO residents if it's not AOA.
b. How close would I like to be to family? Eh...huh? Is this a question for me? I want to live out west after graduating, so pretty far.​

8. Cost of attendance / living expenses Pricey. $49k for out of state, 47ish for Florida residents, and rent prices are high (I pay 900 for a 1 bedroom apartment. I'm looking for a roommate in a 2BR next year, it's the smart thing to do).

a. What about during rotations? Same, most are in the same area.​

9. Curriculum

a. Trad. Lecture / PBL / mix? Pretty traditional in first year, I can't speak to second year. I think it's mostly the same. Not a lot of PBL here as far as I know.​

10. Match list strength http://medicine.nova.edu/aboutus/residency-match-data-comlex-board-scores.html 2014 was nuts, there was a Rad Onc match. We match all over the country.

11. Single Student Review and year written We work hard at Nova, probably harder than most other medical schools because of the extra few classes we have. The administration expects a lot from you. The upshot to this is our graduates are ready for anything and the school has an excellent reputation. Type A personalities do better here.

Written January 2015.

 

[cabinbuilder]

If I don't get any replies, then I'll probably hit current students up on Facebook. I'll see if I can post what I learn through that method.

Look at interview feedback section on SDN