CUSOM vs. MUCOM vs. ACOM

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Hey Everyone,

So as these 3 amazing schools have officially posted board scores and students have undergone rotations, I was hoping some students from each school could chime in on the pro's and con's of each of their schools. All of the schools have done well and seem very similar to one another, so for those of us who may have options either between any two or all 3 of these schools, which factors should we consider most? Just location? Cost? (all similar cost) Rotations?

Or does it not matter which of these 3 schools you attend as all will provide you with nearly equivalent outcomes? Thank You for any and all responses.

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I would go to CUSOM or ACOM personally. MUCOM is a great school I'm sure but they have a very constricted 4th years schedule and don't let you do too many electives
 
I would go to CUSOM or ACOM personally. MUCOM is a great school I'm sure but they have a very constricted 4th years schedule and don't let you do too many electives

Really?? I see on their site they have a lot of elective rotations actually. I thought CUSOM is limited. @AnatomyGrey12 please chime in man, haha I want to hear your feedback as much as you've got. Feel free to PM me if you'd like.
 
MUCOM has the strongest clinical education out there based from my conversation with a well respected adcom member on this board. Personally, those 1st time pass rate numbers are not that great. My school is over 98% for the past 3-4 yrs on both comlex for first time takers.

Lastly, I would put the schools with mandatory lecture on the bottom of that list. There's no need for additional bs when I could learn the same material at 2x the speed.

Also, Marian doesn't have mandatory attendance while CUSOM has mandatory attendance with pressed khakis, collar shirts, and ties as the standard.

You know where I'm going with this. Lastly, one of the female professors there is extremely unprofessional in her interview. My experience actually concurs with a few people who also interviewed there.
 
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You could always take psychology once you're accepted to the program. These prerequisites are not required before the interview. I went into the interview process with Biochemistry, Orgo II, and Eng missing from my transcript.
 
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but on the application, what would I put for the psychology prereq requirement? I can't submit until I add that.

Call the admin people about this. I was II even though I didn't have 4-5 of their required courses. I highly recommend Marian over the other 2 DOs here.
 
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Last year when I interviewed, ACOM had a first time pass rate of 91%. I don't know what it was this year, but all of these are kinda about the same in terms of that. The differences in pass rate are probably student dependent.

If mucom doesn't have mandatory attendance and stronger rotations, I'd go there. But apparently they have a strong primary care focus and not a lot of room for electives so make sure you're ok with that. The elective time in 4th year actually decreased this past cycle iirc.




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Really?? I see on their site they have a lot of elective rotations actually. I thought CUSOM is limited. @AnatomyGrey12 please chime in man, haha I want to hear your feedback as much as you've got. Feel free to PM me if you'd like.

http://www.marian.edu/osteopathic-m...on/doctor-of-osteopathic-medicine-(do)-degree

If you look at it closely it talks about how most of the electives are done at places within the system. There are also some rural/community and other rotations that are mandatory that year.

Now what I'm about to say I only read on this site but one poster said that they purposefully changed the 4th year schedule to discourage people from pursuing specialties and to influence people to go into PC. Nothing wrong with that if that is what you want but there are very serious about their primary care focus.

For me personally I would choose CUSOM on account of the expanding GME they have and the excellent clinical rotations.
 
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From my interview with ACOM, students said attendance is 80%. From that you have 20% assignments so roughly is 60%
 
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a
Actually that is pretty good. The ACOM counselor told us the rate for most schools that young isn't even close to that. Also he said some schools use the "passing rate" rather than "first time passing rate". So if someone retakes the test 2-3 times, and passes. They count it in as passed.
 
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http://www.marian.edu/osteopathic-m...on/doctor-of-osteopathic-medicine-(do)-degree

If you look at it closely it talks about how most of the electives are done at places within the system. There are also some rural/community and other rotations that are mandatory that year.

Now what I'm about to say I only read on this site but one poster said that they purposefully changed the 4th year schedule to discourage people from pursuing specialties and to influence people to go into PC. Nothing wrong with that if that is what you want but there are very serious about their primary care focus.

For me personally I would choose CUSOM on account of the expanding GME they have and the excellent clinical rotations.

Bro, where is this excellent clinical rotation myth coming from? Their 1st class is graduating in 8 months. Show me their Step 2 results and let's quantify that clinical education.
 
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Actually that is pretty good. The ACOM counselor told us the rate for most schools that young isn't even close to that. Also he said some schools use the "passing rate" rather than "first time passing rate". So if someone retakes the test 2-3 times, and passes. They count it in as passed.

You were lied to. 89% for first time takers for a new school is pretty normal. However, those first time takers were screened by the COMSAE already. Regardless, it's not a good number. You want that number to be over 95-96% min.
 
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You were lied to. 89% for first time takers for a new school is pretty normal. However, those first time takers were screened by the COMSAE already. Regardless, it's not a good number. You want that number to be over 95-96% min.
He said that number usually is *overall passing* which means retakes, not first time takers. Although maybe he was wrong lol.
 
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He said that number usually is *overall passing* which means retakes, not first time takers. Although maybe he was wrong lol.

Again, the ACOM counselor was misleading him. A freaking retake on the COMLEX is a red flag. WTF would you want that? The only worthwhile stat is the passing rate for first time takers.
 
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Again, the ACOM counselor was misleading him. A freaking retake on the COMLEX is a red flag. WTF would you want that? The only worthwhile stat is the passing rate for first time takers.
You mean was misleading me? What? Are you sure about that??? I want evidence! lol
 
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I was just thinking we needed a thread like this.

When I was at ACOM i believe i was told there was something like 12 elective rotations. 5 3rd year and 7 4th year, with one mandatory rotation in EM 4th year but if you can do an EM audition anywhere and they'll count it(basically doesnt have to be at a core site).

For board prep theres a 4 week block for woofpak (not sure if spelled right?) board prep course and then another 4-5 weeks for personal study time. Anyone know board prep time for the other two?


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a

Actually that is pretty good. The ACOM counselor told us the rate for most schools that young isn't even close to that. Also he said some schools use the "passing rate" rather than "first time passing rate". So if someone retakes the test 2-3 times, and passes. They count it in as passed.

If schools are posting a "passing rate" instead of a "first time passing rate", then that would imply that all of these schools posting say for instance 93% are telling you that %7 of the class NEVER pass level one. That's just not the case. You were lied to.

Not trying to bad mouth the school or anything, but acom has performed below the national average 2 years in a row by this metric. That's just a fact. The counselor was lying. It may not have been intentional, but it was still incorrect.

Edit: I originally thought he had heard this from the dean for some reason. I blame a lack of coffee.


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http://www.marian.edu/osteopathic-m...on/doctor-of-osteopathic-medicine-(do)-degree

If you look at it closely it talks about how most of the electives are done at places within the system. There are also some rural/community and other rotations that are mandatory that year.

Now what I'm about to say I only read on this site but one poster said that they purposefully changed the 4th year schedule to discourage people from pursuing specialties and to influence people to go into PC. Nothing wrong with that if that is what you want but there are very serious about their primary care focus.

For me personally I would choose CUSOM on account of the expanding GME they have and the excellent clinical rotations.

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the schedules on the MUCOM site, both the pre-clinical and clinical have changed. Your rotation schedule depends on what group you are in and you do have the option to switch groups with other students. In the 3rd year you have 1 elective and 4th year is almost completely electives now.
 
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I wouldn't pay too much attention to the schedules on the MUCOM site, both the pre-clinical and clinical have changed. Your rotation schedule depends on what group you are in and you do have the option to switch groups with other students. In the 3rd year you have 1 elective and 4th year is almost completely electives now.

So did the clinical dean ease up on the elective rotation restrictions (i.e. 2 outside of MUCOM affiliates) for current students?
 
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First time passing rate of ACOM was 89% last year. I did take note of this during my interview.
They will start implement wolfpack starting this year for test prep.
 
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Bro, where is this excellent clinical rotation myth coming from? Their 1st class is graduating in 8 months. Show me their Step 2 results and let's quantify that clinical education.

Isn't a myth. They literally have a decent number of students rotate at WakeMed. The other sites are also at large hospital systems. I personally know more than 2 students on rotations now and almost all rotations are ward based. Their rotations blow some other DO school's out of the water.
 
Isn't a myth. They literally have a decent number of students rotate at WakeMed. The other sites are also at large hospital systems. I personally know more than 2 students on rotations now and almost all rotations are ward based. Their rotations blow some other DO school's out of the water.

Decent as in 10-15% rotating through WakeMed? Bro, I went to their interview.
 
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I would pick CUSOM. Interviewed there and was extremely impressed. Supportive student atmosphere and facilities were top notch. My interviewers were professional and having to dress up for two years in school means nothing since we will all have to dress up as attendings for 30+ years.

I am interested to see how their first residency match goes this year.
I do not have an opinion on ACOM or MUCOM since I did not apply to them, but I am sure they are fine schools that will allow you to become a competent physician.
 
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Decent as in 10-15% rotating through WakeMed? Bro, I went to their interview.

I was told the same at the interview. They told me they were probably (this is just one interviewer guessing mind you) that 60-70% of rotations are probably preceptor based.

Between maybe having a chance of hopefully possibly rotating with MDs, dress code, mandatory attendance, I was kinda meh about cusom. SDN loves them though.

Edit: I'd attend in a heartbeat for the scholarship though.



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Hard one to call. You have two different dry barbeques vs covered dishes.

Hey Everyone,

So as these 3 amazing schools have officially posted board scores and students have undergone rotations, I was hoping some students from each school could chime in on the pro's and con's of each of their schools. All of the schools have done well and seem very similar to one another, so for those of us who may have options either between any two or all 3 of these schools, which factors should we consider most? Just location? Cost? (all similar cost) Rotations?

Or does it not matter which of these 3 schools you attend as all will provide you with nearly equivalent outcomes? Thank You for any and all responses.
 
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Isn't ACOM also?

It depends on what you define as middle of nowhere. Dothan has a population of 60k or so and Lillington has like 4K... So... But Lillington is also 40 minutes away from Raleigh and Dothan isn't really close to a big city
 
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@AnatomyGrey12 wouldn't that be bad for the schools located in rural areas? Since they won't have a lot resources/hospitals?

Like what resources? And the most hospital work you will be doing in your first two years is shadowing and most schools have at least a small community hospital nearby with most specialties. I used to think this was a big deal but now having been on multiple interviews I think it is really overrated. These schools have you go to other locations for rotations any way. Even the most rural schools have a very active clinic that you get active work in to do H&Ps and see patients and stuff in most PC fields.

Just to note though, that ACOM was started by a 420 bed level 2 trauma center that is really big and the only trauma center in southeast Alabama. This hospital is 2 minutes from the campus.
 
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4th year at MUCOM here. To answer the OP question--you should consider it all, but I'll just give my .02 about rotations since I personally feel that is one of the most important things to consider when looking at DO schools in specific. Year 1 and 2 with board prep stuff basically comes down to the effort of the individual. I will say, year 1 and 2 are already hellacious enough no matter where you go, so do consider things like dress code, attendance policy etc.-- the less rules the better and the easier it will be for you to do things the way that work best for you, once you learn what that is. Rotations are another story--if they suck you suffer.

Marian's rotation variety/quality is one of the schools definite strong suits. MarianU COM is the 2nd med school in the state. It was only Indiana University (MD) before. What does this mean? Tons and tons of untapped clinical resources right here in the city. Our major affiliated hospital systems (St. Vincent, St. Francis, Community Health network) are among the strongest in the state next to the IU health system. The majority of your rotations are located at these large teaching hospitals in the city of Indianapolis. St. Vincent Indy, for instance, is a level 1 trauma center with residency programs in FM, IM GS, Peds(Peyton Manning Children's Hospital), OBGYN among many fellowships and TY/prelim program...many of the IU MD students do several of their rotations at this hospital and work right along side our students.

3rd year is composed of core rotations with a 1 month elective. They do prefer this third year elective to be within the affiliated state hospital systems--which should not really be an issue considering what is available to you there (everything). 4th year is primarily electives without the in state restrictions and also with 1 month of interview vacation time allotted for residency interviews as well. There are a couple months to finish off core rotations, but again like 9 of the 11 months are electives.

This last bit may be a little far ahead for incoming MS1 but regarding 4th year electives -- Auditions/aways are set up through VSAS for MD programs. For other programs not participating in VSAS, you arrange it with the specific program and the clerkship office at Marian. If you just want to check out a specialty and don't want to arrange something elsewhere, you can tell them a specialty you'd like to gain some exposure to and they will arrange it in our affiliated hospitals systems.

Hope this helps.
 
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Last cycle I interviewed at both CUSOM and ACOM, and was accepted to both, but ultimately chose LECOM-B. CUSOM was very high on my list, and the only reason I was considering it was because my aunt lived close to Raleigh. However, if it came down to both, I liked ACOM better. I thought CUSOM was very overrated, I heard so many amazing things from SDN, but didn't get that awesome vibe as I had hoped for, still a good school, but I felt ACOM was better. I liked how the attendance policy was more lenient, the campus was beautiful 24 hour access, and the dean was also very nice! Also CUSOM had a very rural location, not something I was use too!. ACOM was not that rural, the city was actually pretty big and people were nice!
 
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Last cycle I interviewed at both CUSOM and ACOM, and was accepted to both, but ultimately chose LECOM-B. CUSOM was very high on my list, and the only reason I was considering it was because my aunt lived close to Raleigh. However, if it came down to both, I liked ACOM better. I thought CUSOM was very overrated, I heard so many amazing things from SDN, but didn't get that awesome vibe as I had hoped for, still a good school, but I felt ACOM was better. I liked how the attendance policy was more lenient, the campus was beautiful 24 hour access, and the dean was also very nice! Also CUSOM had a very rural location, not something I was use too!. ACOM was not that rural, the city was actually pretty big and people were nice!
Do you feel like you made the right choice in choosing LECOM over the newer schools?
 
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CUSOM for me focused a little too much on rural medicine for my liking, although I knew ahead of time that rural medicine is one of their focuses.
 
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Marian's rotation variety/quality is one of the schools definite strong suits. MarianU COM is the 2nd med school in the state. It was only Indiana University (MD) before. What does this mean? Tons and tons of untapped clinical resources right here in the city. Our major affiliated hospital systems (St. Vincent, St. Francis, Community Health network) are among the strongest in the state next to the IU health system. The majority of your rotations are located at these large teaching hospitals in the city of Indianapolis. St. Vincent Indy, for instance, is a level 1 trauma center with residency programs in FM, IM GS, Peds(Peyton Manning Children's Hospital), OBGYN among many fellowships and TY/prelim program...many of the IU MD students do several of their rotations at this hospital and work right along side our students.

3rd year is composed of core rotations with a 1 month elective. They do prefer this third year elective to be within the affiliated state hospital systems--which should not really be an issue considering what is available to you there (everything). 4th year is primarily electives without the in state restrictions and also with 1 month of interview vacation time allotted for residency interviews as well. There are a couple months to finish off core rotations, but again like 9 of the 11 months are electives.

This last bit may be a little far ahead for incoming MS1 but regarding 4th year electives -- Auditions/aways are set up through VSAS for MD programs. For other programs not participating in VSAS, you arrange it with the specific program and the clerkship office at Marian. If you just want to check out a specialty and don't want to arrange something elsewhere, you can tell them a specialty you'd like to gain some exposure to and

Listen to this dude. There's a reason why I place MUCOM on top of the three options despite not attending there.
 
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Do you feel like you made the right choice in choosing LECOM over the newer schools?

Yes I am very satisfied my decision! I like LECOM, I feel like it will prepare me well for the boards, their average is so high, and their match list is very good! And its also 10k more cheaper than the newer schools! Although facilities were better at the newer schools, at the end of the day, does it really matter?
 
Yes I am very satisfied my decision! I like LECOM, I feel like it will prepare me well for the boards, their average is so high, and their match list is very good! And its also 10k more cheaper than the newer schools! Although facilities were better at the newer schools, at the end of the day, does it really matter?

But what was cut from the budget? The main reason I didn't apply to LECOM (aside from geography)was that I heard you don't do your own dissections and that they cut the budget out of your education. A "you get the quality you pay for" kind of thing.

I'm not saying that is the case, but it's what I've always heard. Also, I never wanted to attend there because of the formal only dress code, no food on campus policy, and the armed guards.


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But what was cut from the budget? The main reason I didn't apply to LECOM (aside from geography)was that I heard you don't do your own dissections and that they cut the budget out of your education. A "you get the quality you pay for" kind of thing.

I'm not saying that is the case, but it's what I've always heard. Also, I never wanted to attend there because of the formal only dress code, no food on campus policy, and the armed guards.


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He goes to LECOM-B which is PBL only so he isn't on campus that much.
 
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But what was cut from the budget? The main reason I didn't apply to LECOM (aside from geography)was that I heard you don't do your own dissections and that they cut the budget out of your education. A "you get the quality you pay for" kind of thing.

I'm not saying that is the case, but it's what I've always heard. Also, I never wanted to attend there because of the formal only dress code, no food on campus policy, and the armed guards.


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I dont know what you mean by budget cuts! LECOM- Bradenton for me had the best location out of CUSOM and ACOM, was cheaper, better board scores, and more reputable. It just made sense. PBL is an interesting way to learn for sure, and I hate lecture with a burning passion, because I learn better on my own, and PBL I think fit me better, both ACOM and CUSOM had mandatory attendance for lectures, and I just can't see my self going to lectures, when I never did in undergrad. I feel like a lot of people give LECOM a bad rep because they are immature, and can't deal with certain things. I mean its not perfect, but dress code, not eating/drinking, isn't really a big deal lol! They are revamping rotations for our class, so there is a definite change there. So far I am happy with the decision and Love florida!
 
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