D.O. School Rankings?

[Frankthetank]

Just a simple question...is there somewhere to find a (reliable) list ranking the top D.O. Schools?

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[OSUdoc08]

Just a simple question...is there somewhere to find a (reliable) list ranking the top D.O. Schools?

No.

 

[Kevbot]

What osudoc is so eloquently implying, is that there are too many criteria to judge the ranking of a school. In fact, a good ranking would take into account not only the school, but also the establishments that the school is associated with. Try to make your own criteria.

 

[dr.z]

You can rank them any way you like it. That will be the ranking.

 

[somnolent]

No.

simple question, simple answer...from a simple person.


period.

 

[raptor5]

I rank in order of tuition so OSU and TCOM are tops while PCOM and MSU (out of state) are at the bottom. Needless to say I go to one of the worst schools. By the time I graduate I am sure tuition will be 40K. Greedy Bastards.

 

[group_theory]

I rank in order of tuition so OSU and TCOM are tops while PCOM and MSU (out of state) are at the bottom. Needless to say I go to one of the worst schools. By the time I graduate I am sure tuition will be 40K. Greedy Bastards.

Tsk Tsk ... I expected you to be better informed.

Check out this link
http://www.aacom.org/colleges/tuition.asp

As you can see, there are lots of DO schools slightly more expensive than PCOM

Also, look at our neighboring schools

Temple University School of Medicine 2005-2006
http://www.temple.edu/bursar/tuition_rates.htm
Pennsylvnaia Resident - $33,730
Out-of-State Resident - $41,310

Drexel University College of Medicine
http://webcampus.drexelmed.edu/admissions/financialaid.asp
$36,770.00
Tuition is the same for in-state and out-of-state resident

Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University (2004-2005)
http://www.jefferson.edu/financialaid/JMCFAHandbook2005.pdf (see page 38)
$36,666
Tuition is the same for in-state and out-of-state resident

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2005-2006)
http://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/my/index.php?_preserve[init_panel]=admissions/finaid/finportal
$36,976
Tuition is the same for in-state and out-of-state resident


Penn State University College of Medicine
http://www.hmc.psu.edu/md/financialaid/pabudget.html
http://www.hmc.psu.edu/md/financialaid/nonpabudget.html
Pennsylvania Resident - $29,280
Out-of-State Resident - $40,706

 

[OSUdoc08]

simple question, simple answer...from a simple person.


period.

Good luck to you.

 

[Dr.MISHKA D.O.]

All I have to say is that if you don't mind living in Oklahoma (not that Tulsa is that bad a town to live in) I would go to Oklahoma State U. I don't regret my decision one bit and let me tell you why.

Pros:
Edward Goljan for path - 100%/99% pass rate for step 1 the last two years. Kickin' butt on the wards with path knowledge, just forget some of the Diagnostic/management tests he teaches, its about a hundred years out of date. (when is the last time you ordered a Schilling test, huh?)

Excellent clinical professors (barring a few Fam med rotation sites)

Minimal OMT time - OSU is know as OMT weak and if your like me - then the less the better. Although, I found that I am more confident in my palpatory skills than a lot of my non-OMT trained brethren, ironically thanks to my hated OMT classes.

Small class size - more attention/Instruction and "everybody knows your name."

One of the Lowest in-state tuitions I have seen, I think Out-of-state bites a bit, but not sure.

Cons:
If your interested in surgery, probably not the school for you. One month of general surgery (One month!). I think they count EM as our other "surgery" month, but not sure about that - anyway you will have to shore up surgery weaknesses with electives. OSU is great at producing Family, IM (and IM subs), EM, Peds, and OB/GYN docs. Fortunately I fell into this category.

Lots of Family med/Community medicine rotations (6 months!) I happen to like this, but to some it was a detriment, and it means that we only get 8 elective months (4 with primary care - i.e. FP, IM - general, EM (thank God!), Peds, and OB/GYN) and 4 subspecialty electives (only three if you take a second month of vacation, which counts as one month of sub)

Small Class size - everbody knows everyone's Bizznazz!

Overall a very supportive and nurturing school with two base hospitals and good support in preclinical and clinical years.

My Rank List:
1) Oklahoma State (Go Cowboys!)
2) Michigan State (Go Spartans!)
3) All the other D.O schools I didn't attend
4) All the other U.S. Allopathic Schools I didn't attend
5) All the other Carribean med schools I didn't attend
6) All the other internet based med schools I didn't attend
7) All the other medical diploma mills I didn't send money to
8) Oklahoma University (Boomer what? Sooner who?)

Hope this helped. Best Wishes!

The Mish

 

[raptor5]

Tsk Tsk ... I expected you to be better informed.

Tsk Tsk. I expected you to not be so naive.
I can't believe you wasted your time pulling up tuition costs of schools. Bravo for your excellent research. Because of this MSU lost its spot which I will give to NYCOM, KCUMB, and UNECOM. I suppose PCOM will now suspend me for conduct detrimental to the team, oh I mean school. Everyone needs to lighten up. Next I will rank schools based on the number of scientologists it has on staff.

 

[Jack Daniel]

Because of this MSU lost its spot which I will give to NYCOM, KCUMB, and UNECOM.

Aaw, darn it all.

 

[group_theory]

I can't believe you wasted your time pulling up tuition costs of schools. Bravo for your excellent research.
...
...
I suppose PCOM will now suspend me for conduct detrimental to the team, oh I mean school.

Well, I had nothing better to do and I tend to be obsessive-compulsive at times . How's endocrine treating you?

Don't worry about PCOM suspending you; the student union will lobby the NFL arbitrator to get you cut so some other school can pick you up on a year by year basis

Just the other day, an attending told me that tuition for his kid's pre-kindergarten class is higher that what he had to pay for med school. Guess we all miss the boat (and/or pre-K classes are ridiculously expensive)

 

[raptor5]

I must give PCOM credit where it is due. The DRE training session while odd was very beneficial. I also love the fact that I can sit at home listen to lectures via MP3 while veiwing the same powerpoint the lecturer teaches from. Talk about low stress. Beats sittin in a classroom w/ 200+ kids (some are just plain childish) w/ Type A personality. I also think the OMM dept. has something to do w/ the uncomfortable seats in the Lecture Halls. I have never had so much Lumbar and Sacral pain in my life. The OMM dept. has me coming in every 2 weeks.

 

[Nate]

I rate HCOM at #1 just because it is in Hawaii, how awesome is that?

 

[pecanpie]

Just a simple question...is there somewhere to find a (reliable) list ranking the top D.O. Schools?

You should look at the US News and World Report Rankings for all med schools. There are 3 DO schools in the top 50. Those are Michigan State, Texas-TCOM, and West Virginia. These schools will also tend to have higher MCAT and GPA averages.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/brief/mdprank_brief.php

 

[OSUdoc08]

You should look at the US News and World Report Rankings for all med schools. There are 3 DO schools in the top 50. Those are Michigan State, Texas-TCOM, and West Virginia. These schools will also tend to have higher MCAT and GPA averages.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/med/brief/mdprank_brief.php

West Virgina averages:

3.46

21.9

So probably not.

OSU-COM is in the top 55 for primary care (they are # 54), by the way.

 

[Kevbot]

I rate HCOM at #1 just because it is in Hawaii, how awesome is that?

I was going to apply to HCOM.... but when i found out the dean of admissions was just a coconut with a face painted on it, I changed my mind. Theyre faculty student ratio is amazing though... do you have any idea how many coconuts are in hawaii?

 

[pecanpie]

West Virgina averages:

3.46

21.9

So probably not.

OSU-COM is in the top 55 for primary care (they are # 54), by the way.

Holy cow! I stand corrected if that is right. I just assumed WV would be high since Michigan State and TCOM were among the highest of DO schools at around 27-28 and they were ranked. Honestly...that's pitiful. No offense to those who got low MCAT scores. I wonder what the board scores of graduates look like. The MCAT is supposed to be a predictor of success on boards.

 

[Dr.MISHKA D.O.]

I can tell you that the MCAT means nothing as far a board scores go. I barely cracked a 29 (8 in physical ) and I did 99% percentile on comlex and 99/250 on usmle (really high). While there were some in my class who had 31's and did horrible on boards. Just bust you a$$ and you can get whatever you want on boards. Therefore the MCAT means nothing and is a silly little hoop you must jump through to become a doctor.

 

[subtle1epiphany]

I was going to apply to HCOM.... but when i found out the dean of admissions was just a coconut with a face painted on it, I changed my mind. Theyre faculty student ratio is amazing though... do you have any idea how many coconuts are in hawaii?

Okay, that's just hilarious!!!
Well done!

 

[realmdo]

I can tell you that the MCAT means nothing as far a board scores go. I barely cracked a 29 (8 in physical ) and I did 99% percentile on comlex and 99/250 on usmle (really high). While there were some in my class who had 31's and did horrible on boards. Just bust you a$$ and you can get whatever you want on boards. Therefore the MCAT means nothing and is a silly little hoop you must jump through to become a doctor.

agree!
MCAT means nothing once you get into a med school, just like boards score mean nothing once you get into a residency.

 

[dr.z]

I can tell you that the MCAT means nothing as far a board scores go. I barely cracked a 29 (8 in physical ) and I did 99% percentile on comlex and 99/250 on usmle (really high). While there were some in my class who had 31's and did horrible on boards. Just bust you a$$ and you can get whatever you want on boards. Therefore the MCAT means nothing and is a silly little hoop you must jump through to become a doctor.

 

[Dr.MISHKA D.O.]

Hope this settles it:
Here's all the Average MCATS I could find for Osteo schools (from high to low)
Average GPA was variable, but usually around 3.5-3.6

AZCOM MCAT 9 Comlex pass rate last two years 100%, 100%
Texas COM 8.9 Comlex pass rate last two years 97%, 100%
new jersey 8.8
Western U 8.8
Oklahoma State COM 8.7 Comlex Pass Rate last two years 100%, 99%
touro 8.5
Michigan State 8.4
DMU 8.4 Comlex pass rate last year 94%
NOVA 8.1
Philly 8.1
new england 8.1
NYCOM 8
West Virgina COM 7.6
Edward via Virgina 7.5
Pikeville 7.4
can't find info on other schools

Additionally Michigan state was ranked 9th for primary care, Texas and West Virginia were ranked 48th each for primary care, and Oklahoma State 54th in primary care.

I can't find the passing rates for each of the school's step I's but someone feel free to chime in with the info

Additionally, the top 5 osteopathic schools listed (AZCOM, Texas, NJ, Western, OSU) had similar or just slightly lower admission stats to the mid and low tier MD schools - especially those schools of the southern regions.
(e.g Oklahoma 9.5, Kansas 9.5, Texas Tech 9.4, Ut Houston 9.3, East Tennesse 9.3, Texas A+M 9.2, Arkansas 9.2, East Carolina 8.8, Mercer 8.4, Howard 7.9) as well as a few other states (South Dakota 9.2, North Dakota 8.8, Southern Illinois 8.7)

For Example I had a 9.6 and 3.95 and got into Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A+M, Arkansas, Ut-Galveston, Michigan State. Go where you are comfortable, regardless of DO/MD. (But remember, you double your chances of a residency in some (primary care fields) as a competetive DO - you can do a DO or MD residency - same is not true for MD - especially noncompetetive MD applicant.) (ER is VERY DO friendly!)

Best Wishes

The Mish

 

[pecanpie]

I can tell you that the MCAT means nothing as far a board scores go. I barely cracked a 29 (8 in physical ) and I did 99% percentile on comlex and 99/250 on usmle (really high). While there were some in my class who had 31's and did horrible on boards. Just bust you a$$ and you can get whatever you want on boards. Therefore the MCAT means nothing and is a silly little hoop you must jump through to become a doctor.

A 29 isn't far off from a 31, but very far off from 22 (WV's average). You should note that most schools that have low MCAT averages tend to not publish their COMLEX results. I still believe the MCAT is a predictor of board results. Of course there are always exceptions. A lot can happen in the 4 years between the MCAT and the boards. But in general, people who do well on the MCAT have a greater potential to do well on boards.

 

[FutureDocDO]

A 29 isn't far off from a 31, but very far off from 22 (WV's average). You should note that most schools that have low MCAT averages tend to not publish their COMLEX results. I still believe the MCAT is a predictor of board results. Of course there are always exceptions. A lot can happen in the 4 years between the MCAT and the boards. But in general, people who do well on the MCAT have a greater potential to do well on boards.

WVSOM's COMLEX I pass rate was 92% last year (for SBL).

 

[Plinko]

Hope this settles it:
Here's all the Average MCATS I could find for Osteo schools (from high to low)
Average GPA was variable, but usually around 3.5-3.6

AZCOM MCAT 9 Comlex pass rate last two years 100%, 100%
Texas COM 8.9 Comlex pass rate last two years 97%, 100%
new jersey 8.8
Western U 8.8
Oklahoma State COM 8.7 Comlex Pass Rate last two years 100%, 99%
touro 8.5
Michigan State 8.4
DMU 8.4 Comlex pass rate last year 94%
NOVA 8.1
Philly 8.1
new england 8.1
NYCOM 8
West Virgina COM 7.6
Edward via Virgina 7.5
Pikeville 7.4
can't find info on other schools

Additionally Michigan state was ranked 9th for primary care, Texas and West Virginia were ranked 48th each for primary care, and Oklahoma State 54th in primary care.

I can't find the passing rates for each of the school's step I's but someone feel free to chime in with the info

Additionally, the top 5 osteopathic schools listed (AZCOM, Texas, NJ, Western, OSU) had similar or just slightly lower admission stats to the mid and low tier MD schools - especially those schools of the southern regions.
(e.g Oklahoma 9.5, Kansas 9.5, Texas Tech 9.4, Ut Houston 9.3, East Tennesse 9.3, Texas A+M 9.2, Arkansas 9.2, East Carolina 8.8, Mercer 8.4, Howard 7.9) as well as a few other states (South Dakota 9.2, North Dakota 8.8, Southern Illinois 8.7)

For Example I had a 9.6 and 3.95 and got into Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A+M, Arkansas, Ut-Galveston, Michigan State. Go where you are comfortable, regardless of DO/MD. (But remember, you double your chances of a residency in some (primary care fields) as a competetive DO - you can do a DO or MD residency - same is not true for MD - especially noncompetetive MD applicant.) (ER is VERY DO friendly!)

Best Wishes

The Mish

Where are you getting your info? The Dean sends out an email to us every year with board pass rates and class averages at TCOM. There was never a 100% pass rate in the last two years, for Step 1 or 2. This past year, the Step 1 pass rate was 99% and 94% for Step 2. Very respectable, but a far cry from the numbers you quoted. For this fall's entering class, the average MCAT was 28, not 8.9 (or 27).

http://www.hsc.unt.edu/education/tcom/frequentlyaskedquestions.cfm

I also agree with the posts that argue MCAT scores and med school board scores don't correlate, although I have heard repeatedly that AAMC research says they do. Perhaps they correlate more strongly for the USMLE. Mine weren't even close for the COMLEX: MCAT: 31, COMLEX 1:~50 percetile.

 

[Dr.MISHKA D.O.]

I got my GPA/MCAT averages from the USNEWS report 2005 which used last years entering class for stats. Again, sorry for any inaccurate numbers, but board pass rates for TCOM I got from a friend that graduated from there. And those pass rates were for students that are interns and 4th years now for TCOM and 3rd and 4th years for the rest. All board pass rates were posted for step I only. I just wanted to give some approximates for peeps to use. No need to get riled up.

Best wishes

The Mish

 

[Plinko]

I got my GPA/MCAT averages from the USNEWS report 2005 which used last years entering class for stats. Again, sorry for any inaccurate numbers, but board pass rates for TCOM I got from a friend that graduated from there. And those pass rates were for students that are interns and 4th years now for TCOM and 3rd and 4th years for the rest. All board pass rates were posted for step I only. I just wanted to give some approximates for peeps to use. No need to get riled up.

Best wishes

The Mish

Not riled up at all. Just curious. I'm a TCOM 4th year so I was just curious if some publication somewhere was reporting the wrong info. Sorry if I came across rude.

Cheers