JMJ-
I'm a 4th yr at DMU and I've generally been happy with my education. The basic science yrs will more than prepare you for rotations and you will compare quite nicely with your MD counterparts. I know this because I rotated with University of Iowa med students for nearly 6 months. DMU has recently changed the way they handle scheduling rotations, which I think will vastly improve things. The old system left all of the scheduling for 3rd & 4th year up to the student. This was VERY time consuming and difficult to do while studying, etc. Now, the clinical affairs office is doing all of the scheduling, with the student telling them where they want to rotate. I think this will be a good system once the initial kinks get worked out. As far as hospital affiliations, DMU is formally affiliated with Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, which is a 600+ bed primarily allopathic facility. There used to be an osteopathic hospital in Des Moines, but it went out of business about 2 yrs ago. The affiliation w/ Mercy is great, as it is the largest hospital in Des Moines. I've rotated there several times and had great experiences. Basically, the clinical years have always been a weak point at DMU and something that everyone complains about. Personally, I've had great experiences and haven't had a single rotation that was awful. We have alot of flexibility with being able to go wherever you want. It's a real bonus to be able to setup a rotation at a place you're interested in doing a residency. I honestly think that the new changes being made in clinical affairs will really help matters. Be sure to ask questions about this at your interview, as you have a right to know what they're doing! Good luck!
Stef
