Western is obsessed with OMM. I know, I know, you LOVE OMM and that's why you are going to a D.O. school. Just keep in mind that this is likely to change, statistically. OMM here is way more insane than other schools, we have 4 hours dedicated to OMM every week, plus a required OMM rotation during 3rd year. There is also ECM which is our clinical skills class which is a joke. Every week from 1pm- to about 6-7pm. Tons of patient encounters that are trained to say "What do you mean?" to every question you ask, such as "Do you have any chest pain today?". Mediocre professors at best, some even have a negative correlation between student performance for their questions vs. student performance on boards. If you want to do well on boards, you will need to do a lot of independent study. Also, lectures are split between Lebanon campus and Pomona campus, which wasn't a big deal to me, but was a big deal for may of my classmates. They wanted more of an intimate relationship and more availability with the professors. There are small and large group sessions which are required to attend and are a gigantic waste of time.
During 3rd year, there are didactic weeks every 12 weeks which is a week full of useless lectures, your shelf exams (2 on one day) and OSCE's, which are graded patient encounters and are factored into your final rotation grade. They are pretty anal with the grading, so a lot of people fail each time, and many people honor the eval and shelf but are brought down to HP because of the OSCE. No other school does OSCEs throughout 3rd year with a "didactic week".
During 4th year, # of audition rotations in one specialty are limited which sucks, especially if you want to do a competitive specialty. They really push primary care, probably like any other DO school. I expressed my desire to specialize in a certain specialty in a meeting with one of the head faculty, and was suggested to look into Family or IM instead. I could go on and on. If you are deadset on Primary Care, love OMM, and love being required to attend useless lectures, Western is for you!
Oh, and I forgot, our tuition is one of the most, if not the most expensive in the country.
