DO School Tier List?

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FlatIsJustice

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Since nobody has really posted a tier list, I thought I'd post one. It's open to changes if many people have a strong opinion.

Which schools deserve to have their tier moved up or down?

Tier 1 TCOM, CCOM, PCOM, MSU-COM, OSU-COM, OU-HCOM

Tier 2 RVU, DMU-COM, ATSU-Kirksville, NSUCOM, RowanSOM, UNECOM, KCU-COM

Tier 3 NYIT, TouroNY, TouroCA, LECOM-Bradenton, AZCOM, LECOM, PCOM-GA, ATSU-SOMA

Tier 4 ACOM, TouroNV, PWNU-COM, BCOM, WesternU/COMP, VCOM, MU-COM, WVSOM, WCUCOM, KYCOM, CUSOM

Tier 5 LMU-DCOM, LUCOM

New: ARCOM, UIWSOM
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FlatIsJustice said:
Since nobody has really posted a tier list, I thought I'd post one. It's open to changes if many people have a strong opinion.

Which schools deserve to have their tier moved up or down?

Tier 1 TCOM, CCOM, PCOM, MSU-COM

Tier 2 OSU-COM, OU-HCOM, DMU-COM, ATSU-Kirksville, ATSU-Arizona, NYITCOM, NSUCOM, RowanSOM, UNECOM

Tier 3 RVU-COM, TouroNY, TouroCA, LECOM-Bradenton, AZCOM, LECOM, PCOM-GA,

Tier 4 ACOM, TouroNV, PWNU-COM, BCOM, WesternU/COMP, VCOM, MU-COM, WVSOM, WCUCOM, KYCOM, CUSOM

Tier 5 LMU-DCOM, LUCOM

New: ARCOM, UIWSOM
Click to expand...

PCOM tier 1? I don't think that's correct.
https://www.premedhq.com/list-of-osteopathic-schools
I don't think PCOM is ranked very high but the least may be wrong.

Also I thought AZ-COM was actually at least tier 2 😳 I'm not sure tho D: Also that Touro-CA would be at least tier 2 since I believe its the highest MCAT average of all DO schools.
 
OUHCOM should be moved up for having small class sizes, larger faculty numbers, strong partnerships with their hospitals (including the Cleveland Clinic South Pointe), and truly meeting their mission and vision as a medical school that serves the state of Ohio through rural and primary medicine.
 
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This is a silly thing to do but I will bite.

CCOM is not worth 70k when you could get an education elsewhere for over 20k less per year (not to mention most "higher tier" schools have better match lists than CCOM). I would put it lower.

You forgot KCU, but I would put it tier 2. Board scores are great year in and year out and the program from what I gathered from interviewing is very well ran. OK Joes BBQ is close. Nuff said.

OSU needs to be tier one. They are a public school and have their own teaching hospital, with tons of residencies (they have more residency spots than students and give heavy bias to students) and fellowships including two separate affiliated ortho residencies, two separate GS residencies, oncology fellowships, plastic surgery fellowships, cards/interventional cards ect. Tons of research opportunities as well that you can easily get involved in. Awesome t-shirts as well. However around 90% of the class of 100 is in-state. This is why people don't refer to it as much.

RVU is tier two easily. Match lists and board scores don't lie. From interviewing there it was really amazing, plus the desk lady makes amazing brownies.
 
ImageUploadedBySDN1469152610.885308.jpg



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I'd move WVSOM and Western-U up to tier 3. I'd move KYCOM, WCUCOM down to tier 5. I'm okay with everything else.
 
Can you enlighten us as to your logic, other than pulling random names out of your ass?

FlatIsJustice said:
Since nobody has really posted a tier list, I thought I'd post one. It's open to changes if many people have a strong opinion.

Which schools deserve to have their tier moved up or down?

Tier 1 TCOM, CCOM, PCOM, MSU-COM

Tier 2 OSU-COM, OU-HCOM, DMU-COM, ATSU-Kirksville, ATSU-Arizona, NYITCOM, NSUCOM, RowanSOM, UNECOM

Tier 3 RVU-COM, TouroNY, TouroCA, LECOM-Bradenton, AZCOM, LECOM, PCOM-GA,

Tier 4 ACOM, TouroNV, PWNU-COM, BCOM, WesternU/COMP, VCOM, MU-COM, WVSOM, WCUCOM, KYCOM, CUSOM

Tier 5 LMU-DCOM, LUCOM

New: ARCOM, UIWSOM
Click to expand...
 
Goro said:
Can you enlighten us as to your logic, other than pulling random names out of your ass?
Click to expand...
I believe it wasn't based on statistics. Rather then his overall opinion of the schools lol
 
How did you even come up with this... half of this doesn't even make any sense.

RVU had the highest COMLEX pass rates and the 2nd highest score. They also have a small class size.. and it's in tier 3??? LECOM-Bradenton as a tier 3???

What's going on...
 
cyang55 said:
How did you even come up with this... half of this doesn't even make any sense.

RVU had the highest COMLEX pass rates and the 2nd highest score. They also have a small class size.. and it's in tier 3??? LECOM-Bradenton as a tier 3???

What's going on...
Click to expand...
As I said above
"I believe it wasn't based on statistics. Rather then his overall opinion of the schools lol"
 
FlatIsJustice said:
Since nobody has really posted a tier list, I thought I'd post one. It's open to changes if many people have a strong opinion.

Which schools deserve to have their tier moved up or down?

Tier 1 TCOM, CCOM, PCOM, MSU-COM

Tier 2 OSU-COM, OU-HCOM, DMU-COM, ATSU-Kirksville, ATSU-Arizona, NYITCOM, NSUCOM, RowanSOM, UNECOM

Tier 3 RVU-COM, TouroNY, TouroCA, LECOM-Bradenton, AZCOM, LECOM, PCOM-GA,

Tier 4 ACOM, TouroNV, PWNU-COM, BCOM, WesternU/COMP, VCOM, MU-COM, WVSOM, WCUCOM, KYCOM, CUSOM

Tier 5 LMU-DCOM, LUCOM

New: ARCOM, UIWSOM
Click to expand...

I'll play because it can be fun to do something meaningless during the stress of applying;

-I would move CCOM down to 2 (that tuition and recent match lists are not worthy of tier 1)

-I would move OU and OSU up to tier 1 with possibly moving KCOM up there as well, that alumni base and consistent success make it a lot better than their location appears (a lot of people just don't think about it because it is so rural)

-I would move RVU and AZCOM up to 2 (AZCOM simply because I know current students who say it has more resources than your average DO school, totally anecdotal however, and boards and match lists don't lie when it comes to RVU.)

-Touro NY, WCU, and KY should go go down a tier respectively.

-oh and Touro CA needs to be tier 4, for having one of the highest, if not the highest, average MCAT their board scores and match lists are fairly crappy from what current students have told me.

-in tier 5 honestly LMU is honestly 5a and LU is like 5f. I would go to LMU in a heartbeat over LU.


- in a few years I think CUSOM will be viewed as a tier 2 type school honestly, they are heading in a solid direction, and BCOM could be as well, we will just have to see what happens
 
tony101 said:
PCOM tier 1? I don't think that's correct.
https://www.premedhq.com/list-of-osteopathic-schools
I don't think PCOM is ranked very high but the least may be wrong.

Also I thought AZ-COM was actually at least tier 2 😳 I'm not sure tho D: Also that Touro-CA would be at least tier 2 since I believe its the highest MCAT average of all DO schools.
Click to expand...

The real question is "How are you evaluating DO schools?"

By MCAT? Match? Reputation?

Or is there an equation you're using?
 
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oOKawaiiOo said:
The real question is "How are you evaluating DO schools?"

By MCAT? Match? Reputation?

Or is there an equation you're using?
Click to expand...
Oh just using the stats page and using that one thing. I think it's called LizzyM? I don't remember exactly ^.^
 
FlatIsJustice said:
Since nobody has really posted a tier list, I thought I'd post one. It's open to changes if many people have a strong opinion.

Which schools deserve to have their tier moved up or down?

Tier 1 TCOM, CCOM, PCOM, MSU-COM

Tier 2 OSU-COM, OU-HCOM, DMU-COM, ATSU-Kirksville, ATSU-Arizona, NYITCOM, NSUCOM, RowanSOM, UNECOM

Tier 3 RVU-COM, TouroNY, TouroCA, LECOM-Bradenton, AZCOM, LECOM, PCOM-GA,

Tier 4 ACOM, TouroNV, PWNU-COM, BCOM, WesternU/COMP, VCOM, MU-COM, WVSOM, WCUCOM, KYCOM, CUSOM

Tier 5 LMU-DCOM, LUCOM

New: ARCOM, UIWSOM
Click to expand...

5 tiers is pretty ambitious for a made up ranking system
 
Tier 1 should be any school that has a teaching hospital AND is affiliated with a major academic institution. OK State would fall in this category, as well as (I believe) MSU.
Tier 2 should be any school that has EITHER a teaching hospital OR is affiliated with a major academic institution. U of North Texas; Rowan. Don't know if LECOM-Erie still has its own hospital.
Tier 3 should be any school that does not fit into Tiers 1 or 2, farms out their students to other hospitals/institutions, but is cheap. LECOM (assuming they don't have their own hospital).
Tier 4 should be any school that does not fit into Tiers 1 or 2, farms out their students to other hospitals/institutions, but is expensive. Pretty much all other DO schools.
 
Anyway, this is all subjective and depends on what you're looking for/you're situation. For instance, if you're from a state with a state funded DO school, then that is the best school. If you want cheap tuition, then LECOM is the best. If you don't fall into one of those last two categories, then the original 5 are the best, followed by all of the schools that have graduated a couple of classes, followed by the ones that haven't, followed by LMUDCOM, wcu, and lucom.


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Goro said:
Can you enlighten us as to your logic, other than pulling random names out of your ass?
Click to expand...

He is a forum troll, he posted on the pod forum he had like a 34 MCAT and 3.8 GPA and then posted on some other premed forum he had like a 3.1

I find it pretty funny you got so pissed off at this though lol
 
abn632 said:
Tier 1 should be any school that has a teaching hospital AND is affiliated with a major academic institution. OK State would fall in this category, as well as (I believe) MSU.
Tier 2 should be any school that has EITHER a teaching hospital OR is affiliated with a major academic institution. U of North Texas; Rowan. Don't know if LECOM-Erie still has its own hospital.
Tier 3 should be any school that does not fit into Tiers 1 or 2, farms out their students to other hospitals/institutions, but is cheap. LECOM (assuming they don't have their own hospital).
Tier 4 should be any school that does not fit into Tiers 1 or 2, farms out their students to other hospitals/institutions, but is expensive. Pretty much all other DO schools.
Click to expand...
This is the most logical tiered DO ranking I have seen. Particularly with the mention of cost. Many DO schools charge over $50K per year in tuition which approaches the tuition at Harvard Med School ($55,850) which is ludicrous in my opinion.
 
Which DO schools have their own teaching hospital? TCOM, MSUCOM, OSU-COM, Rowan? Any others?
 
useless but for fun
RVUCOM and OU-HCOM should be tier 1.
NYITCOM too high.
CUSOM and BCOM should be higher
 
Wjldenver said:
This is the most logical tiered DO ranking I have seen. Particularly with the mention of cost. Many DO schools charge over $50K per year in tuition which approaches the tuition at Harvard Med School ($55,850) which is ludicrous in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Harvard is free to the vast majority of their students. The government alone pays for almost half of the students' fees, tuition costs, and cost of living. Also, I find it irrational to think the other portion of the HMS class doesn't receive full compensation from the government or some private scholarship..they are the best in the business. This was irrelevant, but I thought it was kind of ironic and funny.

@Goro has a point about the logic behind this ranking. However, I guess it is kind of fun as long as it is taken that way. I will say this. A few years ago, OSU-COM was ranked the most popular medical school in the nation 😉
 
OSU-COM, OU-HCOM moved from Tier 2 to Tier 1

KCU added to Tier 2

RVU moved from Tier 3 to Tier 2

NYIT moved from Tier 2 to Tier 3

These weren't the exact changes or all the changes people wanted but I think it reflects general opinion here.

Tiers 1-3 look pretty accurate though I think Tier 4 needs some more work.
 
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FlatIsJustice said:
I still would rather go to Touro NY over and of the Tier 4 or 5 schools.
Click to expand...
Then you are crazy. ACOM was started by a hospital and has some great hospital affiliations for their students. VCOM is well established and has residency slots available in at least 3 states that are shared between the 3 schools. WVCOM has one of the top primary care schools in the nation. BCOM looks VERY promising but is too new to really tell. WesternU has been rated pretty good by its students. I could go on and on.


You should read up on the incident Touro-NY went through just recently.
 
CCOM should move to Tier 2. Their tuition is way too expensive. They have a pretty big class size. Their match list isn't as good as some schools that are currently in your Tier 2.
 
OrdinaryDO said:
Touro-NY to tier 6 for their behavior this application cycle.
Click to expand...


I don't condone the action in anyway but please remember that other schools even MD schools have done such things.....Granted they gave a year of tuition for free for people deferring for a year but even good schools can sometimes mess up I think we need to see the action Touro will take before we can totally downgrade the school. (Not a Touro student just looking on both sides)
 
PossibleDOC? said:
I don't condone the action in anyway but please remember that other schools even MD schools have done such things.....Granted they gave a year of tuition for free for people deferring for a year but even good schools can sometimes mess up I think we need to see the action Touro will take before we can totally downgrade the school. (Not a Touro student just looking on both sides)
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you are talking bout, honestly. I was basing my earlier response solely on the way they handled the issue. Contrary to what you might believe, this actually DOESN'T happen to this degree...ever. Over-filling the matriculating class, sure, but by as much as they did is unheard of. Then, to take the action they did makes their administration questionable. Anyway, I'm not interested in Touro so there is no point in my perpetuating the matter.
 
We need more GME positions!!! We need to rank DO schools based on how many GME positions they're putting out.

We have roughly 6,700 DO students graduating per year with only about 3250 AOA residency spots (including transitional year and TRI). MSUCOM is the true leader for all DO schools in terms of GME. They deserve so much credit, and in my opinion the spot for top DO school, because of this. For everyone who banks on AOA for specialty positions, about 1/3 to 1/2 of the specialty residency spots are made impart by MSUCOM.

There's so much more that needs to be discussed about this that no one is talking about.
 
DNC127 said:
OSU needs to be tier one. They are a public school and have their own teaching hospital, with tons of residencies (they have more residency spots than students and give heavy bias to students) and fellowships including two separate affiliated ortho residencies, two separate GS residencies, oncology fellowships, plastic surgery fellowships, cards/interventional cards ect. Tons of research opportunities as well that you can easily get involved in. Awesome t-shirts as well. However around 90% of the class of 100 is in-state. This is why people don't refer to it as much.
Click to expand...

OSU COM seems like a really good school. I have a question about it though. Does having a teaching hospital mean that clinical rotations are ward based or are they just more likely to be ward based?
 
Thordinson said:
OSU COM seems like a really good school. I have a question about it though. Does having a teaching hospital mean that clinical rotations are ward based or are they just more likely to be ward based?
Click to expand...

Having a teaching hospital provides more opportunity for wards based teaching in not only the required clinical clerkship in third but also in subspecialties as well. It also allows for mentorship at the home institution (say for ENT or general surgery services in which a school without a dedicated teaching hospital would not be able to provide).

Now in terms of the likelihood of all the clinical rotations being ward based is determined by location (sometimes medical schools have different locations such as KU which is KC or Wichita sites) as well as the curriculum design (sometimes they want you to spend 1/4 of your third year in a preceptor based model because they are focused on rural service).


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AlteredScale said:
Having a teaching hospital provides more opportunity for wards based teaching in not only the required clinical clerkship in third but also in subspecialties as well. It also allows for mentorship at the home institution (say for ENT or general surgery services in which a school without a dedicated teaching hospital would not be able to provide).

Now in terms of the likelihood of all the clinical rotations being ward based is determined by location (sometimes medical schools have different locations such as KU which is KC or Wichita sites) as well as the curriculum design (sometimes they want you to spend 1/4 of your third year in a preceptor based model because they are focused on rural service).


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Click to expand...

I feel like most schools I've heard about have at least one great rotation site and one terrible one.
 
Thordinson said:
OSU COM seems like a really good school. I have a question about it though. Does having a teaching hospital mean that clinical rotations are ward based or are they just more likely to be ward based?
Click to expand...


all of OSU's rotations are at OSU Medical Center (wards based) unless you are doing the rural medicine track, or choose to do rotations in OKC (which many do to be by family, but I believe some of these are still wards based), and all students have one rural rotation that is not wards based.
 
FlatIsJustice said:
Since nobody has really posted a tier list, I thought I'd post one. It's open to changes if many people have a strong opinion.

Which schools deserve to have their tier moved up or down?

Tier 1 TCOM, CCOM, PCOM, MSU-COM, OSU-COM, OU-HCOM

Tier 2 RVU, DMU-COM, ATSU-Kirksville, ATSU-Arizona, NSUCOM, RowanSOM, UNECOM, KCU-COM

Tier 3 NYIT, TouroNY, TouroCA, LECOM-Bradenton, AZCOM, LECOM, PCOM-GA,

Tier 4 ACOM, TouroNV, PWNU-COM, BCOM, WesternU/COMP, VCOM, MU-COM, WVSOM, WCUCOM, KYCOM, CUSOM

Tier 5 LMU-DCOM, LUCOM

New: ARCOM, UIWSOM
Click to expand...

Honestly outside of PCOM which is consider "almost" an MD school, there are not really any tiers of DO schools. Most people fall back on DO schools because they could not get into MD schools. There are real rankings of MD schools but not DO schools.
 
Fixed it for ya.

Tier 1 TCOM, CCOM (tier 1 or 2), PCOM, MSU-COM (tier 1 or 2), OSU-COM, OU-HCOM

Tier 2 RVU (tier 2 or 3), DMU-COM, ATSU-Kirksville (tier 2 or 3), NSUCOM, RowanSOM, KCU-COM

Tier 3 NYIT, UNECOM, TouroNY, TouroCA, AZCOM, WesternU/COMP

Tier 4 ACOM, TouroNV, PWNU-COM (tier 4 or 5), MU-COM, WVSOM (tier 3 or 4), CUSOM, ATSU-Arizona, LECOM-Bradenton, LECOM, PCOM-GA,

Tier 5 LMU-DCOM, LUCOM, WCUCOM, KYCOM (tier 4 or 5), VCOM

New: ARCOM, UIWSOM, BCOM
 
Last edited:
redhope said:
Fixed it for ya.

Tier 1 TCOM, CCOM (tier 1 or 2), PCOM, MSU-COM (tier 1 or 2), OSU-COM, OU-HCOM

Tier 2 RVU (tier 2 or 3), DMU-COM, ATSU-Kirksville (tier 2 or 3), NSUCOM, RowanSOM, KCU-COM

Tier 3 NYIT, UNECOM, TouroNY, TouroCA, AZCOM, WesternU/COMP

Tier 4 ACOM, TouroNV, PWNU-COM (tier 4 or 5), MU-COM, WVSOM (tier 3 or 4), CUSOM, ATSU-Arizona, LECOM-Bradenton, LECOM, PCOM-GA,

Tier 5 LMU-DCOM, LUCOM, WCUCOM, KYCOM (tier 4 or 5), VCOM

New: ARCOM, UIWSOM, BCOM
Click to expand...
One day people will realize that just because CCOM has a ~30 MCAT average does not mean it is a great school.
 
edgerock24 said:
One day people will realize that just because CCOM has a ~30 MCAT average does not mean it is a great school.
Click to expand...

Arent all the DO school averages currently within 4 points of each other now since LECOMS and the other lower tiers jumped up to 27-28 MCAT averages? I think the higher end was like 31-32 for schools like western.
 
acapnial said:
I feel like most schools I've heard about have at least one great rotation site and one terrible one.
Click to expand...

Oh same here. The inconsistencies are almost always there even with programs with strong clinical affiliations. It's def something we need to see improved but instead with have the AOA and MAOPS praising how "great" they are. No issues addressed at all except for the "physician shortage" that is the logic behind NYIT - San Diego campus and LECOM - Idaho.
 
Really? Another one of these threads?

OP really must not have done a search. There are already too many of these
 
edgerock24 said:
One day people will realize that just because CCOM has a ~30 MCAT average does not mean it is a great school.
Click to expand...

+1 Some day people will realize average MCAT has no bearing on how good a school is or how it's students will do. Look at TUCOM, everything I've read and heard about the school makes it look like garbage, but it's praised because it has a 30 average MCAT and is in CA.
 
AlteredScale said:
Oh same here. The inconsistencies are almost always there even with programs with strong clinical affiliations. It's def something we need to see improved but instead with have the AOA and MAOPS praising how "great" they are. No issues addressed at all except for the "physician shortage" that is the logic behind NYIT - San Diego campus and LECOM - Idaho.
Click to expand...

These schools are not making it easier by creating these affiliations 2+ states away from the home campus. It is nearly impossible to institute quality control by the clinical dean or site coordinator (trying to remember who was in charge) who is at the mothership.
 
IslandStyle808 said:
These schools are not making it easier by creating these affiliations 2+ states away from the home campus. It is nearly impossible to institute quality control by the clinical dean or site coordinator (trying to remember who was in charge) who is at the mothership.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. And the fact that a clerkship coordinator has to handle contacting hundreds of preceptors and keep track of evals (which shouldn't be a one-person job anyways) makes even having clerkships that are even one state out even hard to maintain.
 
There is no real ranking, but if you want to go to the best DO school for your residency prospects, go to a school that is more than 40 years old, also one that is part of a larger public university system. PCOM is an independent school but its always highly regarded among its local peer medical schools. Also look for the schools with strong GME programs, those schools will most likely be the best.

Many newer programs, those under 20 years old are still maturing.
 
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