Feeling pretty bad

[deleted1205230]

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Hi everybody, I know this is probably super neurotic. I'm an incoming student hoping for some insight. I've been really excited to start medical school for the past few weeks as I was recently accepted to DMU and chose it over another DO school that is closer to home. Recently someone made a post to the medical school subreddit with a long list of complaints and grievances about DMU regarding poor rotations and admin (linked below), with hundreds of comments agreeing, calling it a scam and comparing it to caribbean schools, etc. Normally I could just brush this off and move on but I've been dealing with a lot of life struggles at the moment and this is really getting to me and making me spiral. What do other people think about this post? Any current/former DMU students on here who could share their experiences with their school, or anyone else want to offer some insight?

 

[CBass2288]

man, sorry to hear that. all you can do at this point is put your head down (in the sense of hard work) and grind it out. hopefully, there's enough issues and pushback from students that DMU will deal with it the right way. but as with all schools that have issues, you're stuck in it. make your own path and get the match you're happy with and move on. hopefully some DMU students can weigh in for you, but it's a really sucky situation you're in and i hope you can keep high spirits.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Stop reading reddit. 🙂

Are these stories also posted in our school-specific forums?

Everyone will complain about their schools. No program is perfect. The complainer may have had to repeat the year due to failing a class by 1 point.

This is why you network with students currently at the schools before you submit your application or put down a deposit. They can tell you whether all the complaints have merit or it's just someone who's pissed off about something the school did. But at this point, you had your reasons to pick the school. As far as we know, the program isn't having issues with their accreditation despite these issues.

 

[DrFutureDO]

At every school there is something to fuss about, and students love to complain about their school. Its usually just a vocal minority of discontents who failed a course or had a bad interaction with a staff or faculty so they want to “burn the place down”; your job is to make the best of who you are.

 

[Goro]

1) It's a students' job to complain.
2) There are always two sides to every story.
3) reddit is the cesspool of the Internet.

 

[TUWEST_509]

Hi everybody, I know this is probably super neurotic. I'm an incoming student hoping for some insight. I've been really excited to start medical school for the past few weeks as I was recently accepted to DMU and chose it over another DO school that is closer to home. Recently someone made a post to the medical school subreddit with a long list of complaints and grievances about DMU regarding poor rotations and admin (linked below), with hundreds of comments agreeing, calling it a scam and comparing it to caribbean schools, etc. Normally I could just brush this off and move on but I've been dealing with a lot of life struggles at the moment and this is really getting to me and making me spiral. What do other people think about this post? Any current/former DMU students on here who could share their experiences with their school, or anyone else want to offer some insight?

DMU is still a solid school. It’s got name recognition in the area and a solid alumni network. I wouldn’t feel too bad about it.

That being said, it sounds like 3rd and 4th year are going to be a lot harder than they need to be if you’re one of the unlucky students who gets sent super far for a random rotation.

I remember rotating with a DMU student on one of my rotations and was wondering how the found themselves out where I was (ICOM student for reference) they told me about the far flung places they were being sent for rotations and how their IM rotation was completely outpatient. I couldn’t really believe an og DO school was setting up their clinical years like this. In all fairness the school did provide housing for them while they were there.

Bottom line is, don’t worry too much about this. It may suck but you’ll get by. My school has gotten **** on a lot by Reddit but I honestly enjoyed my experience. Never drove more than 20 minutes for my rotations and didn’t need to set up 4th year rotations by myself. There were a few things i didn’t like, but that’s the case with every school. Take what Reddit says with a grain of salt.

 

[econbrio]

I graduated from DMU a few years ago and this was before they built their new campus so some of my feedback may be limited in that regard. I cannot speak to what has changed since I have been there or any current on going issues. I’ll be honest in that it’s not all sunshines and rainbows but it’s far a bad place to train. I thought the didactic years did a great job to prepare you for Step/COMLEX and clinical rotations. I did not love admin but I did not think that they had it out for the students and for the most part they have your best interest in mind.

The clinical rotations were mostly good but I definitely didn’t enjoy a few rotations. However, I’m not sure that will be different anywhere else you go. To briefly summarize, there were two broad categories of rotation locations which are year long sites and non year long sites. I didn’t get the year long site so that meant I went around to different locations in IA for my rotations. For example, my OB/Gyn rotation I was with this real treat of a new grad in a small town in Iowa. He had almost no patients yet so most of the time I just sat there reading. I also never went through the supposed rite of passage of delivering a baby. So if you’re interested in a specialty and that’s your rotation it can really turn things off. But I also had really great rotations. One of these was my general surgery rotation in another rural area with a guy who did all bread and butter. He was a great mentor and that’s how I found the specialty I loved and went into.

I think you need to take a deep breath and enjoy the experience. Make the best of the situation because the grass is not always greener somewhere else. There will always be people who complain and while their voices are often the loudest they probably speak for the minority. DMU got me where I wanted to go and I loved going there overall. I don’t think I’m going to go out of my way to do alumni stuff or give them money but I met great people and I got great training. The classmates I have kept in touch are happy with their training and how things turned out. I am a fellow now and a lot of students from Caribbean schools rotate on my service. I can tell you first hand that the training you get and admin stuff at DMU is significantly better than what they have to go through.

You mentioned a lot of life struggles at the moment. If you personally feel you are not ready for medical school that is a different situation and you should explore that and get the help you need. Medical school anywhere will challenge you but I don’t think DMU will do that any more than somewhere else.

Best of luck with everything. I hope this was helpful. Remember that life often has a way of working out even when it doesn’t seem like it. PM if you have more questions or want to talk.

 

[deleted1205230]

Thank you everyone for the reassurance. I was honestly just having a bad day before I read that post and I let it get to me more than it should have. I also noticed the person who made it doesn't even go to DMU (or at least claims not to), and I've heard mostly good things from actual alumni and current students. I'm sure my experience won't be perfect but I'm just gonna have to push through and make it work and be thankful that I've made it this far.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Unfortunately, this is not something exclusive to DMU. When I went to school a decade ago, the same thing happened at my COM (not DMU). We would have to travel to multiple places. The admin wouldn't help us with sites for this same "radius" thing that DMU seems to have. They were also really opposed to social media complaints, and they also threatened professionalism.

My advice?

1. Work with your class to create a network of properties where people can "rotate" their living situation. This helped a lot for my friends as we were able to coordinate with one another on where to live and set up our rotations
2. Don't post on social media at all. Keep it completely professional. Even if there aren't school "spies," all it takes is one person offended by something to make a big deal that you don't want to deal with. Make sure to make a "professional" account for your facebook and instagram where you add everyone in your class and curate your feed. Keep a second account for your real friends.
3. We also had to setup our own 4th year, but it wasn't as hard as people make it out to be. At our school, there was a repository of sites that you contacted and easily setup rotations. It's not that you have to cold call random hospitals. All these sites are used to having 4th year students wanting spots, so they have a system.
4. Keep your head down and don't complain unless it's a real violation like you're being mistreated by preceptor or something else. 4 years pass very quickly. The people at the school have decades working there and have heard the same complaints. If they genuinely cared, these problems would have been dealt with.

Overall, I think you'll be fine. The complains posted don't sound uncommon to osteopathic education.