For Students Considering NYCOM-Don't

[ryoga28]

I'm currently a third year student at NYCOM and like most in the class is fed up with the administration.

Here are some Pros/Cons to this school.

Pros:
+Great third/fourth year clinical rotations because of NYCOMEC
+The school is in NY
+Nice lecture hall

Cons:
-Teaching staff is away in flux
-Materials taught in class is not geared towards passing boards
-the study area is in a bright purple/blue color scheme
-the library is small
-large class size (250-300 per year)
-tuition is still raising
-Quality of Student affair staff also varies greatly
-Over roughly 50 students failed the Comlex step 1 last year. Previous year had about the same fail rate
-Most students are not happy.
-Adminstrators say one thing but later change their minds (happens all the time)

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[medhacker]

I'm currently a third year student at NYCOM and like most in the class is fed up with the administration.

Here are some Pros/Cons to this school.

Pros:
+Great third/fourth year clinical rotations because of NYCOMEC
+The school is in NY
+Nice lecture hall

Cons:
-Teaching staff is away in flux
-Materials taught in class is not geared towards passing boards
-the study area is in a bright purple/blue color scheme
-the library is small
-large class size (250-300 per year)
-tuition is still raising
-Quality of Student affair staff also varies greatly
-Over roughly 50 students failed the Comlex step 1 last year. Previous year had about the same fail rate
-Most students are not happy.
-Adminstrators say one thing but later change their minds (happens all the time)

I guess criticizing your school must be in!

 

[FrkyBgStok]

god these threads are getting old. everyone knowns you are on the waitlist.. Just suck it up and say maybe i'll get in, maybe i won't. everyone seems to be a third year. LIES!

 

[notnarcsDO]

mistake

 

[yanky5]

I'm in my first year of NYCOM. The previous student was pretty accurate about NCYOM although I recommend going there. The biggest negatives are the high tuition and the education system. Their are a lot of dumb ass professors who have no clue how to teach and the material does not correlate at all with the boards. I am frustrated with this system as are most students. However, the library is not small. Yes, the NYCOM library they show you on tour is very tiny, but less than 200 feet away is the main NYIT library and that has a substantial study area. Plus there is a large new study room in the second floor of one of the buildings for 100 people. The question you might ask is don't all medical schools teach you tons of extra stuff than you don't need to know for the boards? I think all medical schools do this, so it is not a NYCOM problem.

The large class size is not a problem since the facilities are large enough to handle the people MOST of the time. The one exception is in OMM where they are understaffed and you don't get enough attention.

The only reason I like NYCOM is because all of the lectures are streamed online so you don't have to go to class 90% of the time but can sit at home and listen to video streams of the lectures on your PC (attendance is only manditory in 10% of the classes). Then you can go back and review them as many times as you want. This is a major advantage to the other medical schools where you have to go to every single lecture and take perfect notes or you will fail. I would be very depressed in such a school because I hate listening to boring lectures for a long time. Plus, NYCOM has great residencies and that's all that really matters. Study for the boards on your own.

 

[NewNick]

Oh ****, not another bashing school thread. Buckle down, people.

 

[MikeyLu2010]

Im waiting until they bash my future school next!!!

 

[ryoga28]

As for the library:

The library is comprised of 3 floors, so I guess it may be so what "big." The first floor is the main floor which contains the main circ desk with a couple of study carrels and ref books. Second floor is useless but does contain about 9 study carrels. The third floor (basement) was in construction when I was in school.

They had taken out all the desktop computers (except for 4-5 email computers). So if you would want to check your email or browse the net, you would need to check out labtops in the library.

As for the study areas:
The more they had tried to remodel the "large" second floor study hall, they worst they had made it. They study hall used to be bigger, but they reduced it by building some labs/offices (used for physical exam practice, which was used about 2-3 times a year).

 

[yanky5]

Oh ****, not another bashing school thread. Buckle down, people.

I don't know what your problem is. On this forum we are supposed to talk about the DO schools and if I am in a DO school, I do not have to lie and say 100% happy things about the school. If the school has problems, I will say them. Wait till you get accepted to medical school to chalange us.

 

[NewNick]

Im waiting until they bash my future school next!!!

Hey DrMikeyLu, they already did in the past. Search the SDN.

 

[ryoga28]

Another gripe I have is the New financial aid proposal.

NYCOM can now be the primary lender for your financial aid needs by partnering up with a bank. So instead of the bank working extra hard to process the financial aid, NYCOM will do part of the processing and turn the fee over to scholarships/grants for needly students, which according to the dean includes basically the whole student body.

This program sound great at first, but if you think about it, is it really worth it?

For the first few years, there won't be much scholarships/grants because NYCOM is still generating funds to get this program setup. So basically this program won't affect the first few classes who decide to join in.

Also, when asked who is eligible for the scholarships/grants, the Dean first said that there would be a committee of staff and students to determine who will receive the committee based on scores and leadership skills...So the question comes to mind, is the program setup to benefit a small group of students instead of the whole student body? Personally, I don't want to donate my borrowed money to people who don't need it financially.

However, if the whole student body is needy (as stated by the Dean), what's the point of this program?

 

[HunterGatherer]

Oh ****, not another bashing school thread. Buckle down, people.

Bring it!


















jk

 

[DragonWell]

ryoga28 meet Steel_City. I think you two will get along famously!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=259953

 

[ryoga28]

Another problem I had with NYCOM is that the exams had almost nothing to do with lecture or it was so poorly written that it became a difficult exam.

 

[ryoga28]

Regarding administrators...some are great and some not so....

For the students who failed their comlex the second time, the school had basically told them that the would do everything they can to help these students pass their boards. Including private tutoring or any accomadations they can offer. What do you think happened when some of these students asked for help (a short review session)?

 

[ryoga28]

I understand that all schools have their own failings, but this is my honest experiences with NYCOM. In the end, you have to depend on yourself.

 

[yanky5]

Regarding administrators...some are great and some not so....

For the students who failed their comlex the second time, the school had basically told them that the would do everything they can to help these students pass their boards. Including private tutoring or any accomadations they can offer. What do you think happened when some of these students asked for help (a short review session)?

Tell me more, my fellow NYCOM mentor. I don't get it, how can you fail the boards twice? Was this friend actually studying for them? I disagree on the study area. I never lack a studying space in the school so far. The lecture halls are usually free and the library has lots of space.

 

[ryoga28]

Tell me more, my fellow NYCOM mentor. I don't get it, how can you fail the boards twice? Was this friend actually studying for them?

So you didn't know that both the class of 2006 and 2007 had a failure rate of about 20%?

There was also a rumor, that NYCOM was in trouble with the AOA because of this. Hopfully, the class of 2008 will do better.

 

[Jamers]

I'm currently a third year student at NYCOM and like most in the class is fed up with the administration.

Here are some Pros/Cons to this school.

Pros:
+Great third/fourth year clinical rotations because of NYCOMEC
+The school is in NY
+Nice lecture hall

Cons:
-Teaching staff is away in flux
-Materials taught in class is not geared towards passing boards
-the study area is in a bright purple/blue color scheme
-the library is small
-large class size (250-300 per year)
-tuition is still raising
-Quality of Student affair staff also varies greatly
-Over roughly 50 students failed the Comlex step 1 last year. Previous year had about the same fail rate
-Most students are not happy.
-Adminstrators say one thing but later change their minds (happens all the time)

Aww, that's so cute!! Its a Steel_City jr!!!!! Who brought the popcorn for I would like to watch the b.s. flow this time. All we need now is JO33333333333 (yes, I forgot how to spell his user name, sue me ) to egg it on saying that NYCOM admin. have nothing better to do than come on here and read posts from pre-meds and/or people who were rejected from their school. Here is my prediction for this thread: 300 current NYCOM students will defend the school, 2 people will bash it and 7000 SDNers will believe the 2 bashers. Who wants to take bets!?!? Its time for the show!!!

 

[yanky5]

So you didn't know that both the class of 2006 and 2007 had a failure rate of about 20%?

There was also a rumor, that NYCOM was in trouble with the AOA because of this. Hopfully, the class of 2008 will do better.

I heard rumors about this. Are the people failing the foreign doctors or are they the US born students? Because I know a lot of the foreign doctor students don't seem to care. Yeh, and the tests also suck for us. The tests are uneven and unclear (even if questions are wrong, they don't change them).

 

[MikeyLu2010]

Hey DrMikeyLu, they already did in the past. Search the SDN.

the only real bashing is of the attendance policy and dress code...also the financial aid people arent very helpful ....Nothing major..like the current LECOM bashing ... and NYCOM bashing where the students flat out say..DO NOT COME HERE

 

[DragonWell]

-the study area is in a bright purple/blue color scheme

Incompetent teachers, poor board scores, large classes, high tuition...that's par for the course, but bad interior decorating... you're right, absolutely unforgivable!

 

[ryoga28]

I heard rumors about this. Are the people failing the foreign doctors or are they the US born students? Because I know a lot of the foregn doctor students don't seem to care.

It's not a rumor. If you ask the admins of nycom, they will tell you that the fail rate was less the 5% of the class....but if you ask one of the profs he will confirm the numbers...

Lol, the foreign docs were not the ones responsible. It was just your average members of the class. It had nothing to do with the people who did well or people who had taken tons of make-up exams.

The problem with 2006 was that the boards weren't taken seriously. So that caused the class of 2007 to study for the board much earlier. However, people were still not prepared for it.

 

[ryoga28]

the only real bashing is of the attendance policy and dress code...also the financial aid people arent very helpful ....Nothing major..like the current LECOM bashing ... and NYCOM bashing where the students flat out say..DO NOT COME HERE

If you can bear with the first two years of NYCOM, then it's worth it, because the third and fourth year is so much better because of NYCOMec.

 

[ryoga28]

If you can bear with the first two years of NYCOM, then it's worth it, because the third and fourth year is so much better because of NYCOMec.

It's already 3 am in NY, I gotta get back to what I was doing...

 

[yanky5]

It's not a rumor. If you ask the admins of nycom, they will tell you that the fail rate was less the 5% of the class....but if you ask one of the profs he will confirm the numbers...

Lol, the foreign docs were not the ones responsible. It was just your average members of the class. It had nothing to do with the people who did well or people who had taken tons of make-up exams.

The problem with 2006 was that the boards weren't taken seriously. So that caused the class of 2007 to study for the board much earlier. However, people were still not prepared for it.

I agree. The school makes a point "we don't teach you for the boards". So what ends up happening is that the students fail the boards. It makes sense bec. in my class 2009 they are definitely not teaching us the stuff we need to know for the boards. I'm planning on studying this summer for the boards and hopefully I'll do well. Thanks for the advice. What's the best review books to study for them? Or am I asking for too much info? So far I like the "ridiculously simple" series.

 

[ryoga28]

Incompetent teachers, poor board scores, large classes, high tuition...that's par for the course, but bad interior decorating... you're right, absolutely unforgivable!

It is unforgivable...if you see it in person...Whoever redesigned it must've been on crack. I liked the old study hall better.

 

[MikeyLu2010]

50 ppl failing the COMLEX of a class of 315...translates to approx 84% pass rate...which isnt TERRIBLE...but it is probably below the national average...my advice is ...if NYCOM is pass/fail..just dont pay less attention to your lecture..and concentrate more for boards prep...

 

[NewNick]

I don't know what your problem is. On this forum we are supposed to talk about the DO schools and if I am in a DO school, I do not have to lie and say 100% happy things about the school. If the school has problems, I will say them. Wait till you get accepted to medical school to chalange us.

First of all, the previous post was not for you. Usually, when people reply without the "quote" (with blue background), it refers to the original post. So I concerned about the topic of this thread "For Students Considering NYCOM-Don't". Why does he/she has to insert the word "Don't" in that phrase ? It's OK to discuss the advantage and the drawback of the school, but to force an opinion is not right.

One more thing, I'm not sure what you mean when you said "Wait till you get accepted to medical school to chalange us". If you mean "wait until I'm a 3rd or 4th year at NYCOM to challenge us", then I'll shut up. If you mean "until I get accepted", then sorry for you. I already got accepted, multiple acceptance (not trying to be a dick). I had to make some difficult decisions to deny the other offers because each school has good and bad things to consider. Depend on your preference and situation that you choose the school. In other words, depend on what kind of **** you can put up with.

Having said all of those, I have to admit that I like the way you discuss about your school. It's neutral. I had no intention to against you.

Notice, the other thread "Don't come to LECOM" of Steel City was going on for a long time. After following it, I realized that Steel City wanted to tell his/her experience and expressed his/her anger. Steel City felt that those kind of info he/she should know before making a decision to come. Because of his/her title of the thread, and the way he/she wrote, the topic was hot for a while. Now, I suspect that the OP trying to do the same thing ? He/she is clever enough by writing the Pro and Con of NYCOM (if his/her intention was to stir the forum). However, the topic of thread is enough to catch people attention and stir the forum.

So are we cool ? I don't want to involve in this type of argument. I respect you because you're future DO and you'll graduate before me. We should be colleagues in the future. So live in peace.

 

[ryoga28]

I agree. The school makes a point "we don't teach you for the boards". So what ends up happening is that the students fail the boards. It makes sense bec. in my class 2009 they are definitely not teaching us the stuff we need to know for the boards. I'm planning on studying this summer for the boards and hopefully I'll do well. Thanks for the advice. What's the best review books to study for them? Or am I asking for too much info? So far I like the "ridiculously simple" series.

-Micro made ric simple was great
-First aid for the outline (do not use this as the only book, like some people I knew)
-Listen to Golijan audio in your car
-Look thru the Golijan high yield
-Kaplan Qbank was worth it.
-Kapan lectures-were a waste of money for me. It depends if you could sit thru hours of lecture a day and have enough energy to study it afterwards.

that's all I can think of at this time.

 

[yanky5]

My bad. Peace.

 

[yanky5]

-Micro made ric simple was great
-First aid for the outline (do not use this as the only book, like some people I knew)
-Listen to Golijan audio in your car
-Look thru the Golijan high yield
-Kaplan Qbank was worth it.
-Kapan lectures-were a waste of money for me. It depends if you could sit thru hours of lecture a day and have enough energy to study it afterwards.

that's all I can think of at this time.

Thanks. I appreciate it.

 

[Jamers]

First of all, the previous post was not for you. Usually, when people reply without the "quote" (with blue background), it refers to the original post. So I concerned about the topic of this thread "For Students Considering NYCOM-Don't". Why does he/she has to insert the word "Don't" in that phrase ? It's OK to discuss the advantage and the drawback of the school, but to force an opinion is not right.

One more thing, I'm not sure what you mean when you said "Wait till you get accepted to medical school to chalange us". If you mean "wait until I'm a 3rd or 4th year at NYCOM to challenge us", then I'll shut up. If you mean "until I get accepted", then sorry for you. I already got accepted, multiple acceptance (not trying to be a dick). I had to make some difficult decisions to deny the other offers because each school has good and bad things to consider. Depend on your preference and situation that you choose the school. In other words, depend on what kind of **** you can put up with.

Having said all of those, I have to admit that I like the way you discuss about your school. It's neutral. I had no intention to against you.

Notice, the other thread "Don't come to LECOM" of Steel City was going on for a long time. After following it, I realized that Steel City wanted to tell his/her experience and expressed his/her anger. Steel City felt that those kind of info he/she should know before making a decision to come. Because of his/her title of the thread, and the way he/she wrote, the topic was hot for a while. Now, I suspect that the OP trying to do the same thing ? He/she is clever enough by writing the Pro and Con of NYCOM (if his/her intention was to stir the forum). However, the topic of thread is enough to catch people attention and stir the forum.

So are we cool ? I don't want to involve in this type of argument. I respect you because you're future DO and you'll graduate before me. We should be colleagues in the future. So live in peace.

I must agree, I take back calling the O.P. a Steel_City junior because this op is actually arguing in an intelligent manor. I was assuming this would be another Jerry Springer we hate COM thread but, I was wrong; no midgets who are really brooms that married seven foot tall lesbian dominatrix today . So, before JO33333333XLMMMNANA misspells every other word to tell me how much of a dick I am, I will apologize. Damn it...

 

[ryoga28]

I must agree, I take back calling the O.P. a Steel_City junior because this op is actually arguing in an intelligent manor. I was assuming this would be another Jerry Springer we hate COM thread but, I was wrong; no midgets who are really brooms that married seven foot tall lesbian dominatrix today . So, before JO33333333XLMMMNANA misspells every other word to tell me how much of a dick I am, I will apologize. Damn it...

I am frustrated but not angry with NYCOM. If anyone here decides to attend NYCOM, just surround yourself with a great group of friends to get thru the times when you get screwed (it happens...trust me...esp with the pediatrics course for the class of 2006...everyone passed by default because the exam had Nothing to do with the lecture even after the Dean of medicine promised that it would...).

 

[JO300]

Aww, that's so cute!! Its a Steel_City jr!!!!! Who brought the popcorn for I would like to watch the b.s. flow this time. All we need now is JO33333333333 (yes, I forgot how to spell his user name, sue me ) to egg it on saying that NYCOM admin. have nothing better to do than come on here and read posts from pre-meds and/or people who were rejected from their school. Here is my prediction for this thread: 300 current NYCOM students will defend the school, 2 people will bash it and 7000 SDNers will believe the 2 bashers. Who wants to take bets!?!? Its time for the show!!!

My user name is JO300
Jamers you have a lot of free time.
for everybody else here is link for a discussion about NYCOM
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=253647
good luck everyone.

 

[Jamers]

My user name is JO300
Jamers you have a lot of free time.
for everybody else here is link for a discussion about NYCOM
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=253647
good luck everyone.

Eh, only on Thursdays and Friday afternoons when I am on RA duty. Plus, I don't sleep much and I get very bored.

 

[OrGoMan]

I was accepted at Ross, a carib school, but I also have an interview with Nycom? Do you guys think I should go? You all said that the clinicals are awesome, i take it that residency placements are good? alot of competetive positions?

 

[NewNick]

I was accepted at Ross, a carib school, but I also have an interview with Nycom? Do you guys think I should go? You all said that the clinicals are awesome, i take it that residency placements are good? alot of competetive positions?

If I were you, I would go to the interview. You should check out the match list of NYCOM to find out about residency placements.

 

[SuperFemDoc22]

Oh boo friggin hoo, quit you whining ryoga. I'm a first year and I like NYCOM just fine. The new integrated system has some kinks in it but for the most part, I'm getting a lot out of it. People place in excellent residency programs as well. I know a fourth year who just placed in Drexel. ALso, I study in the studyroom, which is plenty big. Why are you complaining about the facilities? If you are a third year than you are barely on campus anyway. ANd for someone who is a third year you sure find a lot of time to sit and whine on SDN. ANyway, even with your complaints, we have record number of applicants so whine all you want, you think all of a sudden everyone who wanted to go there will say, wow, maybe this random guy is right, I shouldnt go there because of their library. And by the way, the only people who care about the fail rate are the ones who are failing anyway. If you guys want info on the new integrated cirriculum PM me. Dont waste time with this guy.

 

[beastmaster]

The larger point of the previous post is that the 3rd year is criticizing a system that no longer exists. Our curriculum and exams are completely different this year.

 

[yanky5]

The larger point of the previous post is that the 3rd year is criticizing a system that no longer exists. Our curriculum and exams are completely different this year.

While the curriculum changed, they just took the same material, same lectures , same professors and same everything and just rearanged it. The curriculum still sucks and does not prepare you for the boards. The tests also suck half the time. However, I like the school anyways since it has a lot of good qualities that outweigh the negatives. Plus, I recommend you guys that are reading this forum to go there.

Don't be so quick to bash the third year. He/she knows much more than we do bec. we are only first years.

 

[beastmaster]

The curriculum still sucks and does not prepare you for the boards.

Most schools feel it is not their role to be a 2-year board review course. I guess they make the crazy assumption that med students would approach the boards with a sense of responsibility.

The "school didn't prepare me" crowd is pretty pathetic.

 

[medhacker]

The "school didn't prepare me" crowd is pretty pathetic.

Agreed!

 

[NewNick]

While the curriculum changed, they just took the same material, same lectures , same professors and same everything and just rearanged it. The curriculum still sucks and does not prepare you for the boards. The tests also suck half the time. However, I like the school anyways since it has a lot of good qualities that outweigh the negatives. Plus, I recommend you guys that are reading this forum to go there.

In first 2 years of basic science, if the school can cover most important topics for Step I, that's good enough because there's so much to be tested in Step I. Teaching and reviewing for the board are totally different. Remember when you study Phy, Bio, OrgChem and later take the MCAT ? Did your professors intentionally review for MCAT ? The job of the school is providing the foundation for the students, then the students will apply those knowledge to their boards or clinical training.

In general, when a professor produces a bad student, there are two possibilities. One, the professor did a bad job in teaching (did not cover many important topics, speak alien language when explaining, etc). Second, the student did a bad job in studying (lazy, not having enough background, stupid, etc). If the professor is bad, you still survive by using supplemental or review books. If you're lazy, sorry no treatment in medical community now. Perhaps with a gun.

 

[noonday]

re: boards, and schools not "preparing" you. suck it up and be a grown up! if medical school was merely a test-pre course for the boards, we could all just pay kaplan, take the boards, and be doctors. (yes, it could be that easy...i took a practice level one about a year ago and "passed" the practice version). being a doc requires a degree and the boards for a reason. i think part of that is b/c there are things the boards just can't test. plus if you can't muster the self-discipline to make yourself prepare for the boards on your own...well...

re: nycom. i'm waiting for my interview outcome. but i loved it. i will ditch an MD and another DO acceptance for them if i get in. and part of what i loved was the feeling that they don't babysit or hand-hold. that they see your education as your responsibility and then just provide the resources for you to use (or not use) and you succeed or fail because of you, and not some nanny of a system. yay! i don't know about anyone else, but what that says to me is that they honor and respect my ability to know myself and manage my own education.

 

[OMMFellow06]

Every single medical school has it's positives and negatives. If you guys feel that NYCOM's negatives are it's first 2 years, then at least you'll have the following 2 to make up for it with lots of good rotations.

As far as boards, if you work hard enough, you'll do fine. Yea, NYCOM doesn't gear you towards doing well, but they present you with most of the info. They leave it up to you to figure out what to do with it. Unfortunately that's life, things aren't spoon fed to you as much as I'd like them to be.

When I went through 1st and 2nd year, it was definitely a different curriculum. However, I still recommend it b/c we do have great clinical rotation sites and we do well in the Match and ultimately that is one of our major goals, to Match at a good program in the field of our choosing. And let's face it, as much as we want to know as much as we can from our 1st 2 years, our thoughts change. From the beginning of rotations down the line, we focus less and less on all aspects of medicine and start focusing on the areas of our interest.

NYCOM like all schools has it's issues. Whether or not you will like and do well is more dependant on you than the school. If you mess well with the system and the environment, you'll be fine.

So ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS take people's comments with a grain of salt. Don't not go on the interview b/c of what you have HEARD from other people, go check it out and make ur decision based on your personal impression of the school/residency program/job.