Having some major difficulty! Nova or DMU?

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The DoubleDeuce

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I've been lucky enough to have been accepted to both Nova and DMU. I am torn! I've been researching both schools and just can't come to a decision. I am from the west coast of Florida and love the idea of going back to my home state and only being about a 3-4 hour drive away from my parents. My wife however is from a very small town in Eastern Washington and likes the idea of the size of Des Moines better than Ft Lauderdale/Miami. She also hasn't been exposed to a whole lot of diversity growing up and I think the diversity intimidates her a bit as well. I love Florida and eventually would love to go back to the gulf side and practice medicine. However I did love DMU and loved the environment found at the school. The facilities were super impressive and the professors and students all seemed genuine and really great. The family atmosphere they promote was refreshing as well. I also seem to get the sense that DMU is probably a little bit better school than Nova as far as quality of education and reputation go. The cost of living is also really nice. I'm not entirely sold though on DMU's clinical years. The biggest cons I see with Nova are the potential to have rural rotations during the middle of audition time (I'm undecided about specialty but pretty sure I don't want to do rural family practice) and the cost of living. Another negative is that my wife prefers Des Moines over South Florida. I do like that they have a 3rd year site in Largo which is only about 20 min south of where I grew up. I know they have some residencies there as well I might be interested in but I haven't heard much about the quality of those sites. After all that rambling I guess the bottom line is what do are some thoughts or advice you have? Thanks in advance to everybody.
 
Wife = Happy = Your life is good
Wife = Unhappy = Your life being barraged by the grace of Grey skull.

She-Ra.gif


No but seriously, if your wife like DMU better you might want to consider that, it's also potentially a stronger school and doesn't have an abrasive attendance policy and doesn't schedule a rural rotation during audition. Though diversity is good and maybe a good experience for your wife as well.
 
The DoubleDeuce said:
I've been lucky enough to have been accepted to both Nova and DMU. I am torn! I've been researching both schools and just can't come to a decision. I am from the west coast of Florida and love the idea of going back to my home state and only being about a 3-4 hour drive away from my parents. My wife however is from a very small town in Eastern Washington and likes the idea of the size of Des Moines better than Ft Lauderdale/Miami. She also hasn't been exposed to a whole lot of diversity growing up and I think the diversity intimidates her a bit as well. I love Florida and eventually would love to go back to the gulf side and practice medicine. However I did love DMU and loved the environment found at the school. The facilities were super impressive and the professors and students all seemed genuine and really great. The family atmosphere they promote was refreshing as well. I also seem to get the sense that DMU is probably a little bit better school than Nova as far as quality of education and reputation go. The cost of living is also really nice. I'm not entirely sold though on DMU's clinical years. The biggest cons I see with Nova are the potential to have rural rotations during the middle of audition time (I'm undecided about specialty but pretty sure I don't want to do rural family practice) and the cost of living. Another negative is that my wife prefers Des Moines over South Florida. I do like that they have a 3rd year site in Largo which is only about 20 min south of where I grew up. I know they have some residencies there as well I might be interested in but I haven't heard much about the quality of those sites. After all that rambling I guess the bottom line is what do are some thoughts or advice you have? Thanks in advance to everybody.
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DMU...

Des Moines is the $h!t duh. Plus they have the biggest OPTI out of any school in the nation. Period.

In all seriousness, I am fan of DMU for a few biased reasons, but if you and your wife like it then I would go to what feels most comfortable.
 
Happy wife, happy life. It's what my old boss used to tell me.

Edit: with that said, here's what I think. Eastern Washington (just like Idaho, where I live) doesn't have a lot of cultural diversity, and the idea might scare your wife a lot. But it's not that different between south Florida and E Wash. Both areas have a substantial latino presence. Throw in a few black people and that's it! It's not so scary! Takes a couple of days to get used to. I bet your wife would love the warm weather, not to mention being so close to her in-laws 😉 But honestly, she won't know until she goes. She might actually love it and become a Floridian for life. Has she ever visited FL in the past?
 
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if you plan on going back to florida, NSU for sure. Your wife can get over it because nova would be a better choice. Anywhere else, they will be about the same. Both are highly respected and nationally known. I am obviously biased towards DMU but nova is a good school (from what I hear). You are nervous about nova's rotations, but DMU has its issues as well. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other.

But having a wife that is happy is huge. You gotta remember that you are going to be studying all the time and likely be gone (for all practical purposes) the 3rd and 4th year, so if your wife isn't where she wants to be, and you aren't even there to entertain her, all hell is going to break loose.
 
DMU. its the better school, stronger academics, the wife's happy, more money in your pocket as it's cheaper to live in des moines than ft. lauderdale.
 
Take into consideration the fact that most people end up working where they go to residency, not necessarily where they attend medical school. You need your wife to be as comfortable as possible because you'll be at class and busy studying whenever you're not in class- its very hard at first for our loved ones to adjust to that. My class had a group of female spouses of med students that would meet and they became great friends... something else to consider suggesting wherever you end up. In terms to comparing the schools, look into the quality of the clinical rotations. For fourth year you'll probably schedule most of your own, so you may be able to mostly rotate in FL if thats where you want to end up.
 
If you are happy in Iowa, and she is happy in Iowa, then DMU, if only one of you will be happy in either place, YOU should sacrifice because she is sacrificing by having you in med school, my thought is that if she is miserable in the location alone, compounded by the stress of you being in school and stressed etc, it's not a good idea. Additionally, I personally would pick DMU, but that is my personal preference, based on reasons other people have already stated...
 
DMU is a very family-friendly school. But more importantly, as others have stated, keep your woman happy.
 
I am currently going through something like this. My wife moved so that I could pursue my education and we left our families completely behind. I don't know if having a baby helps or makes it worse, in the sense that he provides some companionship, but at the same time she needs a break and could use the help from her family. Anyways, if I could do it over, I probably would have stayed closer to where we have family. With that said, if you don't have any family in Des Moines I don't understand what the controversy is. If she just doesn't feel comfortable being around colored people in a larger city than I believe it is something that she should experience. She might like it, she might not, but at least she tried it. Now, if you had family in Des Moines than I would def. go there, no questions asked, but if it is a question about where she would feel more comfortable, I believe that she wouldn't accurately be able to know that since she has never really lived in a place like Ft. Lauderdale/ Miami. Regardless, I have found out that there is a direct correlation between your wife being happy and you being happy, so I would definitely not fight her on this one but try to help her understand the whole circumstance. Good luck. I'm glad you have this decision to make though. It could be worse! You could be deciding on whether or not to go to the Carib. or SMP......... Congrats on your acceptances.
 
I appreciate all the responses! I certainly want my wife to be happy! I wouldn't be where I am today without her! I also hope I don't make my it sound like my wife is prejudice or anything. She is an amazing woman and very accepting of people. We were actually on our honeymoon during my interview at Nova. The cultural shock came when she went to the mall during my interview and she was the minority and heard Spanish all around her. There are a lot of aspects of Florida that she loves, she just didn't feel very safe when she was on her own in South Florida. My wife only completed a few semesters of college so we are hoping for her to go back to school and at least get her associates and ideally her bachelor's and probably work part time. For those in the Des Moines area, Ames isn't too far away, correct? Would it be possible for my wife to to Iowa St while I went to DMU? Drake is too expensive to consider. I also didn't realize DMU sent so many of their student to Ohio. I was under the impression during my interview that most stayed in the Des Moines area. Thankfully I know with either choice I'll be getting a great education!
 
The DoubleDeuce said:
I appreciate all the responses! I certainly want my wife to be happy! I wouldn't be where I am today without her! I also hope I don't make my it sound like my wife is prejudice or anything. She is an amazing woman and very accepting of people. We were actually on our honeymoon during my interview at Nova. The cultural shock came when she went to the mall during my interview and she was the minority and heard Spanish all around her. There are a lot of aspects of Florida that she loves, she just didn't feel very safe when she was on her own in South Florida. My wife only completed a few semesters of college so we are hoping for her to go back to school and at least get her associates and ideally her bachelor's and probably work part time. For those in the Des Moines area, Ames isn't too far away, correct? Would it be possible for my wife to to Iowa St while I went to DMU? Drake is too expensive to consider. I also didn't realize DMU sent so many of their student to Ohio. I was under the impression during my interview that most stayed in the Des Moines area. Thankfully I know with either choice I'll be getting a great education!
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Not a lot of students go to Ohio. Most stay in Iowa and usually if you want to stay an Iowa, you can stay in Iowa. Ames is about 40-45 minutes away so it would be reasonable as long as you are ok with a lot of driving for one of you.
 
The DoubleDeuce said:
I appreciate all the responses! I certainly want my wife to be happy! I wouldn't be where I am today without her! I also hope I don't make my it sound like my wife is prejudice or anything. She is an amazing woman and very accepting of people. We were actually on our honeymoon during my interview at Nova. The cultural shock came when she went to the mall during my interview and she was the minority and heard Spanish all around her. There are a lot of aspects of Florida that she loves, she just didn't feel very safe when she was on her own in South Florida. My wife only completed a few semesters of college so we are hoping for her to go back to school and at least get her associates and ideally her bachelor's and probably work part time. For those in the Des Moines area, Ames isn't too far away, correct? Would it be possible for my wife to to Iowa St while I went to DMU? Drake is too expensive to consider. I also didn't realize DMU sent so many of their student to Ohio. I was under the impression during my interview that most stayed in the Des Moines area. Thankfully I know with either choice I'll be getting a great education!
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To be honest, culture shock is not a bad thing to experience. Hopefully I'm in your shoes next year with acceptances, but it'll be the opposite with the fiance wanting to go to south florida instead of iowa
 
1. Your wife wants DMU.

That's it. Other tangible reasons include: DMU is the bomb (I go to an MD school, not DMU, so I'm not shamelessly saying my school is the best to boost my self-esteem, it really is the bomb). Des Moines is nice and cheap. You can buy a house. You are less likely to and up a pill pushing DO from southern florida and end up in jail. You won't be tempted to hang out at the beach and procrastinate. good luck
 
I cannot agree with those stating DMU more. I personally want to approach my applications and interview with the idea of where is my wife going to be the happiest and who has a better family support program. In this case, it sounds like DMU will be your better choice for this alone. Sure, Nova is in a nice location for the country but does it have a better family support network, will they offer resources to support you and your family while attending, etc? I recently attended an information session about a local D.O. program and the MS-2 mentioned this during the conversation, so which is the best program for not only you but your family as well? If it's DMU where she's not feeling overwhelmed by the malls and feeling like she needs to learn Spanish then Des Moines is a great spot to go (being a smaller city and the people are extremely kind and open in the community is a huge plus, plus there are other colleges in Des Moines as well). In my humble opinion, cultural experiences are not best experienced in Medical School for your family. They'll have plenty to worry about with you being a full time Medical Student and working through all the changes that this brings. Good luck with your decision. 🙂
 
mattyice said:
You are less likely to and up a pill pushing DO from southern florida and end up in jail. You won't be tempted to hang out at the beach and procrastinate. good luck
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What the hell is this? :laugh:
 
The DoubleDeuce said:
I also hope I don't make my it sound like my wife is prejudice or anything. She is an amazing woman and very accepting of people.
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The DoubleDeuce said:
The cultural shock came when she went to the mall during my interview and she was the minority and heard Spanish all around her.
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que 😕



I definitely noticed DMU had the least diversity of all the interviews I went to. In the end, DMU would be a better fit for your wife, although one of the benefits of cultural diversity is being able to learn from the experiences of other backgrounds.
 
Loudster said:
What! Haven't you heard? All Floridian DOs are pill pushers ... apparently? :smack: Go DMU?

I for one can't wait to push pills and go to jail! 😆
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I'd like to believe that any qualified DO can become a pill mill shill, regardless of where he or she may have gone from medical school.

And if you are seriously worried about the beach being a distraction you probably shouldn't be going into medicine anyway.
 
it was a joke. and how could you not worry about the beach? clearly anyone interested in medicine should rather read a textbook than go to the beach??...anyways good luck with your decision
 
mattyice said:
it was a joke. and how could you not worry about the beach? clearly anyone interested in medicine should rather read a textbook than go to the beach??...anyways good luck with your decision
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If I got into a school in Florida I'd probably try to spend at least 3 hours every other weekend at the beach. I'll also probably more productive the other days of the week as well to be honest.
 
dntke1518 said:
DMU...

Des Moines is the $h!t duh. Plus they have the biggest OPTI out of any school in the nation. Period.

In all seriousness, I am fan of DMU for a few biased reasons, but if you and your wife like it then I would go to what feels most comfortable.
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Not true.
 
FrkyBgStok said:
Pretty sure that was said as a joke back when OPTI talk was all over the forum. He knows it isn't true.

And Iowans may not be diverse, but we rock.
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Hard to tell when someone's joking over the internet sorry! and he has 4 posts so I wouldn't count on him knowing it isnt true either. 😱
 
Eh eh, it truly was a joke, hence the latter part stating "in all seriousness". Frky was right, there was a time when people were getting in huge debates over OPTIs so I thought I would lighten things up with a little humor.
 
Ahhh, the good ol days when we ripped FutureDoctorrrr a new one. Such innocent, fun times.
 
I would personally pick DMU, but that's because I don't like where Nova is... If they could move Nova to where LECOM-B is, I'd say Nova... but it's not, and DMU is a better school imho... can't beat the reputation!
 
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