Come to ATSU-SOMA if you want the following:
✅A new dean almost every year - our previous Dean was in her position for a whopping 11 months
✅A brand new untested curriculum
✅Sudden curriculum changes in the middle of a course
✅High tuition for a curriculum where you essentially teach yourself medicine - when the school was asked why tuition was so high during the COVID-19 lockdown, their response was "Zoom is more expensive than having in-person classes" o m e g a l u l.
✅New faculty hired to replace the massive wave of professors who left the previous year
✅An administration that disregards feedback and complaints from students and even professors - force professors and deans out of their positions because they disagree with policies
✅Take exams that focus on minutiae from PhD professors’ research despite promises to 'teach to the boards' - you also can't review your exams when you get your grade back because they're too lazy to hold feedback sessions.
✅Multiple mandatory 8-hour Kaplan practice exams (which don't even reflect the boards) - you also can't review your exams when you get your grade back
✅Declining board pass rates – 10 students failed COMLEX last year (and board pass rates haven't been published recently 🤔)
✅No board dedicated time – instead go to class up to 5x a week, review OMM material for several hours
(because that's more important than anything else), and have school exams up until May. The school expects you to take boards at the end of May (lmao)
✅Being discouraged from taking USMLE step 1 'because primary care residencies don't need it' and 'you're a DO student'
✅Being threatened to take COMLEX level 1 before July 1 or else you have explain yourself to the Student Performance Committee - a negative mark goes onto your MSPE
✅Being forced to do a useless research project in second year on top of clinic, 3 classes, and board studying
✅Being a slave in a clinic in second year – shadow doctors for 8 hours per week for no grade while exams are around the corner
✅Take a useless epidemiology/biostats course for the entirety of second year in which the course contents can be summarized in an email
✅Feeling isolated and having no support from the school in year 2 and beyond
✅Laughable mental health services – being told they can’t help you because they’re unlicensed in your particular state
✅Receive threats of expulsion from the school for 1 poor quiz/exam performance
✅Participate in countless hours of stupid wellness meetings during critical periods (like right before an exam) because "yOuR mEnTaL hEaLtH iS iMpOrTaNt tO uS"
✅Have OMM shoved down your throats by professors who drank the osteopathy Kool-Aid
✅Have insecure rotation spots and living in fear that you may have to rotate 100’s of miles away because the school can't keep their end of the deal. The Texas CHC was shutdown in the midst of the pandemic because the school failed to take the necessary steps to get approved by the state and clinical sites. Luckily it was resolved months later. The NY CHC failed to renew their partnership with NYU Langone for rotation spots. They were forced to partner with Wyckoff Heights Medical Center as a last resort. Not long ago, Wyckoff severed ties with ATSU out of the blue, forcing the 3rd and 4th year students out of their rotations. ATSU considered sending students to other CHC locations across the country, but luckily that was resolved too. Who knows what's next?
✅Participate in meetings upon, meetings upon, meetings upon, meetings upon, meetings upon, meetings upon meetings
✅Have fear instilled in you and then participate in meetings about "speaking up" - those that actually speak up then sit in front a council for unprofessionalism
✅Being forced to move up to 3 times in less than 2 years with no support from the school - some students are paying 2 leases in very expensive cities (some have to take private loans to cover the cost of living)
✅Potentially live in poverty because the school will not adjust loans based on the cost-of-living and inflation. Imagine maxing out your loans, any only getting ~$35k to live in a major city like Chicago or NYC where annual rent cost is upwards of $30k.
✅Being forced to enroll in the school's crappy health insurance plan with ridiculous co-pays in 3rd and 4th year because "Medicaid doesn't provide enough coverage" and "Medicaid doesn't cross state-lines." The school insurance actually excludes mental health coverage (l m a o) which Medicaid covers (and a lot more). Here's a kicker - the school's insurance plan doesn't cover abortion unless it was due to rape or incest. That's just one of the asinine exclusions that the insurance plan has. The majority of students plan on doing their away rotations in a state where their Medicaid plan is valid, however the school still won't accept it for reasons unknown. For those who are actually going out-of-state for away rotations, the school forbids temporary coverage for those weeks. It's another $4000 per year going into the school's pockets on top of your increasing tuition fees.
✅Being forced to take a poorly written practice exam that has a notoriously bad predictive value just 2 weeks into your limited "dedicated" time (the few quiet weeks in May when the school finally leaves us the f**k alone). Just as you're about to take COMSAE you receive threats of expulsion for failing. This is straight from Dr. Coty:
Ironic that this is coming from a man who holds a
PhD in anatomy and has
never taken a medical board exam in his life. How is he responsible for ensuring that we pass the boards? His policies are so stupid that LECOM Bradenton (his former school in which he utterly sabotaged) made a website dedicated to his stupidity. You can read about it here:
LECOM-a-SUTRA (Search results for: coty) (tumblr.com)
Some gems from reddit:
Do yourself a favor and don't come here.
ATSU leadership should be embarrassed.
