Help with choosing between med schools

[SergeantBuzzKill]

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Hello all,
Would love to hear your opinions about the pros/cons of each school. I have compiled some information about each school on the attached PDF and am leaning towards DMU, but would love to hear some opinions/different perspectives. My biggest attraction to DMU is their affiliated teaching hospital, which is very rare to see in a DO school, solid year long rotations, and they consistently perform very well on COMLEX and above average on USMLE. I hear that graduates tend to do their residency in the state of the medical school they attended, but DMU's match lists do not seem to support this (approximately 25% of graduates match in IA from what I can see). Aside from that concern, my only other complaint is the location, but I won't be spending much time outside during school anyway. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Magus5454]

Joplin has Freeman and Mercy, if you're going to mention DMU having a hospital. The dean stated at accepted students day that your 3rd year site is where you will be all year.

 

[SergeantBuzzKill]

Joplin has Freeman and Mercy, if you're going to mention DMU having a hospital. The dean stated at accepted students day that your 3rd year site is where you will be all year.

Noted, I'm going to add that into my spreadsheet

 

[Magus5454]

I realize I'm harping on Joplin but i do know the campus. There is a whole wing set up for standardized patients. Are you considering the HPSP? I know theres opportunities only for the military track as well.

 

[DO2015CA]

Where are you from? Being close to family should factor into your decision. Its a very stressful path and I wish I had gone to school closer so that if need be I could get away for a weekend.

Edit: Because this will factor into my vote. None of these blow the other out of the water. Yes, DMU has been around the longest but they really haven't set up GME like the other established schools have... So there are other factors that can play into your decision.

But seeing as you are worried about where you do rotations, I would stay away from LECOM-B.

 

[SergeantBuzzKill]

I realize I'm harping on Joplin but i do know the campus. There is a whole wing set up for standardized patients. Are you considering the HPSP? I know theres opportunities only for the military track as well.

Yeah, but I’m on the fence about it. Waiting to get scrolled and approved by MODS to hopefully attend DCC summer so BOLC doesn’t interfere with my dedicated study time, so im still not sure...

 

[SergeantBuzzKill]

Where are you from? Being close to family should factor into your decision. Its a very stressful path and I wish I had gone to school closer so that if need be I could get away for a weekend.

Edit: Because this will factor into my vote. None of these blow the other out of the water. Yes, DMU has been around the longest but they really haven't set up GME like the other established schools have... So there are other factors that can play into your decision.

But seeing as you are worried about where you do rotations, I would stay away from LECOM-B.

I’m from WA, and I really do like WesternU, but the 4-year graduation rate is 81%. I realize this is more or less average for most schools, but DMUs 4-year ranges from 90-95% according to their website. I’m also concerned that with CUSM opening up, some of Western’s rotation sites will be taken away. I’ve also heard from a current student at WU that some carribbean school bought out an important rotation site so those are things I need to consider too. Although, to their credit, someone posted in the Western thread that they have known about this for a while (CUSM taking rotation sites) and have been planning accordingly. Whatever that means...but I assume s/he meant they are working on adding more to compensate for this.

 

[eberge3]

If you are trying to save money go to LECOM - B its in a super nice area and you will get the same DO degree for half the price at the end of the day the school you went to will not matter as much. If you do not care about cost I would go to Western. Awesome location , any cali med school is great, good match. KCU is a great school but I would personally rather be in Kansas City then Joplin. DMU is also great, probably one of the best DO schools has great rotation cites but you have so many good options I would choose Western vs LECOM and think about the money at that point.

 

[DO2015CA]

I’m from WA, and I really do like WesternU, but the 4-year graduation rate is 81%. I realize this is more or less average for most schools, but DMUs 4-year ranges from 90-95% according to their website. I’m also concerned that with CUSM opening up, some of Western’s rotation sites will be taken away. I’ve also heard from a current student at WU that some carribbean school bought out an important rotation site so those are things I need to consider too. Although, to their credit, someone posted in the Western thread that they have known about this for a while (CUSM taking rotation sites) and have been planning accordingly. Whatever that means...but I assume s/he meant they are working on adding more to compensate for this.

Schools snipe rotation sites from others all the time. There has been no talk of westerns rotations tanking a dump compared to other DO schools.

For the 81% take a look at other things. Like how many fellows per year do they take. There will be repeaters but if they take a good amount of fellows then that sways the numbers.

 

[SergeantBuzzKill]

If you are trying to save money go to LECOM - B its in a super nice area and you will get the same DO degree for half the price at the end of the day the school you went to will not matter as much. If you do not care about cost I would go to Western. Awesome location , any cali med school is great, good match. KCU is a great school but I would personally rather be in Kansas City then Joplin. DMU is also great, probably one of the best DO schools has great rotation cites but you have so many good options I would choose Western vs LECOM and think about the money at that point.

Can you comment about the rotations of LECOM-B? I really like the PBL curriculum, I actually learn more when Im able to study on my own. With barely any actual class time, that mean id have the majority of each day to study and do some board prep when Im done with exams for the week. However, like I said, Im just worried about the quality of the rotations.

 

[SergeantBuzzKill]

Schools snipe rotation sites from others all the time. There has been no talk of westerns rotations tanking a dump compared to other DO schools.

For the 81% take a look at other things. Like how many fellows per year do they take. There will be repeaters but if they take a good amount of fellows then that sways the numbers.

Thats true. Im also taking into consideration that graduating lies primarily with the student, rather than the school, so Im trying to look into other things about the school like the rotations or curriculum.

 

[DO2015CA]

Thats true. Im also taking into consideration that graduating lies primarily with the student, rather than the school, so Im trying to look into other things about the school like the rotations or curriculum.

Looks like you are taking the proper approach when deciding. Good luck with whatever school you choose

 

[drdpmn]

If you’d like to end up on the west coast, Western is a safe bet. I’m not sure about the Joplin campus but in general I’ve heard great things about KCU. Regarding DMU, I’m actually not sure how affiliated they are with a particular hospital? I interviewed there but my impression is that people end up all over the place for rotations, based on a lottery system.

In the end, if you don’t have a strong preference, choose the cheapest option.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

So normally I would say that it didn’t matter, but for the last few years I have been very impressed with how consistently well the DMU grads do. 89% of this last match was ACGME programs, with only ~5 of those pre-lim positions unattached to a pgy-2 spot. They actively encourage their students to take the USMLE, and last year they had 20+ people score 240+ on the USMLE.

They are doing something right at DMU.

 

[Osminog]

They are doing something right at DMU.

Average 507 MCAT, 3.6 GPA... incoming student quality at DMU is comparable to that of a low-tier MD program. That's what I think probably sets it apart.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Average 507 MCAT, 3.6 GPA... incoming student quality at DMU is comparable to that of a low-tier MD program. That's what I think probably sets it apart.

While I agree wholeheartedly that this is likely a huge part of it, there are other schools with similar entrance stats that don’t have quite the same results.

 

[SergeantBuzzKill]

Narrowed it down to DMU and WesternU. Also updated some things in the spreadsheet. Want to go GenSurg

 

[drdpmn]

My biggest attraction to DMU is their affiliated teaching hospital, which is very rare to see in a DO school

Can you expand on this? I’m considering DMU but I honestly don’t remember anything about them having an affiliated teaching hospital.

 

[SergeantBuzzKill]

Can you expand on this? I’m considering DMU but I honestly don’t remember anything about them having an affiliated teaching hospital.

So I did some research about this and it is misleading. In the pamphlet they gave to us on interview day it says "Students will complete rotations at a DMU-affiliated teaching hospital and..." so I took that as DMU having a teaching hospital of their own. The semantics of it make it sound that way, but what they really mean is they are affiliated with teaching hospitals and clinics for rotations, which is not all that special to DMU. Sorry about the confusion.

 

[drdpmn]

So I did some research about this and it is misleading. In the pamphlet they gave to us on interview day it says "Students will complete rotations at a DMU-affiliated teaching hospital and..." so I took that as DMU having a teaching hospital of their own. The semantics of it make it sound that way, but what they really mean is they are affiliated with teaching hospitals and clinics for rotations, which is not all that special to DMU. Sorry about the confusion.

Thanks! The lack of solid rotations at DMU is my primary hesitation about the school, so I didn't want to be worried about it for nothing.

 

[workaholic181]

Unsure if you decided yet, but if it were me I would only pick Western U over DMU if you have your heart set on a CA residency. Even if you go to DMU, you'd still be in the running for CA, they really are a nationally known and respected program that sends grads all over. Good luck OP.

 

[Medic741]

Hello all,
Would love to hear your opinions about the pros/cons of each school. I have compiled some information about each school on the attached PDF and am leaning towards DMU, but would love to hear some opinions/different perspectives. My biggest attraction to DMU is their affiliated teaching hospital, which is very rare to see in a DO school, solid year long rotations, and they consistently perform very well on COMLEX and above average on USMLE. I hear that graduates tend to do their residency in the state of the medical school they attended, but DMU's match lists do not seem to support this (approximately 25% of graduates match in IA from what I can see). Aside from that concern, my only other complaint is the location, but I won't be spending much time outside during school anyway. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Hey there, DMU student here, we don't have an affiliated teaching hospital. There are a few hospitals in DSM that are 'big(ish)' that DMU students do rotations at, but each has ~20 spots? Many of the rotation sites are also quite rural; these differences matter more than simple 'semantics' as they'll be having a lot of impact on 4 years of your life... That said, what I've heard from 3/4th years WRT rotations when they've come up has been very positive. Any specific questions, feel free to shoot me a pm. Just finishing 1st year and pretty happy with the school. Faculty are great, and DSM is a fine city to live in.

 

[steph curreus]

Hello all,
Would love to hear your opinions about the pros/cons of each school. I have compiled some information about each school on the attached PDF and am leaning towards DMU, but would love to hear some opinions/different perspectives. My biggest attraction to DMU is their affiliated teaching hospital, which is very rare to see in a DO school, solid year long rotations, and they consistently perform very well on COMLEX and above average on USMLE. I hear that graduates tend to do their residency in the state of the medical school they attended, but DMU's match lists do not seem to support this (approximately 25% of graduates match in IA from what I can see). Aside from that concern, my only other complaint is the location, but I won't be spending much time outside during school anyway. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

I would go to DMU if I were you, but I would definitely steer clear of LECOM. It's a very unique curriculum style that caters to a particular student and learning style (problem based learning). You might really enjoy that style, but if it doesn't work for you you're likely stuck at the school and can't transfer out of it. Go with the older school with a more established curriculum