I mean as Shinobiz suggested there are a lot of factors to weigh when it comes to choosing a school. But if we are talking strictly quality of a school or measurement of its "goodness" then it probably comes down to a few factors:
1) Board scores. Obviously you want the highest percentage of pass rate and then also the highest averages. Lets say the national average for COMLEX is 530 and your school's average is 545 with a 99% pass rate; thats pretty darn good. If they give you 6-8 weeks of concentrated study time for boards, that is one factor that helps make the school "good." If they push their students to also take the USMLE (the MD licensing exam) that makes the school "good."
2) Clinical rotations/affiliations. Again as Shinobiz alluded to, public universities are nice because they have lots of money, lots of money usually means a bigger core hospital and/or better rotations (and also more research but thats just a side note). Lets say you go to school A which provides you with the chance to rotate at some top ACGME and AOA hospitals in fields that you are interested in. That makes it a "good" school. If they give you a strong 3rd year core where you are expected to round, learn how to write notes, present cases, and begin becoming generally independent, thats a "good" clinical set up. If they leave you to ONLY preceptor based learning at small clinics, that is probably not so good, especially if you are aiming to get into academics or a more competitive residency program. Not bashing preceptor based stuff, since even a lot of MD students end up doing that. I am saying "solely" preceptor based learning at small clinics and community hospitals.
3) Research. Again, bigger or older places have more connections to do research. Research is important to have if you are interested in going into a competitive specialty or if you want to go into a more academic based residency/career (aka the more "prestigious" places).
With MD schools, basically good vs bad just means research money. You "should" get a relatively similar experience at all schools when it comes to clinical learning. But the difference will be that you will have more research opportunities at some of these powerhouse places. You compare a small state school to say a top 10 school and the difference is that the people doing research in the top 10 schools are winning nobel prizes and stuff for their work. So that basically self propagates you to being able to get good residencies. Lets say you want to go into orthopedic surgery and you are at Harvard vs a very low ranked state school. Becoming an orthopedic surgeon is probably just as possible at both schools. But the connections that you get coming from Harvard (after doing ortho research with some of the top dogs) vs some unrelated basic science research at your state school, can change your residency outcomes. If you have letters of recommendation from some of the top Ortho surgeons in the nation, who you have done research for or have rotated with, and they say you are awesome, chances are that you can get into a more competitive residency program.
As for DO schools, its similar but different. Some DO schools have their own core hospitals and research centers and function almost identically to an MD school. Some DO schools strongly focus on producing rural primary care physicians and thus their clinical rotations will drive you into that direction by focusing on preceptor based and small rural clinics/hospitals. Other DO schools are somewhere in the middle, providing opportunities for you to explore either route. Neither route is worse than the other, but the rural route can be pretty dramatically different than the academic type of clinical environment at most MD schools. You can become a licensed physician either route. The discussion is more on whether or want rural vs big time academics.
So with regards to midwestern. I dont know much about the AZ campus, but midwestern/CCOM is one of the original 5 DO schools. I believe it is over 100 years old, has strong clinical connections with large hospitals nearby (MD and DO) and a lot of their students end up doing very well residency match wise. Compare that to say a 2 year old DO school which hasnt really made those kinds of research and clinical connections. You will just have more opportunity overall at some of the bigger/better/older places.
So in summation, if you are interested in going the DO route, there are what like 35 DO campuses now? I could personally see myself going to probably 25 of them. The other 10 just dont have what I personally am looking for, but that is because I know I am more drawn to academics. Any of the state DO schools are awesome (think OUHCOM, TCOM, MSU, OSU, Rowan, WVSOM, uhhh I think I am forgetting one haha). Then the old ones are good: DMU, KCUMB, CCOM (midwestern), ATSU-KCOM, and PCOM. Then there are plenty of other awesome schools who are right in there as well, just a few I can quickly think of: western, NOVA, VCOM (VA especially), UNECOM, places like that. The reasons these schools (and I am sure others that I have forgotten) are "good" are for the reasons mentioned above: strong clinical environments, research opportunities, good board scores; basically things that you would see at MD schools (which have higher standards to pass accreditation). You want to find a DO school that is making their standards high for educating future doctors. Either route - MD or DO, you will take the same board exams and will be a doctor.
