How do you like MSUCOM?

[cfdavid]

Hey everyone. I've only seen a few posters with MSUCOM Class of ...... under their name etc.

I'm a Michigan resident and am just wondering what you think of the school. I have an old pal that went there and said he loved it. He actually said he loved his med school experience and made a lot of friends. He also said that most students pulled together rather than compete etc

What are YOUR experiences. To me it seems like a great school. What are the positives and negatives that you've noticed. Also, what interaction have you had with the MSUCHM people? Do you notice a "difference" in personalities of the students, or culture of the CHM school?

Thanks

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[Ratch]

positives:
1. solid education thus far, feel i am learning a ton of information as you should in med school. most of the professors are excellent and have a relatively good open door or open email policy when it comes to questions about material in or out of class.
2. tons of opportunities in the third and fourth years, considering osteopathic hospitals are sparse and MI has a majority of them you are going to be placed into a relatively good osteopathic insitution to rotate.
3. awesome atmosphere amongst the students, as you mentioned. competition is pretty much absent.
4. CHMers across the railroad tracks are generally just as friendly as the COMers, interaction with them is what you make of it first year.
5. administration is available for questions and concerns
6. plenty of opportunities to observe just about any speciality while you are a student, and make good connections with physicians. i simply walked up to a chairperson and introduced myself and asked if i could hook up with them for a day and they were all for it.
7. i did all my histo studying from my cpu at home, its all online
8. OMM is obviously required, but if you find it disinteresting like myself you can do the minimum and get by; while at the same time there is plenty of opportunity to make a career out of it if that if your gig.
9. cost is unbeatable if you are instate
10. its got a great reputation, especially in state, and although it may have received a ranking for a primary care school, if you look at the # of osteopathic subspeciality positions available in the US and compare the # of positions that actually exist in MI, the number is pretty outrageous.

 

[Ratch]

negatives:
1. cost for out of state is real high (which makes sense because my taxes fund the school); there are now scholarships available but thats no guarantee.
2. OMM is not the centerpoint of your education (although it can be as mentioned above, personally i wouldn't have attended MSU if OMM was a key facet)
3. The microbiology class blows

other things to consider:
I am not including my gripes about the curriculum because it is currently being changed. my class and the one below me had to go to school for the bulk of the summer, which means no real chances for decent research opportunities, but that should be changing in the near future (for the incoming class i believe)

people gripe about the hospital selection process. yes it is a lottery system because there are a limited # of positions per hospital, but the way they do it is as fair as you could come up with. contrary to some opinions, married persons are NOT given some sort of edge, people with kids are NOT either. in my class of >140 people, there were only 3 or 4 special exemptions i believe. and my personal thought is whatever hospital you go to, its up to you to make the most out of your education in the hospital anyways.

other people gripe about the rundown condition of fee hall. for one, its not that bad considering all you do is sit in a chair and listen to people talk, its not like you are piloting a satellite with Atari like technology or something. its a classroom. if it were always 50 degrees in there or something, then that would be a problem, but the building is just that, a building. oh yeah, and thats if you decide to go to class, which is never really necessary, but varies depending on your learning style. that reminds me of a serious positive, and thats the student run scribe service. thats not offered across the street at CHM, and it helps a ton come second year.

anatomy is prosected. i loved it. most never complained and seemed to think it was the best thing under the sun because it saved you a lot of time form needlessly dissecting fat at CT. there is plenty of opportunity to dissect for the rest of your tenure in lansing if you feel like. a quote from a few people on these boards who were dismayed by this fact, that they might be 'missing part of the medical school experience.' being in lab is part of the med school experience IMHO, if you want to be a cutter there is plenty of chances to do so.

lastly, there are a LOT of tests. this differs from a lot of other schools who manage their tests in block format. personally, i believe you adapt to whatever system is forced upon you by your school. i like the lotsa tests format (probably because thats what i know!), you have to learn relatively smaller chunks of material very well in a short amount of time in your first year, and then in your second year proceed to less tests and more amounts of material.

hope that helps

 

[cfdavid]

Thanks Ratch. Much appreciated.
Yeah, like I said, I've heard some great things about MSUCOM. I went to MSU during undergrad (8 years ago-I'll be "non-traditional"). I just loved the place.
Also, I saw that U.S. News and World Report just ranked MSUCOM #15 in primary care. That's so cool. I wasn't aware of that level of reputation frankly.

I'm now studying for the MCAT. I take in in April, so if all goes really well, I hope to get admitted somewhere in the summer of 06.

Thanks again for the info, and good luck buddy.

 

[peppy]

Ratch, thanks so much for the detailed information! I too am considering MSUCOM and it's great to hear from people on the inside.
If you don't mind answering a couple more questions:
Do they have videos of the lectures available online the way some of the other schools do? Or do you solely rely on the scribe notes when you don't go to lecture?
With all the exams, do you feel like you're constantly under pressure? Do you ever have time to relax and have some sort of "life"? I mean, relatively speaking; we all know med school is a busy time but some schools seem more laidback than others. 1st and 2nd years are just pass/fail, right? I would think that would take some pressure off.

The year-round format of the curriculum is one of my biggest concerns about the school since I want to do research. Hearing this might be changing is a huge relief.
Thanks again for all the guidance!

 

[Ratch]

mp3 audio is available for the lectures; you can either link to it from online, or you can go to the basement of the school and have a tape made. scribe notes come second year are much more important because the course materials are usually scant at best, so thats all you have to go off, unless you listen to the mp3. in your first year, you purchase coursepacks and essentially everything you need to know is contained within them (obviously not 100% true but you get my drift). second year, its a different story as you have more physicians coming in to teach a single lecture or two on speccific topics, and the course materials they provide are often lacking. so you either go to class or rely on the scribes. relying on scribes has worked pretty darn well for everyone. class is usually about 33% occupied i would say.
exams in the beginning, there is pressure, sure. but now taking a test is like putting your shoes on. granted, there are still people in my class who crap their pants on mornings of tests, and i guess that is just their personality, but its something you simply get used to. bottom line is that after first term you pretty much know how much time you need to put into a given subject to get the outcome on the test you want.
i have a life, most of us at school do. you can determine how much of one you want based on how well you can do in the time you allocate to study. i work out 3-4 days a week, rarely if ever study more than three hours on a sunday because i would rather watch football (and our tests are on mondays). then there are other people who dork off all week long, and then cram everything into their head for 48 hours straight the weekend of the test. everyone has a different approach. the first term absolutely is the worst, and everything gets better after that. yeah school here at msu is a good thing. good luck with the mcat. those tests are a waste of time but sadly they need some sort of yardstick! you should come to the schools open house, in the spring i believe? call the school for details.

 

[cfdavid]

My pal said he actually liked going to class since he then "could see all his friends". He said he hung out with his fellow students all the time, not partying too much, but just doing stuff together. I think that's part of the difference in a school with a large, closed campus system. Versus a school where many people commute or live so spread out.

Actually, I have an appointment to meet with the dean of admissions next Tuesday. I'm pretty excited.

 

[deleted9493]

I love it here. Students at CHM are generally friendly...I have alot of friends in the program. There are of course always those students in any program who have that pretentious bent but generally speaking, students in both programs are very friendly and pleasant.

The family atmosphere at COM is of incalculable importance to me.

 

[cfdavid]

I love it here. Students at CHM are generally friendly...I have alot of friends in the program. There are of course always those students in any program who have that pretentious bent but generally speaking, students in both programs are very friendly and pleasant.

The family atmosphere at COM is of incalculable importance to me.

Great to hear. Thanks for the response.

One other questions is what percentage of students would you say are over 30? Just curious.

 

[Ratch]

over 30? probably less than 15% i would say. the average age is most likely 26-27, at least in my class. there are groupings of just about all ages, from fresh outta college, couple of years working, married with kids, married without kids, have grandkids (occasional). you are sure to find a few people you get along with well in a class at COM, you 'd be pretty hard pressed not to, because the school usually manages to draft a pretty outgoing crowd each year, with a good mix of backgrounds.

 

[racystacey07]

I am a first year at COM, and I love it. There is absolutely no where else I would rather be. Our class is cohesive and supportive, in general, and the university truly wants everyone to succeed. The age range for the class of 2008 is 21-40, with the avg age being 24 years. Hope that helps!

 

[cfdavid]

I am a first year at COM, and I love it. There is absolutely no where else I would rather be. Our class is cohesive and supportive, in general, and the university truly wants everyone to succeed. The age range for the class of 2008 is 21-40, with the avg age being 24 years. Hope that helps!

I'm really geeked about meeting with admissions this Tuesday. Anyway, I'm glad to hear you like it. Good luck down the road.

 

[Ypo.]

I have a friend who is an MS1 at COM, and I ran into her yesterday. When I asked her how her first semester was, among other things, she told me that there is a lot of animousity between COM and CHM. Her specific words were that the two schools don't 'like each other.' I was a little surprised at this, because at least on SDN it seems that students of the two schools get along well. I was wondering if any COMers could tell me their experiences with this? Thnks.

 

[deleted9493]

Generally speaking, there are not any problems. Like I was saying before, there are always people in any group that seem more gifted at acquiring some false rationalization of superiority.

I have no problems with any of the students in CHM. That being said, I have heard of an isolated incident of animosity. However, since it has been a full semester and I've only heard of one such incident, I suspect that it is isolated/rare. As far as I'm concerned, it's not anything worth pondering further.

 

[Ypo.]

Well, thats good to know. I was a bit incredulous at this person's remarks, its hard to imagine med school students acting that immature.

 

[Ratch]

if you have a hard time imagining medical school students acting immature, then you are going to have an eye opening experience once you start school... imho

 

[Ypo.]

if you have a hard time imagining medical school students acting immature, then you are going to have an eye opening experience once you start school... imho

When my mother attended CHM a number of years ago, she said there wasn't any animousity between students of the two schools, but that they didn't really make friends either, which might seem surprising since we do all share classes the first year. I have several friends already in the class of 2008, and I don't plan for those friendships to end once I start medical school. (although admittedly, they may have to be carried on in secret, lest the 'opposing camp' gets wind... )

Anyways, if I do run into hopeless immaturity, I'll just do what I did in undergrad...steer clear. I don't mind goofing off-I have been known to get very silly the night before a test, (we can't be serious all of the time), but I don't like cliqueishness and competetiveness, or the DO vs MD thing.

I plan on acting like a professional! Harrumph!

 

[racystacey07]

When my mother attended CHM a number of years ago, she said there wasn't any animousity between students of the two schools, but that they didn't really make friends either, which might seem surprising since we do all share classes the first year. I have several friends already in the class of 2008, and I don't plan for those friendships to end once I start medical school. (although admittedly, they may have to be carried on in secret, lest the 'opposing camp' gets wind... )

Anyways, if I do run into hopeless immaturity, I'll just do what I did in undergrad...steer clear. I don't mind goofing off-I have been known to get very silly the night before a test, (we can't be serious all of the time), but I don't like cliqueishness and competetiveness, or the DO vs MD thing.

I plan on acting like a professional! Harrumph!

I am friends with some CHMers and think that they are really great. While I have not personally noticed animosity between the schools, it does not mean that it doesn't exist. There will always be those few individuals that are insecure and arrogant. Thankfully, COM does not house many of these. I have actually been really impressed with the quality of my colleagues--in both schools.