Howard University(MD) vs Western University(DO)

[toekneehawk]

I am deciding where to go if I am offered acceptances at Howard University in Washington D.C. and Western University in Pomona , California . Howard is a MD school versus Western which is a DO school.

Since I live in California, Western is closer to home and I love being in California for the cultural aspect, and of course, the weather . Western has a 95% pass rate on COMLEX 1 and 99.5% on COMLEX 2. Western has affiliated hospitals such as Western University Medical Center, Arrowhead, Downey, Garfield, and Riverside County in Southern California.

On the other hand, Howard is a MD school, located in a great city, and tuition is $10,000 less a year. Howard's affiliated hospitals are: Howard University Hospital (primary teaching hospital), Children's National Medical Center, INOVA Fairfax Hospital, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington Hospital Center, and Prince George's Hospital Center. Howard's pass rate is somewhere in the 85-88% on the USMLE. It's a beautiful campus filled with trees and red brick buildings. The weather in DC is cold and wet during the winter and hot during the summer. Housing costs should be similar. I feel that the facilities at Western are more in the 21st century. However, I do not know which school will give me a better level of education.

Eventually, I'd like to practice in California, but I have not chosen a specific specialty. I am leaning towards family medicine, sports medicine, or orthopaedics.

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[BlackDr2b]

Im voting Howard simply because I think it is the best school ever! naw, but for real, I think you should choose Howard. More culture in DC, many hospitals, you will have a great experiences, great cases, family environment, very supportive all around, great diversity, I mean I could go on forever cuz I love the school and hopefully will be there in the fall. I dont know much about western, so im kinda biased. It really depends on what you want. Really, if you want MD or DO, in which there is no big difference. Both are great schools. Of course like I said, I say Howard. Plus DC is the place to be right now!

 

[Decicco]

Definetly Howard. Especially with the tuition difference.

 

[badapplestix]

As a CA resident, I would choose Western. I would much rather stay in California than move across the country.

 

[WDeagle]

If you prefer to live in california now and want to live in california later why would you move all the way to D.C.? Certainly residency programs are more familiar with the capabilities of western grads than they are of howard grads. However, thats some really cheap tuition. The only reason i would choose howard in your situation is because of the money.

 

[Dissected]

Howard is much much cheaper over the span of four years...that would settle it for me right there.

 

[BlackDr2b]

If you are wanting to get a residency in California, you can get it from Howard just as easy as you can from Western. Most of the people at Howard are from Cali and they often place really well in California residency programs. Plus, it is cheaper and it is an awesome school. Howard, Howard, Howard!!!

 

[cellojoe]

money isn't the biggest factor. to be successful, you have to fit comfortably within the school and the city. im from cali and i lived in philly for 3 months. i met great people (that moved from cali.) but wasn't comfortable living there. partly b/c i was not used to the east coast culture.

 

[Dr Simplicity]

I'd say go with Western if you want to practice in California.

DC is an amazing area and weather isn't so bad after you get used to it. Consider the costs/time involved for traveling from one coast to the other for residency interviews and coming home. Both programs will give you an excellent education since MD=DO and any differences are basically nonexistent between the two (since this is in pre-allo, the vote will favor howard). You might have to take both the USMLE and COMLEX for competitive residences for Western which I've heard isn't so bad since both exams cover almost the same material. you can get a cali residency from any school but the cali hospitals are more familiar with western but i don't think going to howard will stop you from anything you want. You can't go wrong with either school but my vote is for Western.

Good Luck

 

[AnaMaria777]

Toe, please consider "quality." Ask anyone, Howard does NOT have a strong med program (The Dental and Law programs are fine, but not the med school). Howard's students typically don't perform well on the Boards.

Check out their avg MCAT and curriculum structure (which is bad). I interviewed there early last year and spoke with current med students. Needless to say, Howard's own med students were reluctant to give their school positive reviews. That speaks volumes...

Don't get hoodwinked by "cheap" tuition.

 

[BlackDr2b]

Howard does have a great medical school. They produced some of the best and most renown doctors in the country. You will definitely get a quality education there. Howard has about a 90% first time board pass rate. The dean of the school changed their curriculum and it is really good. It is modeled after hopkins. And their med students are extremely happy, some of the happiest I have seen. Maybe you just had a bad experience, but Howard is a awesome school, just as good as any other school. They just have a different focus, which is the underserved.

 

[Upgrayedd]

Ugh... its a tough choice for sure...

If you want to go anywhere else BUT california, I would say Howard in a second. However, Western is just so well regarded in the FP/IM circles in Cali that I wouldn't discount them at all.

Just to give some perspective though, I interviewed at Western and did a lot of research on that program myself. I felt like the students there were top notch, and their teaching was as well. The interdisiplinary stuff is cool, but I don't totally buy into it being at all nessesary. I REALLY didn't like the lack of completed buildings for the c/o 2013. Finally, it got slightly annoying that everyone I talked to who went there seemed to be saying that, yeah, Western is great, but they didn't get into any of the Cali MD programs so that is why they went there. With their price tag, I somewhat believe it. If it was 10k cheaper, they could recruit pretty much anyone they want. At 42k-ish, it is hard to justify Western over other comperable schools. How can someone go into FP these days with 200k in debt?!?!?! (the answer, of course is, not very comfortably...)

 

[JaggerPlate]

I'm applying to both in a few months, and to be honest - The DO v MD thing means nothing to me and I'd choose Western, but there are definitely a few things to consider: a. Is the MD something you want above the DO? There's nothing wrong with that either way ... it's a preference some people have. b. Is the cheaper tuition something that will make a difference in the long run? 10k a year is a pretty big number. If you are going to have to pay it back yourself, I think I'd probably pay 10k less a year ... with all things considered. Good luck!!

 

[DrYoda]

I'd go with the 40 G's.

 

[toekneehawk]

Thank You for all of your great responses! I learned a lot from reading your posts and I definitely will make my decision some time soon. I'm making this decision based on where I believe I will be most happy.