I hate the Ohio college

[the message]

Top Reasons for Hating the Ohio College

1)The administration- a bunch of selfish *****s!

2)The teachers- a bunch of angry podiatrists that couldn't hack it in the real world!

3)The students- a bunch of insecure people content on having the school rape them every step of the way!

4)Ohio sucks!

5)The school looks sooo decrepit!

6) The vice president looks like pig vomit from the Howard Stern movie.

I dare any faculty or school administrator to challenge me on a public forum such as this!

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[efs]

I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with where you are.

Did you visit any of the other schools?
Do you think these are problems limited to OCPM or do they involve all of podiatry?

Some of the reasons you cite (e.g. #4) are pretty subjective.

 

[the message]

Efs,
I can only speak on OCPM. I have visited the other schools on the east coast and would only be scared of NYCPM. It is just too hard for me to beleive that any of the other schools are like this! I will definetly expound on this later!

 

[thesaurus1]

the message,

Looking forward to hearing more about your experiences at OCPM, as well as your interview experiences on the coast.

 

[the message]

thesaures1,

1)Don't even look at OCPM. It is probably the worst experience you will ever have. There will not be any student on here to defend that school. Not one!

2)NYCPM is not good either. Any time you have to give out palm pilots to students who refer new students to the program... run! They also have that DPM/MD gimmick! Very shady!

3)TUSPM is a school that I think is on the rise. I should have went there to begin with, but Ohio was cheaper and offered scholarship money. Temple seems like they have hook ups with some good residency programs.. ie U.Penn. Check it out. As far as location... it's not bad at all. It's in the middle of the city and is affordable.

4)Barry seems fair, but if your tired of being home... then go but they seem to have a good program and are willing to throw around some scholarship money.

5)I don't really know anything about the other schools but I hope this helps! Peace!

 

[efs]

the message,

I would be interested to hear more about why you think OCPM is a poor choice. It was third on my list, but DMU came out as a fine choice.

At this point I would also be leary of NYCPN though they may have some fine students. My initial reservations there dealt more with location.

At this point would you try to dissuade others from podiatry as a profession, or do you just think that there are problems at your school? What are you planing?

I think my school has some prblems, though they are minor. The profession has some prolems but they are also surmountable. It is an area of growth, and I expect to be getting in on one of the lower levels. In the next decade we will be looking at something differnt than what exists today. I expect to have a hand in the changes

If you were to do it again, what changes would you make?.

 

[the message]

Efs,
I'll try to break it down about Ohio. The first thing that I was taken back by about OCPM was the fact that we have a couple of alcoholic teachers on staff. Every test these guys would come in smelling like they were fresh off the bar stool. No lie! The next amazing thing was how none of the techers were full time faculty except a few who had joint positions in the school. During your micro test, you would not expect the teacher to show up and proctor it. Your really screwed if you have any questions. The next amazing thing about the school is how the teachers are so cynical. They actually threaten you. I heard two of our teachers say that if we would contest them about an unfair question or grading method, that they would catch up to us when we in out clinical years. No joke! You would have 3rd years running around telling you to watch out for these teachers!

The really wacked out thing is the unceued exams. This is the stupidist testing method I have ever seen. They give you a 100 question physical diagnosis exam (yes, we have pd in our 1st year)and throw you a 531 answer list. The problem really starts with the questions being ambigous. The answer you put is banana and she wanted yellow. We have the uncued list of words given to us 3 weeks ahead of time and two days before class the teacher gives you another 53 words b/c she forgot. This is not uncommon at our school.

Our lower anatomy, which is jammed into one semester as 10-credits, while you have another 21-semester credit hours (yes,31 semester hours) is also graded on spelling. If you put any e instead of an i, you are wrong. We had a cross-sectioned diagram of the thigh question on a quiz, where she gave an origin and you had to pick on the diagram where the muscle is (a, b, c)and give the name of the muscle. If you picked b and called it sartorious muscle, you are wrong. The correct answer is b=sartorious muscle. No lie! If you put b,sartorious or b.sartorious or b-sartorious, you ARE WRONG! And that leads me to how the sophmores are the ones who grade your quizzes. God forbid if you doing bad, they all know and gossip. The teacher was caught by a couple of students actually taking bets on who would do poorly while they were grading the quizzes for money. When a student complained to the dean, nothing happened. She just made the class even harder for you to pass. Why do the teachers need TAs to grade quizzes when we only have 55 people in the class?

We were supposed to have microbiology lab 6 weeks ago but the professor keeps putting it off until today when we only have 6 more weeks in the semester to go. He had the nerve to put lab questions on our midterm we just had two weeks ago even though we have not had a lab. After the exam, you heard a couple of students saying "I'm glad I had micro before, I wouldn't have passed." Well what about those who didn't have micro?

I have too much to write about OCPM and not enough time. Anybody wants to hear more, I'll write more later!

 

[the message]

Efs,
I am definetly going to either Temple or Barry for next year. I think that podiatry is a viable profession and as long as you don't walk into it with blinders, you can do fine. It's the schools and the APMA that feed that 40hr work week/ 125,000 BS. That makes me sick. When you look around in your graduating pod clas I would expect 15-20% to fail in the proffession b/c they had no idea what they were stepping into. They just love the name Dr. You also have a good percentage that will fall victim to "podaitry eats it's young." I know I will touch a chord here but to hell with anybody who takes it as an insult but I know a seasoned pharmaceutical sales-rep who tells me that many of the reps refer to DOs as Doctors of Opportunity. He says that the DOs are just better business people than MDs. Now I think that MDs and Dos make a s%itload of money depending on which route you take. The reason why I bring this up is b/c many DPMs suck at business. Many like staying in areas that have a high # of practicing pods in the first place. This is just one of the many problems I see. This is not to mention lower returns by insurance etc.. The bottom line people enter this field uninformed or as an alternative to MD or Do route. Then when they find out that they are not licensed to give a rectal exam or perform open-heart surgery,their freinds don't know what DPM means and they are angry. They have come to realize that bunions, mortin's neuroma, and some rear-foot surgeries is what they are limited too and get angry. I know some people in MD programs who already look at everything else (yes DOs too) as inferior. I think this is bull b/c there is no difference between the two. Now just imagine how they feel about the DPM. Now what these idiots don't realize, is that we have the ability to make as much as they do. It is a harder route but I know people that have done it. Do you think they care about an MD or DO looking at them funny????

 

[drmoon]

Hey, Message.

I think the main problem with the podiatry schools is what you alluded to in the beginning of your list.

They do not have any real full-time faculty and, in fact, have very few "teachers" who have any teaching experience at all. It was about 50/50 when I went to CCPM in 1994-98 and there was a definite difference between the ones who were there for any number of years (and had some teaching background) and those who likely couldn't hack it in the clinical world.

Some of my classes were outright embarassing (much like what you described), yet some were challenging and competently run. The schools just can't afford the real thing.

 

[efs]

The school in Des Moines uses the same full-time faculty that teaches the DO classes here.

My classes do not sound at all like what the message described.

 

[drmoon]

The Message hit on a lot of solid points.

I'm sure that around 15-20% will fail simply because they had no idea what they were getting into. And many students get into podiatry because they just HAVE to be called "Doctor" and there were no DO schools or MD schools available. This is a recipe for disaster.

Many DPM's DO suck at business. This is because the majority did not realize how much business acumen was necessary after graduation. They figured that they were going to be doctors and there had to be some kind of job available. Wrong. People who go into MBA programs are good at business.

The APMA and the schools have been feeding students copious amounts of propaganda for many, many years. The reasons are so obvious I hesitate to remind you guys, but....they are all in it for the money and if the students don't come, they won't survive.

One can definitely make it in podiatry, but the odds are surprisingly low. IF you have adequate training, IF you practice in an area that isn't saturated, IF you love podiatry, IF you have a very thick skin, IF you can live on a meager income for several years, and, the biggest IF is IF you have an excellent sense for business and know how to run your own show.....then you can make a fine living....probably.

MD's and DO's make MUCH more money and they do not encounter NEAR the number of hurdles that a DPM will.

Podiatry is (literally) at least 80% business and 20% being a podiatrist. It makes sense that you need to be a slightly better business person as a DO than an MD simply because there still exists a level of ignorace in our country.

Working 40 hours a week, no call, good family life and making 6 figures is the single most incredible statement that the proponents of podiatry have ever foisted upon the unsuspecting student!

 

[pioneer research]

The Message,

I understand your frustration. I attended OCPM in 1995-96 and got out after one year. Bottom line...if you want to be a podiatrist, either try to stick it out at OCPM or transfer to another school. If you think podiatry is going downhill, those feelings will not dissipate over time. I think podiatry is a solid field but you pay a huge price (student loans, not much respect from the allopathic community) to become a podiatrist. Have you considered MD, DO or foreign medical school? How about working in another medically related field? I have been working in clinical research conducting clinical drug trials and I make $125,000/year. There is good money all around the medical community. Hope things work out for you because I know what it is like to be at OCPM and realize that you have made a huge mistake.

 

[thesaurus1]

It's truly amazing that there is such a dichotomy of responses when considering your respective educational experiences. One would expect there to be similiar experiences considering education with only the surroundings and environment representing the variables.

Dr. Moon, could you please elaborate more on your experiences at CCPM? I would be interested to know if they've cleaned up their act since the "merger." Also, the cost of living in SF is astronomical, to say the least. I would venture to think that because they are the ONLY school in the Western half of the country, they would be getting many many more applications. Is it that bad?

Message, your experience sounds truly astonishing. I can even imagine a professional school could be run that ineptly. I obviously will be excluding OCPM from my list of return calls. It's almost sacrilegious to mix alcholics with the medicine profession. I can't believe the other monstrosities occurring at OCPM. How can an environment like that foster higher learning?

What is everybody's general experiences considering scholarship money and loans? Do the schools readily dispense that information or do you have to pry it from their cold dead fingers? I would suspect they offer a scholarship to those they truly wanted. Or, are they that desperate to fill seats, as some of you have alluded to? What are your thoughts on playing some schools against the others, as far as giving discounts on tuition (as in saying DMU accepted me and they're cheaper, what can you do for me at Barry kinda thing)?

Thanks again for everybody's openness to answer questions and provide their experiences for our forum.

 

[the message]

THESAURUS1,
I would definetly look at Temple, Barry, Iowa, Scholl, and OCPM(sike). Choose the school that will give you the most in scholarships, not just for the first year, but all through-out. At OCPM, you have to be in the top 5% to get the scholarship money. The minority students have their own competition amungst themselves for scholarships. This makes it very competitive. At some of the other schools, you can be the last student in the class and as long as you have a 3.0, you keep your scholarship. Force the schools to give you access to the students other than your f&%king tour guide. This way, you here the negatives about each school and have the oppurtunity to make a sound decision. Remember, you are in control, not the schools! Its a buyers market!

 

[efs]

I would agree that you should look at the majority of the schools.

I would agree that it is a "buyer's market".

I think most of the schools will offer you a scholarship for the first year. Do not expect this to be a continuing scholarship. Ask.

In my experience the schools will be straight with you, but you may need to ask some of the questions.

For Ken, I'll send you more off-line.

 

[the message]

OCPM is garbage!

 

[studentdpm21]

the scary thing is that the message is being truthful

 

[Sher9mm]

Well.. today I got a call from Ohio requesting an interview... which doesn't make a great deal of sense... since I only submitted my application with AACPM yesterday and Ohio doesn't even have my transcripts.

OCPM is a third choice. I chose the 30th of this month for my interview but it is a backup school. If I get calls from Barry or Temple I won't be making the trek to Ohio. I have a strong background in health sciences and feel like I'm going to get into all three. So... just waiting for the phone to ring.