ICO vs Nova clinical programs

[midgi97]

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I've been accepted at ICO and Nova and I having a hard time deciding which school to go to. I absolutely loved Nova but I guess the only thing holding me back is the reputation of ICOs clinical program and the diverstiy of patients that students come in contact with. So I guess my question is for Nova students is if I go to Nova will I still get to see a good diversity of medical problems that could compete with ICOs, since that is really what is making me keep second guessing myself.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Blondiechick919]

There is a very diverse patient population here in South Florida..the large Hispanic population and several low income areas will allow for a lot of things to see in clinic. I am only a first year and have only done observation so far but I have already seen pathology I had never encountered working with ODs and OMDs for 2 years.

 

[midgi97]

Does anybody else have any other experience/opinions?? It would really help me out in making this choice! 🙂

 

[csandova]

Nova has 5 different clinics that they practice at, you really do see a lot of diversity from all different regions of the Miami area.

 

[deleted489841]

I currently go to school at FSU in tallahassee and we get to meet a lot of students from both ICO and NOVA; ICO due to the fact that one of their extern sites is in Tallahassee and NOVA because they do a lot of outreaches at Florida schools. From the information i have gathered from talking to students both at ICO and NOVA, I would say that ICO overall has a better clinical program in the sense that it has more opportunities with externships.

NOVA does have a great number of clinics in the south florida area and sees a diverse patient demographic but i think ICO does as well. The area that the school's clinic at ICO is located in part of the city where you have a great amount of exposure to varying diseases, etc. The on site clinics for both schools I think are fantastic but the only downfall, in my opinion, is when you get to the externships. ICO's externship program seems to be more extensive nationally than NOVA. NOVA's sites are very centered within Florida.

this is all purely my opinion from the information that i have gathered.