"Interviewees" opinion on DMU?

[JEWmongous]

Hey all, just curious of what you guys who interviewed at DMU thought of it? Just came back from my interview and I thought the school was amazing. I've seen 6 schools so far (DMU, Scholl, Temple, NY, Cali, and Ohio) and definitely had the best experience there. Even the town itself seemed very nice (and I'm from the east coast). I have an interview lined up for AZPOD next month but really could see myself as a student at DMU-CPMS.

I must have picked a good day to interview as there was a pub crawl in the evening for the birthday of one of the future APMA presidents!!! Great experience haha!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dmayor22]

I thought DMU was impressive as well. But there were quite a few things I saw as a downside that DMU tries to play off as not that important. It seems to me that students get the entire 4th year off for rotations because of the lack of quality rotations in Des Moines. Sure it gives you an advantage for residency interviews but to me each student would be getting different clinical training depending on where they go.

The facilities are absolutely amazing, but they are also the newest I believe besides Arizona. I didnt like the fact that the classes have around 260-270ish students in them.

My personal opinion is that DMU, Temple, Scholl are all excellent choices with neither being "the best". I think it depends on what you want and location relative to your home.

 

[JEWmongous]

Yea, the 4th year is pretty interesting at DMU and I see it as a positive thing. You get a choice of 25 programs for the four month core and I think pretty much anywhere with a residency program (if accepted) for the externships. You can choose places based on location, focus/speciality (ie trauma at DMC, wound care at San Antonio), etc.

I am pretty sure the basic science classes are huge at AZPOD as well. The DO class is quite large there and I understand the pod students take nearly all the courses with them.

The one thing that people seemed to say on here is that the pod students take all the basic sciences with the DO students at des moines. I just found out at the interview that its all first year courses and then one course (pharm) in second year.

 

[bdaddyjolley]

Yea, the 4th year is pretty interesting at DMU and I see it as a positive thing. You get a choice of 25 programs for the four month core and I think pretty much anywhere with a residency program (if accepted) for the externships. You can choose places based on location, focus/speciality (ie trauma at DMC, wound care at San Antonio), etc.

I am pretty sure the basic science classes are huge at AZPOD as well. The DO class is quite large there and I understand the pod students take nearly all the courses with them.

The one thing that people seemed to say on here is that the pod students take all the basic sciences with the DO students at des moines. I just found out at the interview that its all first year courses and then one course (pharm) in second year.

So the classes are bigger than people have alluded to and not all of them are integrated? This is quite a shock since many have argued with MD students in the past making it sound as if all their classes aside from the podiatry ones are integrated.

A general question I have to a DMU student is this. Would the fourth year at DMU cost more if you chose to do more externships out of Des moines than other schools sinces there are no required core programs? So for instance, if at school "A" you have 4 externships and and 5 core programs required plus one clerkship, would it be cheaper to have those six required rotations in the city of you school or to do around 5 externships and 5 core programs all in different cities?

 

[jonwill]

It seems to me that students get the entire 4th year off for rotations because of the lack of quality rotations in Des Moines. Sure it gives you an advantage for residency interviews but to me each student would be getting different clinical training depending on where they go.

I have to disagree with this statement. The entire point of your schooling is to give you the best opportunity possible to land a good residency program. Believe me when I say regardless of the exposure you get your 3rd and 4th year of schooling, you still really won't learn much. You are expected to learn the basics in school and really nothing more. And honestly, no matter where you're at (out on externship or back on a school rotation) everyone is pretty much going to see the same thing. Podiatry is podiatry. I know that some of the schools brag about having very busy clinics but when over half of it is palliative care, you're really not benefiting. And when you're sitting in clinic your 4th year and busting your 10th pair of nails to make someone else some cash (when you could be out learning and bettering your chances for a residency), I think you'll see things differently.

The real learning and training begins in residency. No matter what your clinical exposure as a student (which is usually better on externship anyway), if you don't get a good residency program, it is all for not.

And I really don't know where people get the whole "lack of quality rotations" in Des Moines. I could probably make a pretty good guess but I won't! The exposure and variety there is as good as any.

 

[jonwill]

The one thing that people seemed to say on here is that the pod students take all the basic sciences with the DO students at des moines. I just found out at the interview that its all first year courses and then one course (pharm) in second year.

Yes, that is correct. All basic science courses are taken with the DO's and you finish all of your basic sciences your first year (unlike some programs that stretch basic science courses out over the first few years). Second year begins systems your first semester and pod stuff your second.

 

[densmore22]

So the classes are bigger than people have alluded to and not all of them are integrated? This is quite a shock since many have argued with MD students in the past making it sound as if all their classes aside from the podiatry ones are integrated.

A general question I have to a DMU student is this. Would the fourth year at DMU cost more if you chose to do more externships out of Des moines than other schools sinces there are no required core programs? So for instance, if at school "A" you have 4 externships and and 5 core programs required plus one clerkship, would it be cheaper to have those six required rotations in the city of you school or to do around 5 externships and 5 core programs all in different cities?

Class sizes are bigger your first year because of the integration. The DO school usually accepts around 240-260 then 60+ in the DPM makes for a big 1st year class size.

Classes you take together w/ the DO's 1st year are: Anatomy, Biochem, Histology (Cell Bio), Immunology, Micro, Physiology, Physical Diagnosis, Neuroanatomy (this includes neurophys besides that you get in Physiology), Pathology, geriatrics, BLS cert/recert. These are all considered (by every medical school in the nation) the basic sciences. Systems classes are not basic sciences because you start to learn Pathophysiology. The classes that differ b/t DO's and DPM's in the 1st year are DPM: Intro to Pod Med (and research); DO: Ethics, Behavioral Medicine, OMM; those are the only classes that we do in the 1st year that aren't shared and the ONLY class shared in 2nd year w/ DO and DPM (and PA's) is Pharmacology.

For second year, besides Pharm lecture, you don't have any interaction w/ the DO's in a class.

We never said that all of our classes are integrated, we said that our BASIC SCIENCE courses are integrated, make sure you don't misspeak on this and know what it means which is why I posted the class list above.

There's not externships available to do in Des Moines 4th year because there's no residency in Des Moines anymore, with the exception of Private practice which is at least 1 month of your total 4th year clerkships.

The money you spend going to different externships should be looked at just like money spent on tuition and books, it's done to better your education and to hopefully set you up to have a successful residency. All the schools have some form of externships 4th year. While the externship is by no means an interview (and it's technically not supposed to be), many programs choose their future residents out of their externship pool so it is VERY BENEFICIAL for you to do an externship at a program you are seriously considering and I hope you wouldn't strictly stay in the geographical area of your school for externships based on shear cost, that would be, IMO, very foolish and limiting.

I don't think you understand what an externship vs. a core is concerning DMU. A core is when you spend 4 consecutive months at 1 program and an externship is 1 month at 1 program. I'm not going to pretend like I know all the in's and out's of it, Jonwill can ellaborate more about it than myself as he's been through it, but as I understand it to be, you have only 1 core for your entire 4th year and you have to do 1 month of private practice and you get 1 month off and the rest is spent in 1 month externships. The core can be first or last (not sure if there's a middle core) which means you can do your 4 months in the beginning of your 4th year or the end of your 4th year. There's philosophies on both of these strategies, if you really want a particular program and want to show them what you can do, then the 1st core might be good or if you don't know what you want, then doing a last core might be best so you can see different programs. However, you don't need to extern at a program to get it as a residency, but as stated previously, it could (and usually does) help your chances.

Clerkship = externship also, they're synonymous. (something I too had to ask for clarification).

Choosing a school should be done based on where you can see yourself learning and what that school can personally offer you. It's a highly individual and personal selection which is why I don't get why people come on these things and ask what school they should go too (not so much in the Prepod forum, more in the allopathic forum). You just have to ask yourself which school will fit you the best.

I was one of the guy's up there speaking when the interviewees walked in and they all had very good questions, more inciteful than I was when I interviewed. Good to see a strong turnout from potential colleagues.

 

[bdaddyjolley]

Class sizes are bigger your first year because of the integration. The DO school usually accepts around 240-260 then 60+ in the DPM makes for a big 1st year class size.

Classes you take together w/ the DO's 1st year are: Anatomy, Biochem, Histology (Cell Bio), Immunology, Micro, Physiology, Physical Diagnosis, Neuroanatomy (this includes neurophys besides that you get in Physiology), Pathology, geriatrics, BLS cert/recert. These are all considered (by every medical school in the nation) the basic sciences. Systems classes are not basic sciences because you start to learn Pathophysiology. The classes that differ b/t DO's and DPM's in the 1st year are DPM: Intro to Pod Med (and research); DO: Ethics, Behavioral Medicine, OMM; those are the only classes that we do in the 1st year that aren't shared and the ONLY class shared in 2nd year w/ DO and DPM (and PA's) is Pharmacology.

For second year, besides Pharm lecture, you don't have any interaction w/ the DO's in a class.

We never said that all of our classes are integrated, we said that our BASIC SCIENCE courses are integrated, make sure you don't misspeak on this and know what it means which is why I posted the class list above.

There's not externships available to do in Des Moines 4th year because there's no residency in Des Moines anymore, with the exception of Private practice which is at least 1 month of your total 4th year clerkships.

The money you spend going to different externships should be looked at just like money spent on tuition and books, it's done to better your education and to hopefully set you up to have a successful residency. All the schools have some form of externships 4th year. While the externship is by no means an interview (and it's technically not supposed to be), many programs choose their future residents out of their externship pool so it is VERY BENEFICIAL for you to do an externship at a program you are seriously considering and I hope you wouldn't strictly stay in the geographical area of your school for externships based on shear cost, that would be, IMO, very foolish and limiting.

I don't think you understand what an externship vs. a core is concerning DMU. A core is when you spend 4 consecutive months at 1 program and an externship is 1 month at 1 program. I'm not going to pretend like I know all the in's and out's of it, Jonwill can ellaborate more about it than myself as he's been through it, but as I understand it to be, you have only 1 core for your entire 4th year and you have to do 1 month of private practice and you get 1 month off and the rest is spent in 1 month externships. The core can be first or last (not sure if there's a middle core) which means you can do your 4 months in the beginning of your 4th year or the end of your 4th year. There's philosophies on both of these strategies, if you really want a particular program and want to show them what you can do, then the 1st core might be good or if you don't know what you want, then doing a last core might be best so you can see different programs. However, you don't need to extern at a program to get it as a residency, but as stated previously, it could (and usually does) help your chances.

Clerkship = externship also, they're synonymous. (something I too had to ask for clarification).

Choosing a school should be done based on where you can see yourself learning and what that school can personally offer you. It's a highly individual and personal selection which is why I don't get why people come on these things and ask what school they should go too (not so much in the Prepod forum, more in the allopathic forum). You just have to ask yourself which school will fit you the best.

I was one of the guy's up there speaking when the interviewees walked in and they all had very good questions, more inciteful than I was when I interviewed. Good to see a strong turnout from potential colleagues.

Thanks for the clarification! Indeed it is different that other schools in that other schools have 4 different one month core rotations at different programs while DMU has 1 four month core program at the same hospital. I think that's what you meant at least. Thanks for the insite.