Is it a super big risk going to a new DO school?

Started by allenyoung96
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allenyoung96

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So I got off the waitlist to a new DO school (believe it opened in 2018/2019 ish) in the United States.

I just want somebody to be frank with me. It’s not in the most crowded area; tbh there’s just agriculture here lol.

Am I taking a big risk? Is there a chance I can get into an okay residency program ?
 
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allenyoung96 said:
Would it be wrong of me to mention the name of the school?
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It's up to you.

Without knowing the name of the school, it sounds like they haven't even graduated their first class yet. In that vein, it's relatively risky. There's no verification for the success of their curriculum or their rotation sites. On top of that, having to take private loans means you're not eligible for loan forgiveness.

However, a lot of medical school is determined by your own work ethic and tenacity. You should be able to make it to a residency, but it may be incredibly difficult if you're looking to do something that's competitive.
 
Flareicus said:
It's up to you.

Without knowing the name of the school, it sounds like they haven't even graduated their first class yet. In that vein, it's relatively risky. There's no verification for the success of their curriculum or their rotation sites. On top of that, having to take private loans means you're not eligible for loan forgiveness.

However, a lot of medical school is determined by your own work ethic and tenacity. You should be able to make it to a residency, but it may be incredibly difficult if you're looking to do something that's competitive.
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I just hope I have a chance at a residency program. Do you think it’s a better shot than the carribean )
 
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allenyoung96 said:
I just hope I have a chance at a residency program. Do you think it’s a better shot than the carribean )
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I think you might be talking about ICOM. but this goes for any new school, there is a risk but way less risk than going carribean. If it is your only acceptance you will be able to match somewhere but it will be a little more difficult than an established DO school, but 5x easier than going to the Caribbean.
 
drstranger said:
I think you might be talking about ICOM. but this goes for any new school, there is a risk but way less risk than going carribean. If it is your only acceptance you will be able to match somewhere but it will be a little more difficult than an established DO school, but 5x easier than going to the Caribbean.
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No it’s not ICOM. It’s CHSU in Cali
 
Go2Mars said:
While CHSU in Cali may be a little sketchy due to its for-profit status and their pharmacy school shut down a few years ago, I would take the spot if this is your only medical school acceptance. CHSU apparently has connections to the other established DO schools as well (AT Still, KCU) as students from those schools work with CHSU through a pilot program. Check out this article: Visiting Medical Students Celebrate Residency Matches
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Where was the link that there pharmacy school was closed down
 
Dont worry too much about their pharmacy school closing, there is currently a huge oversupply of pharmacists so in the pharm world its not a bid deal
 
Agree with the above.. I don't endorse going to a new school unless they have graduated 3 or 4 classes....Unless you have no other options. You have residency match info, board pass rate, and they are developing a local reputation at this point. Regardless of intent, they must work out kinks in curriculum, student resources, tutoring, etc., board prep, and more. You are just part of their experiment in the first 4 or 5 classes. Going there is way better than Carribean. Good luck and best wishes!
 
Angus Avagadro said:
Agree with the above.. I don't endorse going to a new school unless they have graduated 3 or 4 classes....Unless you have no other options. You have residency match info, board pass rate, and they are developing a local reputation at this point. Regardless of intent, they must work out kinks in curriculum, student resources, tutoring, etc., board prep, and more. You are just part of their experiment in the first 4 or 5 classes. Going there is way better than Carribean. Good luck and best wishes!
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Right, I agree with what you’re saying but is there any chance the school shuts down and I’m out a lot of money?

Assuming I do graduate, do you think 1-10 how much of a disadvantage I am for residency programs, if you could quantify it? (10 being very disadvantaged, 1 being not at all)
 
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allenyoung96 said:
Scratch that. No it’s not qualified for federal loans. Sorry for spam.
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This here would be deal breaker for me personally. Now it comes to your stats and how many cycles you have participated in. If this is your first application cycle and you have decent stats (average to above average for other DO schools) then I would probably try to reapply next cycle. However If your stat is below average, you have tried to apply couple of times and just now received an acceptance then go with CHSU. Don't even think about Caribbean, just pretend they don't exist.
 
zNoodlez said:
This here would be deal breaker for me personally. Now it comes to your stats and how many cycles you have participated in. If this is your first application cycle and you have decent stats (average to above average for other DO schools) then I would probably try to reapply next cycle. However If your stat is below average, you have tried to apply couple of times and just now received an acceptance then go with CHSU. Don't even think about Caribbean, just pretend they don't exist.
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I have a very above average GPA and a medium MCAT. ECs are decent, I’m just a little older (25) and am just wanting to start my education as soon as possible
 
allenyoung96 said:
Right, I agree with what you’re saying but is there any chance the school shuts down and I’m out a lot of money?

Assuming I do graduate, do you think 1-10 how much of a disadvantage I am for residency programs, if you could quantify it? (10 being very disadvantaged, 1 being not at all)
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Median MCAT? 505? The rules for matching change day by day. The percentage of MDs and DOs who did not.match this year dropped a few percentage points. I think DOs in general fell just below below 90% if memory serves me. It increased after the SOAP, but that means they just matched "somewhere ". Outside of FM or community IM, I would say 6 or 7 out of 10 difficulty matching a more competitive specialty. Just my best guess as to.how things will be in 4 yrs. Good luck and best wishes!
 
allenyoung96 said:
Right, I agree with what you’re saying but is there any chance the school shuts down and I’m out a lot of money?

Assuming I do graduate, do you think 1-10 how much of a disadvantage I am for residency programs, if you could quantify it? (10 being very disadvantaged, 1 being not at all)
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It's impossible to answer this question without knowing what your career goal is. There's an extreme range of difficulty when it comes to matching based on specialty, location, and prestige.

Are you trying to match into an extremely competitive specialty like Derm or trying to get into a top primary care residency? CHSU's brand new status would probably be a 10 in that case.

Are you okay with going primary care without a strong bias for highly sought after locations? Then probably a 1 in that case.
 
Flareicus said:
It's impossible to answer this question without knowing what your career goal is. There's an extreme range of difficulty when it comes to matching based on specialty, location, and prestige.

Are you trying to match into an extremely competitive specialty like Derm or trying to get into a top primary care residency? CHSU's brand new status would probably be a 10 in that case.

Are you okay with going primary care without a strong bias for highly sought after locations? Then probably a 1 in that case.
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I would be okay with emergency medicine, anesthesiology, or pathology. Is that completely out of the question?

I got waitlisted to 2 MD programs and my stats were a 3.9 / 505 MCAT. I probably should have taken the MCAT again but I thought waiting to get off one of those programs was the best idea
 
allenyoung96 said:
I would be okay with emergency medicine, anesthesiology, or pathology. Is that completely out of the question?

I got waitlisted to 2 MD programs and my stats were a 3.9 / 505 MCAT. I probably should have taken the MCAT again but I thought waiting to get off one of those programs was the best idea
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A new DO school would probably be a slight disadvantage. None of the specialties you mentioned are overly competitive, and they accept a good proportion of DO candidates every year.

You would probably have to put in a little more work than a candidate from an established DO institution or MD school, but you shouldn't have trouble matching.

At this point in the cycle, it's pretty late to be hoping for MD waitlist movement. Obviously take it if it comes, but CHSU will likely be your only acceptance this cycle assuming you have no other outstanding WLs. The issue with you turning down your acceptance is that you will be required to disclose on AACOMAS that you have turned down an acceptance on your reapp. You will be viewed very poorly by most DO schools and will likely be an automatic reject at a lot of institutions. Essentially you'll be giving up any realistic chance to attend a DO school at all and be banking that you can get a MD acceptance.
 
allenyoung96 said:
I would be okay with emergency medicine, anesthesiology, or pathology. Is that completely out of the question?

I got waitlisted to 2 MD programs and my stats were a 3.9 / 505 MCAT. I probably should have taken the MCAT again but I thought waiting to get off one of those programs was the
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I hope this helps. Anesthesia and ER used to be on the 90+% match rates.
Screenshot_20210618-103558_Drive.jpg
 
allenyoung96 said:
I would be okay with emergency medicine, anesthesiology, or pathology. Is that completely out of the question?

I got waitlisted to 2 MD programs and my stats were a 3.9 / 505 MCAT. I probably should have taken the MCAT again but I thought waiting to get off one of those programs was the best idea
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with that 3.9 gpa, I would have given that MCAT one more shot and put everything I had into that.
 
MDMechEngr said:
with that 3.9 gpa, I would have given that MCAT one more shot and put everything I had into that.
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I mean I talked to my premedical advisor and other people and they just advised me to take the acceptance and run with it. Not sure if tihs is the correct decision
 
I cannot ever suggest a person attend a new DO school, even if it’s their only acceptance. It never should have been applied to in the first place.
 
DOVinciRobot said:
I cannot ever suggest a person attend a new DO school, even if it’s their only acceptance. It never should have been applied to in the first place.
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I don't pay peoples bills, a new school may be more cost effective. You will never run with the big dogs if you sit on the porch. If a low Stat students wants to challenge themselves, who am I to say no? I just point out what they need to do. The rest is up to them.
 
don't go to a new DO school. It's only getting harder for DOs to stand out with P/F Step and harder to match with the merger (last years match was kinda brutal for certain specialties for DOs). Loans are somewhat a big deal considering how federal loans interest were paused during covid and i assume private loans weren't. Also, coming from a fairly well-established DO school, trying to get rotations is already kinda a mess, I cant imagine how ****ty it must be for newer schools.
 
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allenyoung96 said:
I mean I talked to my premedical advisor and other people and they just advised me to take the acceptance and run with it. Not sure if tihs is the correct decision
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take the A and run with it. There is no guarantee that you will do better than 505 on the next try besides an A is an A, as long as you study your butt out you will find that matching into your specialties is not a problem with the new school.
 
allenyoung96 said:
Problem is it’s my only acceptance and I don’t really have a choice. I don’t want to take another gap year or two
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It's a risk/reward decision and only you can decide on it. Personally I don't think med school is worth it and if I had to do it over again I'd go the PA route or maybe crna.
 
The medical school you go to as a DO has almost no bearing on the residency you obtain. Probably zero bearing. Just make sure you can get federal loans and they have a solid plan for clinical rotation sites. Also seems minute (but it’s not for me) see what the attendance policy is for lectures.

I helped with ranking applicants in my day. Most MD attendings have no idea what’s a new or old DO school
 
DrAmazingishere said:
The medical school you go to as a DO has almost no bearing on the residency you obtain. Probably zero bearing. Just make sure you can get federal loans and they have a solid plan for clinical rotation sites. Also seems minute (but it’s not for me) see what the attendance policy is for lectures.

I helped with ranking applicants in my day. Most MD attendings have no idea what’s a new or old DO school
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Agree 100 with checking the attendance policy. Not something most students consider.
 
allenyoung96 said:
Scratch that. No it’s not qualified for federal loans. Sorry for spam.
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If it doesn't qualify for federal loans, it isn't worth attending. You need federal loans because of the income-driven repayment plans that act as a safety net in the even that something happens (can't complete school, no residency, etc.).

Unless mommy and daddy are paying for your school, I would not risk it.
 
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drstranger said:
No such thing as "doomed" to FM, you can make 200-300k working 40 hour weeks, and even more if you work for it.
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THIS. FM is a good specialty. Ignore the BS about "low" salary. Look up info on SDN subforums with attendings telling people not to sign for anything less than 250k out of residency. The salary you find on Google isn't necessarily accurate.

Besides, you should honestly not do medicine for the money, as cliche as that sounds.
 
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