KC vs DMU

[sennp9]

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Anyone have a chance to visit both schools?? From what I read is the students that interviewed there loved both. Anybody care to elaborate on this??? 😱

 

[thejanitor99]

Anyone have a chance to visit both schools?? From what I read is the students that interviewed there loved both. Anybody care to elaborate on this??? 😱

Aye, I was accepted to both this year and both schools were amazing. Very close choice in my opinion. I chose DMU however for a few reasons:

1. I'm a midwesterner at heart and the city of Des Moines still has that midwestern feeling. Kansas city did not.

2. The facilities at DMU were amazing! Surgery labs, gym, study areas, technology, safe campus area. It had it all.

3. I think the teaching style will fit very well with what I am used to from undergraduate. Lectures are somtimes powerpoint and every lecture can be recorded as an mp3 and listened to again.

DMU cons: Huge emphasis on OMM. Kinda pricey.


KCUMB was excellent too. The students there seemed extremely professional and dedicated to becoming excellent physicians. I know what impressed me was that they said that last year 5 of their students scored in the 99th percentile on the USLME. Campus was really nice once you are there. As everybody says the area wasn't so great. I'm sure you would be happy at either place!!!!

just my $.02

 

[sennp9]

Awesome feedback. I'll let ya know what I think when I get back.

 

[djnels01]

DMU cons: Huge emphasis on OMM. Kinda pricey.

KCUMB is about $6k more expensive than DMU, FYI.

 

[Goose...Fraba]

One thing to keep in mind about DMU is that you may not necessarily be able to do 3rd and 4th year in Des Moines. This can be costly as you may be moving around frequently. I am not impressed with how they organize the clinical years. People typically like to do "out rotations" during their fourth year at places they might want to do residency but it can be a pain to constantly doing "out rotations". Also, it is very difficult to schedule electives in hospitals during your fourth year here in Des Moines. There seems to be a preference with University of Iowa students. I think this information is more important to people with families/spouses.

DMU does have a beautiful campus and is located in a good neighborhood.

Good luck to all of you applying and congrats to those who have been accepted.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

One thing to keep in mind about DMU is that you may not necessarily be able to do 3rd and 4th year in Des Moines. This can be costly as you may be moving around frequently. I am not impressed with how they organize the clinical years. People typically like to do "out rotations" during their fourth year at places they might want to do residency but it can be a pain to constantly doing "out rotations". Also, it is very difficult to schedule electives in hospitals during your fourth year here in Des Moines. There seems to be a preference with University of Iowa students. I think this information is more important to people with families/spouses.

DMU does have a beautiful campus and is located in a good neighborhood.

Good luck to all of you applying and congrats to those who have been accepted.

aside from not being able to stay in des moines, do you have any other thoughts about dmu's clinicals. i've searched sdn and read all those horrible posts by that kent ray guy stating that dmu basically abandons you during clinicals. however, i've heard there's been improvement, and some people say it's good and others say everything is still crazy and disorganized. are clinicals good/bad/mediocre at dmu?

with kcumb, you're going to have to move, too -- they only have spots for 1/3 of the people in kansas city. however, you get a core site that you can stay at for your whole third year and even your fourth year. i've got to admit that sounds sort of easy. how much scurrying around do dmu students have to do regarding their clinicals? i don't want to have to spend a lot of time and effort arranging rotations, especially in my third year.

 

[jasjaz]

at kcumb, more like 1/2 the class stays in kc. Those who pick kc as their top choice get it.

Don't think you can go wrong with either DMU or KCUMB

Congrats and best of luck

 

[coureurdubois]

KCUMB and DMU were 2 of my final 3 choices of Midwestern schools. I think they are both excellent choices. I ended up at KCUMB as the student body was a better fit for me. Also I liked that the first 2 years' curriculum are entirely systems-based. There was a wide variety of rotation sites plus a good chance of staying in the KC area if you prefer.

 

[A_Dull_Boy]

FWIW:

DMU class of 2005 and earlier often felt abandoned in clinical years. Things have changed for the better though. Clinical affairs is better organized, the slacker who was in charge of the clinical years was reassigned a few years ago and the people in charge now take it seriously. A number of hospital sites have been added in the last year alone. They have also made an effort to evaluate sites, meet with students and attendings and get feedback on how they can improve the process.

The vast majority of students who want to stay in Des Moines are able to. The number who want to varies every year. Yes, a few people do travel to a different place every month but that is by choice. Many students choose to do all of their clinicals in a particular city, for a number of reasons.

Residencies available in Des Moines include gen surg, FP, peds, and int med, so if these aren't your interest you'll be doing a few out rotations at hospitals that have residency programs in your chosen field, so plan on travelling a few months.

But before I give you the impression that things are perfect at DMU...
Some specialties in Des Moines have only limited slots for students (OB, peds, rads, for example), while other specialties have basically no slots (general path, derm). If you just want to rotate in these areas for general experience, it can be frustrating to have to travel (particularly if you have spouse/kids). But, as mentioned, if you are serious about these as specialties, you are probably going to travel in order to rotate at residency programs anyway.

As far as staying in town vs out rotations, keep in mind that this is an issue to some degree or another for all DO schools since we don't have teaching hospitals on campus (at least none that I'm aware of). For example, the new Tuoro NV school. They're building a school, but not a hospital right? Q: Where will students do clinicals? A: Anywhere that will take them. At least DMU and KC are established schools with a history of relationships for clinical years.

 

[jbone]

FWIW:

DMU class of 2005 and earlier often felt abandoned in clinical years. Things have changed for the better though. Clinical affairs is better organized, the slacker who was in charge of the clinical years was reassigned a few years ago and the people in charge now take it seriously. A number of hospital sites have been added in the last year alone. They have also made an effort to evaluate sites, meet with students and attendings and get feedback on how they can improve the process.

The vast majority of students who want to stay in Des Moines are able to. The number who want to varies every year. Yes, a few people do travel to a different place every month but that is by choice. Many students choose to do all of their clinicals in a particular city, for a number of reasons.

Residencies available in Des Moines include gen surg, FP, peds, and int med, so if these aren't your interest you'll be doing a few out rotations at hospitals that have residency programs in your chosen field, so plan on travelling a few months.

But before I give you the impression that things are perfect at DMU...
Some specialties in Des Moines have only limited slots for students (OB, peds, rads, for example), while other specialties have basically no slots (general path, derm). If you just want to rotate in these areas for general experience, it can be frustrating to have to travel (particularly if you have spouse/kids). But, as mentioned, if you are serious about these as specialties, you are probably going to travel in order to rotate at residency programs anyway.

As far as staying in town vs out rotations, keep in mind that this is an issue to some degree or another for all DO schools since we don't have teaching hospitals on campus (at least none that I'm aware of). For example, the new Tuoro NV school. They're building a school, but not a hospital right? Q: Where will students do clinicals? A: Anywhere that will take them. At least DMU and KC are established schools with a history of relationships for clinical years.

Thanks for the info Dull Boy...I'm excited for DMU in the fall. 👍

 

[Katie1822]

Hello!

I am a 2005 graduate of DMU. For anyone who is worried about moving for clinicals, I would give this advice. If you want you can go to Michigan or Ohio and stay there for your 3rd and 4th years. We have very strong affiliations in both states. In Michigan, you could easily stay at one hospital for both years with a few jumps to other hospitals mostly by choice. Almost all of the hospitals are in the area surrounding Detriot. If you so choose, you can even rotate at some of the hospital in downtown Detriot to get some "real action." Most of the sites are Osteopathic hospitals.

 

[ihateresearch]

sennp9 what'd you decide?

 

[sennp9]

I still don't know, I am heading to interview at DMU on Friday 2/10. So who knows if I will even get accepted 😉 . But KC was cool. I agree that the student body was a good fit for me. However, several of my friends like DMU more (one is MSIII), so that has me leaning towards it. But hey, I haven't even seen the place, so what do I know =/? The whole moving around is the biggest drawback. I appreciate people's input on this topic. It is nice to hear that you can stick in a place for a bit. How far in advance are rotations set up? (e.g. Say you lined up consecutive rotations at a place in Michigan or OH, then you get there and it is a p.o.s. place. Can you get reassigned for your next rotations? )

I will keep you updated researchhater,

til then, thanks to all for the advice, keep it coming.


Senn

 

[Boxer1]

Hello!

I am a 2005 graduate of DMU. For anyone who is worried about moving for clinicals, I would give this advice. If you want you can go to Michigan or Ohio and stay there for your 3rd and 4th years. We have very strong affiliations in both states. In Michigan, you could easily stay at one hospital for both years with a few jumps to other hospitals mostly by choice. Almost all of the hospitals are in the area surrounding Detriot. If you so choose, you can even rotate at some of the hospital in downtown Detriot to get some "real action." Most of the sites are Osteopathic hospitals.

Good advice.

I'm a 3rd year DMU student doing my rotations in Ohio. My whole 3rd year was planned out for me by the medical education office at this hospital. I do most of my work at one hospital, with a few out rotations to smaller hospitals within 20-30 minutes of here. I will also be staying at the here for most of my 4th year as well. Ohio has a nice network of hospitals to choose from. The didactics are good, most of the preceptors enjoy teaching and do well with it, and I like being at one hospital for most of my work.

For my class, there were 90 spots in Des Moines for core rotations (for a class of about 190). Most people who wanted rotations in Des Moines got them. I also have a friend who did his 3rd year in Ohio, didn't like the particular town he was in, and moved back to Des Moines for his 4th year.

I also have friends who want to live in placed like Phoenix and Las Vegas, where there aren't any DMU core sites. They are just getting their 3rd year core rotations out of the way at some site, and then moving back home for the rest of their 3rd and 4th year.

There is a lot of flexibility in DMU's clinical rotations. There are also some challenges dealing with planning and scheduling your own rotations. You're going to find things you don't like about each school. Weigh the plusses and minusses and choose what is most important for you.

Good luck with your decision

 

[tvlgno]

Thank you, Sennp9, for posting this question. I've been accepted to both DMU and KC, and I'm also having trouble deciding which one to stick with. I saw someone posted the board passing rate for KC, but does anyone know the board passing rate (I and II) for DMU? I am in the middle of reorganizing my home and can't seem to find my info packets. Thanks!