KCUMB (KC) vs OUHCOM (Dublin)

[Kingman123]

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Hey I need some help deciding here

I'm an Ohio resident who lives in Dublin, family lives in Dublin area too.

So I recently got accepted to KCU Kansas City campus and also have an interview for OUHCOM lined up soon. I put first preference for Dublin, then Athens. I didn't rank Cleveland since I have no connection to the area.

KCU:

Pros:
Very well established
Challenging curriculum
Kansas City feels like Ohio
New simulation center
Student seemed happy

Cons:
Rotation sites seem not so solid, but I could be wrong
Research seems hard to get

OUHCOM

Pros:
Closer to family
Rotation sites seem solid (where do Dublin students rotate)
Research is more available (not sure for Dublin tho)

Cons:
Dublin campus students learn from video lectures (might not be a bad thing)
Not everyone seems to be a fan of the new curriculum (but it could be good)

There's probably pros and cons im missing for each school, if so please let me know. Also I'm not super worried about cost even though I'll be taking loans. I'm leaning towards KCU but I wanna hear other opinions!

If it makes a difference I'm interested in things like neurology and anesthesiology currently but that's subject to change as I'm sure most people will say.

 

[Schwifty]

Hey I need some help deciding here

I'm an Ohio resident who lives in Dublin, family lives in Dublin area too.

So I recently got accepted to KCU Kansas City campus and also have an interview for OUHCOM lined up soon. I put first preference for Dublin, then Athens. I didn't rank Cleveland since I have no connection to the area.

KCU:

Pros:
Very well established
Challenging curriculum
Kansas City feels like Ohio
New simulation center
Student seemed happy

Cons:
Rotation sites seem not so solid, but I could be wrong
Research seems hard to get

OUHCOM

Pros:
Closer to family
Rotation sites seem solid (where do Dublin students rotate)
Research is more available (not sure for Dublin tho)

Cons:
Dublin campus students learn from video lectures (might not be a bad thing)
Not everyone seems to be a fan of the new curriculum (but it could be good)

There's probably pros and cons im missing for each school, if so please let me know. Also I'm not super worried about cost even though I'll be taking loans. I'm leaning towards KCU but I wanna hear other opinions!

If it makes a difference I'm interested in things like neurology and anesthesiology currently but that's subject to change as I'm sure most people will say.

KCU-KC first year here, to comment on your KCU points, the rotation site quality varies by site, but most are fine (at least thats what I have heard from upper classmates) and research isn't that hard to find, I set mine up within the first few weeks and students also do research at the other local medical schools in KC. The big thing for you is OUHCOM is close to your support network (family) and the cost is lower, which are big factors to take into consideration. With that being said, I really like KCU, the school is nice, KC is fun, and the cost of living (compared to where I'm from) is low. I would say go to your OUHCOM interview and see how you like the campus/students. All things considered, what DO school you go to won't really have a big effect on the residency you end up in, thats gonna be up to you, and assuming you are close with your family, having them near by during medical school can be a huge benefit.

 

[Kingman123]

Thanks for the quick response! Out of curiosity, do you have a decent amount of free time at KCU? I understand time management is key, but do you have free weekends or is your time mostly spent on academics, research, etc?

I'm also planning on attending my OUHCOM interview haha. I am pretty close to my family and my parents, but since I've lived in the Columbus area my whole life, they said they want me to go to the school I like the most. Maybe it'll be KCU maybe it'll be OUHCOM.

 

[Coltuna]

Thanks for the quick response! Out of curiosity, do you have a decent amount of free time at KCU? I understand time management is key, but do you have free weekends or is your time mostly spent on academics, research, etc?

OMS2 here at KCU. So far, I've had much more free time during 2nd year. Time management is so key. You'll find that in med school, you have "free time" if you make free time. I have plenty of classmates who are okay with barely passing if it means that they can go out on the weekends and let loose (which is totally fine if that's what you want!). Obviously, this isn't realistic if you have a test the following Monday or something, but for the most part, you can maintain a relatively normal social life if you're somewhat disciplined. It's not going out on a Friday that comes back to haunt you-- It's losing the whole following day(s) because you're tired and/or hungover that add up and lead to some unnecessary stress the few days before exams. I will add the caveat that there were like 6 weeks last year where having a social life was pretty much impossible but that was the exception more than the rule.

 

[SomaticDysfunk]

OMS II at OU-HCOM Athens. Just to clarify some of your points about HCOM... Research opportunities are definitely available regardless of campus. In fact, if you're interested in clinical research I would say you probably have more opportunities in Dublin or Cleveland. On the flip side, there is a lot of bench research going on here in Athens. You are not assigned a rotation site until the middle of your OMS II year (I am currently waiting to find out where I'll be next year). We participate in a "match" process where we can rank rotation sites we are interested in (HCOM is affiliated with Ohio Health) then we are all matched to sites by an algorithm that tries to give the greatest number of people one of their top choices.
To speak to the video lectures... Lectures are broadcast from all three campuses--not just Athens, but these lectures are quite interactive. I would not be put off by the technology, it works out well.
Ah yes, the new PHWC curriculum... As a member of the first class in this curriculum I can say that it has improved dramatically over time. There are still some quirks and frustrations but overall, things are getting ironed out. Don't necessarily believe all the crap that is being talked over on some of the other forums. I think you will find that you get out of your medical education what you put into it--your study habits will have a greater effect on your success than how good or bad a curriculum is.

 

[Kingman123]

OMS2 here at KCU. So far, I've had much more free time during 2nd year. Time management is so key. You'll find that in med school, you have "free time" if you make free time. I have plenty of classmates who are okay with barely passing if it means that they can go out on the weekends and let loose (which is totally fine if that's what you want!). Obviously, this isn't realistic if you have a test the following Monday or something, but for the most part, you can maintain a relatively normal social life if you're somewhat disciplined. It's not going out on a Friday that comes back to haunt you-- It's losing the whole following day(s) because you're tired and/or hungover that add up and lead to some unnecessary stress the few days before exams. I will add the caveat that there were like 6 weeks last year where having a social life was pretty much impossible but that was the exception more than the rule.

Thanks so much for responding! Do you feel like there's adequate clinical opportunities? Do you feel like during years 3 and 4 you have good opportunities for rotations? What made you choose KCU? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to make sure I go into debt at the right school

 

[Kingman123]

OMS II at OU-HCOM Athens. Just to clarify some of your points about HCOM... Research opportunities are definitely available regardless of campus. In fact, if you're interested in clinical research I would say you probably have more opportunities in Dublin or Cleveland. On the flip side, there is a lot of bench research going on here in Athens. You are not assigned a rotation site until the middle of your OMS II year (I am currently waiting to find out where I'll be next year). We participate in a "match" process where we can rank rotation sites we are interested in (HCOM is affiliated with Ohio Health) then we are all matched to sites by an algorithm that tries to give the greatest number of people one of their top choices.
To speak to the video lectures... Lectures are broadcast from all three campuses--not just Athens, but these lectures are quite interactive. I would not be put off by the technology, it works out well.
Ah yes, the new PHWC curriculum... As a member of the first class in this curriculum I can say that it has improved dramatically over time. There are still some quirks and frustrations but overall, things are getting ironed out. Don't necessarily believe all the crap that is being talked over on some of the other forums. I think you will find that you get out of your medical education what you put into it--your study habits will have a greater effect on your success than how good or bad a curriculum is.

Thanks so much for responding! So I got accepted to OUHCOM Dublin campus. I was feel like the years 3-4 are great here, but in regards to years 1 and 2, do you think they teach the curriculum well enough to be able to adequately self study it since the admissions people at Dublin said they are mostly video lectures. Thanks for the response!

 

[SomaticDysfunk]

Thanks so much for responding! So I got accepted to OUHCOM Dublin campus. I was feel like the years 3-4 are great here, but in regards to years 1 and 2, do you think they teach the curriculum well enough to be able to adequately self study it since the admissions people at Dublin said they are mostly video lectures. Thanks for the response!

Congratulations on your acceptance! To be completely honest, it took me a while to adjust to the curriculum. To compound things, I am in the inaugural class of the PHWC curriculum, so they are still modifying things for my class. That said, the current OMS I students definitely have it better than I did last year. Their exam schedule is more consistent, they have fewer learning objectives on their prep guides each week than we did, etc. The IoRs have worked hard to make the curriculum more manageable. I will say, regardless of where you go to medical school, you are responsible for learning medicine. It is not the school's job to cram it into you. If you do well with, or would appreciate more freedom to organize your own life then I think you'll be a good fit. Most of our "lectures" during the week are based on studying cases and answering questions in our small groups. Depending on the professor, some of these sessions are excellent and some suck (every school has some very good and some really terrible faculty). I think one of the perceived advantages of learning medicine this way is that you start to see the whole patient early on and understand that disease processes and physiology do not exist in a vacuum. We do not study medicine in "blocks" as many other schools do, but multiple disciplines are woven together and our learning objectives each week are based on a case. Your ability to tie things together mentally from your complete preclinical experience is what will allow you to do very well on Step/Level I. Hope that was helpful, let me know if there's anything else you'd like an opinion regarding.

 

[Coltuna]

Thanks so much for responding! Do you feel like there's adequate clinical opportunities? Do you feel like during years 3 and 4 you have good opportunities for rotations? What made you choose KCU? Sorry for all the questions, just trying to make sure I go into debt at the right school

Our big clinical program that we offer is called Score One where we offer medical screening to local kids. This is mostly a 2nd year thing to be honest, and the only real school-sanctioned clinical opportunities for first year are "early clinical exposures" where you're following around a healthcare worker other than a doctor for like 3-4 hours once per semester. These experiences are very hit-or-miss. In addition to the Score One program, we see patients at a local free clinic one afternoon each semester. I would be surprised if they don't add to that number though because everyone I've spoken to has had an awesome experience at the free clinics.

To your second question, I think that we have decent opportunities for rotations. There's not a guarantee that you'll be able to stay in KC and unfortunately for you, we literally just stopped offering Ohio rotations spots... With that being said, the places we're able to rotate at change yearly (slightly). I haven't heard really bad things about any sites. Also, they just started a pilot program this year where we're able to basically set up all of our rotations at a specific hospital which is cool if you want to return home and have an "in" at that hospital but sounds like somewhat of a logistical nightmare lol. As for fourth year, you can basically go wherever you want. I think we're only required to do one rotation at our "home" site; otherwise, you can set up rotations wherever hospitals will take you.

I chose KCU pretty much based just on reputation. I heard about the difficult curriculum and saw the impressive match results, so that's what really made me go with KCU. With that being said, I kind of regret not applying to more places in my home state. I really am happy with my decision to go to KCU and would still choose it over most schools; however, I really underestimated how much I would miss friends and family at times. Maybe this is a non-issue for you though!

 

[Kingman123]

Congratulations on your acceptance! To be completely honest, it took me a while to adjust to the curriculum. To compound things, I am in the inaugural class of the PHWC curriculum, so they are still modifying things for my class. That said, the current OMS I students definitely have it better than I did last year. Their exam schedule is more consistent, they have fewer learning objectives on their prep guides each week than we did, etc. The IoRs have worked hard to make the curriculum more manageable. I will say, regardless of where you go to medical school, you are responsible for learning medicine. It is not the school's job to cram it into you. If you do well with, or would appreciate more freedom to organize your own life then I think you'll be a good fit. Most of our "lectures" during the week are based on studying cases and answering questions in our small groups. Depending on the professor, some of these sessions are excellent and some suck (every school has some very good and some really terrible faculty). I think one of the perceived advantages of learning medicine this way is that you start to see the whole patient early on and understand that disease processes and physiology do not exist in a vacuum. We do not study medicine in "blocks" as many other schools do, but multiple disciplines are woven together and our learning objectives each week are based on a case. Your ability to tie things together mentally from your complete preclinical experience is what will allow you to do very well on Step/Level I. Hope that was helpful, let me know if there's anything else you'd like an opinion regarding.

Thanks so much for the response! Last question, just out of curiosity, why did you choose OU? What's the thing about OU that drove you here instead of somewhere else?

 

[Kingman123]

Our big clinical program that we offer is called Score One where we offer medical screening to local kids. This is mostly a 2nd year thing to be honest, and the only real school-sanctioned clinical opportunities for first year are "early clinical exposures" where you're following around a healthcare worker other than a doctor for like 3-4 hours once per semester. These experiences are very hit-or-miss. In addition to the Score One program, we see patients at a local free clinic one afternoon each semester. I would be surprised if they don't add to that number though because everyone I've spoken to has had an awesome experience at the free clinics.

To your second question, I think that we have decent opportunities for rotations. There's not a guarantee that you'll be able to stay in KC and unfortunately for you, we literally just stopped offering Ohio rotations spots... With that being said, the places we're able to rotate at change yearly (slightly). I haven't heard really bad things about any sites. Also, they just started a pilot program this year where we're able to basically set up all of our rotations at a specific hospital which is cool if you want to return home and have an "in" at that hospital but sounds like somewhat of a logistical nightmare lol. As for fourth year, you can basically go wherever you want. I think we're only required to do one rotation at our "home" site; otherwise, you can set up rotations wherever hospitals will take you.

I chose KCU pretty much based just on reputation. I heard about the difficult curriculum and saw the impressive match results, so that's what really made me go with KCU. With that being said, I kind of regret not applying to more places in my home state. I really am happy with my decision to go to KCU and would still choose it over most schools; however, I really underestimated how much I would miss friends and family at times. Maybe this is a non-issue for you though!

Thanks so much for the response! In regards to student life, do you feel like there is lots of camaraderie between the students? Or are people just trying to do more of their own thing? I also agree with you in that the reputation and challenging curriculum are what is drawing me too to the school. Even though there don't seem to be too many early clinical experiences, students seem still match into amazing programs each year. Also what exactly are speciality honors tracks? I know there are some I'm interested in like emergency medicine and internal medicine, but what benefits do students get for being a part of these?

 

[Coltuna]

Thanks so much for the response! In regards to student life, do you feel like there is lots of camaraderie between the students? Or are people just trying to do more of their own thing? I also agree with you in that the reputation and challenging curriculum are what is drawing me too to the school. Even though there don't seem to be too many early clinical experiences, students seem still match into amazing programs each year. Also what exactly are speciality honors tracks? I know there are some I'm interested in like emergency medicine and internal medicine, but what benefits do students get for being a part of these?

Competition (at least on Joplin's side) is basically non-existent. Everyone is super friendly with one another and collaborative. As far as socially, it's similar to high school to be honest lol. There are cliques who hang out pretty much every weekend then a party or get-together here and there where everyone hangs out. Like I said though, everyone is really friendly! I met "my people" via facebook (finding roommates), orientation, and tutoring. So specialty honors tracks are pretty much just traditional rotations with some specialty-specific didactics and workshops worked in. Currently, Joplin hospitals only offer EM while KC offers EM, orthopedics, OBGyn, Ped's, IM, surgery, psychiatry, and community health. There is also a military track that you can do anywhere.

Edit: My last bit there may have been confusing. All students have the opportunity to apply for the tracks regardless of KC or Joplin campus, but you have to move to KC for all of them except EM which is also offered at one of the Joplin hospitals.

 

[Kingman123]

Competition (at least on Joplin's side) is basically non-existent. Everyone is super friendly with one another and collaborative. As far as socially, it's similar to high school to be honest lol. There are cliques who hang out pretty much every weekend then a party or get-together here and there where everyone hangs out. Like I said though, everyone is really friendly! I met "my people" via facebook (finding roommates), orientation, and tutoring. So specialty honors tracks are pretty much just traditional rotations with some specialty-specific didactics and workshops worked in. Currently, Joplin hospitals only offer EM while KC offers EM, orthopedics, OBGyn, Ped's, IM, surgery, psychiatry, and community health. There is also a military track that you can do anywhere.

Edit: My last bit there may have been confusing. All students have the opportunity to apply for the tracks regardless of KC or Joplin campus, but you have to move to KC for all of them except EM which is also offered at one of the Joplin hospitals.

Oh ok yeah I'm glad to hear that students are pretty close. Interesting to hear that the speciality tracks are not too different than just regular rotations. I assumed based off of the website that if you did like internal medicine speciality then you would have more exposure to fields like hem/onc, cardio, pulm, etc. But would you say that these tracks don't give a competitive edge to students necessarily? Thanks!

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

I was in the exact same situation, expect I was choosing between KCU-KC and OUHCOM-Athens. I ended up choosing OUHCOM due to the cheaper tuition, distance from family, research opportunities, and solid GMEs. I found that a lot of the things KCU had OU had as well, but these were the differences I found which pushed my towards OU.

 

[Coltuna]

Oh ok yeah I'm glad to hear that students are pretty close. Interesting to hear that the speciality tracks are not too different than just regular rotations. I assumed based off of the website that if you did like internal medicine speciality then you would have more exposure to fields like hem/onc, cardio, pulm, etc. But would you say that these tracks don't give a competitive edge to students necessarily? Thanks!

I'm not familiar enough with the tracks or residency applications to really give you a great answer, but I've heard that tracks only give a marginal edge in the match. It's something good and somewhat unique to talk about at interviews, and you're probably slightly more prepared to hit the ground running in that field than the average applicant, but it certainly won't make up for poor board scores or red flags.

 

[DNC127]

Close to family is better.

/end thread

 

[Coltuna]

Close to family is better.

/end thread

Despite my activity in this thread, I really agree with this for most situations. I think that OUHCOM > KCU in this case.

 

[Kingman123]

Thanks for all the advice, I appreciate it!