Kent vs Barry vs Temple

[Preetz]

I got accepted into all three Podiatric programs and I was wondering if anyone could help me with deciding which program to accept? Based on the schools facility and resources to students, preparedness for boards, and lifstyle in each respective city? I'm a native Floridian so I'm just nervous about adjusting to city life at Temple.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GypsyHummus]

You couldn’t pay me enough to live in Philadelphia.

Of those three, I would choose Barry cause of warm weather. Kent isn’t a bad school tho.

I got accepted into all three Podiatric programs and I was wondering if anyone could help me with deciding which program to accept? Based on the schools facility and resources to students, preparedness for boards, and lifstyle in each respective city? I'm a native Floridian so I'm just nervous about adjusting to city life at Temple.

 

[OnePodRanger]

I got accepted into all three Podiatric programs and I was wondering if anyone could help me with deciding which program to accept? Based on the schools facility and resources to students, preparedness for boards, and lifstyle in each respective city? I'm a native Floridian so I'm just nervous about adjusting to city life at Temple.

Kent State: School's facility and resources to students, from experience of being there and what I heard from students, top notch. The board pass rates are sort of low compared to the other podiatry schools (80% for Part 1, 83-90% for Part 2). Lifestyle in Cleveland, Ohio is pretty cool in my opinion but it depends on the person. A lot of things to do there if you want to hang out. The personal thing that I loved being at Kent State was how friendly and accepted I was being there.

Barry University: School's facility and resources to students are also pretty good from what I heard. Board pass is relatively good (Part 1 and 2 are 88% passing). I have not visited near Barry but since you're a Florida native, it should not be a question then.

Temple: The school's facility and resources to students are okay, in my opinion. I just felt like there could of been more improvements to that. Board rates are alright but still a little low for my taste (82.3% for Part 1 and 82.6% for Part 2). The lifestyle in Philly is completely nuts. If you have never been in New York, Boston, or Chicago, be prepared because it can be a circus there. It's not bad but I live near Boston, so I'm used to the extremely busy city environment.

It is up to you and how comfortable you feel being at each institution. I'll be heading to DMU because of, 1) how comfortable I felt there, 2) tuition and living expenses, 3) board pass rates, and 4) the type of lifestyle I wanted (Des Moines both has a decent city and rural areas, which is totally fine by me)

 

[de Ribas]

Kent State: School's facility and resources to students, from experience of being there and what I heard from students, top notch. The board pass rates are sort of low compared to the other podiatry schools (80% for Part 1, 83-90% for Part 2). Lifestyle in Cleveland, Ohio is pretty cool in my opinion but it depends on the person. A lot of things to do there if you want to hang out. The personal thing that I loved being at Kent State was how friendly and accepted I was being there.

Barry University: School's facility and resources to students are also pretty good from what I heard. Board pass is relatively good (Part 1 and 2 are 88% passing). I have not visited near Barry but since you're a Florida native, it should not be a question then.

Temple: The school's facility and resources to students are okay, in my opinion. I just felt like there could of been more improvements to that. Board rates are alright but still a little low for my taste (82.3% for Part 1 and 82.6% for Part 2). The lifestyle in Philly is completely nuts. If you have never been in New York, Boston, or Chicago, be prepared because it can be a circus there. It's not bad but I live near Boston, so I'm used to the extremely busy city environment.

It is up to you and how comfortable you feel being at each institution. I'll heading to DMU because of, 1) how comfortable I felt there, 2) tuition and living expenses, 3) board pass rates, and 4) the type of lifestyle I wanted (Des Moines both has a decent city and rural areas, which is totally fine by me)

DMU APMLE part III December 2017 was 100%

 

[JJ88]

I could be in the same predicament. I was just recently accepted at Barry. I received a lot of love from them from the start. I was given a scholarship as well. I also have an interview at Kent this week! I'm very excited considering those are the two schools I'm interested in. However, the feedback I have seen on SDN about Barry has me a bit concerned. I have seen posts about the professors at Barry being awful. I have also seen posts stating Barry does not have a great support system in place for its students. That the reality is students have to fence for themselves without guidance to be successful. Most people just talk abut location. I'm from Florida as well, but my priority is not just to go to the school that's closer to home. If I get accepted at Kent as well, I would like to make the best choice as possible in regards to quality professors, education, and support. Can anyone please share any insight on which is the better choice when it comes to Kent or Barry in those aspects? Thank you.

 

[Temple Podiatry]

I am the current 2nd year TUSPM student associated with this account.

Studying: As with any school there are many options here. Many people study in the TUSPM library, just in the open or there are also private study rooms available if you need extra quiet...or a nap. There are also a few rooms in the building that can be used for group study. I personally study at home 100% of the time, some people make trips to main campuses or other nearby college campuses or study at Starbucks or Panera (both in walking distance). Like I said, a lot of options.

Boards: Heard from an administrator that for part 1 this past year our first attempt pass rate was just above the national average (so around 88-90%, I don't have an exact number) and only a couple of people failed the second attempt which should've pushed the overall pass rate into the 95%+ range. Starting just a few years ago TUSPM added what is essentially a boards prep class. In its most current form it basically serves as guided studying of First Aid. Every week we cover a chapter of First Aid and then we have a quiz/exam on that material. The class will also include larger exams for each subject area of the APMLE (so there will be an LEA exam, a physiology exam, a pharmacology exam, etc.) and there will be two large boards pretest exams (covering multiple subjects). This prep class is pass/fail but you must pass it before TUSPM will allow you to register for the board exam. So basically, what you should know is that TUSPM now has a class dedicated specifically to taking you through First Aid and forces you to start reviewing year 1 materials in January of the year you will sit for part 1 of APMLE.

Lifestyle: Southerners, I get you. I'm from San Antonio, TX. It's an adjustment moving to a compact Northern city. Don't get me wrong, I do not intend to live in a city like Philadelphia after school/residency, I do intend to move somewhere more like a Southern city, but I do like going to school in Philadelphia. It is very different, but in good ways. I have a pretty nice, large, affordable apartment within a 5 minute walk of TUSPM. I don't have to have a car or any of the things that come with that (car payment, insurance, gas, oil, registration, etc). Also because of the location of the school we're within like a 15 minute walk of the touristy area of town (Liberty Bell, US Mint, Benjamin Franklin's Grave) and also a ton of bars and restaurants. In San Antonio it would probably take me 15 minutes to walk out of my subdivision and onto a main road. In Philadelphia I'm a 15 minute walk to a variety of restaurants, bars, Reading Terminal Market, Target, CVS, etc. Uber/Lyft are also very prominent here so you can generally get a ride within 5 minutes 24 hours a day from and to anywhere in the city. Also don't think the area is unsafe. Like any city there are bad parts of Philadelphia (West, North) but TUSPM is right in the center of the city, very near the touristy areas, and literally across the street from Philadelphia Police Headquarters.

Days that I go to school generally consist of me walking 5 minutes to school, on lunch walking about another 5 minutes to get some lunch then back to school, then after school walking 5 minutes to get dinner, then walking 5 minutes home. The convenience is something I couldn't imagine having in San Antonio. Even if you try to live on campus in Texas, in a dorm, you would still have more than a 5 minute walk to your classroom and much more than a 5 minute trip to all the other various restaurants, bars, shops, and everything else available near TUSPM.

Now I'm not trying to make Philadelphia sound perfect. China town really isn't very nice aesthetically, and there are plenty of homeless people around. And also some parts of TUSPM are obviously outdated, though they do seem to be slowly upgrading the school one area at a time.

Also, check out the updated TUSPM post on this thread if you haven't yet: Questions and Answers about Podiatric Medical Schools

@Preetz if you are seriously considering TUSPM but have reservations, PM this account and I can try to get you in contact with one of our Floridian students.

 

[J29622]

I'm a 2nd year at Kent but interviewed and was accepted to Temple. Academically both are pretty similar in terms of board pass rates overall. Kent has a much better facility and significantly lower cost of living. Temple has a much better clinic.

Both will get you where you want to go. I visited a pretty competitive program over winter break and they had residents from all over the place, so it's not like if you go to X school or Y school you'll be shut out of top programs. It's all up to you.

 

[anonymouspodstudent]

I got accepted into all three Podiatric programs and I was wondering if anyone could help me with deciding which program to accept? Based on the schools facility and resources to students, preparedness for boards, and lifstyle in each respective city? I'm a native Floridian so I'm just nervous about adjusting to city life at Temple.

Don’t come to Barry.

 

[PodStudent2018?]

Don’t come to Barry.

Why???

 

[Future Foot Guy]

You couldn’t pay me enough to live in Philadelphia.

Of those three, I would choose Barry cause of warm weather. Kent isn’t a bad school tho.

You knock Philly constantly and It bugs the crap out of me but honestly, TUSPM is in a decent location. Yes, it is on the EDGE of Chinatown but it is away from North Philly and other poor areas. Philly is full of good restaurants and there is always stuff to do plus it is a great jumping point for the eastern seaboard. Most students don't have a car and can walk anywhere they need to get. I have heard of only a few safety concerns with students. Biggest thing safety wise "don't be dumb and trust your gut" If you can do that then you're safe. Upgrades are coming all throughout the school.

Other schools are good schools too. Top 10 podiatry school if you ask me.

TUSPM = Chinatown
Kent = middle of industrial park/ crossroads of two major interstates
Barry = Miami

Every place has its own issue

 

[de Ribas]

Top 10 podiatry school if you ask me.

 

[PODGUY2018]

Just graduated from Barry. Do not go there, the faculty is a nightmare work with and there are active law suites with multiple professors. I am glad I no longer have to associate myself with that program.

 

[fogge001]

Just graduated from Barry. Do not go there, the faculty is a nightmare work with and there are active law suites with multiple professors. I am glad I no longer have to associate myself with that program.

True, school is trash. counting my days until I graduate from this dump. so any student looking to come here read the sdn post about this place, most (98%) of it is true.

 

[DexterMorganSK]

Just graduated from Barry. Do not go there, the faculty is a nightmare work with and there are active law suites with multiple professors. I am glad I no longer have to associate myself with that program.

True, school is trash. counting my days until I graduate from this dump. so any student looking to come here read the sdn post about this place, most (98%) of it is true.

Can you guys expand on some of the issues for future pods? Also, BarryU has no money..how true is this rumor?
I have heard that during the first year, some Profs want you to learn stuff on your own, but that is also true at other programs.

 

[prepod2016]

You couldn’t pay me enough to live in Philadelphia.

Of those three, I would choose Barry cause of warm weather. Kent isn’t a bad school tho.

just curious what you have against philly. sounds like you cant handle the city hustlin and bustlin and would rather be sitting in a nice comfortable "warm weather" small town in florida. philly has everything you could possibly want, and much more if you enjoy the city atmosphere

 

[PodStudent2018?]

Just graduated from Barry. Do not go there, the faculty is a nightmare work with and there are active law suites with multiple professors. I am glad I no longer have to associate myself with that program.

I chose Temple! I didn't even get into Barry lol

 

[GypsyHummus]

I dont care for big cities like New York, Philly, etc. Plus, its expensive.

That isnt to say anything negative about Temple though, it seems like a really nice school.

just curious what you have against philly. sounds like you cant handle the city hustlin and bustlin and would rather be sitting in a nice comfortable "warm weather" small town in florida. philly has everything you could possibly want, and much more if you enjoy the city atmosphere

 

[Perkis]

I’ve only been to Ohio (Kent) so I can’t give you any info on other schools from a personal stand point, but I can say that KSUCPM has been great. The board pass rate from 2017 was 92% and in the past has been up and down, but remember that there are 120 podiatry students in each class so higher pass rates are hard to compare to a school that has..say 30 students? But everyone I’ve heard of who has put in the work here hassed passed no problem.

Cleveland is a fun place to hang out with buddies from school. The “Metro Parks” are awesome and there are tons of cool trails and “out-door” type stuff to do around the area. It’s also been a great place a family (my situtation).

One thing that was nice about applying to Podiatry school was that it seemed that most all of the schools were pretty equal (from studernts I talked to). We would have loved to go to Des Moines or AZ too, they seemed like equally good schools, but like I said I havent attended either place so I don’t want to give any mis-information. Ultimately we chose KSUCPM because we knew Podiatrists that went here and loved the school and everyone during the interview process was awesome.

One more thing. The Cleveland area is a medical center hub, there’s a lot of hosptals/residencies nearby so there are lots of surgical conferences (which meet either at KSUCPM or the nearby hospitals) that invite students to come and learn. Ive been impressed with the 3rd and 4th years here too, seems like they’re well prepared for residency.

I’m sure there are other great schools that have a similar situation as KSUCPM that we would have been happy attending, there are lots of great options. When I say we, I mean me and my family, when you get married you forget the word “I” haha.

 

[de Ribas]

I’ve only been to Ohio (Kent) so I can’t give you any info on other schools from a personal stand point, but I can say that KSUCPM has been great. The board pass rate from 2017 was 92% and in the past has been up and down, but remember that there are 120 podiatry students in each class so higher pass rates are hard to compare to a school that has..say 30 students? But everyone I’ve heard of who has put in the work here hassed passed no problem.

Cleveland is a fun place to hang out with buddies from school. The “Metro Parks” are awesome and there are tons of cool trails and “out-door” type stuff to do around the area. It’s also been a great place a family (my situtation).

One thing that was nice about applying to Podiatry school was that it seemed that most all of the schools were pretty equal (from studernts I talked to). We would have loved to go to Des Moines or AZ too, they seemed like equally good schools, but like I said I havent attended either place so I don’t want to give any mis-information. Ultimately we chose KSUCPM because we knew Podiatrists that went here and loved the school and everyone during the interview process was awesome.

One more thing. The Cleveland area is a medical center hub, there’s a lot of hosptals/residencies nearby so there are lots of surgical conferences (which meet either at KSUCPM or the nearby hospitals) that invite students to come and learn. Ive been impressed with the 3rd and 4th years here too, seems like they’re well prepared for residency.

I’m sure there are other great schools that have a similar situation as KSUCPM that we would have been happy attending, there are lots of great options. When I say we, I mean me and my family, when you get married you forget the word “I” haha.

Both of you are attending the school?

 

[Perkis]

Both of you are attending the school?

If you are referring to me and my wife, no just me. I say “we” because we made the decision to come here together, her opinion was super important when making the decision of what school to attend.

 

[iluvdonuts]

I am the current 2nd year TUSPM student associated with this account.

Studying: As with any school there are many options here. Many people study in the TUSPM library, just in the open or there are also private study rooms available if you need extra quiet...or a nap. There are also a few rooms in the building that can be used for group study. I personally study at home 100% of the time, some people make trips to main campuses or other nearby college campuses or study at Starbucks or Panera (both in walking distance). Like I said, a lot of options.

Boards: Heard from an administrator that for part 1 this past year our first attempt pass rate was just above the national average (so around 88-90%, I don't have an exact number) and only a couple of people failed the second attempt which should've pushed the overall pass rate into the 95%+ range. Starting just a few years ago TUSPM added what is essentially a boards prep class. In its most current form it basically serves as guided studying of First Aid. Every week we cover a chapter of First Aid and then we have a quiz/exam on that material. The class will also include larger exams for each subject area of the APMLE (so there will be an LEA exam, a physiology exam, a pharmacology exam, etc.) and there will be two large boards pretest exams (covering multiple subjects). This prep class is pass/fail but you must pass it before TUSPM will allow you to register for the board exam. So basically, what you should know is that TUSPM now has a class dedicated specifically to taking you through First Aid and forces you to start reviewing year 1 materials in January of the year you will sit for part 1 of APMLE.

Lifestyle: Southerners, I get you. I'm from San Antonio, TX. It's an adjustment moving to a compact Northern city. Don't get me wrong, I do not intend to live in a city like Philadelphia after school/residency, I do intend to move somewhere more like a Southern city, but I do like going to school in Philadelphia. It is very different, but in good ways. I have a pretty nice, large, affordable apartment within a 5 minute walk of TUSPM. I don't have to have a car or any of the things that come with that (car payment, insurance, gas, oil, registration, etc). Also because of the location of the school we're within like a 15 minute walk of the touristy area of town (Liberty Bell, US Mint, Benjamin Franklin's Grave) and also a ton of bars and restaurants. In San Antonio it would probably take me 15 minutes to walk out of my subdivision and onto a main road. In Philadelphia I'm a 15 minute walk to a variety of restaurants, bars, Reading Terminal Market, Target, CVS, etc. Uber/Lyft are also very prominent here so you can generally get a ride within 5 minutes 24 hours a day from and to anywhere in the city. Also don't think the area is unsafe. Like any city there are bad parts of Philadelphia (West, North) but TUSPM is right in the center of the city, very near the touristy areas, and literally across the street from Philadelphia Police Headquarters.

Days that I go to school generally consist of me walking 5 minutes to school, on lunch walking about another 5 minutes to get some lunch then back to school, then after school walking 5 minutes to get dinner, then walking 5 minutes home. The convenience is something I couldn't imagine having in San Antonio. Even if you try to live on campus in Texas, in a dorm, you would still have more than a 5 minute walk to your classroom and much more than a 5 minute trip to all the other various restaurants, bars, shops, and everything else available near TUSPM.

Now I'm not trying to make Philadelphia sound perfect. China town really isn't very nice aesthetically, and there are plenty of homeless people around. And also some parts of TUSPM are obviously outdated, though they do seem to be slowly upgrading the school one area at a time.

Also, check out the updated TUSPM post on this thread if you haven't yet: Questions and Answers about Podiatric Medical Schools

@Preetz if you are seriously considering TUSPM but have reservations, PM this account and I can try to get you in contact with one of our Floridian students.

Are lectures recorded and is attendance mandatory?