LECOM or KCU

[ddrizzy]

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Hey!

I was accepted to both LECOM (erie) & KCU - Joplin. I wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions on which school I should go to by giving me more pros/cons about each school. I loved KCU but it was the KC campus that I loved so I'm hesitant about Joplin.

Below are my pros/cons of the schools:

LECOM:
pros: cheaper, longer established, ranked high on US News
cons: liked the city but interaction with the students wasn't that great, residency is limited to fam medicine

Joplin:
pros: get to be founding class, a new school so they will invest a lot of money
cons: residency not yet established, new school so might have rough patches, didn't get to check out the area because I was around KC campus only

 

[deleted778763]

I think the biggest issue here is are you sure you want to do family medicine ? With the investment of time and money you should be positive and passionate about primary care before you make that commitment . If you want the chance to compete for a specialty go to KCU. If you are positive you want FM I'd choose LECOM because it's cheaper and more established.

 

[ElCucuy]

Hey!

I was accepted to both LECOM (erie) & KCU - Joplin. I wanted to know if anyone had any suggestions on which school I should go to by giving me more pros/cons about each school. I loved KCU but it was the KC campus that I loved so I'm hesitant about Joplin.

Below are my pros/cons of the schools:

LECOM:
pros: cheaper, longer established, ranked high on US News
cons: liked the city but interaction with the students wasn't that great, residency is limited to fam medicine

Joplin:
pros: get to be founding class, a new school so they will invest a lot of money
cons: residency not yet established, new school so might have rough patches, didn't get to check out the area because I was around KC campus only

Did you get into the LECOM primary care tract or something? There is no other reason that you should be entirely limited to FM at either option.


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[AlteredScale]

Joplin:
pros: get to be founding class, a new school so they will invest a lot of money
cons: residency not yet established, new school so might have rough patches, didn't get to check out the area because I was around KC campus only

KCU Joplin will have residencies in place already because they are affiliated with Freeman Health and Mercy, of which Freeman already has many many residences in place that have already receive ACGME accreditation.

The faculty at this school are coming from a bunch of MD schools that have strong backgrounds in teaching. It will hit the ground running. Without a doubt however is that Joplin is a pretty small city and in comparison to KC there's not going to be much crazy fun there.

What track are you pursuing at LECOM? PBL?

 

[MADD!!!]

Committed to family medicine if you go to LECOM??? Misinformation like crazy!

But with that aside the choice is easy.... KCU!

 

[deleted778763]

Committed to family medicine if you go to LECOM??? Misinformation like crazy!

But with that aside the choice is easy.... KCU!

If OP was accepted to the primary care scholars pathway they would be committed to either family or internal medicine residency .

 

[MADD!!!]

If OP was accepted to the primary care scholars pathway they would be committed to either family or internal medicine residency .

But that's a choice. OP can opt out and join the regular lecture pathway if he/she chooses.

 

[Stagg737]

KCU Joplin will have residencies in place already because they are affiliated with Freeman Health and Mercy, of which Freeman already has many many residences in place that have already receive ACGME accreditation.

The faculty at this school are coming from a bunch of MD schools that have strong backgrounds in teaching. It will hit the ground running. Without a doubt however is that Joplin is a pretty small city and in comparison to KC there's not going to be much crazy fun there.

What track are you pursuing at LECOM? PBL?

To be fair, Erie isn't too large either and it's absolutely miserable in winter. I drove through in January once and that was enough to withdraw my interview once I got accepted elsewhere.

 

[deleted778763]

But that's a choice. OP can opt out and join the regular lecture pathway if he/she chooses.

I didn't know that I thought if one was accepted to that pathway the acceptance was only good for that one pathway ! I'm currently waitlisted at lecom and thought I knew it well! Guess not as well as I thought ! Thanks !

 

[ddrizzy]

Sorrys, to clarify I was accepted without any pathway but I was just looking at the residency matches and there is practically 0 matching with specialities that KCU has matched with such as ortho surgery, ent, derm, etc. Just don't know if Joplin would have the same opportunities as the KC campus.

 

[MADD!!!]

I didn't know that I thought if one was accepted to that pathway the acceptance was only good for that one pathway ! I'm currently waitlisted at lecom and thought I knew it well! Guess not as well as I thought ! Thanks !

The primary care pathway is very limited and students WANT to be in it b/c school is 1 year shorter.

 

[MADD!!!]

Sorrys, to clarify I was accepted without any pathway but I was just looking at the residency matches and there is practically 0 matching with specialities that KCU has matched with such as ortho surgery, ent, derm, etc. Just don't know if Joplin would have the same opportunities as the KC campus.

I advise you to look again

https://lecom.edu/content/uploads/2016/05/2016-LECOM-Match-Summary.pdf

1 student got ENT from KCU and 1 I believe for Derm because they were superstars, not because of the school.

Also, 1 student at LECOM got into Johns Hopkins for EM.

 

[chizledfrmstone]

Go to the cheapest option.

 

[MADD!!!]

Go to the cheapest option.

The cheapest isn't always the smartest....

The rules of LECOM are worse than an elementary school. (No WATER in class....)

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

But that's a choice. OP can opt out and join the regular lecture pathway if he/she chooses.

I'm pretty sure you can't opt out of the PC pathway. Once you are in it you are in it.

Sorrys, to clarify I was accepted without any pathway but I was just looking at the residency matches and there is practically 0 matching with specialities that KCU has matched with such as ortho surgery, ent, derm, etc. Just don't know if Joplin would have the same opportunities as the KC campus.

Wut?? I think you are looking at the wrong list...

 

[MADD!!!]

I'm pretty sure you can't opt out of the PC pathway. Once you are in it you are in it.



Wut?? I think you are looking at the wrong list...

You can definitely opt out. If anything it's the other way around... if you are in lecture or PBL, it's hard to get into the PCSP (primary care) pathway because space is so limited. Every year a number of students from PCSP switch into lecture pathway mid year even because they change their minds and/or don't like the independent learning structure associated with PCSP.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

You can definitely opt out. If anything it's the other way around... if you are in lecture or PBL, it's hard to get into the PCSP (primary care) pathway because space is so limited. Every year a number of students from PCSP switch into lecture pathway mid year even because they change their minds and/or don't like the independent learning structure associated with PCSP.

Interesting

 

[ortnakas]

I can't speak to how the match lists compare between the two schools, partly because I haven't seen KCU's and partly because it's like reading tea leaves, but the match list for LECOM is absolutely not limited to family med. I know of people who have matched gen surg, ortho, rads, anesthesiology, EM, and even urology as well as FM, IM, and peds. Obviously, some of those specialties are an uphill battle, but they are at any DO school.

You can definitely opt out. If anything it's the other way around... if you are in lecture or PBL, it's hard to get into the PCSP (primary care) pathway because space is so limited. Every year a number of students from PCSP switch into lecture pathway mid year even because they change their minds and/or don't like the independent learning structure associated with PCSP.

I don't know many people in PCSP because I'm at the Seton Hill campus, but this is my understanding too. I'm pretty sure they'd let OP switch into LDP. Maaaaybe into DSP or PBL but that would depend more on space availability.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I can't speak to how the match lists compare between the two schools, partly because I haven't seen KCU's and partly because it's like reading tea leaves, but the match list for LECOM is absolutely not limited to family med. I know of people who have matched gen surg, ortho, rads, anesthesiology, EM, and even urology as well as FM, IM, and peds. Obviously, some of those specialties are an uphill battle, but they are at any DO school.

The more and more I see DO lists the more and more they all start to look the exact same, and yeah I have no idea what list OP was looking at because the most common specialty in almost any list MD or DO is always IM.

 

[AlteredScale]

To be fair, Erie isn't too large either and it's absolutely miserable in winter. I drove through in January once and that was enough to withdraw my interview once I got accepted elsewhere.

True! I actually helped a friend move there. Lecom B is literally one building haha.


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[Stagg737]

I advise you to look again

https://lecom.edu/content/uploads/2016/05/2016-LECOM-Match-Summary.pdf

1 student got ENT from KCU and 1 I believe for Derm because they were superstars, not because of the school.

Also, 1 student at LECOM got into Johns Hopkins for EM.

School does play a role. We've had multiple students match into Mayo (including 2 derm matches) because of connections. I also know we've had other students match Mayo because of connections (and obviously they were great applicants). Also JH's EM program isn't all that great from what I've heard. The general public sees JH and thinks any match there is amazing, they don't understand that there are differences between specialties.

I'm not saying LECOM doesn't have great matches or that KCU's match list is that much greater. I'm just pointing out that school name does matter because of connections previous residents have made. I'll also add that the name at non-top tier schools will typically hold much more weight in the surrounding geographic region than it will in other areas. I'd be willing to put a lot of money down that if you compared KCU and LECOM's match list you'd see most of the "impressive" matches from KCU will be in the Midwest and most of LECOM's will be in the northeast/mid-Atlantic areas.