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Any thoughts or opinions would be helpful!
LMU-DCOM vs. PCOM-GA
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By the time DCOM came calling, I had already made my decision, so I declined the interview, so I can't really comment on them. However, I am almost done with the first term here at GA-PCOM, and everything is fine.
I will say this... when I was in your position in the application process, I figured that it didn't matter much where I was, because I'd be studying all the time anyway. Now that I've been in school for a while, I can tell you that I'm glad I didn't go to a school that's out in the country.
I live walking distance from school, and within about 5-6 miles of me are about five grocery stores, Target, two Wal-Marts, several quality sports bars, tons of fast food, real restaurants, a bunch of sushi places, and Starbucks. I also have several places I can get my oil changed nearby, Best Buy, Office Depot, and there's some mall just a few miles away too, but I can't remember what its called. Lots of people go there often though. And for a better mall, Mall of Georgia is probably a 10-minute drive.
And I head into Atlanta almost every weekend to watch the Texas games with the alumni. That's just a short drive. The school, as you know, is kind of in the suburbs.
As for the education itself, I think they've got a pretty good system down here. I think the integrated curriculum is very good. I'm pretty laid-back, so I probably wouldn't bitch about much anyway.
But I'd say that location is a big deal. For me anyway. Free time will be at a premium, and the less time you have to spend in the car when you want to do something, the better.
If you have any specific questions about the school, don't hesitate to drop me a line.
I will say this... when I was in your position in the application process, I figured that it didn't matter much where I was, because I'd be studying all the time anyway. Now that I've been in school for a while, I can tell you that I'm glad I didn't go to a school that's out in the country.
I live walking distance from school, and within about 5-6 miles of me are about five grocery stores, Target, two Wal-Marts, several quality sports bars, tons of fast food, real restaurants, a bunch of sushi places, and Starbucks. I also have several places I can get my oil changed nearby, Best Buy, Office Depot, and there's some mall just a few miles away too, but I can't remember what its called. Lots of people go there often though. And for a better mall, Mall of Georgia is probably a 10-minute drive.
And I head into Atlanta almost every weekend to watch the Texas games with the alumni. That's just a short drive. The school, as you know, is kind of in the suburbs.
As for the education itself, I think they've got a pretty good system down here. I think the integrated curriculum is very good. I'm pretty laid-back, so I probably wouldn't bitch about much anyway.
But I'd say that location is a big deal. For me anyway. Free time will be at a premium, and the less time you have to spend in the car when you want to do something, the better.
If you have any specific questions about the school, don't hesitate to drop me a line.
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My main concern is the cost of living. I'm from a smaller area and the cost of living is much like Harrogat (cheap). How much does a 2 bedroom condo usually run? And the area does have more to offer than harrogate, but I'm used to that lifestyle so it doesn't bother me as it does some. Plus I really like to rock climbing so Cumberland Gap would be good for that. I orignally went into this process with PCOM being my definite number one choice, but honestly, LMU impressed me so much more at the interview. It was just a presentation so I am taking it with a grain of salt.
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Cost of living is very reasonable. Surprisingly so. I'm paying $400/month. There are townhomes nearby where it seems like half the school lives, and I don't know exactly how much they cost, but I don't think its too much. I was worried about this too, but it is a non-issue.
When I was in high school, I also lived in a small town. If we needed something, driving an hour to Austin or San Antonio was no big deal. But now, convenience is very important, because you won't have much free time.
Interestingly enough, the lack of an elaborate presentation was one of the things that I liked about GA-PCOM when I interviewed. I didn't feel like they were trying to sell me anything. It was more of a "here we are, form your own opinion, and take it or leave it" presentation. In fact, I'd say that's one of the things that sealed the deal for me.
When I was in high school, I also lived in a small town. If we needed something, driving an hour to Austin or San Antonio was no big deal. But now, convenience is very important, because you won't have much free time.
Interestingly enough, the lack of an elaborate presentation was one of the things that I liked about GA-PCOM when I interviewed. I didn't feel like they were trying to sell me anything. It was more of a "here we are, form your own opinion, and take it or leave it" presentation. In fact, I'd say that's one of the things that sealed the deal for me.
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good to hear about the cost of living. it just seemed everywhere nearbly was small condos "starting in the mid 500s." i can see where you're coming from about them not selling themselves. I don't think lmu went overboard or anything. some of the things i like better was the campus atmosphere, extremely high tech and beautiful, the lap tops you would receive which have all lectures posted to them (you can watch the lectures from your laptop at home where at pcom you have to check out the disc). is the disc always availbale? also i liked that they had a family insurance plan and free on campus medical care. i have no idea what pcom does for this. also, what is pcom coa? i liked the idea of a smaller class size but i believe pcom-ga will be increasing soon. i'm not sure how much this year though. so where are most pcom rotations? in a way I don't want to be in atlanta.
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Even mid-500's is pretty reasonable, given our financial aid budget, although I'd say that is probably on the higher end. My roommates are paying $300/month (I got the big room in the house). I still have money for my car payment, insurance, bills, and so-on.
You don't have to check out the DVD. They also have the files on the computers at the library, and you can just bring an external hard drive or a DVD ROM disc and copy it if you want to watch it at home. That's what I do. Posting a file that big to the internet would take hours to download. I watch most of my histo, embryo, and radiology lectures. All the power points are online though, and you can just download them.
Typically, I will watch the DVD on my desktop at 1.5x speed, and follow along with the power points on my laptop. It works pretty well. Either that or I will watch the DVD while I'm riding my bike on the trainer.
Cost of attendance is like $37,500 I think. Don't worry about this. There is plenty of loan money for you, and what you're going to do when you get out is consolidate at a low interest rate, and pay the minimum for 30 years. Given inflation, and the fact that you will have money to invest, you will come out way ahead financially this way.
The small class size is great. I cannot tell you how much I like this about our school. They eventually plan to increase to 120, but I don't anticipate that happening this year. And even then, we are still one of the smallest classes among US medical schools.
There are many options for rotations, and I don't think many of them are in Atlanta. There are some here in Gwinnett, and then at hospitals all over Georgia. If you end up somewhere that is, I think 45 minutes or more from school, they will pay for your housing.
There is also an option to do your rotations in Florida. I don't know much about this, but it does exist. I also think that you can rotate with the Philly students if you want. Both of these options, I believe, are on somewhat of a limited basis.
You don't have to check out the DVD. They also have the files on the computers at the library, and you can just bring an external hard drive or a DVD ROM disc and copy it if you want to watch it at home. That's what I do. Posting a file that big to the internet would take hours to download. I watch most of my histo, embryo, and radiology lectures. All the power points are online though, and you can just download them.
Typically, I will watch the DVD on my desktop at 1.5x speed, and follow along with the power points on my laptop. It works pretty well. Either that or I will watch the DVD while I'm riding my bike on the trainer.
Cost of attendance is like $37,500 I think. Don't worry about this. There is plenty of loan money for you, and what you're going to do when you get out is consolidate at a low interest rate, and pay the minimum for 30 years. Given inflation, and the fact that you will have money to invest, you will come out way ahead financially this way.
The small class size is great. I cannot tell you how much I like this about our school. They eventually plan to increase to 120, but I don't anticipate that happening this year. And even then, we are still one of the smallest classes among US medical schools.
There are many options for rotations, and I don't think many of them are in Atlanta. There are some here in Gwinnett, and then at hospitals all over Georgia. If you end up somewhere that is, I think 45 minutes or more from school, they will pay for your housing.
There is also an option to do your rotations in Florida. I don't know much about this, but it does exist. I also think that you can rotate with the Philly students if you want. Both of these options, I believe, are on somewhat of a limited basis.
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The laptops here are great. If we have any sort of problem, we go to the IT guys and they fix it, no questions asked, no cost. Its nice in that respect. And the cost of the laptop was built into our tuition for first year, so its a cost I would have had anyways, but I know that all my programs will work now. Plus, if we have any updates that are needed, when we log on or start up from campus it gets automatically updated and they can even push us programs that will appear on our desktops. I guess you got the mediasite presentation about all of our lectures if you've been here to interview though. Mediasite is great b/c you can literally listen to it anywhere just by logging in. No downloads needed, no extra time having to go get the lectures from somewhere. You have them on your computer thanks to Al Gore's internet.
Housing wise.... there's a lot up here. Its just not as advertised as in other places. I'm living by myself in a brand new 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment for 650 a month down in historic Cumberland Gap, and I love it. That rent is a little high for the area too, plus the cost of groceries and gas and everything else is really not expensive, and its not really that far away. Granted, we cant walk to the store, but everything is really close.
For me not being in a big city was a plus, cause I dont have the distractions pulling at me to just run downtown and go watch a few games, or grab a few beers, or something like that. There is still plenty to do here though, so dont worry about that. We are all pretty active (which was surprising to me) and like to exercise, run, play soccer, play intermurals, swim, hike, mountain bike, etc., whenever we can get away.
Rotations are still a mystery to us because the 2nd years still havent gotten where they are going yet. But that is happening soon, the end of this month I believe. From what I understand the core sites will be in hospitals around the area, in Knoxville and down towards Chattanooga. This doesnt mean you are stuck there for the whole year, and you wont have to run between the different sites all the time. I'm not sure what they told you all about it, but from what they told us 1st years its going to be sort of like a residency match program for picking your core site. There will be a list of opportunities and options for the 2nd years to choose from, they will rank their top 20, and all that gets put into some ridiculous computer program. So we have a whole lot more say about where we are going and where we want to be than we originally had thought. At least thats the way I understand it.
Housing wise.... there's a lot up here. Its just not as advertised as in other places. I'm living by myself in a brand new 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment for 650 a month down in historic Cumberland Gap, and I love it. That rent is a little high for the area too, plus the cost of groceries and gas and everything else is really not expensive, and its not really that far away. Granted, we cant walk to the store, but everything is really close.
For me not being in a big city was a plus, cause I dont have the distractions pulling at me to just run downtown and go watch a few games, or grab a few beers, or something like that. There is still plenty to do here though, so dont worry about that. We are all pretty active (which was surprising to me) and like to exercise, run, play soccer, play intermurals, swim, hike, mountain bike, etc., whenever we can get away.
Rotations are still a mystery to us because the 2nd years still havent gotten where they are going yet. But that is happening soon, the end of this month I believe. From what I understand the core sites will be in hospitals around the area, in Knoxville and down towards Chattanooga. This doesnt mean you are stuck there for the whole year, and you wont have to run between the different sites all the time. I'm not sure what they told you all about it, but from what they told us 1st years its going to be sort of like a residency match program for picking your core site. There will be a list of opportunities and options for the 2nd years to choose from, they will rank their top 20, and all that gets put into some ridiculous computer program. So we have a whole lot more say about where we are going and where we want to be than we originally had thought. At least thats the way I understand it.
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thanks for the input texastriathlete and rose! and rose, I would LOVE it if they had rotations in chatanooga. I live in Al not far from there and would love to practice around that area eventually. I figured they'd have some sites there. I'm not to fond on knoxville (a little too big, plus Volunteer fans!).
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Hahaha, I feel you on the Vol fans. I've lived in Knoxville my whole life, and I know hate UT football fans and UT football. GO GATORS! 🙂
Its a pretty good chance we will have rotation sites around Chattanooga 3rd year, and we just had a hospital day where someone from UTs Chattanooga hospital and Erlanger came to give us info on 4th year rotations. So its a definite possibility.
Its a pretty good chance we will have rotation sites around Chattanooga 3rd year, and we just had a hospital day where someone from UTs Chattanooga hospital and Erlanger came to give us info on 4th year rotations. So its a definite possibility.
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Well, I'm an Aubur fan. We aren't so hot this year but still holding out for the chance of ruining Alabama's BSC dreams in the Iron Bowl. If we can't do it I am counting on Florida to do it for us!!! But really, I think Florida could make it to the national championship. They are (IMO) the best football team in the country. They just had a fluke with Ole Miss. Anyway, I'm a little confused about how rotations work. Are you moving around all 3rd and 4th year? Is it possible to do them out of one site? TexasTri, if you have any info on GA-PCOM's situation about this I'd appreciate that too. Thanks!
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You will not be able to use the same site for every rotation. This is true no matter where you go. Most of the big MD schools will at least allow you to stay in the same city for your rotations, but you'll still use multiple facilities.
I think we may have some sites in Alabama too, but don't quote me on that.
I think we may have some sites in Alabama too, but don't quote me on that.
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Wow lots of auburn folks on SDN today. As far as rotations go PCOM-GA shares the AMEC sites in alabama with KCUMB,KCOM,and the Arizona schools. I thought DCOM was awesome but i wasnt sure about their rotations. Im sure they are fine but at least with PCOM-GA you know your rotations will be solid. As of last year DCOM wasnt an AMEC schools which is one of the reasons i chose not to go there.
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