LMU vs KYCOM

[bluegreen22]

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I have been accepted into KYCOM and LMU-DCOM but am having difficulty picking which school to attend. I feel like the schools are pretty comparable and either way I'll receive a similar education but I was wondering if anyone could offer up some pros/cons of either school.

Also, I'm interested in practicing emergency medicine so I don't know if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

 

[Roxas]

I would say LMU, but tbh I don't know a lot about KYCOM. For being a newer school, LMU seems to have their stuff together.

 

[Elevencents]

DCOM

 

[mke520]

well I was accepted to LMU and in my opinion the pros of the school were the facilities, great learning environment, and beautiful location (if you like the rural setting) but the cons of the school were 220+ students per class, and shaky rotation sites...i don't know much about pikeville but what i do know is that they have the same curriculum format as LMU. in my opinion, i would say that there is no wrong or right decision since i feel like these two schools are so very similar to each other. therefore, i would pick the school that you can see yourself spending the next four years of your life at. i ended up not choosing LMU but another school because it fit me more than LMU and not because it is necessarily a better school. also, i don't think the fact that you're interested in EM should influence you're decision on the medical school you choose. in your case, i'd just pick the school that suits you the best. good luck

 

[Tstanfi2]

I was accepted to both and chose KYCOM. I agree with the post aboves impression of LMU and that there's no wrong decision and fit is most important. The only other thing that swayed my decision was a family friend and graduate of LMU who is now in a strong urology residency. He suggested KYCOM simply because he felt LMUs rotations were hit or miss. He said he was fortunate to get good rotations in the lottery but that several of his classmates did not and going back he would have picked KYCOM based on the fact that they are more established (only by like 10-15 years but still) and have more staff working on rotations per student. Obviously his experience was just one experience and I don't think basing your decision off one anecdote is a good idea but I thought id pass that along since he wasn't a disgruntled grad but a successful grad with a sober minded review of the school.

 

[GC1000]

Go with KYCOM, their tuition is low.

 

[bluegreen22]

So does KYCOM have stronger rotation sites? I'm not that familiar with the area and it seemed like the rotation sites for LMU were in larger cities. I know there's not necessarily a direct relation to the size of area and the strength of the rotation site but it seemed like LMU had more rotation in larger cities.

 

[user3]

There are a couple other LMU grads in the osteo forum that felt their clinical education was weak. I think LMU really dropped the ball with their absurd class size increase to ~250.

 

[Mehd School]

LMU has a local reputation of having strong clinical education and preparing you well for rotations. KYCOM has the exact opposite reputation.

 

[mke520]

LMU has a local reputation of having strong clinical education and preparing you well for rotations. KYCOM has the exact opposite reputation.

i choose to avoid listening to these types of statements most of the time but i've heard from a ton of people to steer clear of kycom. how much truth this statement holds is uncertain, but from what i've heard from the "general med student population" is that LMU has a strong clinical education with their rotations being hit or miss and to avoid kycom if you have other options. again, how true that statement about kycom is i have no idea but that's somewhat the reputation they have out there. i'd pick LMU over kycom in a heartbeat, but that's just me because i thought LMU was awesome (except the large class size, wtf is the admission committee thinking)...you know what's best for you so just go with it and don't look back, in my opinion i don't think there is a right or wrong choice but i'd just be cautious and do some extra research on kycom to make sure they're legit

 

[BestDoctorEver]

i'd pick LMU over kycom in a heartbeat, but that's just me because i thought LMU was awesome (except the large class size, wtf is the admission committee thinking)

Money...Lol

 

[bluegreen22]

So some people are saying go to KYCOM cause LMU has shaky rotation sites but others are saying that they've been told to avoid KYCOM if you have any other options.

Is LMU a risk since they recently increased their class size by so much and their rotations are hit and miss? Also, since KYCOM just built a new building so I'm not sure if the people that are saying to stay away from it are aware of this.

Any more feedback would be appreciated because my deposits are due soon and I would like to not have to put down both deposits.

 

[mke520]

you have to remember that a good amount of the people who hate on KYCOM have never been there, seen the campus, met the profs, or know anything about their curriculum or rotation sites, BUT you do. it seems like you really want to choose KYCOM over LMU but from what everyone else says about KYCOM you are second guessing yourself. here's the thing, i don't care what medical school you choose because you're going to make of it what you want. at the end of the day, one med school isn't too much different than another and one med school isn't going to make you a better doctor than another. therefore, you need to choose the school that fits you best and i think you really just need to picks the things that are most important to you and weigh out the pros and cons of those for each school. the most important things for me were location (probably most important to me), curriculum, rotation sites, and facilities. you can't go wrong with either school honestly and you have to remember there is no perfect medical school so if you focus on just the negatives you're going to drive yourself crazy. look at it from a different perspective and determine which schools has more positives and i think that will help you out a little bit, hopefully, but i think picking a medical school is more of a gut feeling than anything...good luck

 

[bluegreen22]

Yeah, I agree that it most likely will not matter where I go in the long run and I just need to pick whichever one feels right. I felt like I actually was leaning towards LMU though but a few people have brought up the hit or miss rotation sites and that made me a little nervous if I do pick LMU.

 

[mke520]

to be completely honest, i don't think that it's going to matter that much by the time you begin to do rotations since they are in the process of adding more solid rotation sites. i wouldn't shy away from a school because there's a chance that one or two of your rotations might not be as good as other rotation sites. one of my buddies, who is going through rotations now, says that no matter where you go for rotations and whether you are rotating with a doctor or the residents, that when you get home from doing a day of rotation that most of what you're going to learn for the boards come straight from the study materials and not much of what they learn directly from the resident or doctor. rotations is more or less seeing what you're learning on your own put into action in a way. so i wouldn't worry about a couple rotation sites that much because again you'll make of it what you need to...hope that makes you feel better in a way about LMU and i would pick LMU as well, but that's just me

 

[pmkyles]

I go to KYCOM and our head of rotations is a beast, he's a great doctor too and has some high level connections... We've added quite a few sites this year on top of the solid ones already established. Last week we had a rotation fair and good lord it's gonna be tough choosing cause they all seemed super cool.
Also the local hospital is part of the mayo clinic, our patient care prof is best buds with the step 2 PE organizer meaning our clinic rooms match the testing rooms down to the inches between the sanitizer and the soap, also our dean is the past pres of the AOA, and literally travels to chicago monthly to participate in the merger talks, our new building is state of the art (gross lab mimics surgical labs/ 4 to a body), and we have a plethora of impressive teachers that actually care and want you to learn (plus make medicine enjoyable by cracking jokes while they bombard you with info)... Our school has been here 17 years and we continue to pump out good docs, and match into fields were DOs normally don't venture. If you like it here, come. Cause I promise you if you're prepared to work hard it doesn't matter which DO school u go to, rock your pre clinical GPA, destroy step 1, and smile on rotations and you can be any doc you want. Good luck though with any choice you make!

 

[IslandStyle808]

I go to KYCOM and our head of rotations is a beast, he's a great doctor too and has some high level connections... We've added quite a few sites this year on top of the solid ones already established. Last week we had a rotation fair and good lord it's gonna be tough choosing cause they all seemed super cool.
Also the local hospital is part of the mayo clinic, our patient care prof is best buds with the step 2 PE organizer meaning our clinic rooms match the testing rooms down to the inches between the sanitizer and the soap, also our dean is the past pres of the AOA, and literally travels to chicago monthly to participate in the merger talks, our new building is state of the art (gross lab mimics surgical labs/ 4 to a body), and we have a plethora of impressive teachers that actually care and want you to learn (plus make medicine enjoyable by cracking jokes while they bombard you with info)... Our school has been here 17 years and we continue to pump out good docs, and match into fields were DOs normally don't venture. If you like it here, come. Cause I promise you if you're prepared to work hard it doesn't matter which DO school u go to, rock your pre clinical GPA, destroy step 1, and smile on rotations and you can be any doc you want. Good luck though with any choice you make!

Just a head's up this thread is 7-8 months old. However, thanks for the info.

 

[ToKingdomCome]

Ii vote lmu based on sdn reputation

 

[pmkyles]

Whoops haha I'm new so didn't see that!

 

[schwasted589]

There are a couple other LMU grads in the osteo forum that felt their clinical education was weak. I think LMU really dropped the ball with their absurd class size increase to ~250.

Well since someone decided to resurrect this thread, i'm just going to continue: @user3 - do you happen to have a link to those thread? or who those people were so I can ask them...I'm trying to figure out rotation stuff for next year and I'd like to talk to people about their experience so I know what to avoid.

 

[user3]

Well since someone decided to resurrect this thread, i'm just going to continue: @user3 - do you happen to have a link to those thread? or who those people were so I can ask them...I'm trying to figure out rotation stuff for next year and I'd like to talk to people about their experience so I know what to avoid.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pros-and-cons-of-your-do-school.407104/page-24#post-14230892
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/lucom-inaugural-class-stats.1076737/page-5#post-15337824
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...thread-2013-2014.1002407/page-8#post-14436003

 

[hallowmann]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/pros-and-cons-of-your-do-school.407104/page-24#post-14230892
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/lucom-inaugural-class-stats.1076737/page-5#post-15337824
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...thread-2013-2014.1002407/page-8#post-14436003

Big props for resurrecting that first thread. I wish it had more action nowadays, but people don't really seem motivated.

 

[fobaby19]

for anyone familiar with KYCOM's rotation practices, can you give me an idea of how students are assigned rotation sites? is it chosen randomly, or do you get to pick where you want to end up.

 

[elam1001]

for anyone familiar with KYCOM's rotation practices, can you give me an idea of how students are assigned rotation sites? is it chosen randomly, or do you get to pick where you want to end up.

They have certain spots open in every rotation site and you pick where you want to go, if you can work it out with your classmates so not more bodies end up wanting one place then there is spots. For the most part people do get the spot they choose.