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I have been trying to find a comparison of these two schools. I know Western has made some changes and have made massive improvements to the curriculum and board scores. AZCOM has had a dip in their board scores lately has a better location by far. Tuition is outrageous at AZCOM but living is outrageous in California. Just looking to get other opinions and insight!
Thanks
I interviewed at both schools (accepted: both Western’s, Midwestern: rejected so I think I can speak to both.) To be fair, I probably could have gotten into Midwestern if I wanted to. Was completely thrown off by a few questions during my interview which were: did you apply allopathic, why did you apply allopathic, and does your family approve of you applying do? I found the last to be highly offensive because at the time, my acceptances at Western were two of my crowning achievements at the time and this was asked by a PhD. At Western, I found the culture to be a lot more positive as in I didn’t sense any self-loathing DOs and they emphasized wellness to the point that a lot of people do yoga.
Here are my relatively objective observations. Took me a decent time to type so I hope it helps
- Western’s curriculum prepares you for Step which explains their solid board scores. The faculty and students heavily emphasized this. Midwestern doesn’t expect most students to even take the Step exams as shown by their 91% first time pass rate on Step 1. This was on their interview power point presentation.
- Both schools have more students go into primary care than specialties but it seemed like a significantly higher percentage at Midwestern become PCP’s despite their stupidly high tuition. - Midwestern has more research but at the same time, you won’t be able to work in more than one lab.
- Midwestern has nicer facilities but Western’s isn’t too shabby either. Wasn’t a fan of Western’s cad lab but in my opinion, cost and quality of education mean more than the facilities themselves.
- Financial aid at Midwestern is a joke. On my interview day it seemed like all their students have zero guidance from their financial aid office because every student at our med student panel maxed out their loans. Some simply because they wanted more spending money for travel, savings (doesn’t even make sense), etc. Also there are zero scholarship opportunities here. Western’s financial aid seemed more personalized and more in-line with all the schools I interviewed at.
- Midwestern seems a lot more into OMM than Western. Midwestern also uses strict percentages when grading rather than Western’s pseudo high pass/pass/fail. Could be wrong about this but midwestern students have exams/quizzes a lot more frequently. Can’t remember where on sdn I read this but someone compared their test schedule to undergrad in frequency rather than the typical med school.
- Maybe it’s because I’m from the West Coast, but I’ve heard a lot more good things about Western than Midwestern. Literally the only thing I knew about Midwestern was that it was not worth the cost. If you plan on staying in Arizona, I’m sure Midwestern is better because there are less schools in the area but it’s not like Midwestern doesn’t have a lot of competition.
- Class size. Both class sizes are way too high for my personal liking but Western’s seemed a lot more reasonable because it’s about a hundred students less.
- Both schools will have plenty of IPE.
- Midwestern has nicer apartments with pools in the area because the cost of living is cheaper. Both schools have a Costco nearby and are in urban areas. Midwestern is a gated campus whereas Western.
- Not to say the obvious but Arizona is so dry it made my mouth parched just looking outside. It also was weirdly humid after there was a thunderstorm the night before my interview.
Anyways, I was accepted to my top choice MD school and wasn’t accepted to Midwestern so fortunately I don’t have to make this choice. If I were you I’d pick Western but at the end of the day you gotta do what’s right for you. I wouldn’t look too hard at match lists simply because step 1 isn’t graded anymore thus things could change. Maybe take a look at the residency program director rankings which may play a greater role in matching now that its again pass/fail. If you have any other questions feel free to send me a dm
