New Year, New Thread!!! Discuss away!!!
The price tag on these schools are scary def considering HPSP
Don't do it to save money. Do it only because you want to serve and the scholarship is an added benefit. There are a lot of other factors to keep in mind with an HPSP.
I'm not doing it for money, I've been considering it for a while now regardless of any price of school. I've done a lot of research etc. I'm a young applicant, and I think it will help in the long run. But still considering it, not 100% sure yet.
Sorry if I came off as accusatory I just wanted to point that out. I am also considering HSPS or going to USUHS if I get in.
$333,728
CCOM's tuition x 4 years x 115% plus 4 years x living costs. In case it's not obvious, the extra 15% is for tuition increases over the four years (arbitrary on my part). All numbers from the Osteo MCIB.
That doesn't include interest, does it?$333,728
CCOM's tuition x 4 years x 115% plus 4 years x living costs. In case it's not obvious, the extra 15% is for tuition increases over the four years (arbitrary on my part). All numbers from the Osteo MCIB.
$333,728
CCOM's tuition x 4 years x 115% plus 4 years x living costs. In case it's not obvious, the extra 15% is for tuition increases over the four years (arbitrary on my part). All numbers from the Osteo MCIB.
does this school have a in-state/region bias?
That doesn't include interest, does it?
Does anyone know their take on prior clinical experience? I know some schools are really big on that
Thanks for sharing the rotation site list. CCOM is one of my top choices as well, especially after recently being there and having the opportunity to talk to some of the residents at Cook County as well as seeing Chicago firsthand outside of the airport.So I posted this early on last years thread too. I had exchanged a few emails with a current student at CCOM about a year ago. They showed me a list of the rotations sites and was as follows.
Advocate Bethany Hospital
Advocate Christ Medical Center
Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital
Advocate Trinity Hospital
Alexian Brothers Medical Center
Holy Cross Hospital
John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County
Little Company of Mary Hospital
Loyola University Medical Center
MacNeal Memorial Hospital
Michael Reese Hospital
Northwest Community Hospital
Provena St. Joseph Hospital
Provident Hospital
Resurrection Medical Center
Sherman Hospital
St. Alexius Medical Center
St. Bernard Hospital
St. Francis Hospital
St. James Hospital/ Chicago Heights
St. James Hospital/ Olympia Fields--A LOT of CCOM associated residencies here
St. Margaret Mercy-North(Indiana)
St. Margaret Mercy-South(Indiana)
Swedish Covenant Hospital
Thorek Hospital
Proena St. Joseph Hospital(Joliet)
Riverside Medical Center
CCOM is my #1 choice. Good luck to everyone here this round. Hope this helps!
hey all,
current 3rd yr (still not sure how those last years flew by!!!)
happy to answer any questions
on surgery so it may take me a few days to see them
Thank you Mommy2three, I enjoyed your input on last years thread. We all really appreciate your help here
Thank you Mommy2three, I enjoyed your input on last years thread. We all really appreciate your help here
Thanks mommy2three, I'll definitely look forward to your input and appreciate the well wishes for this cycle. Here goes...thank you both...way to make an old gal blush
thanks for sharing the love
to all applying this cycle
Hey mommy2three
How is life in suburban Chicago? Also how are the clinicals at CCOM? Where they well set up ahead of time or did you have to fight to get a good stop? Do you feel like you are learning alot from experience or is it more of a self study?
I can comment a little on the town. Ive lived in Chicago as well as all over suburban Chicago and my girlfriend lives in Downers grove so I'm in Downers all the time.
Midwestern lies off of 31st street which is just off of the highway. The exit (Highland) is right where two highways meet, 355 and i-88. This is nice because it gives you options of where you can live. I make it from Schaumburg( ~20 miles away) in about 25 min. On the weekends and during low traffic times you can easily take I-88 into the city ( Chicago) in ~30 min.
Downers grove is a decent sized town, compared to Chicago it's small and quiet but it's really not that bad. That being said, Downtown downers isnt too flashy, a few decent bars and a few nice restaurants. Cruise nights on Fridays during the summer. I'd say it's nice for families. If you want to go out, it's within decent drive (~20 min) of other options.
A lot of restaurants and shopping ( including a mall) on the other side of the highway ( off butterfield rd). Decent grocery options in town as well as a whole foods and a gluten free bakery about two towns north ( my GF is gluten free). Woodfield is the huge mall everyone in the suburbs knows about ( you can probably make do without going unless you need the really specialty stores such as apple, etc) and that's in Schaumburg ( again ~ 25 min away).
If you do want to go into the city, besides driving, the BNSF rail line has two stations in town which run a metra commuter train that takes you in and back. Its about an hour ride if I remember and the last train in from the city is around 1ish i think. Decent price.
I can't comment too much about housing, but if anyone else has any questions about the area just let me know.
It's certainly no middle of nowhere town if anyone's worried about that.
Hey mommy2three
How is life in suburban Chicago? Also how are the clinicals at CCOM? Where they well set up ahead of time or did you have to fight to get a good stop? Do you feel like you are learning alot from experience or is it more of a self study?
i am probably not the one to ask about life ins suburban chicago since i live in a very far nw burn and according to most of my class i might as well just be in iowa i live in a very quiet non crowded suburb which i like, but i also like downers grove. as the previous poster said it is easy access to the city, plenty to do and places to eat, close to the zoo and other attractions.
so clinicals....well i am only two weeks in so i can tell you how i got here and how i like it so far but keep in mind that bye experience is not like everyones and you may have a differenent experience as well.
so in december of your second year you select a track in order of preference. these tracks arrange all of the rotations you do third year in various orders and you basically rank them in the order of your preference. there really is no right or wrong. almost all mine had surgery first because i wanted to do surgery during the sumer when i did not have to worry about kids and school and the like. then in january you will know your track. then in march we went back in for each block (4 week time period or 12 wks for fan med and 6 wks each for ob and pads) and were able to rank the top 5 sites we wanted to do a particular rotation at for a given time. for example, i based most of mine based on location and i knew i wanted to stay out of the city ad in the suburbs but that was my personal preference. i have classmates that did the exact opposite.
as far as what i am doing right now well i an in my surgical subspecialty and am splitting time between clinic and surgery. i spend two days a week in each with wednesday off for lecture. i am liking it but the days are really long, especially surgery. i feel like i hit my groove more this week as i actually kind of know what i am doing whereas last week it was kind of a fish in a frying pan feel. i am doing a lot of procedures in clinic and getting to help out here or there in surgery. mine happens to be in ortho and i am learning that i should have been working on my arm and hand muscles the last few weeks because man do you need some major strength to do ortho it has not been as bad as i was expecting (i am by no means a further surgeon) and i am enjoying myself now that i d o not feel like a fish out of water.
hth some
I've been, too, interested in surgical sub-specialties. I've been married with an 11-year-old son, thus your above post made a good sense.i am probably not the one to ask about life ins suburban chicago since i live in a very far nw burn and according to most of my class i might as well just be in iowa i live in a very quiet non crowded suburb which i like, but i also like downers grove. as the previous poster said it is easy access to the city, plenty to do and places to eat, close to the zoo and other attractions.
so clinicals....well i am only two weeks in so i can tell you how i got here and how i like it so far but keep in mind that bye experience is not like everyones and you may have a differenent experience as well.
so in december of your second year you select a track in order of preference. these tracks arrange all of the rotations you do third year in various orders and you basically rank them in the order of your preference. there really is no right or wrong. almost all mine had surgery first because i wanted to do surgery during the sumer when i did not have to worry about kids and school and the like. then in january you will know your track. then in march we went back in for each block (4 week time period or 12 wks for fan med and 6 wks each for ob and pads) and were able to rank the top 5 sites we wanted to do a particular rotation at for a given time. for example, i based most of mine based on location and i knew i wanted to stay out of the city ad in the suburbs but that was my personal preference. i have classmates that did the exact opposite.
as far as what i am doing right now well i an in my surgical subspecialty and am splitting time between clinic and surgery. i spend two days a week in each with wednesday off for lecture. i am liking it but the days are really long, especially surgery. i feel like i hit my groove more this week as i actually kind of know what i am doing whereas last week it was kind of a fish in a frying pan feel. i am doing a lot of procedures in clinic and getting to help out here or there in surgery. mine happens to be in ortho and i am learning that i should have been working on my arm and hand muscles the last few weeks because man do you need some major strength to do ortho it has not been as bad as i was expecting (i am by no means a further surgeon) and i am enjoying myself now that i d o not feel like a fish out of water.
hth some
I've been, too, interested in surgical sub-specialties. I've been married with an 11-year-old son, thus your above post made a good sense.
I wonder if DO residency programs would give a strong enough education to become a competitive surgeon for the job market after residency.
Is there any favoritism towards MD surgeons in the job market?
How about the patients' perception in selecting an MD or DO surgeon?
In regard to patients the letters behind your name dont matter. While the residencies do favor MDs there are DO exclusive residencies for surgery. If you get very high marks in medical school and do very well on the comlex and the usmle you have a great shot at both MD and DO surgery residencies.
Is the cost of living/tuition really well above $80k for this school?
While I agree with the first part of what you said, I don't agree with the second (providing I am understanding you clearly). MD surgical residencies are still quite difficult for a DO to match into, regardless of USMLE score...which is shown when you look at match lists: there aren't many DO surgeons going to allopathic residencies (even fewer if you look, specifically, at Ortho and Plastics). Annually, this fact seems to be less and less true, but for now, the reality is that most DO surgeons will be going with AOA residencies.
On the other hand, and perhaps more aligned with the the above user was asking, I have not heard of any DO surgeons having trouble finding jobs after residency. In fact, I do recall a DO ortho resident, who is currently applying for jobs, turning down a job offer for ~450k/yr. Once the training is complete, I don't think finding a job will be very difficult.
Well, I am in the same boat as you and still don't understand the match process fully. However, I think a lot of what you said is correct. It's true that we cannot really correlate the percent matched to those that strictly apply for MD residencies, and considering that they would be removed from the MD match as soon as they get an AOA match, we would never see them as a viable applicant. Also, while you are correct that ortho and plastics is a hard match no matter what, the point I was making is that it is extremely hard for a DO to match MD in those specialties. If you look at the last few years of the ACGME reports, you will see how true that is. Most mid-tier MD schools will have more ortho matches in one year than all the DO schools combined will have in a couple years (in MD residencies, obviously).
The reason I say that competitive slots are still unfriendly to DO's is a result of reading about people with near perfect applications from DO schools get turned down by MD residencies. Now, that of course does not factor in the detail that many near-perfect MD applicants will be turned down for those same spots, and when you're applying for something like derm, you have so many amazing applicants, you can choose to go with all MD's because you don't ever need to exit the top 5% of applicants. When it's such a gamble to go all in with the allo match, it's no wonder why most competitive DO's end up with AOA residencies. I'm not sure that data exists that covers this topic...I will have to do some browsing.
Either way, I didn't mean to get this thread off topic so much...good luck to all of this year's applicants. I will be heading to CCOM this July and wish you all the best!
The financial aid packet they gave out said something like 81k for on-campus and 83-84k for off-campus. However, I think they overestimate because my personal calculations are around 68k for off campus (with no roommate)--includes monthly spending cash budget of $500 for utilities and such. Also, work-study grants something like 4k, which ends up being quite a bit if you consider both pre-clinical years and assume a 3:1 payoff to loan ratio over the life of your loan.
Thanks. I hope your experience is more the norm than an exception. $68k is much more manageable and CCOM is one of my top choices especially if the COL will be manageable.
Anyone get the secondary yet?