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More on AZCOM
- Thread starter Lady Tokimi
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dr_keki said:
I'm currently attending AZCOM and I love it here. It's difficult for me to find something wrong with the school so you will have to take my advice with a grain of salt. 🙂 As far as competitiveness goes, the school has gotten extremely competitive recently with news of the school overhauling the clinical rotation setup and providing future students the opportunity to do hospital rotations locally as opposed to be forced to travel outside of Phoenix for them during 3rd year.
Strengths
1. Weather/Location - Yes it's hot up to mid October but after that the weather is amazing. Sunny, blue skies and dry weather every single day. AZCOM is located in a wealthy subdivision of Glendale called Arrowhead. Arrowhead is beautiful and has amazing restaurants and bars. Everything you need is in Arrowhead so you don't have to travel far.
2. Student Body- It's a west coast school so the campus is pretty laid back. Most students are from the west coast but our class is pretty geographically diverse. I feel the class camraderie is pretty high. I can say that I truly respect and love my classmates.
3. Campus - the facilities are amazing. Brand new steel and brick campus. They have nice on-campus housing and luxurious apartments directly accross the street. Many students have bought amazing houses near campus but those can be expesnive (300k +)
4. Phoenix is fun - Scottsdale and Tempe offer great night life which is only 30 minutes away. There is hiking, snow skiing and LA, San Diego and Vegas are only a short car ride away.
5. Note System - you don't have to really buy textbooks here as exam questions are taken only from the notes and lecture packets.
WEAKNESSES
1. Teaching - MOST of the professors are amazing but some of the professors could improve.
2. Busy Work- there can be a little too much busy work such as mandatory powerpoint presentations and workshops for physiology and biochemistry.
3. Night Life is far away - Arrowhead doesn't offer much in terms of a night life and some students find this to be a drawback.
4. Disorganization- I have been told the school could improve their organization skills in providing information to students are a variety of subjects
5. Test Schedule - This is a double edge sword. Some students love it and others hate it. We have exams once a week for the most part so it can be intense. But at the same time, you are not responsible for as much material in a shorter period of time as well.
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Im gonna be at AZCOM this Friday for interview..anyone AZCOM'ers wanna hang out w/ me thurs nite? if not i'll just read up and prepare for the interview all nite...
oh and another drawback i remember reading elsewhere is that the school cafeteria isnt good and its almost non-existant?..their board pass rate is one of the highest though..and they provide a very good basic science education in years 1 and 2...
oh and another drawback i remember reading elsewhere is that the school cafeteria isnt good and its almost non-existant?..their board pass rate is one of the highest though..and they provide a very good basic science education in years 1 and 2...
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hmm perhaps we should get back to the OP.....
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mikeypo0 said:
Yes, that is correct. It's not a cafeteria and if it is being labeled as such, it's a misnomer. It's basically a little snack shop. Yes, it serves lunch but it isn't very good and it's that generic ARA type of food they serve at colleges. But you have to understand, we didn't even have that until 2 years ago so for many, it's nice to just to have something available on campus. However, I have never felt we needed a cafeteria on campus because you can literally walk to Subway, Panda Express, a Sandwhich shop and other places accross the street. Everything else is within a 2 mile radius. Most of us eat at home or drive to lunch in groups. As far as restaurants and fast food go, Arrowhead has it all. You name it, it's there.
Our board passage rates and success on the USMLE Step I is very good. And I can truly appreciate that because nearly every question on every exam you take at AZCOM is framed as a board type of question. This can be difficult because you can't just memorize information at AZCOM like you can at other medical schools. You really have to understand the material well. Our assigned textbooks are board-prep books like Costanzo for Physiology and the Lippincotts for Biochemistry. If you attend AZCOM, you are practically guaranteed to pass the boards because our school teaches to the boards.
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Just got back from interview at AZCOM...everything ive read about them is true...facilities are good...student body is probably one of the understated good things about this place..everyone is soo friendly and easy going..and there is no sense of competitive-ness....if you are a fan of wearing PJ's to class..this is the place for you =D .faculty is top notch as well...they have good research opportunities..clinical experience in first year!..and like others have said..they are gaining more and more love from hospitals..because of the quality doctors this school pumps out..and they are building a new clinic just south of the school..so students will be able to do rotations there which is due out next summer.. And most of the 1st year students that talked to us said that by the time the class of 2010 get to their 3rd and 4th years..they will have just about equal opportunities (with U of A students) to rotate at the bigger named hospitals in phoenix like mayo clinic, etc....
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Honestly, AZCOM is a school I am agonizing over....A school I am still considering going to over a state MD acceptance that costs over 20K less per year. This is how awesome of a place I think it is.
OMM is good but didn't seem as emphasized as it is at the older schools. AZCOM, seemed to me, like a very 'allopathic' DO school. Very smart students, high scores, incredible didactics. WHich is not to say you can't learn OMM and learn it well there. I just didn't get the impression I did at DMU that OMM was pushed heavily, you know?
The school is beautiful, Arizona is beautiful and the students are very laid back (partly due to DO, partly due to being in AZ) and nice...On campus housing looks great as well as the apartments across the street. The school is in a nice part of Glendale. The professors all seem really involved and awesome. Honestly there is nothing bad I can say about the school except you need to go into it realizing you may need to do some legwork 3rd year to secure some spots for yourself in Phoenix or otherwise. That situation is on the up and up though but you still need to go there realizing you may not be 100% spoonfed when it comes to 3rd year.
Also AZCOM has seemingly a great vacation schedule; only 30 weeks of school which is 3+ less than most other schools Iv'e seen. I think anyone would be lucky to go to such a great school, I wish I hadn't gotten a single MD acceptance in many ways so I could have gone there w/o having it be such a darn tough decision. 🙂
OMM is good but didn't seem as emphasized as it is at the older schools. AZCOM, seemed to me, like a very 'allopathic' DO school. Very smart students, high scores, incredible didactics. WHich is not to say you can't learn OMM and learn it well there. I just didn't get the impression I did at DMU that OMM was pushed heavily, you know?
The school is beautiful, Arizona is beautiful and the students are very laid back (partly due to DO, partly due to being in AZ) and nice...On campus housing looks great as well as the apartments across the street. The school is in a nice part of Glendale. The professors all seem really involved and awesome. Honestly there is nothing bad I can say about the school except you need to go into it realizing you may need to do some legwork 3rd year to secure some spots for yourself in Phoenix or otherwise. That situation is on the up and up though but you still need to go there realizing you may not be 100% spoonfed when it comes to 3rd year.
Also AZCOM has seemingly a great vacation schedule; only 30 weeks of school which is 3+ less than most other schools Iv'e seen. I think anyone would be lucky to go to such a great school, I wish I hadn't gotten a single MD acceptance in many ways so I could have gone there w/o having it be such a darn tough decision. 🙂
priu said:
OMM at AZCOM is what you make of it. If you enjoy it and are really interested in learning it, the faculty are top notch and you'll have no problems learning it. If you aren't too interested in it, you can just do the bare minimum and still do fine in the class. The written tests are not too hard, and if you pay attention in lab the practicals are cake walks.
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Hmmm Sooo I'm Assumin No One Has Recieved Their Matriculation Letter Yet???
