Wow all these New Yorker going to CCOM,
I am an MS-1 at CCOM from NY.
I moved out here about two weeks before classes started. If I had it all to do again, I would have moved out here earlier. I live off campus. I chose to do so because living conditions on campus are kind of claustrophobic and I didn't think I could handle being on campus 24hrs. I think I made the right choice.
A word of warning. Finding an apartment can be kind of hard. I found my apartment in early July and then moved out in here in August. The Downers Grove area is hopping in terms of real-estate. Everyone wants to buy and as a result it is getting harder to find apartments that are willing to rent (as opposed to buying). Many places that do rent charge a premium. Expect to pay 750-1100 for a one bedroom. Many places will include some utilities in that. I suggest contacting RELCON, an appartment finder service. They might be helpful.
For those of you deciding between NYCOM and CCOM, here's some of the factors that influenced my descision:
1) NYCOM never got back to me to tell me if I was in or not-I interviewed in November. I asked them in July if they had made up their mind. I had already accepted here, but was just curious. They BSed me about still deliberating. In general I found their admissions staff quite unproffesional in many regards. Even if they had accepted me I would not have gone.
2) NYCOMs class size is 250 I think. It felt a bit crowded. Sometimes I think that CCOMs 160 is a bit too much. NYCOMs campus just felt cramped.
3) CCOMs classrooms were much better equiped and are not next to the animal labs as they are at NYCOM. I could not handle the smell while taking exams.
4) After doing some research, I felt that the hospitals which you do 3rd and 4th year rotations at were better at CCOM. NYCOM had some great ones, but I just felt that I would get more exposure to programs that I might want to do a residency at in Chicago.
5) Chicago as a city has a very stable medical community. The hospitals are not madly merging. Furthermore you can, and most people do, take all of their rotations in Chicago area hospitals. Ofcourse people purposely elect to do out of system rotations at other sites, but no one is forced to go to another state unless they want to.
6) CCOMs recent match results and board scores were better than excellent. I don't know what NYCOMs are, but CCOMs convinced me that I could go anywhere I wanted to with a DO degree from here.
With that said, I think that NYCOM is a great school and I want to emphasize that all of the above is my opinion. I don't want to step on anyone's toes. Rather, I mean to provoke thought in people who may be trying to decide between the two.
If anyone has any specific questions about CCOM or moving out here you can email me at
[email protected]. I check my email more frequently than this site.
Hope I was of help,
Johan Aasbo
MS-1 CCOM
