MSUCOM or CCOM

[jason3278]

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my girlfriend is applying this cycle, and I am applying next year. I have a feeling we will be deciding between these two schools. We are in MI, but we are not particularly interested in primary care. I'm not sure how much CCOM focuses on PC, but I know that MSU really does.

CCOM tuition though. Yikes.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

CCOM in my opinion, hardly pushes primary care.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

my girlfriend is applying this cycle, and I am applying next year. I have a feeling we will be deciding between these two schools. We are in MI, but we are not particularly interested in primary care. I'm not sure how much CCOM focuses on PC, but I know that MSU really does.

CCOM tuition though. Yikes.

You're trying to go to the same medical school? Good luck getting in together. I am thankful that my significant other is an engineer! Anyway, my opinion is that for the money go for in-state tuition. Even if the school generally does one thing or another, you can always do something different. As long as your grades/boards are good and you've made an impression on those you have worked with you can get a good residency, or so I have heard. But you have to make the choice at the school where you feel most comfortable.

 

[jason3278]

You're trying to go to the same medical school? Good luck getting in together. I am thankful that my significant other is an engineer! Anyway, my opinion is that for the money go for in-state tuition. Even if the school generally does one thing or another, you can always do something different. As long as your grades/boards are good and you've made an impression on those you have worked with you can get a good residency, or so I have heard. But you have to make the choice at the school where you feel most comfortable.

We aren't applying together really, she's applying this year and I'm applying next year. Which will still be hard. There's a good chance we won't be going to the same exact school, so we think it's probably a good idea to apply to areas that have numerous medical schools, (i.e. Chicago, East Coast, MSUCHM/MSUCOM)

So no one else has any thoughts on these two schools?

 

[USArmyDoc]

We aren't applying together really, she's applying this year and I'm applying next year. Which will still be hard. There's a good chance we won't be going to the same exact school, so we think it's probably a good idea to apply to areas that have numerous medical schools, (i.e. Chicago, East Coast, MSUCHM/MSUCOM)

So no one else has any thoughts on these two schools?

Have her make connection inside the med school she goes too. Have her go into the admissions office and ask if they could advise you on your application. I am telling you if she does that and you perform well you will get in.

 

[ambientbaby]

Pushes primary care? I don't really see how any school can do this. Ultimately, YOU choose your residency based on YOUR interests. YOU study for boards and get the score YOU want. There have been many surgeons, radiologists, and orthopods that trained at MSUCOM too. Moot point in my opinion. Although Chicago would be much cooler than EL.

Good luck my son.

 

[jason3278]

Have her make connection inside the med school she goes too. Have her go into the admissions office and ask if they could advise you on your application. I am telling you if she does that and you perform well you will get in.

I hadn't considered that. Guess I didn't think students would have much influence on the adcoms, but maybe...hmm.

Thanks! 🙂

 

[jason3278]

Pushes primary care? I don't really see how any school can do this. Ultimately, YOU choose your residency based on YOUR interests. YOU study for boards and get the score YOU want. There have been many surgeons, radiologists, and orthopods that trained at MSUCOM too. Moot point in my opinion. Although Chicago would be much cooler than EL.

Good luck my son.

Thats cool, I'm happy with the responses I'm getting. I guess when a school states their agenda, it isn't some sort of mandate for students. This is good.
I thought maybe MSUCOM would require more family med rotations, leaving you less time for specialty electives....maybe not?

 

[jason3278]

Pushes primary care? I don't really see how any school can do this. Ultimately, YOU choose your residency based on YOUR interests. YOU study for boards and get the score YOU want. There have been many surgeons, radiologists, and orthopods that trained at MSUCOM too. Moot point in my opinion. Although Chicago would be much cooler than EL.

Good luck my son.

Thanks, Dad.

 

[ambientbaby]

I thought maybe MSUCOM would require more family med rotations, leaving you less time for specialty electives....maybe not?

Good point. Not sure about that one.

 

[jw83]

Both are great schools. I applied to both this year and was accepted at both. Of the two, I liked CCOM better but that is probably personal preference. I attended a small private university for undergrad and a large university for grad school and as a result, I think a smaller school is a better environment for me. When you interview at CCOM, they give you a list of where their graduates matched and it was quite impressive--many ended up at well known institutions as well in a wide range of specialties. However, I do think that MSU's cirriculum may be more rigorous as they go pretty much 12 months out of the year right from the beginning and take several classes that many of the other DO schools do not offer.

All that to say, both are great schools and have their own advantages and disadvantages. I was told by a physician that when you make your list of pros and cons to put tuition at bottom of the list and let that be one of the last things you consider. Good advice? Hopefully, but ask me what I think in four years when I have to start repaying my loans.

Anyway, good luck.

BTW--I'm not going to go to either...I'm going to AZCOM but that's another story.

 

[jw83]

Oh yeah, about their rotations...There is a lot of information about their schedule for the 4 years on their website.

In fact, here's a link to their page about rotations.

http://www.com.msu.edu/aa/unitIII/unitIII.shtml

 

[ambientbaby]

http://www.midwestern.edu/ccom/

Click on curriculum and feast.

 

[suds945]

Incidentally, CCOM isn't in Chicago proper...it's at Midwestern University in Downers Grove, IL, which is a rich (and thus expensive-to-live-in) suburb about forty-five minutes or so away from Chicago if you're driving.

I interviewed at both CCOM and MSUCOM and now I'm going to MSUCOM because 1) the tuition is fairly reasonable; and 2) my family is close by (we live about an hour north of Detroit). However, I don't have a SO at the moment, so that wasn't a consideration for me, although I am much further away from most of my friends from undergrad, at least one of whom is starting at CCOM in August.

MSUCOM's entering class each year is ~80% from the state of Michigan, which is huge and very nice admissions-wise if you're from this state. In addition, their class will be expanding further soon (it actually already did for this coming academic year) because there will supposedly be a big shortage of primary care docs in Michigan five to ten years from now.

However, the fact that this is MSUCOM's goal/agenda has no bearing whatsoever on what you choose as a specialization. I'm actually looking at the academic curriculum for the first two years (Units I and II) as we speak (Unit I stuff can be found at http://www.com.msu.edu/aa/apinfo/c_gridI.shtml and Unit II stuff at http://www.com.msu.edu/aa/apinfo/c_gridII.shtml), and out of the 99 total credits you take over said two years, only *two* of them are devoted specifically to family medicine. You can see for yourself from the link posted by jw83 that precisely *zero* clinical rotations in family medicine are required to obtain your medical degree, although that is an option if you want to check it out.

And, well, there you have it.

 

[jason3278]

Incidentally, CCOM isn't in Chicago proper...it's at Midwestern University in Downers Grove, IL, which is a rich (and thus expensive-to-live-in) suburb about forty-five minutes or so away from Chicago if you're driving.

I interviewed at both CCOM and MSUCOM and now I'm going to MSUCOM because 1) the tuition is fairly reasonable; and 2) my family is close by (we live about an hour north of Detroit). However, I don't have a SO at the moment, so that wasn't a consideration for me, although I am much further away from most of my friends from undergrad, at least one of whom is starting at CCOM in August.

MSUCOM's entering class each year is ~80% from the state of Michigan, which is huge and very nice admissions-wise if you're from this state. In addition, their class will be expanding further soon (it actually already did for this coming academic year) because there will supposedly be a big shortage of primary care docs in Michigan five to ten years from now.

However, the fact that this is MSUCOM's goal/agenda has no bearing whatsoever on what you choose as a specialization. I'm actually looking at the academic curriculum for the first two years (Units I and II) as we speak (Unit I stuff can be found at http://www.com.msu.edu/aa/apinfo/c_gridI.shtml and Unit II stuff at http://www.com.msu.edu/aa/apinfo/c_gridII.shtml), and out of the 99 total credits you take over said two years, only *two* of them are devoted specifically to family medicine. You can see for yourself from the link posted by jw83 that precisely *zero* clinical rotations in family medicine are required to obtain your medical degree, although that is an option if you want to check it out.

And, well, there you have it.

Very interesting. Thank you very much. I feel a lot better about going to either one of these school now.

 

[Jpc984]

Any new thoughts? I used the search!

 

[Nasem]

Incidentally, CCOM isn't in Chicago proper...it's at Midwestern University in Downers Grove, IL, which is a rich (and thus expensive-to-live-in) suburb about forty-five minutes or so away from Chicago if you're driving.

I interviewed at both CCOM and MSUCOM and now I'm going to MSUCOM because 1) the tuition is fairly reasonable; and 2) my family is close by (we live about an hour north of Detroit). However, I don't have a SO at the moment, so that wasn't a consideration for me, although I am much further away from most of my friends from undergrad, at least one of whom is starting at CCOM in August.

MSUCOM's entering class each year is ~80% from the state of Michigan, which is huge and very nice admissions-wise if you're from this state. In addition, their class will be expanding further soon (it actually already did for this coming academic year) because there will supposedly be a big shortage of primary care docs in Michigan five to ten years from now.

However, the fact that this is MSUCOM's goal/agenda has no bearing whatsoever on what you choose as a specialization. I'm actually looking at the academic curriculum for the first two years (Units I and II) as we speak (Unit I stuff can be found at http://www.com.msu.edu/aa/apinfo/c_gridI.shtml and Unit II stuff at http://www.com.msu.edu/aa/apinfo/c_gridII.shtml), and out of the 99 total credits you take over said two years, only *two* of them are devoted specifically to family medicine. You can see for yourself from the link posted by jw83 that precisely *zero* clinical rotations in family medicine are required to obtain your medical degree, although that is an option if you want to check it out.

And, well, there you have it.

I liked your post, you seem to know alot about MSU,
MSU is actually my #1 pick (DO or MD),
have you heard anything about them having to expand thier campus to other locations (I think somewhere closer to detroit or grand rapids.... can't remember)

 

[Jpc984]

I think they are expanding to Detroit... The when is the big question.

 

[speeter]

CHM is already in Grand Rapids. COM is starting a campus in Detroit either next year or the following.

 

[drchick331]

As an FYI, COM will have two campuses in the Detroit Metro area - one at the Detroit Medical Center in downtown Detroit and one in the suburbs of Macomb County. I believe the accreditation board is meeting in December or January, and MSUCOM expects to have the campuses open in the Fall of 2008 (which could mean an additional 100 spots available, with 50 students at each campus)...

Regarding the notion that MSUCOM "pushes" primary care, I have to greatly disagree. While it is true that we are listed in the top schools for primary care, this is usually attributed to the fact that during third year, we have a block of rotations (6 months) called our "primary care/ambulatory care" or PCAC block. Most other schools have this block, but may not necessarily designate it as such. It includes rotations in family medicine, internal medicine (clinic not hospital), Ob/gyn (again clinic-based), and a few selectives (OMM, for example).

During first and second year you are exposed to primary care only through the Family Medicine Preceptorship - consider this a 2 week block that allows you to see what a family doc does and to learn how third and fourth year works. It is a great way to practice your patient and clinical skills while you are learning the basic science.

I don't intend on going into primary care (at this point), and I have yet to feel like MSUCOM has discouraged me in the least. There have been certain classes (particularly Neuromusculoskeletal) that seemed to really highlight specialties including neurology and orthopedics. Knowing the number of students that want to go into specialties from my entering class, I recommend that you pick the school that feels right to you.

 

[Nasem]

drchick331 ~
the 2 new campuses near detroit.... are they going to be the same MSUCOM ? so when we apply to MSU, are we only going to see MSUCOM in the list? or its going be like :
MSUCOM
MSUCOM-DMC
MSUCOM-MAC

Thats REALLY good news for michigan residents, more spots open means more michigan acceptances

 

[drchick331]

You just have to apply to MSUCOM - it hasn't been stated exactly how they will divvy up the students, but it will all be considered one school with three campuses. I don't think they will put any branch name after MSUCOM. I think the opportunities at the DMC will really broaden the clinical experience we get!

 

[Nasem]

Im soo happy about this, I mean, MSU was my #1 pick (but so was Wayne state due to thier great connections with DMC hospitals)

but after what you said about PCAC block (which seems to be a great way to learn all the basics), I am definitely making MSU my #1

I have a question, based on your posts, I am going to assume you attend MSU, how does MSUCOM compare to MSUCHM ? I think they are the same with the end result one being "DO" and other "MD" behind the graduates names

 

[drchick331]

I have a question, based on your posts, I am going to assume you attend MSU, how does MSUCOM compare to MSUCHM ? I think they are the same with the end result one being "DO" and other "MD" behind the graduates names

MSUCOM vs. MSUCHM - I think the major difference (other than DO vs. MD) is that the curriculum (especially second year is very different). Granted during first year, you will take many classes many (NOT all) basic science classes together (ex: physiology, biochem/molec bio, neuroscience, pathology, pharm, radiology). However, many classes are different (ex: anatomy in the summer, OMM, neuromusculoskeletal, doctor-patient relationship, etc).

Second year is vastly different between the schools. COM follows a systems-based approach whereby you have a separate class for GI or cardiology. CHM follows a problem-based learning approach that teaches through cases rather than specific lectures. Each certainly has its advantages and disadvantages - something that you must weigh yourself. I know that I am more of a traditional lecture-style learner, but some people find that they learn best in more team-oriented problem solving environments. If you end up touring COM, this would probably be a good question to ask the student that is leading the tour.

 

[Jpc984]

I have seen the dorms at CCOM, but wanted to know more about MSU's dorms. Do a lot of COM students stay in the dorms first year? Would that be at Owen hall? Also, is it open in the summer for Anatomy?

 

[Darktide]

At my visitation, they stressed the fact that people stay in "local" housing close to campus~~ In fact, of all the information they gave about housing (200000 pages of it) dorms weren't mentioned at all =)

 

[Jpc984]

Very interesting... I will have to ask them why they don't push the dorms when I visit on the 21.

 

[Jpc984]

For current students of MSUCOM and CCOM, what are some negative things about your school you wish you knew before matriculation. If you do not want to openly bash your school, please PM me!!!

Any info will be appreciated.

 

[Darktide]

I'd much rather them post it here~~~ as i'm sure most people would love to know =)