MWU-CCOM vs RVU-Montana?

[thasyl]

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I just got out of the alternate list for Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine (MWU-CCOM) 😀 I also currently hold an acceptance at Rocky Vista University - Montana. I'm currently leaning towards CCOM because it is a stronger program, but I would appreciate any outside input!

About me: International student looking to match in or near Florida after med school, leaning away from being a PCP and leaning towards maybe psych, but still flexible. My parents will be paying my tuition so I won't be taking any student loans. Worried about matching non-primary care as an international student who will need a visa.

Currently accepted at RVU-Montana, just got out of the waitlist for MWU-CCOM. On the APS list (accepted pending space) for RVU-Colorado and waitlisted at PHSU St. Louis.

MWU-CCOM​

• Symptom-based curriculum, classes from 8-9 to 4-5 with "encouraged attendance"

Pros:​

• "Big 5" DO schools, good reputation among residency program directors, specially for a DO school
• Good matching: 98% match rate (50/50 primary care to non-primary care), I'm not interested in doing FM or IM to PCP route so that's important to me
• Strong alumni network and Good research opportunities
• Good 3rd year rotations: All within 50 miles and several seem to be with residency-affiliated programs, heard they invest quite a lot in securing good rotation sites
• Location: Large urban city suburb ❤️ Having grown in a major city (11 million population) and then Boston suburbs, Downers Grove seem a more attractive location
• Family: Closer to Orlando (3 hrs direct flight), where my family will spend several months of the year, so easier to visit family
• Cadaver lab!!! ❤️
• Non-profit

Cons:​

• Cost: 14k Higher tuition and cost of living. My family will be paying so I won't have any student loans to worry about, but I still feel bad 🙁
• Stressfully pre-clinical: Exam-heavy curriculum (2-3 exams per week and several quizzes) and graded and ranked pre-clinicals 🙁
• Classes scheduled every day from 8-9 to 4-5, although classes are recorded, since I learn better from recorded classes + outside materials, my main worry is that it might be rough to manage the heavy exams schedule with doing research, studying for boards, etc.

RVU-Montana​

• Double-pass System-based curriculum with free time in the morning to watch recorded classes and mandatory in-class time in the afternoon

Pros:​

• Pre-clinical years seem to be more chill: Pass fail with H/P/F, but still ranked, CARE blocks a couple times per semester which seem nice to recover mentally
• Cheaper tuition and cost of living
• Parent campus has good match rates and RVU-Montana seem to also have good board pass rates

Cons:​

• New school: No alumni network, worse research opportunities, doesn't have a reputation among residency directors, etc.
• Unknown matching: RVU-Montana is a separate campus from RVU-Colorado/Utah and they haven't matched their first class yet
• Poor 3rd year rotation sites: They try to have place students so that their 3rd year rotations all within a 2 hr drive from one another, but those sites are all over the country so it seems hard to keep a community for the 3rd year. And a potential 4 hrs commute sounds BRUTAL during some rotations 🙁
• Location: Billings is the capital of Montana but still a very tiny city (100k people) so transition might be rough
• Family: No direct flight to Orlando, 7+ hrs trip. Hard to visit family 🙁
• No cadaver lab 🙁
• For-profit 🙁

 

[Doctordocom]

Hello I hope you see this post in time. I am an alumni from Midwestern class of 2023 and just finished IM residency this year. Midwestern University is not worth the tuition. The education that they provide is just average compared to the tuition ($80k/year). There are rumors that the tuition money is used for the Dean/Admins retirement plan rather than the "quality rotation sites" they have.

From my experience, they say you can specialize in anything, but when you get there, they try to pressure you into stuff like IM, Peds and EM. For me they discouraged me from going PMR and pressure me going into IM. Looking back I don't have much regrets, but I really did not like how pushy they are.

In terms of matching Psych, its actually not super competitive. During your 3rd year you will have a core psych rotation and 4th year you can apply to aways and sub-I's for psych. Even if you don't match psych after 4th year, you still have the option of taking a transition year (only 1 year; not really looked down upon) and can re-apply psych. If you pass transition year, you should have stronger LOR for psych. Essentially, there are still ways around RVU-Montana being a new school

 

[Doctordocom]

Also I wouldn't let the fact that during 3rd year at RVU you guys will be spread out. The same thing happens in Midwestern were everyone is spread out through out the chicagoland area and people sort of break off into their own groups.