Need help deciding...Opinons please!

[allenm44]

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Hey everyone. I just wanted to get some input from people. Only serious responses please. I have been accepted to OCPM, NYCPM, and TUSPM. I do not really care on the location of the school, I just want to go to the one that would give me the best future. I know everyone says its wherever you think you would fit in best, but I honestly like all 3 schools.
If anyone has any opionions, facts, pros/cons on any of these schools can you please share them with me? How are the residency placements? Where will i see a wide variety of different cases? Do all these schools allow the same number of externships? How are the placements?
I know I have a lot of questions but I want to make sure I am making the right choice.
Thanks🙂

 

[smartman716]

Hey everyone. I just wanted to get some input from people. Only serious responses please. I have been accepted to OCPM, NYCPM, and TUSPM. I do not really care on the location of the school, I just want to go to the one that would give me the best future. I know everyone says its wherever you think you would fit in best, but I honestly like all 3 schools.
If anyone has any opionions, facts, pros/cons on any of these schools can you please share them with me? How are the residency placements? Where will i see a wide variety of different cases? Do all these schools allow the same number of externships? How are the placements?
I know I have a lot of questions but I want to make sure I am making the right choice.
Thanks🙂

I have encountered alumni from all three schools and they are all doing well in private practice, academia, research, university hospital, hospital, multi-specialty group, etc. I do have my favorite but I think that although external forces significantly influence your future, ultimately you create the future by your decisions and actions. Make a tally of the things you like and don't like for each school and try eliminating based on the factors that you listed.

 

[miller4362]

This is funny because I too have been accepted to NYCPM, OCPM and TUSPM. I have yet to decide for sure and I need to do so shortly (of course). I really liked the facilities at OCPM, they cant be beat by any other school I have seen (podiatry and non-podiatry). Temple had a lot to offer too as well as new york. I have heard that Temple is most respected though. OCPM has had 100% residency placement for 19 years. I guess it really does come down to where you wanna live, where you can be most successful, what kinda students you wanna be with, faculty, course schedule, etc. I would like to hear more from you since we are in the same situation.

 

[msuDPM]

This is funny because I too have been accepted to NYCPM, OCPM and TUSPM. I have yet to decide for sure and I need to do so shortly (of course). I really liked the facilities at OCPM, they cant be beat by any other school I have seen (podiatry and non-podiatry). Temple had a lot to offer too as well as new york. I have heard that Temple is most respected though. OCPM has had 100% residency placement for 19 years. I guess it really does come down to where you wanna live, where you can be most successful, what kinda students you wanna be with, faculty, course schedule, etc. I would like to hear more from you since we are in the same situation.

I would be careful putting a lot of stock into the statements I have italicized.

Regarding any particular school being the most respected is a bit of a regional issue IMO. For example, I am from Michigan and MANY of the practicing pods i have met or even read about in the area went to OCPM, the majority of them are excellent physicians, and this bodes well for OCPM in the area. Now just to go along with my example, say there are a couple of physicians from Barry (I mean no disrespect for Barry's program, and this is completely hypothetical) that are in practice in the area and they get some bad reviews, given the small sample size this does not speak well for Barry. Now, the patients aren't going to investigate where you went to school, but your physician counterparts will take note. If doctor A knows 10 pods and 8 went to OCPM, 7 of which he would refer to, and the other 2 went to Barry, who he wouldnt refer anyone to, OCPM would get more respect from that doctor based on the encounter quality vs. sample size alone. To end my rambling, respect is given based on the information you have at hand, which isn't always the whole story. That said, all 8 schools (Western excluded) are certififed, so none really deserve more respect than the others b/c all have pros and cons.

As for the OCPM residency stats, (disclaimer as this may change given the potential residency shortage.) at this point I would be more concerned with the proportion of students getting their first or second choice residency than residency placement rate. I'm not sure how long its been since the last residency shortage, but I am pretty sure over the past few years every graduating student from every school was placed in to a residency.

My rant on those issues aside, your advice is pretty sound as to what to look for to make your decision the only other thing to think about given these troubled economic times is cost of living, and i only say that b/c of the large disparity b/t OCPM and NY.

 

[msuDPM]

Okay, I am a little slow tonight and forgot that quoting automatically puts everything in italics but i think you got what statements I was referring to.

 

[Watson315]

So it doesn't sound like there is any clear anwser to this question. No one can say clinical experience at one school is any better than any other or anything like that?

I am also in the same exact situation, and I have about a week to make the decision. Scholarship money is helping to make up my mind, but it is still tough. Each school trys to tell you they are the best, naturally.

It's just such a big decision. I have to say I am leaning toward Temple due to cost of living, location, and I have heard the academics are very good. Temple also claims to offer the greatest clinical experience and this is what I am trying to evaluate at this point. I just can't get a clear anwser from anyone. New York also claims to offer the greatest clinical experience.

I was really impressed with Ohio, but I'm not sure I am going to get great clinical experience.

 

[PodunkUDPM]

I was really impressed with Ohio, but I'm not sure I am going to get great clinical experience.

Why is that? By the time you are in clinic there (3 years from now) they should be great. Euclid is already great, as well as all the other rotations and Huron will be gone by then. I couldn't imagine any clinical program being much better.

 

[Sig Savant]

Cleveland's population is 500,000. Philadelphia's population is 1.5 mill. New York's population is 8.2 million. Ohio is much cheaper to live in. Because cost of living is low, so are starting salaries. Do you want to live in a big city or a small one.

 

[PodunkUDPM]

Cleveland's population is 500,000. Philadelphia's population is 1.5 mill. New York's population is 8.2 million. Ohio is much cheaper to live in. Because cost of living is low, so are starting salaries. Do you want to live in a big city or a small one.

Cleveland's population is really 478,000 or less, but the MSA is about 2.25mil and the CSA about 3 million. It still is a "small city" with low cost of living but I don't think that really affects starting salaries around here. I think you can still do really well if you're good at what you do. It all depends, I have also heard that salaries in general are lower in the general vicinity around pod schools. Don't know how true that really is either.

 

[AttackNME]

A famous pod and a pod-fellow who graduated from NY told me, Temple and Scholl are the two best schools, so go there for academic superiority. NY students see the most patients, so if you want to be clinically superior, go there.

But in the end, what matters most is where you get your residency.. says the pod-fellow anyway.

 

[allenm44]

Hey everyone. Thanks so much for all of your input. I am really going to have to sit and think things out. I really liked OCPM's facility and like how they place 100% of their students into residency. I also feel Temple and NY both have alot to offer. I live in NJ and most DPMs and residents in the hospital that I have shadowed in were from either NY or Temple and all speak highly of both.
Now regarding Temple being affiliated with a University and NY being an independent school... what is everyone's opinion of the pros/cons of that... especially with vision 2015??

 

[podpod]

Now regarding Temple being affiliated with a University and NY being an independent school... what is everyone's opinion of the pros/cons of that... especially with vision 2015??

ha! i doubt a school established in 1911 is jsut gonna roll over and shutdown bc they r independent. all of the schools r in association with each other. when one changes, they all will follow.

personally i think ny and temple are on par with each other n its all about whether u think u will like either city that makes the difference. the foot is the same in ny and temple.... working on feet makes a better pod not some "vision 2015"

-go where ur comfortable n gl-

 

[JEWmongous]

Hey everyone. Thanks so much for all of your input. I am really going to have to sit and think things out. I really liked OCPM's facility and like how they place 100% of their students into residency. I also feel Temple and NY both have alot to offer. I live in NJ and most DPMs and residents in the hospital that I have shadowed in were from either NY or Temple and all speak highly of both.
Now regarding Temple being affiliated with a University and NY being an independent school... what is everyone's opinion of the pros/cons of that... especially with vision 2015??

Just FYI, this is not anything too spectacular. I believe this was the first year that there more applicants than residencies but in previous years past, there were way more residency spots than graduates. More importantly, you should look at where their graduates are going (quality, 2 year vs 3 year, location, etc).

 

[215512]

Just FYI, this is not anything too spectacular. I believe this was the first year that there more applicants than residencies but in previous years past, there were way more residency spots than graduates. More importantly, you should look at where their graduates are going (quality, 2 year vs 3 year, location, etc).

hey man you decided where ur goin yet?

 

[lyhrrus]

I don't know much about OCPM, but I did have to debate between TUSPM and NYCPM and I can tell you what went into my thought process.

You will get out of whichever program however much you put into that program in terms of academics and clinical experience. So with that being equal at all schools (no I know it's not really, but there really is no proper way to judge their merits unless you've been through the program, or you're willing to go through the collective opinion of the most vocal people here on the forums). So here are the points I would consider:

1. Which city/town would you like to live in? (and would be the most conducive to your growth as a person and a podiatrist, not necessarily the same thing)

2. What are going to be the fiscal burdens in each place? (some places have a significantly higher cost of living than others)

3. How far up the leg does each place let you treat (at least in theory)? (This one was very important to me since in New York you only get to go up to the ankle as versus in Pennsylvania, you go up to the knee. IIRC)

Hope these questions help you.

 

[PADPM]

Being as objective as possible, and observing many students/externs and residents over many years, and serving as a residency director, ABPS examiner, etc., my PERSONAL opinion is that Temple and Scholl put out the best academic students by a huge margin.

I have always been impressed by the knowledge base, both academically and clinically by the Chicago and Philly grads, in that order. Clinically, I believe that the NY grads are pretty well prepared, but I've never been very impressed by the academic skills of the graduates that I've personally encountered. I would say that OCPM falls somewhere in the middle.

I have very little experience with Barry grads.

My intention is not to offend any school or graduate, I am simply speaking honestly from my ONE point of view based on my experience as a clinician, residency director and ABPS examiner.

 

[allenm44]

hey man you decided where ur goin yet?

not yet.. but its a tossup between ny and temple... how about u?

 

[allenm44]

thanks again for everyone who responded. I have read everyone's input and opinions. I will have to sit and think about this one. If anyone has any other suggestions/questions just throw them out here.
Good luck to everyone🙂