I have been working on Wall Street for 4 years and have decided to go back to DO school. I am presently taking my last pre-med req, the dreaded organic chemistry, and I am taking the MCAT in August. Can any one give me some feedback on the rankings of DO schools? There is no official ranking and I am in the dark!!!! Look forward to hearing from you.
tonyda, you are right there is not an official ranking for DO schools but the general opinion is: 1. PCOM 2. NYCOM 3. Kiksville 4. UHS 5. UMDNJ Again, this is just a general opinion so like with all opinions everybody has one. But the real list should not deviate that much fron this one.
By "general" opinion, I guess you mean "your" opinion siulrc. What did you base your criteria off of? Sorry to say, tonyda, but the members of the lounge have yet to come to any consensus on college rankings. Your best and only bet is http://www.usnews.com. It's the only list out there which appears to be rationally and unbiasly compiled. It ranks the DO schools and MD schools together.
You know... the "best" school is the one that each respondent goes to (!). We've all chosen schools for different criteria. You want big? Go to PCOM. You want warmth? Try Nova, TUCOM, Western. Snow? UNECOM, LECOM, Michigan... you get the idea... Honestly, I don't think -anyone- can conclusively say that one osteo school is far and away 'better' in academics than another. Many have tried, none have succeeded (in convincing me, at least). I feel it's your personal choice. Research them all, and then go for it. As far as the US N&WR 'rankings', you really have to watch them closely. I remember WVCOM ranking highly for % of students going into primary care (or was it FP?)---well, they've got a relatively small class, and that's what they're (WVCOM's adcom) looking for in applicants, so naturally a huge percentage of their graduates are going to go that route.
Tonyda, Looking at a school's matchlist is a good way to gauge a school's reputation. I chose UNECOM before seeing the matchlist because I compared cost of living, student body, facilities, size of entering class, and many other factors. None-the-less, I was impressed with UNECOM's matchlist (I really want to stay in the area and lots of people match in MA/CT residencies) and was pleased with my decision. I worked under a UNECOM graduate for 3 years who was by far the most incredible doc I had ever met. If you haven't visited a school, I recommend talkign to as many students as possible from that school. It really helps to enlighten a prospective student. Good luck in your decision! This is UNECOM's matchlist: (Thanks to ECF1975 who supplied me with this information) POSTGRADUATE TRAINING DESTINATIONS UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE Class of 1999 There were 88 graduates in the Class of 1999. In July, 1999, 54 entered osteopathic internships and 31 (including 6 military) entered allopathic residencies including emergency medicine (2), family practice (8), internal medicine (10), pediatrics (2), psychiatry (2), preliminary/categorical surgery (3) and transitional year (4). Three students did not participate in the 1998-1999 Match process. Eight students matched with PGY-2 (2000-2001) programs as follows: Anesthesiology (3), Emergency Medicine (2), Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (2) and Radiology (1). ARIZONA - 1 Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Scottsdale CALIFORNIA - 1 St. Mary's Hosp. & Med. Ctr., San Francisco CONNECTICUT - 2 University of CT Health Center, Farmington FLORIDA - 5 Community Hospital-Carrollwood, Tampa Florida Hospital East Orlando, Orlando Northside Hosp. & Heart Institute, St. Petersburg Suncoast Hospital, Largo HAWAII - 2 Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu ILLINOIS - 2 Columbia Olympia Fields, Olympia Fields Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital, Chicago (PGY-2) MAINE - 8 Central Maine Medical Center, Lewiston Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor Maine-Dartmouth Family Practice Residency, Augusta Maine Medical Center, Portland MARYLAND - 1 University of Maryland Medical System, Baltimore MASSACHUSETTS - 19 Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield Beverly Hospital, Danvers Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston (PGY-2) Fitchburg Family Practice, Fitchburg St. Elizabeth's Med. Ctr. of Boston, Boston St. Elizabeth's Med. Ctr. of Boston, Brighton Saint Vincent Hospital, Worcester UMass Memorial Health Care, Worcester MICHIGAN - 5 E.W. Sparrow Hospital, Lansing Garden City Hospital Osteopathic, Garden City Munson Medical Center, Traverse City MINNESOTA - 1 Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, Rochester NEVADA - 2 University of Nevada, Reno NEW HAMPSHIRE - 1 Dartmouth-Hitchcock Med. Ctr., Lebanon NEW JERSEY - 3 Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark St. Michael's Hospital & Medical Center, Newark Warren Hospital, Phillipsburg NEW YORK - 10 Albany Medical Center, Albany Long Beach Medical Center, Long Beach Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown St. Barnabas Hospital, Bronx St. Elizabeth Hospital, Utica Sisters of Charity Hospital, Buffalo NORTH CAROLINA - 2 Womack Army Medical Center, Ft. Bragg OHIO - 5 Doctors Hospital, North, Columbus Grandview Hospital & Medical Center, Dayton Meridia South Pointe Hospital, Cleveland St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Toledo PENNSYLVANIA - 9 City Avenue Hospital, Philadelphia Memorial Hospital, York Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh St. Luke's Hospital, Bethlehem Suburban General Hospital, Norristown Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh RHODE ISLAND - 2 Roger Williams Hospital, Providence TEXAS - 2 Darnall Army Community Hospital, Ft. Hood Driscoll Children's Hospital, Corpus Christi WASHINGTON - 1 Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma WISCONSIN - 1 University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire PENNSYLVANIA - 5 City Avenue Hospital, Philadelphia Community Hospital of Lancaster, Lancaster Temple University Program, Mercy Hospital, Scranton Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Pittsburgh TENNESSEE - 1 East Tennessee State University, Kingsport TEXAS - 1 Scott & White Memorial Hospital, Temple VIRGINIA - 2 Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk Naval Hospital, Portsmouth WASHINGTON - 2 Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma WEST VIRGINIA - 1 West Virginia University Hospital, Morgantown
i really don't think that usnews' rankings are very valuable for premeds unless the most important thing that you look for in a school is that they have a high percentage of students going into primary care. that's not the case for me, actually it's probably the opposite. the best d.o. school is the best d.o. school for you, personally i liked umdnj-som, because although it's the largest medical school in the nation in terms of resources, it has one of the smallest class sizes, 75 students. It's also one of the only d.o. schools with a university hospital, it's also a state school, with lots of research for a d.o. school, great facilities, and a great location in a 'philly suburb of new jersey.' I would also rank, MSU-COM, up there as well as PCOM, NYCOM, and Kirksville, just going on reputation, but they all have big classes!!!
