Non-accredited D.O. schools, a risk?

[Heyonah]

My understanding is that a school must graduate a specific number of classes before it can become an accredited D.O. school. I have heard that such is the case with a new D.O. school that just opened up in TN (although the name of the school slips my mind). Does anyone know if there is a high risk of going to a medical school that has not yet been accredited?

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[146233]

Even new schools get provisional accreditation, which won't likely be a detriment to you, provided they ultimately are awarded full accreditation.

 

[spicedmanna]

My understanding is that a school must graduate a specific number of classes before it can become an accredited D.O. school. I have heard that such is the case with a new D.O. school that just opened up in TN (although the name of the school slips my mind). Does anyone know if there is a high risk of going to a medical school that has not yet been accredited?

I believe you are referring to LMU-DCOM. That school has been granted provisional accreditation by COCA.

There are three different statuses of accreditation granted by AOA COCA: pre-accreditation status, provisional accreditation status, and full AOA COCA accreditation.

Here is more information: http://www.osteopathic.org/index.cfm?PageID=mc_coca

I can't speak to the risk of attending an AOA COCA provisionally accredited medical school, since I have no experience in this area. I think it will probably need to be assessed individually.

However, I think we should define risk. What is your concern? Perhaps a more knowledgeable source can address your specific concerns about provisionally accredited osteopathic medical schools in general, or about a specific provisionally-accredited school.

 

[StringerBell]

However, I think we should define risk. What is your concern? Perhaps a more knowledgeable source can address your specific concerns about provisionally accredited osteopathic medical schools in general, or about a specific provisionally-accredited school.

Once again, Spicedmanna provides some good insight. I would like to address specific schools, if I may.

"Provisional" Accredition is the highest status that may be afforded to a school that has not yet graduated a class, unless it happens to be a branch campus. Touro-NV is considered a branch campus of Touro-MI, and has AOA "branch campus" accreditation. This is also true of LECOM (Bradenton). ATSU-SOMA, however, is in provisional accredition status, according to their dean of admissions. (I guess they don't want to be considered merely a branch campus of KCOM?) So they will received full accreditation status only after they graduate their first class.

The Dean of ATSU-SOMA, Dr. Wood, says that a school that has received provisional accreditation has never failed to graduate a class and receive full accreditation. He also said that in the event that some unforeseen catastrophe happened, that they would assist in the placement of ATSU-SOMA students at other schools. So "Provisional Accreditation" seems to be a pretty safe bet.

Pre-accreditation is, however, a different story. Rocky Vista and Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences fall under this category.

 

[cy101]

StringerBell, can you elaborate on the pre-accreditation schools? I mean the student who would graduate from those school would they be granted physician License or not? and also would they be awarded full accreditation or not?

 

[nascardoc]

StringerBell, can you elaborate on the pre-accreditation schools? I mean the student who would graduate from those school would they be granted physician License or not? and also would they be awarded full accreditation or not?

A school can't start taking applications, have interviews, etc. until they have provisional accreditation, so those schools (Rocky Vista and Pacific NW) will not have any students until then. As for schools that already have provisional status (DCOM), the students will be seen as any other student who has graduated from established schools in terms of accreditation. Simply, as stated before, a school can only become fully accreditated after graduating its first class.

Here is a link to DCOM's website that gives a timeline and explaination of the accreditation process they have gone thru. You may have to glance thru a few articles to get all the info.

http://www.lmunet.edu/dcom/news/index.htm

 

[StringerBell]

StringerBell, can you elaborate on the pre-accreditation schools? I mean the student who would graduate from those school would they be granted physician License or not? and also would they be awarded full accreditation or not?

I really can't say much about pre-accreditation other than it is an early step in the process. I think Nascardoc said it best - by the time the school can start accepting applications, it will have received provisional accreditation. By the time the provisional accreditation is received, it should be considered "safe." It's symbiotic - if you graduate from the school, then it has received accreditation, and then you will have graduated from an accredited school.

 

[Heyonah]

Thank you very much for everyone's insight! It has been helpful beyond words.

 

[cy101]

thanks for the info.