Noorda-COM vs MWU-AZCOM

[orangesrhyme]

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Noorda
Pros:

• Much closer to family/support network. My own family is within a few hours, my wife's family visits Provo frequently (she has a sibling attending BYU), and we have friends that live in Provo.
• Both tuition and cost of living (esp. tuition though) are lower than in Glendale.
• We're both LDS and looking to start a family soon, and Provo does seem like a bit more helpful for that (especially with trusted friends and family in town to help watch kids, haha!)
• The curriculum does seem a little bit more in line with stuff that's worked for me in the past, as far as the study group-forward aspect and small class size. As far as I can tell, AZCOM has a more traditional lecture hall format.
• Not sure if this is a real pro, but I did find it intriguing that they take the MD and the DO exams.
• While I know most schools are invested in the wellness of their students, it's good to see Noorda come right out the gate with stuff about that.

Cons:

• Pretty much anything to do with it being a new school. Growing pains and the like; they haven't graduated a class yet and therefore no match data, pre-accreditation/no access to federal loans until like my fourth year, all that jazz.
• There is some cliqueyness that we're a little worried about, though we also acknowledge that cliqueyness can be a thing anywhere you live.

AZCOM
Pros:

• They have a lot more years under their belt than Noorda.
• There's match and graduation data available, as such.
• Only have to worry about the COMLEX.
• While it is a little bit pricier than Utah, the greater Phoenix area really isn't that much worse, cost-of-living-wise.
• My in-laws are about as far from Phoenix as my parents are from Provo, so they're close enough to make a weekend of visiting (with all that free time I'll have in med school, yeah?)

Cons:

• The rotations have us concerned - not being guaranteed to not have to move is a little stressful, we both hate moving and it's just another thing to budget, bringing me to my last point...
• ...The tuition, holy crap. There's nearly a $20k/yr gap between MWU and Noorda. Granted, yeah, I'll have a good shovel to dig out of all of that debt, but how much more likely is it that I don't get my DO from Noorda? They were pretty insistent that no school to attain pre-accreditation has failed to become accredited, but they're naturally going to want to reassure prospective students.

So, yeah, on paper, as far as the numbers of pros and cons go, Utah seems like kind of a no-brainer. But... that con of being such a new school compared to MWU seems to be quite a heavily weighted one, just as MWU's tuition is nothing to laugh at either. What do y'all think? Thanks in advance!

Edit: I am looking into specializing, with my current top picks being pathology, internal medicine, radiology, or some kind of surgery.

 

[darkeon]

mmm, on paper you sound like a perfect fit for Noorda but that said, i'd go with AZCOM for the federal loans even if tuition is higher for potential gov programs like loan forgiveness. Plus, you have match data and comlex first time pass rates data with them to work off with. and if you're referring to nbme exams, you can always take them on your own regardless of the DO school. you still are doing comlex.

but as cheesy at it sounds, go with your heart and if you feel Noorda will make you happier then go with it.

 

[orangesrhyme]

mmm, on paper you sound like a perfect fit for Noorda but that said, i'd go with AZCOM for the federal loans even if tuition is higher for potential gov programs like loan forgiveness. Plus, you have match data and comlex first time pass rates data with them to work off with. and if you're referring to nbme exams, you can always take them on your own regardless of the DO school. you still are doing comlex.

but as cheesy at it sounds, go with your heart and if you feel Noorda will make you happier then go with it.

Psh, that doesn't sound cheesy at all! It was actually very thoughtful of you to say that. Do you think that Noorda would hurt my chances with even DO-friendly residencies, or is that not necessarily as big of a deal with new schools as I might be thinking? The loan situation isn't as big of a stressor for me; we're pretty financially savvy and Noorda actually does allow for HPSP and military repayment, which is nice. And I do know it seems like I'm hyping myself up for Utah over Arizona, but that's why I'm coming here because I feel like I might need to open myself up to hear the hard things.

 

[darkeon]

Psh, that doesn't sound cheesy at all! It was actually very thoughtful of you to say that. Do you think that Noorda would hurt my chances with even DO-friendly residencies, or is that not necessarily as big of a deal with new schools as I might be thinking? The loan situation isn't as big of a stressor for me; we're pretty financially savvy and Noorda actually does allow for HPSP and military repayment, which is nice. And I do know it seems like I'm hyping myself up for Utah over Arizona, but that's why I'm coming here because I feel like I might need to open myself up to hear the hard things.

glad you liked the words! i don't have expertise to answer the first q of yours but i'd like to guess you'd be fine with such type of residencies or in community IM/FM. If you're willing to do HPSP (and if they take you in), then I suppose Noorda would feel safer to attend as you'll be doing military residency instead of civilian and obviously you'll have your tuition covered. military does have some degree of say with regards to what field of medicine you'll get into but if you're ok with that then overall, it sounds decent really. you should check the military forum on here if you haven't already

 

[orangesrhyme]

glad you liked the words! i don't have expertise to answer the first q of yours but i'd like to guess you'd be fine with such type of residencies or in community IM/FM. If you're willing to do HPSP (and if they take you in), then I suppose Noorda would feel safer to attend as you'll be doing military residency instead of civilian and obviously you'll have your tuition covered. military does have some degree of say with regards to what field of medicine you'll get into but if you're ok with that then overall, it sounds decent really. you should check the military forum on here if you haven't already

I'll check it out! Looks like they also do rural/underserved medicine scholarships too, so my options are okay there - honestly, the only big difference is no FAFSA or federal rates, it seems. I'll have to crunch some numbers there, it looks like... Thanks again for the words 😊

 

[drthedude]

tbh I feel like matching is on you and not the school always, attending Noorda this fall and aiming for Neurology (which is DO friendly as of now), the loans do such yes but either way I know I'll be happy attending there based off all I've seen, dm me if you'd like to hear more!

 

[deomnibusdubitandum]

I'll check it out! Looks like they also do rural/underserved medicine scholarships too, so my options are okay there - honestly, the only big difference is no FAFSA or federal rates, it seems. I'll have to crunch some numbers there, it looks like... Thanks again for the words 😊

The reality is that it's going to be hard to tell which one is the better choice financially. If the fed keeps going with the 0% interest rates for a long enough time, it may make more sense to go with AZCOM, depending on the interest rates you can get for Noorda. However, that is an unknow variable. I'm a little envious of the students that started the year the interest rates dropped. They have literally saved tens of thousands of dollars on unsubsidized loans by this point. If you can't get a low-interest loan for Noorda, I would say do AZCOM.

 

[orangesrhyme]

The reality is that it's going to be hard to tell which one is the better choice financially. If the fed keeps going with the 0% interest rates for a long enough time, it may make more sense to go with AZCOM, depending on the interest rates you can get for Noorda. However, that is an unknow variable. I'm a little envious of the students that started the year the interest rates dropped. They have literally saved tens of thousands of dollars on unsubsidized loans by this point. If you can't get a low-interest loan for Noorda, I would say do AZCOM.

I hadn't considered that! I'll have to look and see how my interest rates with Noorda would be, then.

 

[doctorize.me]

Noorda
Pros:

• Much closer to family/support network. My own family is within a few hours, my wife's family visits Provo frequently (she has a sibling attending BYU), and we have friends that live in Provo.
• Both tuition and cost of living (esp. tuition though) are lower than in Glendale.
• We're both LDS and looking to start a family soon, and Provo does seem like a bit more helpful for that (especially with trusted friends and family in town to help watch kids, haha!)
• The curriculum does seem a little bit more in line with stuff that's worked for me in the past, as far as the study group-forward aspect and small class size. As far as I can tell, AZCOM has a more traditional lecture hall format.
• Not sure if this is a real pro, but I did find it intriguing that they take the MD and the DO exams.
• While I know most schools are invested in the wellness of their students, it's good to see Noorda come right out the gate with stuff about that.

Cons:

• Pretty much anything to do with it being a new school. Growing pains and the like; they haven't graduated a class yet and therefore no match data, pre-accreditation/no access to federal loans until like my fourth year, all that jazz.
• There is some cliqueyness that we're a little worried about, though we also acknowledge that cliqueyness can be a thing anywhere you live.

AZCOM
Pros:

• They have a lot more years under their belt than Noorda.
• There's match and graduation data available, as such.
• Only have to worry about the COMLEX.
• While it is a little bit pricier than Utah, the greater Phoenix area really isn't that much worse, cost-of-living-wise.
• My in-laws are about as far from Phoenix as my parents are from Provo, so they're close enough to make a weekend of visiting (with all that free time I'll have in med school, yeah?)

Cons:

• The rotations have us concerned - not being guaranteed to not have to move is a little stressful, we both hate moving and it's just another thing to budget, bringing me to my last point...
• ...The tuition, holy crap. There's nearly a $20k/yr gap between MWU and Noorda. Granted, yeah, I'll have a good shovel to dig out of all of that debt, but how much more likely is it that I don't get my DO from Noorda? They were pretty insistent that no school to attain pre-accreditation has failed to become accredited, but they're naturally going to want to reassure prospective students.

So, yeah, on paper, as far as the numbers of pros and cons go, Utah seems like kind of a no-brainer. But... that con of being such a new school compared to MWU seems to be quite a heavily weighted one, just as MWU's tuition is nothing to laugh at either. What do y'all think? Thanks in advance!

Edit: I am looking into specializing, with my current top picks being pathology, internal medicine, radiology, or some kind of surgery.

AZCOM is traditional lecture hall mostly, with some required workshops that are smaller group
Most lectures are recorded and attendance isn't generally mandatory - there are a decent number of mandatory things though.
Rotations - it's a lottery system for regions. I'd say most people generally get what they want but some do not and do end up moving.
TEST HEAVY. You'll end up taking like over 100 exams by then end of didactics. Keeps you on your toes but can be a lot.
Tuition is obscene.
I did take a peek at Noorda and saw this.

To me that reads you generally won't dissect unless you do the 2nd year elective. AZCOM has groups of 4 per cadaver and you rotate dissections (every 3rd ish time you actually dissect).
Hope that helps you make a more informed decision.

 

[orangesrhyme]

I ended up choosing Noorda; I decided that the benefit of having an extensive support network outweighed the risks of being at a pre-accreditation school. I will have to be sure I take that dissection elective, so thank you for the heads-up there!

 

[doctorize.me]

I ended up choosing Noorda; I decided that the benefit of having an extensive support network outweighed the risks of being at a pre-accreditation school. I will have to be sure I take that dissection elective, so thank you for the heads-up there!

Wish you the absolute best in your studies. Congrats on making it to where you are now!

 

[orangesrhyme]

Wish you the absolute best in your studies. Congrats on making it to where you are now!

Thank you! It's been quite the journey so far. Hoping things go as smoothly as one can expect, haha!