Many reasons... First being I don't want the school to get in the way of my plans. Away rotations have to be preapproved. Now I know other schools do this but the way NOVA makes it seem that a no answer is very likely. Second required summer programs... When am I going to study for USMLE and/or COMLEX? Third, they are the worst organized school I have seen so far. Fourth, Area prestige... They are competing with UM,FIU, and FAU all are vastly better schools. Fifth, I never really ranked it very high to begin with. Sixth, their interview selection processes makes no sense, I have studied it over the last two cycles and I still can't tell if it is random, based on top grades and scores, forgiving, competing ideas or all of the above. Seventh, the school is insanely expensive. Finally this is just one few schools that I have met multiple graduates from and to be honest the way they practice medicine I found to be unethical and/or dangerous. How much of that reflects on NOVA I couldn't tell you but I believe it is a factor.
To be honest however if I was interviewed and accepted and I was not accepted by any other school in the time window to pay my deposit. I would pay them and go there if I was not accepted to any other higher ranked MD school because I can't afford to hold onto multiple DO acceptance.
1. Audition/Away rotations: Most of my classmates asked for open spots from the away institution first, then they sent in the paperwork to NSU administration for approval. It is rather easy to set up rotations in DO hospitals. MD hospital rotations are approved by away institutions through VSAs, and you'll find that process a pain in the ass regardless of where you go to school, only because they take until May/June of the end of your third year before you find out whether you've been approved or not. Contrast that with DO hospitals rotations, where I knew where I was going in January. How much is NSU an obstacle in all this? Not much, as long as you have the paperwork ready for them to review.
2. Summer class: Does not equal non-stop preclinicals. I can only speak for my class, but we had 4 weeks vacation between M1 and M2. The first 4 weeks of M2 are your "summer classes." Between the end of M2 and the start of M3 rotations, there are 8 weeks. I did not find either break adequate, but it was doable as far as studying and passing the tests. My smarter classmates and some of my dumber ones took both USMLE and COMLEX. The smarter ones did well, the dumber ones did not.
3. Prestige: Vastly better schools? With exception to UM, which I think is a better school, you'll find a variety of opinions amongst attendings regarding medical students of the other schools.
4. Interview selection: No arguments there.
5. School tuition: How does their tuition compare to other DO schools? Last I checked it was comparable. Now cost of living, ie rent, is arguably more expensive if you're coming from a place where rent is dirt cheap.
6. Quality of the graduates: If you meet a NOVA grad in a DO residency doing an uncompetitive specialty, chances are they are more dumb than smart. If you meet a NOVA grad in a competitive DO residency (Ortho) or a MD residency, chances are they are as smart as their MD counterparts. It depends. I've met really dumb NOVA residents who could barely tell you the purpose of a beta blocker, and I've met some who could explain their diagnoses down to a physiologic and biochemical standpoint and recite specific guidelines along with it.
7. What's the bottom line: While NOVA hardly sets the standard for a shining medical education, and believe me I have many gripes with it and would defecate on the Dean's face if I could, the argument that it is a ****** factory or genius factory is worthless. I want to point out, if you are a smart person and end up attending NOVA, you will get into as good a residency as your grades, board scores, and DO degree will allow. If you are a dumb person and attend NOVA, and end up graduating, they have a LOT of affiliated residencies that you can latch onto and will grant you an interview simply because you are a NOVA graduate. Many of these dumb graduates end up at these residencies, learn to practice very defensive medicine without putting much thought into what they are doing. Some of these dumb residents end up harming many patients due to negligence, lack of medical knowledge, or a combination of both. But still, they graduate residency with 6 figure jobs. And guess what? NSU is not the only medical school like that.
