NOVA vs DMU

[Ron Swanson]

Hi all,

I was accepted to Nova back in december and was planning on attending the school there; however, today I got off the waitlist at DMU. I am currently torn on where I should go.

I liked the location of Nova, and I believe they have stronger clinical rotation sites due to the location and hospital affiliations. However, their 4th year required rotations could be restrictive and get in the way of audition rotations. Also, Nova will be slightly more expensive, but I feel I will be slightly happier there.

With DMU, I feel there is a stronger reputation, and possibly better pre-clinical year education. However, after speaking with some current students, I am fairly concerned with some of their sites for rotations. I am from the midwest so I am familar with the area.

I was wondering if anyone had any feedback on which school, if either, would offer a better chance of success.

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[cliquesh]

Both are fine. You sound like you'd be happy at NOVA, so you should go there.

I always considered DMU to be the better school, but NOVA is close enough.

 

[Lys Ile Glu Leu]

Biased, so I can't answer even if I was informed about nova. I will say that I believe happiness and comfort are important. Multiple acceptances though? Not a terrible problem to have! Congrats and good luck on choosing.

 

[DarkHorizon]

I just graduated from Nova and I feel that DMU is a better school, especially if you want to do any surgical subspecialties. DMU students rotate through many DO hospitals with a ton of residencies and their 4th year is fairly wide open compared to Nova. Whereas, Nova requires you to do rural rotations in 4th year and limits you as to how many rotations you want to do in any subspecialty.

Also, I rotated through ortho programs in MI and OH as an M4 and I was seen as an outsider. DMU students are based in all the DO hospitals in MI and OH and hence have a leg up IMO. They also got 3 electives in 3rd year which put them ahead of the curve. Just my opinion.

If you want primary care, either would be fine.

 

[Spikebd]

I went through a sort of similar process, but I was waitlisted at Nova and accepted to DMU. That obviously made my decision easier to choose DMU, but I did decide DMU would be better for me. First thing, it will save me about $80,000 over four years by going to DMU. Huge factor for me. Second, Nova felt a little bit disorganized to me while I dealt with their administration. Finally, and perhaps the biggest turnoff to me, was the fact that Nova was connected to that big undergrad. They took us on a tour led by these "cool, hip, young" undergrads there and I personally couldn't stand it. DMU felt more like a professional school. All that said, I loved South Florida and know I would have loved living there.
I see that DMU is in flux a bit, so that does concern me a little. However, I felt the two schools were similar enough in their academics to make Nova's weaknesses too great to overcome.