...how horrible nsu was, how embarassed he was for the m3s and m4s who rotate in his hospital and how well known it was that nsu produces very poor doctors...i was horrified since a. i loved it there and b. i had never heard this before. any feedback? was this just a random nova hater, or is it truly well known that nsu has poor quality education?
Your sample size = 1, so don't panic. There's no way to know if he just hates DOs in general, or if he is going on hearsay, or if his priorities were out of sync with what the students/residents were required to do that day/week, or if his hospital hosts preceptorships vs. rotations vs. residencies, or how old his info is, or if he just needs to get laid. If you look at the match lists (see below) it's pretty clear that Nova produces plenty of impressive grads. If he's not a residency program director, he doesn't really get to vote on whether you're going to be successful. Personally, my "what do Florida doctors think about Nova" sample size is about 5, mixed DO/MD, and I got 5 positives.
Neither sample is statistically significant.
The only way out of this doubt is to do as much research as you can, and decide how much faith you have in the system. Which means reading every SDN post in the osteo forum and elsewhere about Nova (look for bravotwozero in particular). And/or look at hospital websites (in and out of Florida) for their physician lists, to see what DOs from what schools work where (I do this obsessively now). You could also try to contact Nova grads (such as the vascular surgeon at USF, or the orthopedic surgeon at Jackson) to see if they can share any inside info.
I've been doing all this research from 3000 miles away, without the benefit of any inside info - I don't know a soul in Florida except MS1s. You can do it too.
Regardless, in general, if you don't want to do primary care, you should be getting up to speed on how to compete, and where the speedbumps are. Such as: what does it take to get a competitive AOA residency, or to get an ACGME residency as a DO, and what freedom do you get in 4th year to do audition rotations.
Nova's match lists are here:
http://medicine.nova.edu/academics/clinical/index.html#grad_placement
PM me if you want to discuss further.
