NYCPM or WesternU

[neuronerd122]

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hey guys I was wondering which is better WesternU and NYCPM ... I did the research and looked the pros and cons of both schools but I just need a few opinions as well.
Also I forgot where NYCPM does their clinical rotations does anyone remember.
Anyways thanx everyone for the input.

 

[Podophile]

Hhmm...this is a tough one. One is unproven and the other is in a terrible place and proven to be pretty SDN terrible. Not sure on the number of externships available to WU kids, but I know NY only gets 4: a HUGE downfall of the program IMO. This won't seem that important until you get to the end of your 4th year when you wish you had the opportunity to visit more programs.

 

[newfeet]

I dont know anything about Western U but NYCPM all the way. I had no problems with fact there were only 4 externships. Easily the best 4 years of my academic life.

 

[Ferocity]

I'd go for Western because the girls out there are very attractive.

 

[feet2017]

I dont intend to bash on nycpm because i do not know that much about it, but I will be attending western this fall for the class of 2017.

I chose western mainly because of location. My parents live about 20 mins from the campus and so I will be living at home and commuting. The DPM program is 100% integrated the first 2 years besides the podiatry classes. The DPM students take the same exam as the DO students but have a different curve. Some people argue this is better system and others think it is worse. Faculty wise I am sure all the schools have great faculty in my opinion. The DPM class at western is much smaller than nycpm, not sure of the exact numbers. Another difference is that westernu is not a stand alone dpm school and nycpm is. Of course living in new york would be much more fun than pomona, but I can tell you that pomona is close enough to los angeles and other cities so as long as you dont mind driving you have access to everything as well. cost of living wise they are both expensive, but new york is more expensive. weather wise you will never see snow in pomona, unless the world is about to end but you have access to snow which is about a 45 minute drive away. of course nycpm is a much more established school than western, I personally am not sure of the advantages/disadvantages of this. with western there is no longer the problem with accreditation because they just got accredited recently. I am sure whatever school you choose to attend you will become a fine podiatrist.


If it seems like i am an advocate for western it is just because i grew up around pomona and know the ins and outs of socal whereas i have never been to new york.

All these are pro/cons depending on the individual

If you have any other questions about western feel free to ask, I will try to answer to the best of my abilities.

 

[neuronerd122]

where are the 4 externship for nycpm ?

 

[newfeet]

where are the 4 externship for nycpm ?

You apply for 4th year externships during your 3rd your of school. You can apply to any program that you want.

 

[studentdpm31]

Hhmm...this is a tough one. One is unproven and the other is in a terrible place and proven to be pretty SDN terrible. Not sure on the number of externships available to WU kids, but I know NY only gets 4: a HUGE downfall of the program IMO. This won't seem that important until you get to the end of your 4th year when you wish you had the opportunity to visit more programs.

Is it in a terrible place? You must consider this: East Harlem houses the highest population of diabetics in the city. This is exactly where you want your podiatric physicians to be! You have to look at it this way: do you want to be in an urban environment or in a suburban environment? Remember, you'll have a greater opportunity to see rare pathologies in an urban environment. But, this is ultimately your choice - wherever you feel most comfortable. Also, just because the school is in East Harlem does not mean you have to live in East Harlem. I live on the Upper East Side and have a 15 minute commute to school via subway. I honesty love where I live.

Is it SDN terrible? I feel like over the past couple of months, NYCPM has proven to be a very strong school, especially considering we had amongst the highest board pass rates in the country (surpassing the vast majority of the other schools).

As a third year student who has just solidified her externships for 4th year, I do not feel at a disadvantage at all. I've spoken to many 4th year students who also felt as though it was a perfect amount of externships. I have yet to hear any student say that they wish they had more! I have also heard of students doing 5 - it is possible - I know it may sound tedious to advocate for one more externship but I think it's worth mentioning that there may be some wiggle room!

 

[darazon]

I have never met a NY student out on externships who was happy with the school. They all pretty much said their experiences were terrible. They all complained about the quality of students the school was letting in and the lack of medicine knowledge.

With that being said, I have met some fantastic residents from NY. They also complained about the quality of the lower 25% of the class however.

These are not my opinions, but the opinions of those who I've met from NYCPM.

IMO, 4 externships is not enough. Especially with the current situation with the number of programs vs the number of students. Also keep in mind WHEN these externships are offered. I have a good friend at NYCPM right now who had an externship during December. She felt that she had no time to study for the boards and was extremely worried (she has a 4.0). Western had all of December as a board prep month. Some programs also have some of their externships AFTER CRIPS!

FYI, Western has 6 externships, plus 2 core podiatry months at local programs, all of which are before CRIPS.

The quality of Western's 3rd year rotations IMO are second to none. I never spent a month cutting toenails. All of my podiatry rotations where hospital based and 2 of which were at a residency program. The schools clinic is not the busiest, but it is all patients brought in from faculty members who were in private practice and you only have 1 month there. The other rotations are hospital based rotations alongside med students from Western and UCLA. You are treated no different from them and are expected to perform at the same level (no shadowing!). During 3rd year I had gen surg, ortho, FM, IM, ER, & Cardio. I scrubbed in a brain surgery, endarterectomy, hysterectomy, C-section, etc etc. I went skin to skin on an ankle fracture during my ortho rotation. I have met many students from other schools who said they have never even taken overnight call on a non-podiatry rotation or even have not performed a rectal exam (It's not that fun, but I've done it multiple times).

I felt that my experiences during 3rd year at Western gave me a huge advantage in my externships which was noticed by my attendings, residents, and co-externs.

Sure, you can still get a DPM from any school and there are some very talented residents from all the schools. But I would not trade my experiences for anything.

 

[studentdpm31]

I have never met a NY student out on externships who was happy with the school. They all pretty much said their experiences were terrible. They all complained about the quality of students the school was letting in and the lack of medicine knowledge.

With that being said, I have met some fantastic residents from NY. They also complained about the quality of the lower 25% of the class however.

These are not my opinions, but the opinions of those who I've met from NYCPM.

IMO, 4 externships is not enough. Especially with the current situation with the number of programs vs the number of students. Also keep in mind WHEN these externships are offered. I have a good friend at NYCPM right now who had an externship during December. She felt that she had no time to study for the boards and was extremely worried (she has a 4.0). Western had all of December as a board prep month. Some programs also have some of their externships AFTER CRIPS!

FYI, Western has 6 externships, plus 2 core podiatry months at local programs, all of which are before CRIPS.

The quality of Western's 3rd year rotations IMO are second to none. I never spent a month cutting toenails. All of my podiatry rotations where hospital based and 2 of which were at a residency program. The schools clinic is not the busiest, but it is all patients brought in from faculty members who were in private practice and you only have 1 month there. The other rotations are hospital based rotations alongside med students from Western and UCLA. You are treated no different from them and are expected to perform at the same level (no shadowing!). During 3rd year I had gen surg, ortho, FM, IM, ER, & Cardio. I scrubbed in a brain surgery, endarterectomy, hysterectomy, C-section, etc etc. I went skin to skin on an ankle fracture during my ortho rotation. I have met many students from other schools who said they have never even taken overnight call on a non-podiatry rotation or even have not performed a rectal exam (It's not that fun, but I've done it multiple times).

I felt that my experiences during 3rd year at Western gave me a huge advantage in my externships which was noticed by my attendings, residents, and co-externs.

Sure, you can still get a DPM from any school and there are some very talented residents from all the schools. But I would not trade my experiences for anything.

I actually made a mistake above - NYCPM has 5 externships and 1 NYCPM month. You get 5 months at outside programs and one month at NYCPM. It spans from July through December. I also have an externship during December but I have not heard of people having much trouble studying during that month. In general, students tend to schedule their "safety" program during the month of December so that they do have time. But a plus is no programs after CRIPS.

Of course all of these posts are personal opinion. No matter where you go, you'll find people who do not like the school and people who do. I would never make a statement about Western because I know nothing about it, but I'm sure there is at least one student there who doesn't like the school. Sure, there are kids here who aren't up to par... again, you see that everywhere - this can be said about any school.

For a prospective student, all opinions (especially on this site) have to be taken with a grain of salt. The people who post here are either positive or negative. You rarely see a middle of the ground post.

 

[Sig Savant]

If you want to live in California, go to Western. If you want to live in New York, go to NYCPM.

NY students are more likely to stay in NY for residency and jobs. Western students are seeming to stay in Cali for residency.

Western has a lot of off service rotations - non podiatry, medicine rotations. That is fine. While NYCPM students spend time in podiatric medicine, cutting nails and other pod med type patients, Western students are treating UTI's or managing CHF. You can thus see that Western students would be stronger in Internal Medicine, while NY students are stronger in Pod Med at the end of third year. By the end of fourth year, it all seems to balance out.

Western has a lot to prove, so it is pushing its students to the brink. If students don't match at top programs around the country, the school will look bad, so the school is pushing its students to match to top programs. New York has a ton of residency spots, and the college wants to have 100% placement, so it advocates its students staying in New York where we can all have a place. New York has a huge alumni network that can help with this.

Due to NY's history, it has had good years and bad years. Many people judge it on the bad years. I feel that now it is going through good years. Western has no history, no alumni, no trending scores, so it is difficult to feel out where it is going. You will hear many things about the shortage this year and that Western caused it by opening - this isn't really the case, but students will still harbor anger toward Western students.

Top students at both schools this year will match into top residencies.

 

[ilovefeet]

Now that Western is fully accredited, I would pick Western over NY, simply because of Harkless and the fact that it's in CA (I am from CA, so I may be biased.).

 

[zane870]

Just to add to what darazon stated above, my class (2014) will have 7 externship months (one of which should be at our 4th year core). All of which are before CRIPS

 

[air bud]

I cannot understate the importance of doing as many clerkships as possible, as well as just visiting as many as possible. Also, do not be afraid to change and cancel clerkships. I am sure some schools might object, but there are appropriate ways of doing so when it is within a certain time frame. Think about it, you 3rd years talked to 4th years who were only part way through their 4th year. You might have asked some people 2 years above you for advice, but you probably didnt know them that well. You know the 4th years. Go back and re ask them now that they have visited all the programs as well as gone through the interview process. I know we all have signed up for clerkships that we began to regret and felt trapped. Well, you may not be, look into it and do something about it in the appropriate manner. Seriously. Do it.

 

[darazon]

I cannot understate the importance of doing as many clerkships as possible, as well as just visiting as many as possible. Also, do not be afraid to change and cancel clerkships. I am sure some schools might object, but there are appropriate ways of doing so when it is within a certain time frame. Think about it, you 3rd years talked to 4th years who were only part way through their 4th year. You might have asked some people 2 years above you for advice, but you probably didnt know them that well. You know the 4th years. Go back and re ask them now that they have visited all the programs as well as gone through the interview process. I know we all have signed up for clerkships that we began to regret and felt trapped. Well, you may not be, look into it and do something about it in the appropriate manner. Seriously. Do it.

Completely agree with this. It is to your advantage to get the best clerkships for you and visit as often as you can to other programs.

 

[darazon]

Western students are seeming to stay in Cali for residency.

I don't know if I necessarily agree with this.There will be a small handful staying in Cali. but I think we've realized that besides the Kaisers and Scrips, there is really not much else here for power programs. Not that everyone is gunning for a power program.

I do agree that we are pushed to attend top programs for our clerkships and many of us interviewed well at these programs. It will be interesting to see were we land.