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So I have had the pleasure of being accepted to both the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYIT-COM, formerly the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine or NYCOM), in addition to DMU-COM (Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine). I am torn about which to go to. I grew up in downstate New York, but now live in the midwest, and I really like both. I plan to eventually practice somewhere urban with warm weather. Can anyone with knowledge of the two schools weigh in? Here is a brief pro/con list I have for both:
DMU pros:
-High entrance statistics (3.7c/s, 28.2 MCAT)/ VERY high average comlex board scores (and USMLE pass rates)
-State of the art and modern facilities, amazing simulation lab, surgical skills lab
-Very cheap cost of attendance (tuition of ~42,000 with minimal living expenses b/c it's the midwest)
-High level of student camaraderie and overall happy students- most students live within walking or short driving distance of each other and the school, so more opportunity for hanging out (compared to NYIT-COM, which is more of a commuter school, and students tend to live far from each other)
-Well established global medicine rotation opportunities and community outreach opportunities
-Extremely well established school (founded in 1898 compared to NYIT-COM which was founded in the 1970's)
-Very warm feeling to the school, faculty, and students
-Pretty good residency match list (very high ratio of allopathic
steopathic residencies)
-One of the best OMM programs- even if you don't end up practicing OMM, it still is extremely helpful when you go to take the COMLEX
-It's one of the few DO schools that actually offers merit based scholarships and grants.
-Has a very decent amount of opportunities for doing research in the labs of faculty members on-site
DMU Cons:
-Clinical rotations; may have to end up traveling to different areas of the country (only so many spots at year-long sites), and some of them are at smaller hospitals or community hospitals where you may not get as much variety in patient population and state of the art technology/procedures
-Only has a handful of residency programs sponsored by DMU as part of its OPTI
-It's a relatively small school in the midwest; so its not too well known in places like New York and California, but is really good if you're staying in the midwest
-Des Moines is an extremely homogenous place (over 85% caucasian in the city).
-VERY heavy family medicine focus: About 60 students from last year's class matched in family medicine; which is great if you want to become a family medicine doc, but not too desirable for everyone else. This can also be interpreted as those people matching in FM as having less competitive applications b/c FM is one of the least competitive residencies.
NYIT-COM Pros:
-CLINICAL ROTATIONS: This is arguably the best thing about NYIT-COM; they have strong affiliations with world renowned hospitals like St. Barnabas in the Bronx, and overall you get to do your rotations at New York City Hospitals (you can't really beat that as far as the caliber of the people you will work with and the diversity of faculty/patients/cases). Even during 4th year, you can easily manage to do all of your electives within driving or commuting distance of where you live, whereas you're almost guaranteed to have to travel and find places to live for a couple months at a time for DMU.
-Great reputation in the NY area.
-Affiliated with a relatively large, albeit medium-reputation university (new york institute of technology)
-Located in the beginning part of Long Island, right near New York City- arguably the cultural center of the country.
-Sponsors the largest osteopathic residency consortium, NYCOMEC, which has a lot of great residencies in the NY/NJ area
NYIT-COM Cons:
-HUGE class size of ~300- means little individual attention, more competition among students, harder to stand out
-Having a really annoying new acronym that most people will take years to catch on to (no one will have heard of NYIT-COM, only NYCOM)
-Crappy, run down campus, at least compared to DMU (e.g. they only have two simulation manikins for a class size of 300, whereas DMU has around 10, and a much smaller class size, which means you probably get more time with them at DMU)
-REALLY high tuition: aside from the additional $13,000 per year in just tuition compared to DMU ($55,000 vs $42,000), if you believe the school's cost of attendance allowance, the cost of living sky rockets your costs (long island and NYC are expensive places compared to Iowa), and you will likely pay around $80,000 more than if you went DMU (just for reference, when I interviewed at DMU, I got gas for $2.99 a gallon. That's the first time I've ever actually seen gas cost less than $3.00/gallon since I started driving)
-Less competitive entrance statistics, and generally easier to get into d/t huge class size
-They put a substantial amount of effort, money, and focus into their "Doctor patient continuum" curriculum, which is great (although not something I'm interested in personally), but this is only available for 40 out of 300 students per class, which is just so insignificant. They also said that the students in this program don't actually do any better on the boards than the rest of the class who operate on the "lecture based discussion" curriculum
-It's really a commuter school, so you don't end up living near most of your classmates who come from all over, which doesn't foster camaraderie, collaboration, or strong bonds with others.
-The interview experience was incredibly lacking compared to DMU- the actual interviewer, who was a physician, seemed very, for lack of a better word, dumb, and they didn't give us many details about the school such as average board scores. When schools hold back this info, it usually means that they're not really proud of it.
I appreciate any comments or feedback that you are willing to provide to help me decide between the two.
DMU pros:
-High entrance statistics (3.7c/s, 28.2 MCAT)/ VERY high average comlex board scores (and USMLE pass rates)
-State of the art and modern facilities, amazing simulation lab, surgical skills lab
-Very cheap cost of attendance (tuition of ~42,000 with minimal living expenses b/c it's the midwest)
-High level of student camaraderie and overall happy students- most students live within walking or short driving distance of each other and the school, so more opportunity for hanging out (compared to NYIT-COM, which is more of a commuter school, and students tend to live far from each other)
-Well established global medicine rotation opportunities and community outreach opportunities
-Extremely well established school (founded in 1898 compared to NYIT-COM which was founded in the 1970's)
-Very warm feeling to the school, faculty, and students
-Pretty good residency match list (very high ratio of allopathic
steopathic residencies)-One of the best OMM programs- even if you don't end up practicing OMM, it still is extremely helpful when you go to take the COMLEX
-It's one of the few DO schools that actually offers merit based scholarships and grants.
-Has a very decent amount of opportunities for doing research in the labs of faculty members on-site
DMU Cons:
-Clinical rotations; may have to end up traveling to different areas of the country (only so many spots at year-long sites), and some of them are at smaller hospitals or community hospitals where you may not get as much variety in patient population and state of the art technology/procedures
-Only has a handful of residency programs sponsored by DMU as part of its OPTI
-It's a relatively small school in the midwest; so its not too well known in places like New York and California, but is really good if you're staying in the midwest
-Des Moines is an extremely homogenous place (over 85% caucasian in the city).
-VERY heavy family medicine focus: About 60 students from last year's class matched in family medicine; which is great if you want to become a family medicine doc, but not too desirable for everyone else. This can also be interpreted as those people matching in FM as having less competitive applications b/c FM is one of the least competitive residencies.
NYIT-COM Pros:
-CLINICAL ROTATIONS: This is arguably the best thing about NYIT-COM; they have strong affiliations with world renowned hospitals like St. Barnabas in the Bronx, and overall you get to do your rotations at New York City Hospitals (you can't really beat that as far as the caliber of the people you will work with and the diversity of faculty/patients/cases). Even during 4th year, you can easily manage to do all of your electives within driving or commuting distance of where you live, whereas you're almost guaranteed to have to travel and find places to live for a couple months at a time for DMU.
-Great reputation in the NY area.
-Affiliated with a relatively large, albeit medium-reputation university (new york institute of technology)
-Located in the beginning part of Long Island, right near New York City- arguably the cultural center of the country.
-Sponsors the largest osteopathic residency consortium, NYCOMEC, which has a lot of great residencies in the NY/NJ area
NYIT-COM Cons:
-HUGE class size of ~300- means little individual attention, more competition among students, harder to stand out
-Having a really annoying new acronym that most people will take years to catch on to (no one will have heard of NYIT-COM, only NYCOM)
-Crappy, run down campus, at least compared to DMU (e.g. they only have two simulation manikins for a class size of 300, whereas DMU has around 10, and a much smaller class size, which means you probably get more time with them at DMU)
-REALLY high tuition: aside from the additional $13,000 per year in just tuition compared to DMU ($55,000 vs $42,000), if you believe the school's cost of attendance allowance, the cost of living sky rockets your costs (long island and NYC are expensive places compared to Iowa), and you will likely pay around $80,000 more than if you went DMU (just for reference, when I interviewed at DMU, I got gas for $2.99 a gallon. That's the first time I've ever actually seen gas cost less than $3.00/gallon since I started driving)
-Less competitive entrance statistics, and generally easier to get into d/t huge class size
-They put a substantial amount of effort, money, and focus into their "Doctor patient continuum" curriculum, which is great (although not something I'm interested in personally), but this is only available for 40 out of 300 students per class, which is just so insignificant. They also said that the students in this program don't actually do any better on the boards than the rest of the class who operate on the "lecture based discussion" curriculum
-It's really a commuter school, so you don't end up living near most of your classmates who come from all over, which doesn't foster camaraderie, collaboration, or strong bonds with others.
-The interview experience was incredibly lacking compared to DMU- the actual interviewer, who was a physician, seemed very, for lack of a better word, dumb, and they didn't give us many details about the school such as average board scores. When schools hold back this info, it usually means that they're not really proud of it.
I appreciate any comments or feedback that you are willing to provide to help me decide between the two.
