Oklahoma Medical School or NYMC?

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MKLEI

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Help! I have a week to make a decision and can use any advice or opinions! I am out of state for both schools so pricing is roughly the same. I am interested in Primary care and they are ranked within 3 spots of one another by U.S News. Here is a shortened pro and con list of my thoughts. I have lived in NYC for the last two years but am from Colorado and still have family and friends there. I also intend to do my residency in Colorado.

OU Medicine in OKC:
Significant ties to Oklahoma, extended family lives an hour away (pro)
OKC has a relatively low key social life (con)
Students seem to be social and close knit (pro)
Curriculum is systems based and all lectures are recorded (pro)
Cost of living is cheaper (pro)
My boyfriend would need to find a new job (con)
Closer to Colorado
Not very much written about the reputation? esp outside the state of oklahoma?
The weather is horrible.. I hate tornadoes (CON)

NYMC
Tends to be looked at as a safety school with a bad reputation (con)
Curriculum is discipline based and not all online (con)
Near NYC! (pro) Large social life (pro)
Students seem to have good balance of life and work (pro)
Boyfriend can keep job (pro) but commute long way to city (con)
Would not be living in dorms so would lose some social life (con)
Higher cost of living (con)

thanks so much! anything helps! especially about reputations, matching outside of the state and social life?!

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Help! I have a week to make a decision and can use any advice or opinions! I am out of state for both schools so pricing is roughly the same. I am interested in Primary care and they are ranked within 3 spots of one another by U.S News. Here is a shortened pro and con list of my thoughts. I have lived in NYC for the last two years but am from Colorado and still have family and friends there. I also intend to do my residency in Colorado.

OU Medicine in OKC:
Significant ties to Oklahoma, extended family lives an hour away (pro)
OKC has a relatively low key social life (con)
Students seem to be social and close knit (pro)
Curriculum is systems based and all lectures are recorded (pro)
Cost of living is cheaper (pro)
My boyfriend would need to find a new job (con)
Closer to Colorado
Not very much written about the reputation? esp outside the state of oklahoma?
The weather is horrible.. I hate tornadoes (CON)

NYMC
Tends to be looked at as a safety school with a bad reputation (con)
Curriculum is discipline based and not all online (con)
Near NYC! (pro) Large social life (pro)
Students seem to have good balance of life and work (pro)
Boyfriend can keep job (pro) but commute long way to city (con)
Would not be living in dorms so would lose some social life (con)
Higher cost of living (con)

thanks so much! anything helps! especially about reputations, matching outside of the state and social life?!


i guess i'm wondering why you think it's viewed as a safety. to whom? the smaller percentage of people that score really well on the mcat and choose to go to a better school?

What bad reputation?
 
Is tuition the same for the two schools or cost of attendance? Oklahoma should have a very low cost of living, so the total cost of attendance would be much lower than NYMC.

Go with your gut if these schools are so equal. Or ask your boyfriend what he thinks.
 
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OKC has a pretty good social life, honestly. Ever since the Thunder (NBA team) came around, it has boomed. Definitely enough to do while in medical school. Also, you have a bigger chance of getting hurt driving to school than you will from a tornado. I know you have a gut feeling of where you should go. Choose whatever school that is!
 
I think a lot of students, in general, see schools like NYMC as safety schools with a bad reputation. I certainly did when I applied there. However, when I interviewed there, I was very impressed. They have brand new facilities, a renewed committment to biomedical research, and strong, diverse opportunities for clinical rotations. Plus, it's not like the students there are stupid; everyone I met there was extremely capable and personable. I interviewed at six medical schools this past year, and I had to very critically evaluate each one. In my opinion, while NYMC is perceived as a safety school with a bad reputation, they are seriously mistaken. And I can tell you that none of the physicians I know (and I know many) think it has a poor reputation. And if that doesn't convince you, I encourage you to just look at their match lists from the past few years - they're pretty impressive for a "safety school."
 
Help! I have a week to make a decision and can use any advice or opinions! I am out of state for both schools so pricing is roughly the same. I am interested in Primary care and they are ranked within 3 spots of one another by U.S News. Here is a shortened pro and con list of my thoughts. I have lived in NYC for the last two years but am from Colorado and still have family and friends there. I also intend to do my residency in Colorado.

OU Medicine in OKC:
Significant ties to Oklahoma, extended family lives an hour away (pro)
OKC has a relatively low key social life (con)
Students seem to be social and close knit (pro)
Curriculum is systems based and all lectures are recorded (pro)
Cost of living is cheaper (pro)
My boyfriend would need to find a new job (con)
Closer to Colorado
Not very much written about the reputation? esp outside the state of oklahoma?
The weather is horrible.. I hate tornadoes (CON)

NYMC
Tends to be looked at as a safety school with a bad reputation (con)
Curriculum is discipline based and not all online (con)
Near NYC! (pro) Large social life (pro)
Students seem to have good balance of life and work (pro)
Boyfriend can keep job (pro) but commute long way to city (con)
Would not be living in dorms so would lose some social life (con)
Higher cost of living (con)

thanks so much! anything helps! especially about reputations, matching outside of the state and social life?!

How easily is your bf gonna be able to find a job in Oklahoma? Is this a big factor in your decision? The reason i ask is because my bf is also moving with me and I'm choosing NYMC over Iowa (even though Iowa has a better reputation) because he would be able to keep his finance job in NY.

I don't know much about OU, but reputation wise, I don't think there is a significant difference and If you do well at either school, you should be able to match where you want. The reason NYMC has a "bad reputation" is because it is expensive and doesn't have the big name associated with it. It is also located in a state that has so many top schools (Columbia, Cornell, etc.) hence why it's seen as a backup. NYMC doesn't have a reputation in research, which is what the rankings are based on. If you are interested in primary care, I don't think where you go to school is going to matter as much. When I interviewed there, I actually really liked it. I don't think you should let hearsay greatly affect your decision. Base your decision on how you felt when you interviewed there, or try to contact students from both schools to see how they feel.

Also, many people who attend NYMC are from out of state (Cali for example) and match back, so I don't think you will have that difficult a time. You should check the match list to see if anyone matched into the state you want to end up in.

From your list, seems like you have more pros for Oklahoma, so just go with your gut feeling. I don't think you can really go wrong either way.
 
Thank you so much for the feedback. Its very helpful! I knew very little about NYMC and actually liked it a lot but then got scared off a little bit by the threads on here talking about it as a safety school and with a bad reputation, although little is known about oklahomas reputation either! Toothpick: my BF works in finance in NY too :). I have family who work in OKC so it could be helpful in finding a job but it is still very stressful. Was that your major decision for choosing NYMC?

Does anyone have any input about the curriculum? I guess my biggest worry with NYMC is that it is discipline based curriculum, which most schools are leaving behind. I know this leads to a lot of self study and not all lectures are recorded or posted online. Any opinions? Thanks again!
 
NYMC 3rd year (4 weeks from being a 4th year) here. Actually from CO as well so hi there! I understand your concern about the "old" curriculum, however, seeing as how my class's average step 1 was 227 (well above national average) I think it is safe to say they are doing something right. Also, getting back to CO is insanely hard no matter where you go. But I will say 6 of my classmates are from CO and 4 of us have already been able to schedule away rotations for 4th year at CU- and this is the only thing that will help you get back to CO for residency. So I would not base your choice on worries about going to CO for residency. If you have any questions feel free to message me- or ask here if you want the answers shared with others in the same place.
 
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