PCOM GA vs. KPCOM Tampa

[futureDrAcula]

Hey all,

Looking for some guidance to make an educated choice!

Accepted to both the above schools and hoping to get input and maybe pros and cons of each school.

Leaning towards KPCOM because I live in Florida currently and the wife and I would love to stay here. She has her heart set on KPCOM entirely because of the location but I’m a bit spooked from what I’ve read on the forums. I’m a non-traditional student and have faced a lot of adversity in my life so I’m not entirely sure some of the issues I’ve read about would phase me, but it’s something I feel we still need to take into account.
Any insight/opinions/facts would be appreciated!!

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[chilly_md]

I would not go to Nova. There are only a few DO schools that people tend to not recommend applying to, and Nova is the one that sticks out for being older. They shouldn’t have problems yet they go out of their way to make them.

Moving isn’t fun, but it’s 1 state over and unless you were near KPCOM already, you would have had to anyways.

 

[futureDrAcula]

So I suppose a question I have related to why everyone says don’t go to NOVA, are individual student board scores that dependent on the institution they attend? Could you make up for the gap through outside resources?

 

[chilly_md]

So I suppose a question I have related to why everyone says don’t go to NOVA, are individual student board scores that dependent on the institution they attend? Could you make up for the gap through outside resources?

It reflects the quality of education. While there’s recommended resources to get higher board scores (like for Step 1), that’s usually building on top of a foundation. If a school has lower scores and a concerning % who aren’t even passing, then it would probably be difficult to try to rely on First Aid, Anki decks and so forth to dig yourself out of that. If it was easy, why wouldn’t more people do that? Then the school wouldn’t have had that problem to begin with.

This is also before we get into how the administration has subverted students.

 

[Schwifty]

Which school is cheaper and by how much?

 

[futureDrAcula]

Which school is cheaper and by how much?

They’re about the same. Not entirely worried about financials though. More of the intangibles I’m curious to hear.

 

[futureDrAcula]

It reflects the quality of education. While there’s recommended resources to get higher board scores (like for Step 1), that’s usually building on top of a foundation. If a school has lower scores and a concerning % who aren’t even passing, then it would probably be difficult to try to rely on First Aid, Anki decks and so forth to dig yourself out of that. If it was easy, why wouldn’t more people do that? Then the school wouldn’t have had that problem to begin with.

This is also before we get into how the administration has subverted students.

Certainly understand that’s it’s impossible to build a strong house on a weak foundation.

 

[Schwifty]

They’re about the same. Not entirely worried about financials though. More of the intangibles I’m curious to hear.

Being in FL near family and friends is going to be big, especially if its going to make your wife happy. I think Pcom-GA has mandatory attendance (at least it did when I interviewed) but I'm not sure about NSU. Looking online the board pass rates are nearly identical, both have about 89-91% pass rate for comlex 1/2. Doing well on boards is really going to be up to you no matter where you go, mandatory attendance will just get in the way of that.

 

[chilly_md]

Certainly understand that’s it’s impossible to build a strong house on a weak foundation.

More detailed information about why Nova is concerning:
ATSU-SOMA vs. ARCOM vs. LECOM-Elmira vs. NSU vs. UIWSOM

 

[futureDrAcula]

Thank you!!

 

[futureDrAcula]

I will recommend NSU-KPCOM based on your circumstances. You need to take your wife and future family into consideration in regards to which location would suit your family life and mental health. In regards to Nova itself, it is well established, extremely large alumni network, new medical school building, their recent match list was strong with multiple orthopedic/derm/radiology/surgery, etc. In addition, they apparently do not have mandatory attendance(except for labs), while PCOM-Georgia apparently does?

In regards to the board scores, the KPCOM administration has apparently been very open about trying to fix the issues. Considering their students have residency matches all around the state of Florida and throughout the U.S. for the past 50+ years, I don't see why you should be worried. If you are a smart individual and a hard worker who stays up to date with their study material, you will do fine at any medical school.

Thank you so much for your time and answer. I really appreciate it! I always believe that things are what you make them, and your time at KPCOM will be what you make of it.

 

[chilly_md]

Thank you so much for your time and answer. I really appreciate it! I always believe that things are what you make them, and your time at KPCOM will be what you make of it.

Just as an FYI, I think PCOM-GA removed mandatory attendance last year.