Let me give you my thoughts on PCOM:
Curriculum: Always adapting. Seems that since I was a first year it has become a much more student friendly curriculum. Arranging courses so that they arent so compacted. My first year we had gross anatomy and cell & tissue in the same trimester...current PCOM students should consider themselves lucky that they dont have that! Clinical coursework begins in the 3rd trimester of 1st year with the Cardiology block. I think the integration is pretty good among the disciplines from Pharm to OMM to clinical medicine. PCOM does a great job with its note taking service and lectures on MP3. Lecturers are strong and seem to have students interest at heart.
Location: Philadelphia. Though the school is on the outskirts of town, its a city school. Yes we have a nice campus (complete with multi million dollar athletic complex). You straddle the city and a very upper class area in southern montgomery county. Philadelphia is what it is...we have a high murder rate (highest in the country) but all the areas where that seems to take place are literally across town. Sports, art, culture...all have it right here.
www.philly.com and
www.citysearch.com will give you more info. I have been in the city for 10 years now and I own a home here. I have lived in 5 different apartment complexes prior to that. So while I am not a "local" I have a little different outlook than the typical transient student. Would I choose this city again? I think so. Do I want to live in the city the rest of my life? Probably not. Could I ever get bored of this city? I dont think so.
Cost: Around $35,000. Seems to be middle of the road for DO schools, as most are private schools. Getting loans are NO problem. Personally I like our financial aid department, but thats because I find you get further by being nice (yes, I said that...JPHazelton can be nice). I have had no problems with loans or money. PCOM has more small scholarships and awards than any other DO school, but few people know about them and apply for them. I have friends who applied for awards/scholarships that were dormant for 4-5 years...and they reaped the benefits by getting the collective award.
Faculty: Outstanding. Our clinical professors are the cream of the crop. In fact, several other newer DO schools have recruited from our campus. Other schools have based portions of their curriculum on ours. Our basic science faculty are heavy into research. We have pharmacologists teaching pharmacology, immunologists teaching immunology and perhaps the best DO pathology professor in the country (not the most famous, but he was the inspiration for the most famous name). Approachable without a doubt. Ancillary staff are excellent as well.
Reputation: Rock solid. Arguably the best DO school in the country and holds its own against the 4 MD schools here in Philly. We rotate with them and get nothing but high marks. Our students and residents rotate with some of the best MD students on the east coast and not only do we match up, sometimes we outshine. No worry that someone wont know PCOM, at least not from Maine to Florida to Chicago. Also, one stat shows that nearly 25% of all current physicians have done some or all of their medical training in Philadelphia. We are known ubiquitously.
Clinical Rotations:
http://www.pcom.edu/Clinical_Education/Affiliate_Lists_/affiliate_lists_.html
Some great facilities. Small clinics to large university based medical centers. Philly, NJ, Delaware, NY, Pitt...we are all over. Also, PCOM offers more weeks of elective & selective time than ANY other DO school. If you want freedom and the ability to make your clinical experience truly your OWN, this is the school.
Housing: $1.00/square foot to $10.00/square foot. Apartments to houses to condos...all here. The Student Affairs office has a comprehensive list. You can also find personal opinions here on SDN. If you cant find an apartment in the area that fits your finances and personal needs, then you arent looking.
Study areas: Not so great. Too many students for too few desks. PCOM has a collaborative agreement with dozens of colleges in the area to use their libraries so this helps immensely. But if you are the type who likes to study on campus, stake your claim early. Although I always studied at home, many people study in the cafeteria or local coffee shops (plenty of those).
Social Scene: Post exam parties, open bars, sports, clubs, dances...and you are in Philadelphia. PCOM definately parties. We're not a stick-in-the-mud school. No formal dress code, no attendance policy...and yes you can even walk into class with a cup of coffee. Laid back school.
Local Hospitals: Somewhere else on SDN I did a tally. Basically there are more hospitals in a 35 mile radius of downtown Philadelphia than in Vermont, West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Hampshire...you get the idea. More hospitals than you could rotate through in a decade. And these hospitals all have DOs on staff, many from PCOM.
Board Prep: Hard to say. We dont see scores from other schools...we dont even see our own scores as a school collectively.
Specialty: PCOM sends more people into specialty fields than most other DO schools. Each year our match rate is heavier on the specialty side...or at least near 50/50. On top of that realize that many are doing internships (so they get lumped in as primary care matches) and many do internal medicine (72 this year, 35 of which listed a specialty choice). So though our match may say 50-60% into specialty, its probably closer to 65%-70% when its all said and done. Neurosurg, Rads, Anesth, Derm, Optho, Ortho, Psych, Surg...all represented yearly.
So here are my grades:
Curriculum: B+
Location: A
Cost: C+
Financial Aid: B
Faculty: A
Reputation: A+
Technology: A+
Study Space/Library: C-
Library technology/Resources: B+
Rotations: A-
Social: A
Hospitals: A-
Post Grad: A
Cafeteria Food: A-
Cafeteria Prices: D
Overall Grade: A-
IMHO you would be hard pressed to find an all around better DO school. There is a reason that PCOM has consistently recieved more applications than all the other DO schools. Does it have its problems? Sure, every school does. But you cant deny almost 110 years of tradition and reputation that survived the dark ages of osteopathy and competition with 4 MD schools right next door.