Pros and Cons of your DO School

[SomeDoc]

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bth7, I always enjoy reading your posts, especially responses. They are well though out and are objective. Good luck with residency, I'm sure you'll make a great physician in the field you are in.

 

[bth7]

And then there were 26 . . .

New DO school opens in Mississippi.

Welcome to the family.

bth

 

[womp]

New DO school opens in Mississippi.

Lots of fat guys in there.

 

[bth7]

Lots of fat guys in there.

I'm not sure if that says something about osteopathy or Mississippi.

🙂

bth

 

[Bacchus]

MS is the most obese state, I believe.

 

[Donvb]

And then there were 26 . . .

New DO school opens in Mississippi.

Welcome to the family.

bth

Thats all we need... Is another D.O. school. There are now as many D.O. schools as there are Osteopathic Radiology Residency SPOTS a year!!! At some point the Allopathic world might just shut the door, then what would the AOA do???

 

[Cp22kjer]

Thats all we need... Is another D.O. school. There are now as many D.O. schools as there are Osteopathic Radiology Residency SPOTS a year!!! At some point the Allopathic world might just shut the door, then what would the AOA do???

I agree. Expansion is good but it must be within reason. Its a shame how difficult it will be for students now and in the future to match into a desired residency (excluding a few).

 

[picorna]

i might have overlooked it, but has anyone posted the pros/cons of PCSOM?

😀

 

[member12345]

pros:

-First 2 years meet educational standards.
-Faculty care about your education.


Cons:

-The dean of clinical education needs to be fired. At least 3 years worth of students agree with this. If school officials by chance are ignorant of this then they should take a survey. He has failed for the past 4 years in making necessary changes. I have already graduated but still hear from friends about their difficulties. This year they initially had house wives without even a college education setup schedules for students. Needless to say these schedules were sub-par. They will not even spend your money to hire needed professionals! For our class they had 2 ladies run the whole department and both of them quit!

-You will be ok if you set up your own rotations for your desired specialty.

-Unless they fire him you should go to another school because such hassels are not worth paying nearly 40k for. If Dr.Eisen is still in charge of clinical education, then do not waste time here.

-Sorry to current students but this needs to be fixed for our profession's sake.

 

[PunkmedGirl]

pros:

-First 2 years meet educational standards.
-Faculty care about your education.


Cons:

-The dean of clinical education needs to be fired. At least 3 years worth of students agree with this. If school officials by chance are ignorant of this then they should take a survey. He has failed for the past 4 years in making necessary changes. I have already graduated but still hear from friends about their difficulties. This year they initially had house wives without even a college education setup schedules for students. Needless to say these schedules were sub-par. They will not even spend your money to hire needed professionals! For our class they had 2 ladies run the whole department and both of them quit!

-You will be ok if you set up your own rotations for your desired specialty.

-Unless they fire him you should go to another school because such hassels are not worth paying nearly 40k for. If Dr.Eisen is still in charge of clinical education, then do not waste time here.

-Sorry to current students but this needs to be fixed for our profession's sake.

I was really hoping that Touro's clincial education was solid. THe school is literally 5 mins away from my home. I have family and support here(single mom), but is that enough to make up for the subpar clincial education?? Or am I better off packing up and leaving for a school that has a better clinical education. I have less than a year to figure this one out.🙁

 

[ILikeFood]

For all you premeds scared away by bth's rant on Touro, Nova Southeastern is your answer. It is pretty much the greatest of all DO schools.
1. Reasonable DO school tuition
2. Large campus, large city.
3. There are ways around the mandatory attendance
4. Dress code isn't as strict as they make it out to be.
5. Enthusiastic lecturerers (for the most part)
6. Excellent curriculum (so far).
7. No fck ups with clinicals from what I've heard. Ask the third and fourth years around here for more info.
8. I am physically aroused whenever I see Nova from my grad apts, and then I have to go down to the newly constructed pool to work it off before I go to class. It is a hard life indeed.

 

[PunkmedGirl]

For all you premeds scared away by bth's rant on Touro, Nova Southeastern is your answer. It is pretty much the greatest of all DO schools.
1. Reasonable DO school tuition
2. Large campus, large city.
3. There are ways around the mandatory attendance
4. Dress code isn't as strict as they make it out to be.
5. Enthusiastic lecturerers (for the most part)
6. Excellent curriculum (so far).
7. No fck ups with clinicals from what I've heard. Ask the third and fourth years around here for more info.
8. I am physically aroused whenever I see Nova from my grad apts, and then I have to go down to the newly constructed pool to work it off before I go to class. It is a hard life indeed.

That's hot.😀😀

 

[bigDinLV]

pros:

-First 2 years meet educational standards.
-Faculty care about your education.


Cons:

-The dean of clinical education needs to be fired. At least 3 years worth of students agree with this. If school officials by chance are ignorant of this then they should take a survey. He has failed for the past 4 years in making necessary changes. I have already graduated but still hear from friends about their difficulties. This year they initially had house wives without even a college education setup schedules for students. Needless to say these schedules were sub-par. They will not even spend your money to hire needed professionals! For our class they had 2 ladies run the whole department and both of them quit!

-You will be ok if you set up your own rotations for your desired specialty.

-Unless they fire him you should go to another school because such hassels are not worth paying nearly 40k for. If Dr.Eisen is still in charge of clinical education, then do not waste time here.

-Sorry to current students but this needs to be fixed for our profession's sake.

I didn't realize it took a degree to do scheduling. Not eveyrone can be an educational superstar like yourself. Feel free to look down on those that didn't have the same opportunity, you're entitled since you're a doctor!! (sarcasm) Nice first post from an anonymous person too.

I admit they had 2 people that quit about 2 years ago. Things weren't that great. The new people (unless they happen to have quit also), although way less experienced, were much more responsive. Still some things to work out, but it was slowly getting better as they figured things out.

 

[Bacchus]

For all you premeds scared away by bth's rant on Touro, Nova Southeastern is your answer. It is pretty much the greatest of all DO schools.
1. Reasonable DO school tuition
2. Large campus, large city.
3. There are ways around the mandatory attendance
4. Dress code isn't as strict as they make it out to be.
5. Enthusiastic lecturerers (for the most part)
6. Excellent curriculum (so far).
7. No fck ups with clinicals from what I've heard. Ask the third and fourth years around here for more info.
8. I am physically aroused whenever I see Nova from my grad apts, and then I have to go down to the newly constructed pool to work it off before I go to class. It is a hard life indeed.

You could apply your list to PCOM as well, except we don't have mandatory attendance or a dress code. 😛

 

[ILikeFood]

You could apply your list to PCOM as well, except we don't have mandatory attendance or a dress code. 😛

Pcom is also not near Miami. But it's up there, def a close number two to novas number one.

 

[ILikeFood]

I'd also like to tell the premeds that omm kicks major ass. I have a practical tommorrow and I don't think I've ever enjoyed studying for a subject as much as this one. Provided one studies with the right people of course. Yeah I'm a hedonist, so sue me

 

[bth7]

You could apply your list to PCOM as well, except we don't have mandatory attendance or a dress code. 😛

👍

Dress code?

What?

bth

 

[member12345]

Still some things to work out, but it was slowly getting better as they figured things out.

Why should someone pay 200-250k+ with living expense included if there are "still some things to work out"? The clinical education deficit is not worth paying that money. You can have good rotations if you set them up yourself, but then why pay nearly 40k a year for that?

Touro NV would be great if they fixed clinical education. Do you want to pay a quarter million while they are fixing it?

The current person in charge of clinical education has changed very little in 4 years. Students still get sub-par rotations unless they schedule their own. They do have some good rotations but not enough for every student. 25%-70% of students get sub-par rotations because there just isn't room. Even if that number were 5% that would still be unacceptable for paying such high tuition.

-For ANY school less than 10 years old always question clinical education.

 

[droogdoc]

Try to get into a residency that has these features. Every year there are one to five people per class that break down a door at a university hospital somewhere, but by and large if you want anything but PMR, anesthesia, FP, ?psych you are going to have a really heard time gaining entrance to large quaternary care centers for residencies. Don't fool yourselves, being a DO = community medicine for 80% of us.

Has this dude even looked at DO match lists?? The majority are University-based, or they are HUGE private/community hospitals. Of course, there are some that arent. After all I guess we can't all score a 700 on COMLEX and 260 on USMLE, then complain about not getting into top residencies....hmmm? I know this was an older post but damn, it really got to me.

Sorry.

 

[Just Joshin]

Pcom is also not near Miami.

Some of us consider that a plus.

 

[ILikeFood]

Some of us consider that a plus.

Orly

 

[beachblonde]

You could apply your list to PCOM as well, except we don't have mandatory attendance or a dress code. 😛

wait till you see the NSU pool. it'll make you cry that you're in philly. and size-wise, nova's campus puts pcom's to shame. our library is bigger than your whole campus! 😛

NSU rocks, but since I'm an M1 I don't have much cred in posting pros & cons just yet. I'll be back in a few months.

 

[Bacchus]

We do well for our size. We don't have an undergraduate institution linked to us. There's an LA Fitness 3 minutes away so there is your pool.

Seriously, to stay "on topic" I haven't regretted anything here yet, except for the lack of powerpoints for some lecturers. However, our video integration software should be installed in the coming months so that won't be a problem anymore.

 

[bleeker10]

wait till you see the NSU pool. it'll make you cry that you're in philly. and size-wise, nova's campus puts pcom's to shame. our library is bigger than your whole campus! 😛

NSU rocks, but since I'm an M1 I don't have much cred in posting pros & cons just yet. I'll be back in a few months.

Well congrats on having an awesome pool since that is a determining factor of someone going to med school. I could care less about library size since I study in the cafeteria. Also if you want to get into a pissing contest, check out our wellness center at www.lecomwellness.com. It rivals most major undergrad universities in size. I like having a smaller campus size. I don't feel like I get "lost" in the crowd like I did at my undergrad. The biggest plus for me not going to NSU is that I don't have to be in Florida since I'd rather be somewhere it snows. Oh yeah we have lots of very attractive women split between the medical school and pharmacy school.

 

[ILikeFood]

Well congrats on having an awesome pool since that is a determining factor of someone going to med school.

IT ISN'T??? I thought that was it!

Oh yeah we have lots of very attractive women split between the medical school and pharmacy school.

Oh wait, that was the other factor.

Remember folks, awesome pool+hot chicks=awesome med school.

 

[Bacchus]

The Wellness Center looked amazing on paper. They were still doing construction when I was interviewing.

 

[ILikeFood]

Okay okay, so to toot PCOM's horn a bit, their grads are pretty awesome (see match list, its not as primary care focused as others). But Bacchus goes there, and I go to Nova.

 

[ILikeFood]

Okay, I should study.

 

[Bacchus]

Gluck on OMM, I have mine tomorrow too. We're being tested on assymetries, ROM, and layer-by-layer palpation.

 

[Siggy]

You could apply your list to PCOM as well, except we don't have mandatory attendance or a dress code. 😛

I was kinda of thinking about the same thing with Western.

 

[Siggy]

IT ISN'T??? I thought that was it!



Oh wait, that was the other factor.

Remember folks, awesome pool+hot chicks=awesome med school.

Pool (either at gym, or in my case, my town home complex)+beach+hot chicks+low humidity=awesomer med school.

 

[bth7]

I was really hoping that Touro's clincial education was solid. THe school is literally 5 mins away from my home. I have family and support here(single mom), but is that enough to make up for the subpar clincial education?? Or am I better off packing up and leaving for a school that has a better clinical education. I have less than a year to figure this one out.🙁

Your support network is SUPER important. Don't sacrifice it.

It sounds like you have you're eyes open, and you know what you're getting into. Just keep asking questions. And ask yourself what you really want & what's most important to you. It's not a monodimensional decision.

bth

 

[PunkmedGirl]

Your support network is SUPER important. Don't sacrifice it.

It sounds like you have you're eyes open, and you know what you're getting into. Just keep asking questions. And ask yourself what you really want & what's most important to you. It's not a monodimensional decision.

bth

Thanx. What's most important to me is getting a solid education, both basic science as well as clinical education, without sacrificing my relationship with my child. My child will be at least eleven when I start school (if I get in on the first try), so in a way its not AS hard as having a younger child to care for. I've looked at schools that would give me the opportunity to do rotations in the same location, which would definitely be an ideal situation for me. I'm still researching, but I think I know what my decision will end up being if I was accepted to those schools.

 

[bleeker10]

Pool (either at gym, or in my case, my town home complex)+beach+hot chicks+low humidity=awesomer med school.

I'd have to disagree. I think beach + california or florida = worse med school. I think the snow + ridiculously cheap drinks at bars on a daily basis + mandatory dress code (so you get to see the girls dressed up everyday) = awesome med school

 

[ILikeFood]

I'd have to disagree. I think beach + california or florida = worse med school. I think the snow + ridiculously cheap drinks at bars on a daily basis + mandatory dress code (so you get to see the girls dressed up everyday) = awesome med school

That is sooo wrong! That's like eating chow mein with chocolate sauce! you intrigue me, my friend. You intrigue me

 

[bleeker10]

That is sooo wrong! That's like eating chow mein with chocolate sauce! you intrigue me, my friend. You intrigue me

You know, that actually sounds kinda good haha. I guess there's a reason why I'm at LECOM and love it here and you are at NSU and love it there. These reasons may sound stupid, but these are things to think about when choosing a school. I am very happy here in Erie and know I picked the right school for me.

 

[DarkHorizon]

For all you premeds scared away by bth's rant on Touro, Nova Southeastern is your answer. It is pretty much the greatest of all DO schools.
1. Reasonable DO school tuition
2. Large campus, large city.
3. There are ways around the mandatory attendance
4. Dress code isn't as strict as they make it out to be.
5. Enthusiastic lecturerers (for the most part)
6. Excellent curriculum (so far).
7. No fck ups with clinicals from what I've heard. Ask the third and fourth years around here for more info.
8. I am physically aroused whenever I see Nova from my grad apts, and then I have to go down to the newly constructed pool to work it off before I go to class. It is a hard life indeed.

How about 3 months of primary care in your 4th year, and this MHS bull**** along with CP and IGC make me want to barf

 

[bigDinLV]

Why should someone pay 200-250k+ with living expense included if there are "still some things to work out"? The clinical education deficit is not worth paying that money. You can have good rotations if you set them up yourself, but then why pay nearly 40k a year for that?

Touro NV would be great if they fixed clinical education. Do you want to pay a quarter million while they are fixing it?

The current person in charge of clinical education has changed very little in 4 years. Students still get sub-par rotations unless they schedule their own. They do have some good rotations but not enough for every student. 25%-70% of students get sub-par rotations because there just isn't room. Even if that number were 5% that would still be unacceptable for paying such high tuition.

-For ANY school less than 10 years old always question clinical education.

So every school should have every single thing perfect from the first day?

I guess all the highly respected places never had a single struggle or a student complain?? We know they did..

 

[beachblonde]

How about 3 months of primary care in your 4th year, and this MHS bull**** along with CP and IGC make me want to barf

ah, yes, because learning how to do an H&P is absolutely a waste of time. 🙄

(but I'll concede that MH&S sucks big time...fortunately it's a minimal amount of time per week)

and why are you complaining already about 3 months of primary care? aren't you an M1?

 

[ILikeFood]

We have five months of electives our 4th year. Is that not enough?

 

[Siggy]

ah, yes, because learning how to do an H&P is absolutely a waste of time. 🙄

(but I'll concede that MH&S sucks big time...fortunately it's a minimal amount of time per week)

and why are you complaining already about 3 months of primary care? aren't you an M1?

Medical students are over achievers, hence we bitch and moan about things years before the average person would.

 

[DarkHorizon]

ah, yes, because learning how to do an H&P is absolutely a waste of time. 🙄

(but I'll concede that MH&S sucks big time...fortunately it's a minimal amount of time per week)

and why are you complaining already about 3 months of primary care? aren't you an M1?

Learning how to do an H&P is good, but memorizing everything on the form and reciting it back in 25 minutes without taking any notes whatsoever is dumb. I have never seen any doctor doing H&P without having to go over an H&P form and making notes concurrently. But what do I know...

 

[Cp22kjer]

Medical students are over achievers, hence we bitch and moan about things years before the average person would.

Agreed! 👍

 

[bth7]

Medical students are over achievers, hence we bitch and moan about things years before the average person would.

Med students, residents and physicians are smart. We give up years of our lives to be able to take on the responsibility for people's health. We give up week-ends, weddings, and funerals, and 1st birthdays of our families to make it through this process. We go into hundred's of thousands of dollars of debt, just to be able to help people. When our friends are out partying, we were studying for the MCAT. When our friends are starting families, we're on call. When our families are sleeping, we're on rounds.

You're right, we aren't average people. We make huge sacrifices. And (most of us) are pretty damn smart.

bth

 

[Thomas Hearns]

How would you all compare Nova vs Western?

 

[ILikeFood]

How would you all compare Nova vs Western?

Siggy would say that Western is better. But we all know that Siggy's a liar.

 

[ILikeFood]

Seriously read what I posted above. And check out these pictures of Nova

 

[Thomas Hearns]

Siggy would say that Western is better. But we all know that Siggy's a liar.

I'm more worried about quality and consistency of 3rd and 4th year rotations... I know Nova is a beautiful school, I've never seen Western... I believe they have a new building almost complete as well?

 

[ILikeFood]

I'm more worried about quality and consistency of 3rd and 4th year rotations... I know Nova is a beautiful school, I've never seen Western... I believe they have a new building almost complete as well?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6464809&postcount=219

I'm a graduating M4 from NSU. I will say flat out I had a great education there. I was well prepared and ready for my clinical rotations.There were great classmates of mine that have matched into places like Yale, Emory, and the Cleveland Clinic. I matched into EM and am quite ecstatic about it. All medical schools are you get what you put in but I also think I had a good knowledge base and I saw some great pathology.

Curriculum: Solid. Your first two years are going to be like drinking out of a fire hose but so is any medical school. They provide a good base to get ready for your 2nd year medical classes. There is integration of physical examination classes and simulated patient exams throughout your didactic years and these simulated exams made sure the COMLEX 2 PE was a breeze.

Gross Anatomy had 4-5 per cadaver and two teams worked on one body, one on Tuesday and one Thursday. I will let you know I had plenty of time to dissect and if I wanted to come back on my off time. I know a lot of incoming students want to know about that. I thought my 2nd year was actually tougher then my 1st but much more "fun". This is where the rubber meets the road so to speak and its all system based. There are a lot of clinical correlations made though the classes that ends up helping you later. I did visiting rotations at bigger academic programs in my 4th year at places such as UNC, Cook County, USC, and University of Tennessee and I felt I had awesome training compared to my fellow peers.

Location: Two words…..SOUTH FLORIDA! This is Miami….this is the white sandy beaches…this is a busy area! The location has beautiful weather and plenty of time to study your histology by the pool in December. The area also has professional hockey, football, baseball, and basketball for you sports fans. There are so many places to eat and have a great time as well as short trips to Orlando or the Keys for a weekend get away when you need to just get away. Point to note though, it can get kinda expensive. Which leads to….

Cost: Honestly I don't remember what it is now. I have instate tuition and pay around 25K or so. (I was paying 22K when I started) I think out of state pays around 33K or so. I will say a decent apartment can run you around 1100-1300. This is easily worked around sharing with a roommate but again that's a pretty steep compared to other parts of the country. Gas is a little higher as well but this comes with being in a heavily populated area.

Faculty: The teaching faculty is pretty good. We have a great anatomy and histology professors. Our physiology professors are decent and I learned from them but they are more interested in research at times. In second year most of the classes are in systems. Almost every one of the lecturers was pretty good. Now of course every now and then there was a snoozer but hey….that's life. There is a Dr. Hasty that is a professor in Internal Medicine that will do anything for the students. He teaches a lot but also takes the time to make sure the students are doing well. Again, didactic wise I had a great education.

Administration: I will be honest. I think our administration could use some work. You'll see the Dean a bit through the first 2 years but honestly I haven't heard much from him since I started my 3rd year. I figure the next time I will hear from them is graduation. I also thought at times the clinical education department was difficult to work with but in the end it all worked out for me. As I said they could use some work and some communication but it had nothing to do with my quality of my education.

OMM: We have some great faculty here including Dr. Wallace and some others for OPP. This class takes its time and makes sure you know slowly how to do things the right way. HVLA is not taught until 2nd year. I am not a OMM kinda guy but I liked the classes in lab ….even cranial…..because I could sleep.

Reputation: Most of the time when people ask where I go to school they go ummmm ok. I do though get through some of my rotations people who know the candidates that come out of NSU and are quite happy. We place candidates throughout the country in a lot of specialties. I think my class had a lot of great placements as well. For the most part I think we put some damn great physicians.

I will say that NSU now is one of the older DO schools. This means there are more alumni and people that are familiar with the program. There are a lot of new programs out there now and I was happy I was at a place that had previous students that are in all sorts of programs though out the country. This in my opinion is a big plus.


Clinical Rotations: There are multiple rotation sites for NSU students. There are a lot of students so they run a lotto for placements throughout Florida for your core 3rd year rotations. Most students get their first choice. The most popular rotations are Broward General, Memorial Hospital, Mt. Sinai, Florida Hospital in Orlando, and Suncoast in Tampa. I was at Broward General which is a large level 1 trauma center in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. I though my rotations were absolutely awesome. One of the reasons I came to NSU was the pathology. There is a great mix of poor, homeless, tropical medicine, and south Florida has a HUGE HIV population. I saw so many funky and weird diseases during my time there. There were residency programs also at the hospital so I had a cushion for learning. There was also a lot of one on one time there so I got a to do a lot of procedures in 3rd year like central lines, chest tubes, IV, abscess drainage, suturing, delivering babies, and being 1st assist on a lot of surgical cases. I know you get a lot of these at other hospitals but I think there I had a great learning opportunity here.

You do have to do rural/underserved rotations in your 4th year. Two they assign to you and one you can do on your own. I choose EM at Cook County in Chicago cause its amazingly underserved. Others choose to do international rotations in Africa or India. They pay a stipend and provide housing for those on your rurals.

Housing: Again, can get expensive. I would say get a place near school and walk to class if you can. If you want a nicer place with a 15-20 drive I suggest Plantation which has some great apartments and you get a little more for the same price.

Study areas: Great in my opinion. There is a HPD library which is decent but tends to get quite busy since there are so many programs at the school. There are a lot of private study rooms and if you don't want to be at the HPD there is a MASSIVE library on campus that is really clean and modern. I had NO problems finding a place to study….just the motivation.

Social Scene: Its South Beach. Nuff said. There is always something to go do or see here. Sports, beach, drinking, cruises…..Miami has it all if you have the money.

Board Prep: They pay for Kaplan and you get all the books as well. There is a complete review course but I spent the time just reading the books they gave me as well as some I bought myself. I had like 6 weeks or so off for studying. I thought it was fine.

Happiness of Student Body: I added this here because I didn't see it earlier. For the most part we are content. We are not the cheery happiest medical student body out there but I think we are great clinicians. Don't get me wrong we have a lot of fun and there are a LOT of good times to be had in the Miami area. I think that as you progress there are a lot of stressors that add to the mix. Tough classes then boards….then setting up electives…then the match. All while still studying and working hard to be a great physician. Not specific to NSU but I think that student body is something that you need to look at while your out there.


OK its late and I'm tired, please let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[ILikeFood]

If you'd like pictures of any of the hospitals, let me know. And plz don't say ALL OF THEM. I don't have time to go to all of them. One or two.