Reviews of DO Schools Primarily in Midwest

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Dhooy7

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As I'm getting ready to apply to medical schools, I'm looking for schools that aren't extremely expensive, have extremely expensive housing rates, and have a good reputation. I live in Wisconsin and wasn't sure if what the requirements were to receive in-state tuition for the state schools. Is it worth looking into for the State Schools?

I primarily want to stay in Midwest unless I can find a school that is cheap.

Here are the schools I'm interested in:

Des moines, KCUMB, AT STILL, Chicago, PCOM
State schools?
LECOM and Bradeton

Any others in Midwest or that I should look into?

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I hear Marian gets a decent rep in the midwest but im not sure if that's changed at all
 
You can cross Chicago off your list if reasonable cost of attendance is on your list. KCU and MUCOM were both fantastic schools IMO. Can't speak for the others, though I do work with a doc who went to DMU and she's fantastic, so I have no doubt you get a great education there as well.
 
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Most of the people I know from DMU seemed pretty happy with their training. They have the same complaints you get from any DO students (rotations, OMM, random rules, frustrating policies), but otherwise graduates seem to do pretty well. I have no idea about costs, but Des Moines isn't an expensive place.

I believe LECOM is still the cheapest on that list. I can't say much about Bradenton, but if you can get past the archaic rules and overbearing administration, its a very solid school. Seton Hill is sufficiently far from the administration, so you won't have to deal as much, but there are still one or two faculty that might as well have been plucked from the cold depths of lake erie. If you're up for PBL, Seton Hill should be a reasonable option. If you want LDP, LECOM-Erie is your only option. LECOM is also heavily connected in terms of residency programs, and generally speaking the students are well-regarded in the area (Western PA and NY, Eastern OH).

MUCOM seemed like they were putting things together well when I interviewed when they were trying to get their inaugural class, but it sounds like a lot of their plans didn't pan out. Still, the school has good connections with IU and seems like a solid option. Indianapolis is also very reasonably priced in terms of COL.

CCOM is ridiculously expensive and even the suburbs of Chicago are expensive. If your goal is to save money, then its a bit out of place on your list.

PCOM is solid, but again, Philly isn't the cheapest place on Earth. The one upside is that they have a pretty extensive residency affiliation list, so that's a pro. Don't know too much more about it though. Graduates seem fine. Also, make sure you call it P.C.O.M. when you interview.

Lots of people on here love KCUMB. I honestly don't know enough about it, but it seems as solid as any DO school.

The truth is that none of these schools are going to offer you anything substantially different objectively, so it'll come down to what's important to you and where you could see yourself succeeding the most.
 
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What about about DO schools like MSU? Is it too much of a hastle for in-state tuition?
 
Throw ATSU-SOMA (assuming you only meant kcom when you said at still) on there as well if you don't mind doing a year in Arizona. They have sites in Ohio and Chicago for years 2-4. Also ohsu-com
 
As I'm getting ready to apply to medical schools, I'm looking for schools that aren't extremely expensive, have extremely expensive housing rates, and have a good reputation. I live in Wisconsin and wasn't sure if what the requirements were to receive in-state tuition for the state schools. Is it worth looking into for the State Schools?

I primarily want to stay in Midwest unless I can find a school that is cheap.

Here are the schools I'm interested in:

Des moines, KCUMB, AT STILL, Chicago, PCOM
State schools?
LECOM and Bradeton

Any others in Midwest or that I should look into?


I’m a 4th year at CCOM.
1) tuition is hella expansive. Between 63-66k. That’s a fact.
2) rent isn’t that bad. Roommate and I paid $1200 for a 2 bed, 2 bath 10 min away from school for the first two year. For the last two years, we and another guy paid $2200 for a 3 bed, 2 baths living 10 min away from downtown.
3) I rotated at major hospitals in the city. I did surgery at Cook county, IM at advocate Lutheran, Peds and OB at advocate Christ. All excellent sites. That is as good as it gets for DO schools
4) School provides good guidance in terms of boards studying, residency applications and so forth. I’m seeing my dean to talk over my rank list. Feel supportive overall.
 
I’m a 4th year at CCOM.
1) tuition is hella expansive. Between 63-66k. That’s a fact.
2) rent isn’t that bad. Roommate and I paid $1200 for a 2 bed, 2 bath 10 min away from school for the first two year. For the last two years, we and another guy paid $2200 for a 3 bed, 2 baths living 10 min away from downtown.
3) I rotated at major hospitals in the city. I did surgery at Cook county, IM at advocate Lutheran, Peds and OB at advocate Christ. All excellent sites. That is as good as it gets for DO schools
4) School provides good guidance in terms of boards studying, residency applications and so forth. I’m seeing my dean to talk over my rank list. Feel supportive overall.

Addendum.
Not sure how pertinent this fact is but it’s worth mentioning
5) I was a single minority when started school. Living in the Chicago area was great for the dating scene. And the food scene is fantastic. I love to just walk out of my apartment and walk 3 blocks down to an authentic Cuban sandwich shop or a taco truck. Oh, I live close to a park that hosted 3 music festivals last summer.
Going to DMU or KCOM would have saved me $20k per year but I would see the 4 years of my mid 20s just going by without truly enjoying it
 
As I'm getting ready to apply to medical schools, I'm looking for schools that aren't extremely expensive, have extremely expensive housing rates, and have a good reputation. I live in Wisconsin and wasn't sure if what the requirements were to receive in-state tuition for the state schools. Is it worth looking into for the State Schools?

I primarily want to stay in Midwest unless I can find a school that is cheap.

Here are the schools I'm interested in:

Des moines, KCUMB, AT STILL, Chicago, PCOM
State schools?
LECOM and Bradeton

Any others in Midwest or that I should look into?
Suggest MUCOM.
 
Addendum.
Not sure how pertinent this fact is but it’s worth mentioning
5) I was a single minority when started school. Living in the Chicago area was great for the dating scene. And the food scene is fantastic. I love to just walk out of my apartment and walk 3 blocks down to an authentic Cuban sandwich shop or a taco truck. Oh, I live close to a park that hosted 3 music festivals last summer.
Going to DMU or KCOM would have saved me $20k per year but I would see the 4 years of my mid 20s just going by without truly enjoying it
From Chicago originally so I completely get that but honestly Des Moines has surprised me with how much fun stuff is goin on and how much there is to do. No comparison to Chicago but imo there isnt a city that can compare haha Just throwing that out there
 
Does Chicago have any good scholardhips?
 
Honestly just pick the cheapest school to attend (I'm from AZCOM LOL), as a DO how you match mainly comes down to your USMLE/COMLEX board score, letters of reference and audition performance (if any). If you get some good rotations, great. If not, no biggie, just arrange a few good ones for the specialty that you want in 4th year (that awesome family medicine rotation isn't gonna prepare you for surgery, no matter how awesome it is, so go find some solid surgery rotations on your own).
 
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Depending on which specialty you desire, research might be an important component of your application. MUCOM seemed like a great program and you can't beat the cost of living in Indiana. Only issue you might find is that research is (from what I am aware of) severely limited. They have some sort of agreement with Eli Lilly, but its such a small pool of students that get that opportunity. There just wasn't a lot (almost none) of faculty research options. But then again that might not be an issue if research is important to you as an applicant.
Mind you this was a while back. Maybe a current student could clarify
 
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Honestly just pick the cheapest school to attend (I'm from AZCOM LOL), as a DO how you match mainly comes down to your USMLE/COMLEX board score, letters of reference and audition performance (if any). If you get some good rotations, great. If not, no biggie, just arrange a few good ones for the specialty that you want in 4th year (that awesome family medicine rotation isn't gonna prepare you for surgery, no matter how awesome it is, so go find some solid surgery rotations on your own).
Right now my top 4:
DMU
LECOM
KCUMB??
UNT

Unsure
MUCOM

LECOM- Bradeton


Don't know anything about these schools

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My GPA is great but not sure about MCAT yet.

Also do DO schools live stream lectures? Most MDs I've talked to do and I was just curious.
 
My GPA is great but not sure about MCAT yet.

Also do DO schools live stream lectures? Most MDs I've talked to do and I was just curious.
DMU does. When I interviewed at CCOM they said they were beginning to last year but not sure currently
 
I have 4 choices right now but just need about 3-4 more.

Anyone go to OUHCOM? Someone said they don't even do lectures?
 
If you can stomach the first year in Arizona, ATSU-SOMA has sites in Chicago and Cincinnati area for years 2-4. All lectures are optional and everything is live streamed. Tuition is a little pricey, but you can get scholarships. Just my two cents
 
I have 4 choices right now but just need about 3-4 more.

Anyone go to OUHCOM? Someone said they don't even do lectures?

OUHCOM does have lectures, but for incoming students next Fall they are starting a new curriculum. It's half group-based hands on learning and half "flipped classroom" type stuff all these MD/DO schools are transitioning towards.
 
OUHCOM does have lectures, but for incoming students next Fall they are starting a new curriculum. It's half group-based hands on learning and half "flipped classroom" type stuff all these MD/DO schools are transitioning towards.
Dang, any other meds schools changing like this? Doing less lecture and more hands on?
 
Addendum.
Not sure how pertinent this fact is but it’s worth mentioning
5) I was a single minority when started school. Living in the Chicago area was great for the dating scene. And the food scene is fantastic. I love to just walk out of my apartment and walk 3 blocks down to an authentic Cuban sandwich shop or a taco truck. Oh, I live close to a park that hosted 3 music festivals last summer.
Going to DMU or KCOM would have saved me $20k per year but I would see the 4 years of my mid 20s just going by without truly enjoying it

I can buy a Maserati with that extra money in tuition by going to DMU. Year 3 is scattered throughout Ohio and my 4th year will be a mixture of auditions in Ohio and Philly then the rest in Chicago through VSAS (my GF will be living in Chicago as a third year DMU student). I agree that Chicago is better than Des Moines, but your clinical years are pretty much up to you. I didn't even apply to CCOM because of tuition.
 
OUHCOM does have lectures, but for incoming students next Fall they are starting a new curriculum. It's half group-based hands on learning and half "flipped classroom" type stuff all these MD/DO schools are transitioning towards.
My experience with 'flipped classroom' is that you still get the same lecture, but you get a quiz to perform badly on before the lecture. Its not really a interactive learning form, it just combines self learning with mandatory activities (i.e. you have to teach yourself AND goto lecture!) It can work if you have a decent professor who isn't trying to throw test level questions on 'quizs' or give 50 pages of reading for each 1 hour class. But those are few and far between.

Like TBL's, a seemingly effective tool, that can be made completely useless by faculties inability to use it. Just because you bought a chainsaw doesn't mean your a logger.
 
Anyone go to OUHCOM? Someone said they don't even do lectures?

If you aren’t from Ohio you aren’t getting into OUHCOM.

Doing less lecture and more hands on?

Dude/dudette you don’t want this. Trust me. All this means is more mandatory crap you have to attend and less time to study. Find the cheapest school that makes you go to the least amount of activities/class and go there
 
If you aren’t from Ohio you aren’t getting into OUHCOM.

I not from Ohio and I got into OUHCOM. What's an extra primary app? 50 bucks? Totally worth a shot.

The Ohio state government has reduced the federal funding in-state requirement to 80% and I believe OU will take advantage of that if applicant #'s stay the same.

And yeah.. you definitely don't want to go to a school that has a ton of required crap. Unfortunately it seems most schools are going this way.
 
I not from Ohio and I got into OUHCOM. What's an extra primary app? 50 bucks? Totally worth a shot.

The Ohio state government has reduced the federal funding in-state requirement to 80% and I believe OU will take advantage of that if applicant #'s stay the same.

And yeah.. you definitely don't want to go to a school that has a ton of required crap. Unfortunately it seems most schools are going this way.

Ah if it’s dropped to 80 then it’s definitely worth it. Is the 5 year commitment still a thing I’m assuming? I actually applied to OU but looked at their numbers and realized it was a super long shot as I think the year I looked less than 5% of the class was OOS.
 
What schools have a bunch of requirements vs ones that don't? Any specific examples other than Ohio school?

Right now I think my most helpful thing to go off of is the prices and guides as well as personal experience.
 
Ah if it’s dropped to 80 then it’s definitely worth it. Is the 5 year commitment still a thing I’m assuming? I actually applied to OU but looked at their numbers and realized it was a super long shot as I think the year I looked less than 5% of the class was OOS.

This is purely anecdotal, but every single OOS student I've spoken to received a commitment waiver after being accepting and putting the money down to secure the seat. In all honestly, I don't believe they need the waiver because OU is regarded pretty highly in-state vs. just being another DO school when applying outside. This creates a huge incentive to stay in-state for residency at least.
 
I just hope I do well on MCAT. DO's MCAT scores were about 505-510. My goal is above 510.
 
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