school's to stay away from

[beneaththeveil]

I'm new to the world of DO and I am still Pre-Med. I know this is the board for students already in school, but I think you guys might have an answer to my question.
I have noticed that pretty much the same schools get mentioned frequently and some very infrequently. So, my question, naturally, is are there certain schools that I should stay away from? Schools whose standards are sub-par? Education? etc...

thanks

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[alfonsito]

Are you TRYING to piss people off?

I'm sorry, but no certified school is sub-par.

 

[melancholy]

I agree with alfonsito on this.. it is a rather large oversight to think some schools are "sub-par" that students should not look into them. I don't know how exposure to SDN varies among the different schools, but it just seems like certain schools have more of an online presence on SDN due to various reasons. (more advertising, word-of-mouth from older students, etc.) That being said, there are some schools that are better fits for a particular student than other schools.

Hope this answers your questions.

 

[med student]

I realize how this thread could piss people off but in every profesion there are always schools that have problems that people should know about in advance. Now I am not saying you should not go to those schools it is just nice to know as much as possible before making the choice about which school to go to.

 

[beneaththeveil]

Excuse me for trying to be informed. Thank you very much med student. I completely agree with everything you said. But for you people who are looking for people who "slip up", i.e. **** starters, did you not apply to undergraduate college? Did you not know which schools you did not want to go to because they were, as I said before and still hold on to, SUB-PAR?

 

[jjbiv]

Instead of labeling a school as "sub-par" or "stay-away" let's change the question to "is there any area of a school that is widely-regarded as 'sub-par' or 'bottom-of-the-stack'?"

 

[Sweaty Paul]

Beneaththeveil and med student,

Many don't like to have, or think of the school that they attend as being sub par, which is why you elicited the response that you did. Further, there is a difference between the educational requirements/expectations of undergrad and medical school. In medical school we all have to take and pass the same exam. Therefore, the material for which we are responsible is the same.
That said, if you want to try to quantify good from "sub par", as you called it, you can look at board pass rates and how each school performed on the various section of the boards. You can also try to guage a school's reputation talk to various residency directors to find what schools that they like to accept students from for thier residencies.
Good luck in your application process. If you have any questions about KCOM (Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine) please send me a an e-mail thru this system, post here, or at any of the other KCOM sites on SDN.

Sweaty

 

[Sweaty Paul]

Beneaththeveil and med student,

Many don't like to have, or think of the school that they attend as being sub par, which is why you elicited the response that you did. Further, there is a difference between the educational requirements/expectations of undergrad and medical school. In medical school we all have to take and pass the same exam. Therefore, the material for which we are responsible is the same.
That said, if you want to try to quantify good from "sub par", as you called it, you can look at board pass rates and how each school performed on the various section of the boards. You can also try to guage a school's reputation talk to various residency directors to find what schools that they like to accept students from for thier residencies.
Good luck in your application process. If you have any questions about KCOM (Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine) please send me a an e-mail thru this system, post here, or at any of the other KCOM sites on SDN.

Sweaty

 

[med student]

There are lots of things that can make a school "subpar" that are independent of how well the students do on board exams or in getting into residencies. At some schools the students are miserable or something is going to happen in the next few such as major construction. These things are very useful to know in deciding if you should apply or interview at a given school.

 

[pyoj]

you should go visit the schools and find out for yourself...

~pyoj

 

[David Churchill]

All of the Osteopathic Schools are certified by the AOA, and these have very stringent requirements in order to maintain their accredation. If a school is found to be "sub-par" it would not be certified to give out the D.O degree, and would not be a member of AACOM. Unlike undergraduate schools, the level of supervision by the osteopathic profession keeps the schools well above par when it comes to educating the physicians of toommorow.

 

[med student]

You are missing the point. I am not saying that the schools are unable to teach their students to a sufficient level. I think all accredited school are able to do this. But lets assume that you have a choice between a few schools and assuming the schools provide a similar education then their are other factors that are worth taking into acccount such as construction projects, finacial stability of the school, overall happiness of the students, etc. I agree that visiting the schools can be helpful but it is difficult to get an accurate answer to these questions if the majority of the people you talk to are affiliated with the admissions committee which is the case at some schools. Look I am not trying to attack DO schools I am just speaking from my experience from interviewing at MD schools. I think this message board can be helpful to let pre-meds know the pos./neg. of a given school. When I was interviewing I turned down an interview at a school because I was lucky enough to find out that most of the student body was miserable at the school. This is something the adcom is not going to tell you but I am glad I found before going to the school.

 

[jhug]

My soccer coach would always tell us when we didn't quite do something right- "good idea, bad execution" The desire to know where to avoid is good- The question to find out is bad. I think the more proper way to find out what you want would be to ask something along the lines of- what school SHOULD i apply to? which schools provide me the best education out there? Where are you med students the happiest? Stuff like that- putting aside what everyone says, the only real way to know is by visiting the school and talking with students and seeing how things are done. Good luck to you!

 

[dlbruch]

I think the problem here is the wording used: Subpar suggests that the school doesn't adequately educate or prepare DO's for practice. I agree with the thoughts of many- the AOA keeps a close watch on DO schools to make sure the education is at "par" or better.

I think the spirit of the question is valid, though. We all want to gravitate toward the "good" school and avoid the "bad" school. Reality, though, is that these are not absolutes. What I think is good, someone else might think is bad. Maybe you should put down a list of aspects of DO education that are important to you (ie. quality of OMM education, board passage rates, match rates, weather in January, etc.) and then we can all comment on how we think our school does in those areas.

As for me, I am very happy here at COMP- I think it is a good fit for me. You may be better off somewhere else.

One last thought- to even consider medical school, you have to something of a gunner. Don't let the idea of the "best" school cloud your judgement as to where you'll be best off. There is no Harvard or Hopkins of DO schools- nobody is going to be overly impressed with which one you go to. Just find the one that suits you best.

 

[johndean11229]

hey i wasnt gonna write what i am but i will only to give examples of how i chose my schools. i am asking anyone that reads what i write to be offended because i am not assessing your program or your school, i am only speaking the truth of my experiences. i interviewed at many schools and i saw how some accpeted who i was and some that did not. for instance, unecom, tucom, and azcom all supported my abilites as an actor and pretty much spent all their questions asking me about it. actually the fello as touro was priveledged that an actor was there and i was really happy to see that they accepted actors as possible medical students. however, and here s where i will try to be careful, schools like nycom and lecom were really melicious to me as an actor. they couldnt belive that i would waste my time being an actor. lecom told me i must be narcissist, which i was gravely offended and nycom told me i had to be egotistical and that i wasted my time off doing acting where i should have been volunteering some more. i do not have a problem with how i was treated at this schools but in actual it helped because it helped knock out what schools i was not applicable for. so i agree with everyone in that i think all schools are great but you have to find the ones you match up best with. thats my two cents and i m goin to une next year...

 

[melancholy]

I like how jhug put it.. unfortunately, it is easy to misinterpret questions that may sound negative when the intention is honest. I think there are a few general factors when looking at the broad scope of schools first. After that, looking for what features of specific schools appeal to you might be a logical step. During the research process, you will inevitably hear good/bad/neutral things about the school that will help the thought-process while applying and even during the interview process.

Hopefully, SDN can answer your more specific questions about certain schools you're interested in..

 

[Amra]

ahhh... linguistics... the lost art...

good/bad/subpar/optimal/whatever is all about perspective.. remember, some people like vanilla, some people like chocolate (I like Nutty Waffle Cone).

Case-n-point: I interviewed with a guy at 2-3 same schools. Both of us agreed that the one particular school was "sub-par" (compared to the others) - yet completely disagreed on another (he thought is was "subpar" I thought it rocked).

LECOM is a school that gets smacked around a bit. I'll agree that LECOM has some points that they have to work on... yet.. I live in an area that many LECOM peeps rotate thru/do residencies. ALL of my physician friends (including those that teach/or are admin in residency programs) agree that LECOM's students are well prepared and make great doctors. This is the sort of thing that aren't as obvious.

Bottom line, everyone graduates "Doctor." Choose a school that fits you when you apply.. and watch how your perspective of the school changes when you interview/visit it. I know mine did! Before my interviews I was 1000% dead-set on COMP. Now, COMP received my "Decline your offer" letter (and let me tell you, THAT was hard to write) and NOVA is my choice.

Hope I helped a tad-
-A