Should I consider? Or too risky?

[Johnny Appleseed]

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Its starting to look like this new DO school in Utah is legit. Its been on the news a couple of times and construction is said to begin in March. As a Utah resident with family close to St. George, this seems like a great fit for me, but I worry about the possible consequences of attending a brand new DO school...

My biggest worries are the school loses accreditation and/or I become unable to land a decent residency. I've tried looking up the match lists from other first year programs, but I can't seem to find them. I realize match lists don't tell you the whole story, but at least it would be something.

Anyone out there have experience at a first year program? Can anyone ease my worries? Or are these legitimate concerns?

With grade replacement I'll have roughly a GPA of 3.7-3.8. My practice MCATs have been around average and I have quite a bit more time to study and bring it up. My ECs are decent so I think I'd have a fair shot at getting in to other schools, but this school is soooo close to home it'll be hard to ignore it as a possibility.

Thanks for any advice!

Here are some links to articles on the school. Or you can search Ivins Utah Medical School, there have been quite a few articles on it lately.

http://suindependent.com/rocky-vista-university-medical-school-utah/

http://kutv.com/news/local/ivins-city-chosen-to-house-utahs-2nd-medical-school

 

[QueenJames]

Score high on your MCAT and you can go to ANY DO program with that GPA (given that you have DO shadowing and the other good ECs that most DO schools look for these days). I personally didn't want to risk going to a new program so I chose a program that has history of matching its students where I live and where I eventually want to come back to practice. Good luck and keep up the good work!

 

[Dr. Death]

Consider it but don't marry yourself to the idea of it. Get a decent MCAT, go to 5 interviews or so (including this one) and pick which is the best fit for you.

 

[BelieveMeChile]

So they're admitting for 2017? Meaning they're interviewing for this cycle? How legit is that info, because I'll totally apply (sorry to hijack the thread)

To answer your question, it's always a good idea to be near family, but I'd definitely put some heavy thought into applying to programs you KNOW will train you well. You have a great GPA, and you sound confident about the MCAT, so you could go anywhere, and top-level programs definitely have perks.

 

[Johnny Appleseed]

So they're admitting for 2017? Meaning they're interviewing for this cycle? How legit is that info, because I'll totally apply (sorry to hijack the thread)

To answer your question, it's always a good idea to be near family, but I'd definitely put some heavy thought into applying to programs you KNOW will train you well. You have a great GPA, and you sound confident about the MCAT, so you could go anywhere, and top-level programs definitely have perks.

Info is solid. It's all but a done deal. They are breaking ground next month and they claim they will be interviewing this coming summer for the 2017 start.

 

[BelieveMeChile]

Since it's a campus of RVU wouldn't they have residency connections through that?

 

[cyang55]

Since it's a branch of RVU, you at least won't be starting out at a brand "new" school. The biggest issues with the brand new schools is you don't know how well they will prepare their students for boards. Given that RVU got 100% pass rates and the second highest score on their step 1 last year (out of all DO schools), that can give you a point of reference (not a definite indication of how the new school will perform). At the same time, even if the new school use the same curriculum as RVU, the faculties, etc will be different, so keep that in mind.

Right now, just focus on continuing to prepare yourself well so you are competitive for ANY DO school. It's better to keep your options open.