Sidney Kimmel (Thomas Jefferson) vs. Western U DO

[archiesmom]

Hi everyone! I was hoping to get some thoughts on these two schools. I live in Southern California so Western is close to my family and my boyfriend, and I would want to move back after med school. However, I am choosing between an MD and DO and don’t want to make a decision based on convenience. Here are my pros/cons:

TJ Pros:
-pass/fail
-MD
-early clinical exposure
-research opportunities
-humanities program

TJ Cons:
-far / don’t know if my boyfriend could come with me
- maybe harder to get a residency on the west coast?

Western Pros:
- close to home
- interesting scholarly tracks, especially lifestyle medicine
- community seems really nice
- can get an MPH with no additional time

Western Cons:
- grading system is essentially the ABC system
- general downsides of going DO (less research opportunities, more difficulty getting into competitive residencies)
- taking two steps of exams (DO and STEP)

So this is where I’m at right now. I know the obvious answer is to go to an MD program but I’m hoping to get more specific advice. Thank you!!!

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[m1redsox]

Western is a fine choice if you don’t mind going into primary care, EM, psych, path, neuro, or pm&r. But if you are secretly hoping for a surgical subspecialty, derm, rads, or even traditionally middle-competitive specialties like OB, anesthesia, or academic gen surg, then the match rate and match placement stink (placement meaning quality/location/reputation of program).

For example, if you want ophtho as a WesternU grad, you will not match in CA, and if you match at all, it will probably be at a low-tier program that will limit your subspecialty options. Meanwhile, Jefferson is ranked #2 in the country for ophtho (and T20 for ortho, neurosurg, etc) and will set you up for massive success.

 

[PuzzlesMD]

-talk to your boyfriend
-do you need an MPH? it's sometimes recommended to get it later and paid by your employer
-what specialties are you interested in? have you ruled anything out?

Jefferson seems like the easy choice. It will do just about everything you want it to do for you. It is up to you to decide how well you can proceed the next 4 years living away from family and to discuss how this affects your relationship (you haven't talked about this as you prepared to apply?)