Temple vs DMU

[567mg43]

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I'm looking to see if anyone has any input in deciding between these two.
DMU has a much nicer facility, you take classes with the DO students, and has a cheaper cost of living. However the clinic seems pretty slow.
Temple has a much busier clinic which I would assume lead to seeing a bigger variety of cases, and its in Philly so its already in close proximity to a large number of externships/residencies. However the building is pretty old and out-dated and it's more expensive.
If it matters... I'm already from PA, so is it worth it to go all the way out to Iowa? For you, no matter where you picked/want to go, what was the biggest deciding factor?

 

[g squared 23]

Most important is putting yourself in an environment where you can learn most efficiently and comfortably. Sounds like your mind is already made up, and Temple is your "best school".

Clinic definitely is better at Temple, DMU is definitely better academically. I've seen fantastic and horrendous students from both places.

 

[heybrother]

Is it important to you to be close to your family? How do you feel about living in a suburban area as opposed to living in a downtown urban area? Are you interested in doing your residency in Philly?

I chose DMU because I just couldn't have done the big city thing. Des Moines is beautiful, safe, and mostly suburban - it was how I was already living. The classes we take with DOs are incredibly well done and that probably plays out in our board scores. I feel like we have incredible freedom to learn however we please. The amount of extra time-consuming crap is kept to a minimum. Our 3rd year is slow, but once the EBMs pick up it all becomes a lot more interesting. Fourth year is essentially spent traveling across the country. When I asked other schools about 4th year a few years ago I received a spectrum of answers. Things may have changed, but at the time I felt DMU had far greater freedom for me to pursue what I wanted - clerking at all the programs in my home state. At the time, some schools required their students to return to campus for the end of 4th year which made absolutely no sense to me. Whether this still occurs I cannot say. We start clerkships in May so technically we could fit 8 pre-January months in.