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This is insane!!! A 60% graduation rate from POD school?!?! The math doesn't add up
- Thread starter DrModern
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Thank you, that makes sense. But an attrition rate of 40% is worse than Caribbean schools
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The trend with podiatry schools tends to be that they're easier to get into than to stay in. (Don't you remember that even George Costanza got into podiatry school?)
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My bad, you want to go American MD but don't have he stats. So now you want Caribbean MD, but want to be talked into applying US DO, and are now posting on pod forums. Why are you on here indirectly bashing podiatry?
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I have modified my original post accordingly so it doesn't come off as confronting. Sorry
I am applying broadly this year, both DO and POD schools. I have decided to not going to Caribbean.
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My suggestion is to apply to Pod school, and have DO as a backup. Don't do Caribbean. Joking aside. Seriously, what do you mean apply broadly this year? What is your main goal and what do you want to be? You have to pick one or the other and be damn sure you know what you are getting into. Undecided will make you unsure when you are actually in. Let's say you get into Pod school and not DO school, what then? And vice versa? From your post, seems like Pod school is your backup. Why else would you not apply to DO school alone?
To answer your question, the reason why there's such a high attrition rate because students do get weed out early in the stage, or they decided that podiatry is not the right field for them (AFTER one or two semesters), or they have other things in life that got in the way (i.e. family, financial, illness, etc.). A few think podiatry is easy once you are in, but they know soon enough that it's very difficult to stay in. As in any graduate school, you have to have commitment, passion, and a goal in mind on what you want to achieve in order to succeed. Podiatry is not an exception to that. You have to love and enjoy learning everything about the foot and ankle and everything the school throws at you. 60% graduation rate is a a bit low and this may be skewed by smaller class size at certain schools. I would say it's more in the 15-20% attrition rate with 80-85% graduation rate.
To answer your question, the reason why there's such a high attrition rate because students do get weed out early in the stage, or they decided that podiatry is not the right field for them (AFTER one or two semesters), or they have other things in life that got in the way (i.e. family, financial, illness, etc.). A few think podiatry is easy once you are in, but they know soon enough that it's very difficult to stay in. As in any graduate school, you have to have commitment, passion, and a goal in mind on what you want to achieve in order to succeed. Podiatry is not an exception to that. You have to love and enjoy learning everything about the foot and ankle and everything the school throws at you. 60% graduation rate is a a bit low and this may be skewed by smaller class size at certain schools. I would say it's more in the 15-20% attrition rate with 80-85% graduation rate.
I am listening to everyone's advice and not applying to Caribbean schools.
To be honest, at this stage in life, I am still not sure who/ what I want to be when I grow up (I almost feel pathetic like a six year old being asked this type of question). I do envy those who have their eyes on their targets at the same stage in life.
I only learned about POD this week. And have been on different SDN threads gathering more information regarding POD schools as well as reading POD students' experiences. I have to admit, so far, I am very impressed by the profession (mastering a specialization and the different possibility that are opened to the graduates).
That is the whole point of me asking all these questions.
Also, I was genuinely worried that the attrition rate of POD schools is at 60% so I don't think my concern was unjustified.
And I want to thank you for clearing this whole attrition rate mess up.
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I understand that you want to get as much info about podiatry as possible (I did too at one point), but you need to do some shadowing if you haven't already. That is the best indicator of whether or not you want to be a pod! It's fine not knowing what you want for a career, but the only way you'll find what you want is if you experience a field for yourself. That's why we shadow/volunteer, intern multiple healthcare professions. Once I shadowed I knew I wanted to be a podiatrist, while I had friends who nothing to do with it after shadowing, and that's how it should be. So stop posting on here for the time being (Podiatry has already peaked your interest) and go get into an office and see what you could be doing for the rest of you life.
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I am shadowing a DPM next week!
I just finished my first year at westernu and yes we have lost a lot of students. I think we are currently at 39/50, but to tell you the truth many people that have left or have failed weren't prepared in my opinion. People try and study the same as they did in undegrad and cram the last few days and as a result they fail. I contribute the high attrition rate due to the low acceptance stats of incoming students. Many of the students just don't know how to study properly and never developed good studying habits. I know people that failed the 1st class and decided to change and start studying their hearts out and others well...just continued to fail. This is my honest opinion though, if you study as hard/smart as you can you will be fine.
D
dyk343
We all know that it is easy to get into pod school but hard to stay in.
I am curious what the average undergraduate gpa is of the graduating students. My guess is it is much higher than 3.2 average entrance gpa.
It's sad that schools take people just to fail them out for an extra semester's worth of tuition.
I am curious what the average undergraduate gpa is of the graduating students. My guess is it is much higher than 3.2 average entrance gpa.
It's sad that schools take people just to fail them out for an extra semester's worth of tuition.
Here are the stats that I have compiled
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Might be a noob question but don't be too harsh 
(just learned there's emoji capability on this thing so here I am utilizing it).
What is a LIZZY on your lovely table you've created? I think it will be helpful for future pre-pods. great job and thanks!
(just learned there's emoji capability on this thing so here I am utilizing it).What is a LIZZY on your lovely table you've created? I think it will be helpful for future pre-pods. great job and thanks!
Tbh I wouldn't concern yourself too much with "ranking" the schools. There is no real tier system between them because they're only 9 of them. If you apply early you have a chance to get into any of the schools so long as you aren't below the GPA or MCAT cut offs for that specific school. AZPods stats are a bit higher, but remember it's also a much smaller class size and sees a less diverse applicant pool for whatever reason.
In the end you want to pick a school that doesn't have any red flags concerning board pass rates, # of clerkship opportunities, residency match rates, and also how comfortable you felt at the school.
In the end you want to pick a school that doesn't have any red flags concerning board pass rates, # of clerkship opportunities, residency match rates, and also how comfortable you felt at the school.
