UIWSOM vs WCUCOM

[purkinjekitty]

Have been lucky enough to be accepted into both schools and need some help deciding between the two.

UIWSOM:

PROS:

Close-ish to home (5 hours)

The city seems great

Want to match in texas and being at a Texas school will help that

P/F

Not much mandatory class time

New dean seems great!

Cons:

62k a year!!!

Low board scores (have been increasing)





WCUCOM:

Pros:

Cheaper!! 47k

Hattiesburg is also cheaper cost of living compared to San Antonio

Board pass rates are significantly better

P/f (i believe..?)

Attendance not mandatory (I believe..?)


Cons:

9 hours from family

Want to match in Texas and there’s no rotations In Texas (not impossible to match here still obviously)

More rural than I’m used to

Seems way more primary care/rural oriented (duh)

16 weeks of mandatory surgery electives in 4th year (no plans to match into a surgical specialty)

Summary
My hearts telling me UIWSOM but the 15k or so extra a year is saying YIKES. Any thoughts from current students, applicants or anyone else would be appreciated! Thanks yall 😁

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[drthedude]

WCU is P/F and attendance isn't mandatory except a few classes. P sure our only mandatory elective 4th year is EM so no clue where you got that 16 week thing from

 

[purkinjekitty]

WCU is P/F and attendance isn't mandatory except a few classes. P sure our only mandatory elective 4th year is EM so no clue where you got that 16 week thing from

From here

• 16 weeks must be a medicine elective;
• 16 weeks must be a surgical elective;
• 4 weeks may be used for clinical experiences in any specialty or in a nonclinical setting (e.g., Medical education, research, etc.); and
• No more than 12 weeks may be scheduled in the same specialty/subspecialty

Not the biggest deal in the world but something that caught my eye. Thanks for confirming the p/f and attendance!

 

[ijustwannasaveppl]

purkinje I'm in the exact same boat, I know you TMDSAS matched also but how did u end up picking between these two for which deposit to pay lol

 

[purkinjekitty]

purkinje I'm in the exact same boat, I know you TMDSAS matched also but how did u end up picking between these two for which deposit to pay lol

I ended up picking UIWSOM since

1. I wanted to stay in Texas and match in Texas and I’ve seen they matched really well locally!

2. I had a lot of faith in their new dean improving the program for the better.


I think most people will tell you WCUCOM and tbh if location isn’t important to you then I think WCUCOM would be the better option! DM me if you wanna talk further

Edit: or just reply here since I’m sure some others would benefit from the discussion haha

 

[ijustwannasaveppl]

I ended up picking UIWSOM since

1. I wanted to stay in Texas and match in Texas and I’ve seen they matched really well locally!

2. I had a lot of faith in their new dean improving the program for the better.


I think most people will tell you WCUCOM and tbh if location isn’t important to you then I think WCUCOM would be the better option! DM me if you wanna talk further

Edit: or just reply here since I’m sure some others would benefit from the discussion haha

thank you so much!! i think I'm gonna go with WCUCOM bc I'm not as familiar with the region of TX UIWSOM is in but we'll see. I really appreciate your help ♥

 

[RIS17]

Would anyone have any input if it were these options in addition to ATSU-SOMA?
(Also from Texas, SO in California)

 

[purkinjekitty]

Would anyone have any input if it were these options in addition to ATSU-SOMA?
(Also from Texas, SO in California)

I haven’t heard the best things from SOMA, I think WCUCOM is the best regarded of the 3 and is the cheapest!

 

[Ellesandra319]

WCU is P/F and attendance isn't mandatory except a few classes. P sure our only mandatory elective 4th year is EM so no clue where you got that 16 week thing from

From here

• 16 weeks must be a medicine elective;
• 16 weeks must be a surgical elective;
• 4 weeks may be used for clinical experiences in any specialty or in a nonclinical setting (e.g., Medical education, research, etc.); and
• No more than 12 weeks may be scheduled in the same specialty/subspecialty

Not the biggest deal in the world but something that caught my eye. Thanks for confirming the p/f and attendance!

This is slightly incorrect per the OMS3 and OMS4 syllabus we were sent a couple weeks ago.

4 weeks EM
4 weeks FamMed
12 weeks Surgery Electives
12 weeks Medicine Electives
4 weeks Non-Clinical

That being said there is a TON of room for flexibility in what the school considers "Surgery Electives" and "Medicine Electives." For example EM, anesthesia, and AnatomyPath are considered a "Surgery Elective" and Sports med, pets, fam med, psych are considered "medicine electives." So 4th year is still choose your own adventure for the most part and people work around it all to make it work for their match goals.