UNECOM vs. KCUMB

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wildehannah

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Hey all! I have ONE day to decide whether to put down money on KCUMB.

Does anyone have any advice? Anyone know anything about the difference in teaching styles? How classes are structured? I just need some unbiased information on what is good and bad about both of these schools. Any information would be EXTREMELY helpful.
 
My quick oppinion, KCUMB has better weather, cheaper tuition, a solid reputation and record so I'd choose KCUMB on that alone. Alot of it depends on personal factors such as what school or location fits YOU better. I dont really know anything about the teaching style that a simple search wouldnt discover. Thats my to cents.
On a side note, I worked with a lot of UNECOM students and I'm usually impressed with their knowledge and they all tend to be great, down to earth physicians.
 
Personally I'd go KC, but I am hoping to do a fair amount of research in medical school.
 
The curriculum at KCU is rigorous. It's systems based. First year is learning all of the anatomy, phys, embryo, histo of all systems in normal function with the year rounding out with some patho and micro. Second year is when pharm and path are really integrated into the systems. OMM is fairly decent and I think 3-4 hours of lecture is involved.

KCU is really getting involved in expanding their research (they expect to have a full PhD program in the biomedical science in around 5 years, hired some investigators with decent NIH funding that is neurological research). The deans of the two KC MD schools (KU MedCenter and UMKC SOM) have made an effort with our Dean to expand medical research and community engagement that focuses on collaborative effort between the three schools.

I'd say the biggest downfall for KCU is that their class size (270) makes for some variable clerkship rotation quality and having the potential for having to move elsewhere for 3rd year.
 
I personally would choose UNECOM based on location alone, but I'm a Northeaster
 
Great schools either way but if I had to choose, I'd go with KCU for its reputation and history.
 
serenade said:
I'm doing research my 4th year for sure. I'll swap out an elective for some research months.
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But don't u wanna capitalize on every elective rotation opportunity u have?? For audition rotations and what not
 
Do they still have research fellowships (as I saw in an old post) or is it omm and anatomy only?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
Medschoolornah said:
But don't u wanna capitalize on every elective rotation opportunity u have?? For audition rotations and what not
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Not really. Most ACGME residencies really don't care if you've rotated with them. I think even with AOA unless you're aiming for surgery then auditions aren't really a big deal. Either way KCU has like 6 to 7 months of electives. Spending 2 doing research isn't really taking away from my clinical education by much and publishings will follow me for the rest of my life.
 
serenade said:
Not really. Most ACGME residencies really don't care if you've rotated with them. I think even with AOA unless you're aiming for surgery then auditions aren't really a big deal. Either way KCU has like 6 to 7 months of electives. Spending 2 doing research isn't really taking away from my clinical education by much and publishings will follow me for the rest of my life.
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Dude I absolutely love kcus curriculum and spacing of things. Really cool
 
KCU's rotations are pretty scattered across the US but compared to many other DO schools I think they have some of the best. Just compare to schools such as At still, they send you out after 1 year and you travel across an entire region for 3 years, uh no thank you.
 
My only complaint is our summer is 3-4 weeks shorter than other DO schools but I trust that Dubin has our best interests in mind. If you want to become a doctor then prepare to work hard for it, there isn't an easy road wherever you decide to go.
 
Higherprimate said:
My only complaint is our summer is 3-4 weeks shorter than other DO schools but I trust that Dubin has our best interests in mind. If you want to become a doctor then prepare to work hard for it, there isn't an easy road wherever you decide to go.
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Do u think kcus, from what I've read relatively tough curriculum, makes it difficult to do research and work on getting publications. Because some specialties need pubs to be competitive.

How do students deal with this
 
Medschoolornah said:
Do u think kcus, from what I've read relatively tough curriculum, makes it difficult to do research and work on getting publications. Because some specialties need pubs to be competitive.

How do students deal with this
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They do research during 3rd and 4th year. Then again our curriculum is intended to meet the first cut off given by program directors and that is a solid COMLEX and USMLE score.
 
Medschoolornah said:
But don't u wanna capitalize on every elective rotation opportunity u have?? For audition rotations and what not
Click to expand...

Medschoolornah said:
Do u think kcus, from what I've read relatively tough curriculum, makes it difficult to do research and work on getting publications. Because some specialties need pubs to be competitive.

How do students deal with this
Click to expand...

Both of these are significantly overrated for many specialties, especially AOA. Audition rotations will be important if you want to go into surgery, while research honestly won't play a significant role at any AOA program. This may change slightly after the merger, but that's not really known at this point. If you're planning on going into an ACGME program, then research may be relevant in certain fields. I know Derm, Ortho, and some IM subspecialties like to see publications, but beyond that I'm not sure. I know many still don't put particularly significant weight on publications, but it also varies from program to program.
 
Eh yea I agree with the posters above. I have a friend that goes to KCU as well. Hes told me all about it. Its definitely one of the toughest medical school curriculums out there.

Its an uphill battle as a DO if you wan to do anything besides primary care so you need to get the highest Step 1 score/Comlex Score possible to have any shot at Ortho and at a higher tier Internal Medicine residency. The higher the tier of your IM residency, the better your chances of getting into a sub specialty fellowship.

Plus with the merger, I think DO's are going to have an even harder time matching into stuff other than primary care. IMHO
 
Gandyy said:
Eh yea I agree with the posters above. I have a friend that goes to KCU as well. Hes told me all about it. Its definitely one of the toughest medical school curriculums out there.

Its an uphill battle as a DO if you wan to do anything besides primary care so you need to get the highest Step 1 score/Comlex Score possible to have any shot at Ortho and at a higher tier Internal Medicine residency. The higher the tier of your IM residency, the better your chances of getting into a sub specialty fellowship.

Plus with the merger, I think DO's are going to have an even harder time matching into stuff other than primary care. IMHO
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This is scaring me. I thought GS was very manageable as a DO? Is this not the case.
 
Medschoolornah said:
This is scaring me. I thought GS was very manageable as a DO? Is this not the case.
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It still is, it still takes above average effort and legwork but is a good reachable goal. Surgical sub specialties though are a different matter entirely. This is all what I have just seen from all the forums on here
 
GS is entirely possible given you have the stats for the field. Just check the past match lists.
 
AnatomyGrey12 said:
It still is, it still takes above average effort and legwork but is a good reachable goal. Surgical sub specialties though are a different matter entirely. This is all what I have just seen from all the forums on here
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iwillnevergiveup said:
GS is entirely possible given you have the stats for the field. Just check the past match lists.
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Realistically speaking, the merger is going to make matching for DO's much harder in the worst case scenario. If this happens, it will severely limit DO career choices further.
 
Yes I agree but I don't think GS is a field that will be crazy competative. I think it will only be about as competative as it is now. The only difference will be that the people who were sliding into bottom of the barrel AOA GS slots won't be able to do GS. For everyone that was competative they will probably still get a slot. The fields that are going to be even harder are the super competative specialties like ENT, NS, Derm, Ortho etc that DOs were mostly getting through the AOA slots. Top tier IM has pretty much been off limits the whole time (not counting the n=1 person that somebody always knows)

From my understanding GS is a field that is cyclic in its competitiveness and is currently at a high point. It's a pretty tough job.
Gandyy said:
Realistically speaking, the merger is going to make matching for DO's much harder in the worst case scenario. If this happens, it will severely limit DO career choices further.
Click to expand...
 
AnatomyGrey12 said:
Yes I agree but I don't think GS is a field that will be crazy competative. I think it will only be about as competative as it is now. The only difference will be that the people who were sliding into bottom of the barrel AOA GS slots won't be able to do GS. For everyone that was competative they will probably still get a slot. The fields that are going to be even harder are the super competative specialties like ENT, NS, Derm, Ortho etc that DOs were mostly getting through the AOA slots. Top tier IM has pretty much been off limits the whole time (not counting the n=1 person that somebody always knows)

From my understanding GS is a field that is cyclic in its competitiveness and is currently at a high point. It's a pretty tough job.
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Indeed, I agree. You know, I've never figured out how/why Internal Medicine has so many "tiers" of residencies. It seems like some IM residencies are for bottom of the barrel medical school graduates while others are reserved for Ivy League MD stellar graduates.

lol
 
AnatomyGrey12 said:
Yes I agree but I don't think GS is a field that will be crazy competative. I think it will only be about as competative as it is now. The only difference will be that the people who were sliding into bottom of the barrel AOA GS slots won't be able to do GS. For everyone that was competative they will probably still get a slot. The fields that are going to be even harder are the super competative specialties like ENT, NS, Derm, Ortho etc that DOs were mostly getting through the AOA slots. Top tier IM has pretty much been off limits the whole time (not counting the n=1 person that somebody always knows)

From my understanding GS is a field that is cyclic in its competitiveness and is currently at a high point. It's a pretty tough job.
Click to expand...



Why would the AOA only slots for the super competitive slots get more competitive?

Wouldn't it remain the same.

It's not like PDs are just gonna take Mds now.
 
Think about it. A good PD will take the best candidate available, MD, DO aside. And even if one MD takes one of these spots, by definition, it is more competative. And you would be surprised what candidates would go through (think learn OMM) to be able to go into their dream specialty.

And yes they are going to take MD's. Anyone who says other wise is pretty naive.
 
AnatomyGrey12 said:
Think about it. A good PD will take the best candidate available, MD, DO aside. And even if one MD takes one of these spots, by definition, it is more competative. And you would be surprised what candidates would go through (think learn OMM) to be able to go into their dream specialty.

And yes they are going to take MD's. Anyone who says other wise is pretty naive.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
OP I vote KCU but it really is up to you, both will give you a quality opportunity and education. Which do you like more, the beauty of the eastern seaboard or BBQ?
 
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