UNECOM vs. PCOM 2014

[DOwhatyouliketoDO]

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Hey guys, I have been a long time lurker on SDN and never have posted/started a new thread... However, as the application cycle gets shorter and shorter decisions need to be made! I am looking for (as best as possible) objective data/input that can help me make a decision on where to go. I sincerely think these are both amazing schools and have a lot to offer me. I also get the basics about the difference between these two schools (e.g. rural vs urban, big vs med class size, etc) so I am looking for other things maybe I have not considered, or even those that I have but I would like to hear others views on.


Maybe even current students from either school can help out here and tell me what they like best and what is worst about their school?


Anything helps! But, please, I am not trying to start a debate or divert from constructive input of things to consider. Some things that have crossed my mind would be... tuition-does the difference of 5-7ooo make a difference? Rotations-can I get a similar rotations at each school? Professors/admin-are they looking out for their students and help in every possible way? Do they want you to succeed?


Again, thank you!

 

[TopTomato]

Well I'm biased but i'm going to say PCOM seeing how that's where i'm going. It's a solid school with an excellent reputation. I toured PCOM and they have a great campus. It's not attached to a university so you don't have any people who are in undergrad running around (I don't know if that's important to you or not). When I was there I was also shown new surgical simulators which in my mind is pretty amazing. I don't know how true it is, but I was told that there's only a handful of schools that have these simulators. PCOM is a little on the expensive side, but I don't mind as long as they put money into the school and education.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I have heard mixed things about unecom (admin less than helpful, some goofiness with the quality of some classes, not a ton of time for board studying, have to move for some rotations, cost is huge)

I have not heard a single bad thing about pcom. It has ridiculously good rotations, stands shoulder to shoulder with allopathic schools in the area, cost is average, amazing teaching, good location for spring boarding to residency, decent availability to go into specialties if one is so inclined.

You are ahead of me in this process, but just by word of mouth, I have heard pcom is a better school

Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk

 

[misseskwee]

OP, I suggest you make a chart comparing all those factors you just mentioned for each school. Everyone has their own preferences and priorities, so you'll get varied opinions.
Having said that, I am attending UNECOM so I'll just give you some stuff I know I like about that program. I know UNECOM has ~13 rotation sites around the east coast. I also think they're increasing that bc this year's incoming class is being increased from 120 to 175. And I do know that the environment at UNE is super friendly and the students really do help each other out, like 2nd years pass down their notes and books to 1st years all the time, etc and current students have told me there's no real competition going on at all. I'm from a huge city and it'll be a big change to live up in maine, but I don't mind that at all. It's a nice town and seems safe. I also love that there are many outdoor activities around the area, plus it's beautiful up there. I haven't heard negative remarks from all the students I've spoken to, so I can't say anything about what the previous poster is talking about. You should look more into that.
I don't know much about pcom, but I don't like philly as much as maine. (Just the city I'm referring to) Been there bc my cousins go to temple and it's very cultural but some areas are really dangerous I heard. Though, I live in an area ppl would say is dangerous too but I don't feel that it is. So it could also just be perception.

 

[Plecopotamus]

I only interviewed at UNECOM when applying and I really don't remember what the teaching sites were, but I vaguely recall you had to move around quite a bit. I did not interview at PCOM, but I think they have core affiliated teaching hospitals. If that's not true, then this is a moot point, and I apologize. Full disclosure: I ended up going to an allopathic school in CA, however, at the tail end of medical school now and having met many students on my rotations who have had to go from hospital to hospital and even to different cities or states on rotations, I think that the benefit of core teaching hospitals is underestimated by most premeds.

Practically, there is a learning curve each time you go to a new site and you will not perform as well while you're learning a new EMR and trying to figure out where things are -- it gives you less time to shine when you're on clinical rotations and are trying to get strong LORs/evaluations. Additionally, it's just a pain in the butt to be scheduling away rotations or relocating frequently and distracts you from more important stuff on your plate during rotations.

On a more general level, when you don't have a core hospital, depending on the relationship of the site to your school, attending physicians can feel a lot less invested in your education and there will be less continuity and potentially lower quantity/quality in the didactics/teaching on your rotations. Students I have met who have had to go from hospital to hospital often end up short-changed on fundamental parts of our education, b/c there is not a single curriculum throughout all of the sites -- you might get educated on sepsis at every single medicine rotation but graduate without a solid discussion of working up/treating endocarditis because there is no established syllabus through all the sites like there is when rotations are strongly tied to your school.

Students of schools without a full service affiliated teaching hospital can also end up shortchanged if they want to pursue a field that is not academically represented at their main teaching site. I'm going into Neurology, and it is not a required rotation at many DO schools (ridiculous, to me, b/c it is a very DO friendly field). Some peers I met along the interview trail have had a difficult time getting quality LORs for residency b/c there is no Neuro chair or established dept affiliated with their school -- so then you have to get your LOR from an away rotation and you can't get a chair letter (required by some programs in some fields). They have to get all of their LORs from away rotations, and when you sign up, it's usually a gamble -- you lack the info you'd have about the attendings at your home institution, you are often at a new hospital struggling to learn the system while trying to show off for your LOR, and then you have to worry about a qualitative difference in LORs they write vs what they write for students at a home institution where they have a vested interest in getting them into a good residency. I assume these issues extend to a lot of other non-primary care fields, and for what it's worth, lack of home institution seems to be a major regret among my friends from postbacc who went to such programs.

While I thought UNECOM seemed friendly and quaint at my interview day, I have not seen it represented at all on the interview trail. I'm not going to go look at the match lists for both programs, but I get the sense that PCOM is better received out in the academic hospitals, so if that's where you think you might be headed after med school, you should probably go take a look.

 

[DOwhatyouliketoDO]

Well I'm biased but i'm going to say PCOM seeing how that's where i'm going. It's a solid school with an excellent reputation. I toured PCOM and they have a great campus. It's not attached to a university so you don't have any people who are in undergrad running around (I don't know if that's important to you or not). When I was there I was also shown new surgical simulators which in my mind is pretty amazing. I don't know how true it is, but I was told that there's only a handful of schools that have these simulators. PCOM is a little on the expensive side, but I don't mind as long as they put money into the school and education.

I have heard mixed things about unecom (admin less than helpful, some goofiness with the quality of some classes, not a ton of time for board studying, have to move for some rotations, cost is huge)

I have not heard a single bad thing about pcom. It has ridiculously good rotations, stands shoulder to shoulder with allopathic schools in the area, cost is average, amazing teaching, good location for spring boarding to residency, decent availability to go into specialties if one is so inclined.

You are ahead of me in this process, but just by word of mouth, I have heard pcom is a better school

Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk

OP, I suggest you make a chart comparing all those factors you just mentioned for each school. Everyone has their own preferences and priorities, so you'll get varied opinions.
Having said that, I am attending UNECOM so I'll just give you some stuff I know I like about that program. I know UNECOM has ~13 rotation sites around the east coast. I also think they're increasing that bc this year's incoming class is being increased from 120 to 175. And I do know that the environment at UNE is super friendly and the students really do help each other out, like 2nd years pass down their notes and books to 1st years all the time, etc and current students have told me there's no real competition going on at all. I'm from a huge city and it'll be a big change to live up in maine, but I don't mind that at all. It's a nice town and seems safe. I also love that there are many outdoor activities around the area, plus it's beautiful up there. I haven't heard negative remarks from all the students I've spoken to, so I can't say anything about what the previous poster is talking about. You should look more into that.
I don't know much about pcom, but I don't like philly as much as maine. (Just the city I'm referring to) Been there bc my cousins go to temple and it's very cultural but some areas are really dangerous I heard. Though, I live in an area ppl would say is dangerous too but I don't feel that it is. So it could also just be perception.

I only interviewed at UNECOM when applying and I really don't remember what the teaching sites were, but I vaguely recall you had to move around quite a bit. I did not interview at PCOM, but I think they have core affiliated teaching hospitals. If that's not true, then this is a moot point, and I apologize. Full disclosure: I ended up going to an allopathic school in CA, however, at the tail end of medical school now and having met many students on my rotations who have had to go from hospital to hospital and even to different cities or states on rotations, I think that the benefit of core teaching hospitals is underestimated by most premeds.

Practically, there is a learning curve each time you go to a new site and you will not perform as well while you're learning a new EMR and trying to figure out where things are -- it gives you less time to shine when you're on clinical rotations and are trying to get strong LORs/evaluations. Additionally, it's just a pain in the butt to be scheduling away rotations or relocating frequently and distracts you from more important stuff on your plate during rotations.

On a more general level, when you don't have a core hospital, depending on the relationship of the site to your school, attending physicians can feel a lot less invested in your education and there will be less continuity and potentially lower quantity/quality in the didactics/teaching on your rotations. Students I have met who have had to go from hospital to hospital often end up short-changed on fundamental parts of our education, b/c there is not a single curriculum throughout all of the sites -- you might get educated on sepsis at every single medicine rotation but graduate without a solid discussion of working up/treating endocarditis because there is no established syllabus through all the sites like there is when rotations are strongly tied to your school.

Students of schools without a full service affiliated teaching hospital can also end up shortchanged if they want to pursue a field that is not academically represented at their main teaching site. I'm going into Neurology, and it is not a required rotation at many DO schools (ridiculous, to me, b/c it is a very DO friendly field). Some peers I met along the interview trail have had a difficult time getting quality LORs for residency b/c there is no Neuro chair or established dept affiliated with their school -- so then you have to get your LOR from an away rotation and you can't get a chair letter (required by some programs in some fields). They have to get all of their LORs from away rotations, and when you sign up, it's usually a gamble -- you lack the info you'd have about the attendings at your home institution, you are often at a new hospital struggling to learn the system while trying to show off for your LOR, and then you have to worry about a qualitative difference in LORs they write vs what they write for students at a home institution where they have a vested interest in getting them into a good residency. I assume these issues extend to a lot of other non-primary care fields, and for what it's worth, lack of home institution seems to be a major regret among my friends from postbacc who went to such programs.

While I thought UNECOM seemed friendly and quaint at my interview day, I have not seen it represented at all on the interview trail. I'm not going to go look at the match lists for both programs, but I get the sense that PCOM is better received out in the academic hospitals, so if that's where you think you might be headed after med school, you should probably go take a look.

Hey guys! Thank you so much for all of your input... it really helps and I am glad the SDN community pulled through and was able to give some helpful info. I am just still so stuck, but I agree with you Top Tomato that the Rep is HIGHLY enticing and exciting. Also, I like the idea misseskwee of making an excel and sort of Pro/Con list. As for the university hospital, Plecopotamus, I am not so sure PCOM has one. You bring up an awesome point and I guess that will be a great question for adcom/students. I can definitely see how that would make a difference. I am not so sure of any DO schools having a Univ based hospital because most are very PCP and community health oriented.

Again, I know this is a tough decision and solely based on what I end up feeling is best, but I guess a better sense of who I am might help the case... I am not from a City so I dont know quite what its like to live in/near one. I also am a VERY outdoorsy person which is leaning me towards UNECOM since all it has to offer and the more it feels like home. HOWEVER, I definitely want to give my self the opportunity for the best possible education/best rotations setting myself up well for the future as a doc which pushes me towards PCOM. I am genuinely interested in going into Primary Care, but plan to go into Med school with an open mind...

Anyway, I know med school is a lot of self teaching.... So what are the MOST important things to look for in a med school to attend? Would it be better to go to a school where I feel most comfortable/used to, or go to a school with the best rep/proximity to hospitals etc?
Is it best to compare rotation location/match lists/rep??

Thank you all!

 

[Mad Jack]

I only interviewed at UNECOM when applying and I really don't remember what the teaching sites were, but I vaguely recall you had to move around quite a bit. I did not interview at PCOM, but I think they have core affiliated teaching hospitals. If that's not true, then this is a moot point, and I apologize. Full disclosure: I ended up going to an allopathic school in CA, however, at the tail end of medical school now and having met many students on my rotations who have had to go from hospital to hospital and even to different cities or states on rotations, I think that the benefit of core teaching hospitals is underestimated by most premeds.

Practically, there is a learning curve each time you go to a new site and you will not perform as well while you're learning a new EMR and trying to figure out where things are -- it gives you less time to shine when you're on clinical rotations and are trying to get strong LORs/evaluations. Additionally, it's just a pain in the butt to be scheduling away rotations or relocating frequently and distracts you from more important stuff on your plate during rotations.

On a more general level, when you don't have a core hospital, depending on the relationship of the site to your school, attending physicians can feel a lot less invested in your education and there will be less continuity and potentially lower quantity/quality in the didactics/teaching on your rotations. Students I have met who have had to go from hospital to hospital often end up short-changed on fundamental parts of our education, b/c there is not a single curriculum throughout all of the sites -- you might get educated on sepsis at every single medicine rotation but graduate without a solid discussion of working up/treating endocarditis because there is no established syllabus through all the sites like there is when rotations are strongly tied to your school.

Students of schools without a full service affiliated teaching hospital can also end up shortchanged if they want to pursue a field that is not academically represented at their main teaching site. I'm going into Neurology, and it is not a required rotation at many DO schools (ridiculous, to me, b/c it is a very DO friendly field). Some peers I met along the interview trail have had a difficult time getting quality LORs for residency b/c there is no Neuro chair or established dept affiliated with their school -- so then you have to get your LOR from an away rotation and you can't get a chair letter (required by some programs in some fields). They have to get all of their LORs from away rotations, and when you sign up, it's usually a gamble -- you lack the info you'd have about the attendings at your home institution, you are often at a new hospital struggling to learn the system while trying to show off for your LOR, and then you have to worry about a qualitative difference in LORs they write vs what they write for students at a home institution where they have a vested interest in getting them into a good residency. I assume these issues extend to a lot of other non-primary care fields, and for what it's worth, lack of home institution seems to be a major regret among my friends from postbacc who went to such programs.

While I thought UNECOM seemed friendly and quaint at my interview day, I have not seen it represented at all on the interview trail. I'm not going to go look at the match lists for both programs, but I get the sense that PCOM is better received out in the academic hospitals, so if that's where you think you might be headed after med school, you should probably go take a look.

UNECOM does give you a core hospital in 3rd year, where you do all of your rotations until 4th year. I believe there are four different health systems you can be placed at, but you stay at that primary hospital and within that health care system for the duration of 3rd year. 4th year is wide open for electives and such, or you can continue doing the majority of your training at the core institution from 3rd year. It's not like LECOM-B, where you are setting up your rotations all over the place or anything. Some people also won't be all that thrilled for the mandatory rural medicine rotation (personally, I think it's awesome and can't wait!). Oh, UNECOM is also pretty lax about letting you do international rotations, so if you are down for/interested in that, it's another plus. A lot of DO schools are either picky about where you go internationally, or outright do not allow you to rotate outside the U.S. As to the difficulty of adjusting to various EMR systems, etc, you will likely be placed at one health care system that uses a unified EMR for 3rd year, and your away rotations will be in pretty much the same boat as any other DO student doing away rotations- the system may be similar or different, you never know. Oh, and so far as match lists go, UNECOM had an excellent one, on par with PCOM in everything except orthopedic surgery. UNECOM gave you the last four years of match data at the interview though, so you can see that for yourself and compare it to PCOM's online match list.

That being said, between the two, I would lean more toward PCOM if you have no reason to want to be in Maine or New England. PCOM has a wonderful, dedicated teaching hospital, a large number of affiliated residencies, and a great brand. If you enjoy city rather than more rural life, it'll place you in an urban environment for pretty much all 4 years of your training if you so choose. I love UNE, and chose to go there because I like the people, the location, and a few particular programs in its OPTI, but for the average non-New Englander, I'd say PCOM is the better choice. Good luck in making your decision.

 

[arewethereyet...]

Hey, first year at UNECOM here, just a few thoughts I have about UNECOM (disclaimer- I was only accepted at UNECOM, and know little about PCOM):

- Apparently we have the best anatomy professors/curriculum around. We spend 2 hours in lecture and 6 hours in lab for the full first year, and don't get to neuroanatomy until second year.
- We also have a really strong OMM curriculum. We have one hour of lecture and 3 hours of OMM lab per week first and second year. So that's something to keep in mind if you hope to do OMM long term.
- The anatomy and OMM prepare us to be great PCPs, which is what UNECOM is aiming to do.
- 3rd year is definitely all in one place, I think there are 7 sites in Maine, 1 or 2 in Mass, 1 or 2 in NH, 1 in NJ, 1 in PA, and I think 1 in NY. My class is the first class with 180 instead of 120 students, but there are not yet 180 spots for 3rd year. It sounds like there will be more sites rather than more seats per site.
- My class is the second class on the new curriculum. I am interested to see the second years board scores. Personally I am not a huge fan of the curriculum, I think they have a long way to go as I have had to teach myself nearly everything. I'm sure you heard all about the curriculum at your interview so I won't bore you.
- The other concern I have is next year will be the first year with 2 classes of 180, and right now there is limited on campus study space because of the undergrads. We are confused about where we will be having class because we won't fit where the second years are, and you guys will be where we are now.

Hope that's helpful, good luck in your decision!