Hey everyone I am trying to make a decision by the end of the week between UNECOM and PCOM. I am torn and was wondering if anyone had any advice?
Thanks!
Thanks!
UNECOM vs PCOM
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I wouldn't change anything about UNE except the tuition, but that will be a comment that most people can come up with while in med school.
How can you complain about a school that is a stone throw away from the ocean, literally a stone throw away. The education is fantastic, I have felt very prepared with all the clinicals that I have done, yes I feel and look like an idiot at times, but overall I am doing well.
If I could do it over again I would pick UNECOM over any other school because I am happy and more importantly my wife is happy.
How can you complain about a school that is a stone throw away from the ocean, literally a stone throw away. The education is fantastic, I have felt very prepared with all the clinicals that I have done, yes I feel and look like an idiot at times, but overall I am doing well.
If I could do it over again I would pick UNECOM over any other school because I am happy and more importantly my wife is happy.
I didn't apply to either one of these schools. But I can suggest that when you're picking a school, go where you think you're going to be the happiest. If one school is significantly closer to your friends and family than the other, then take that into consideration because it is really helpful to have a strong support system near you that first year or so; family just helps keep you grounded. Does the curriculum between the two schools vary much? Does one teach systems based and the other more traditional? How long do the lectures go until? 9-5 or 8-12? Where are their graduates matching into? What kind of medicine do you think you might want to practice? Do you like snow?
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Are you kidding? PCOM is considered by most to be the top osteopathic school. This should be an easy decision, especially if you're considering specializing.
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I had the same decision and I chose PCOM. I am from New England but couldnt see myself in Maine for 4 (or more) years.
PCOM had so much going on right down the road. 5 minutes and I was downtown and 5 minutes the other way I was driving past a farm.
Philadelphia is the 5th largest city in the US and is full of restaurants, bars, clubs, museums, sports venues...you name it.
www.philly.com
There are close to 80 hospitals and medical centers in the immediate area and we have clinical affiliation with some of the best teaching hospitals around (Geisinger, Christiana, Lankenau to name a few).
We have a huge anatomy lab with over 50 cadavers, large lecture halls with great AV equipment, spacious computer labs and an athletic center good enough for a pro sports team (literally).
Are the negative aspects to PCOM? Sure.
1. Small library
2. Large class size (negative for some, but not all)
3. Cost of living in the area can get pricey
Tuition is near the middle for most osteopathic schools.
We have residencies and fellowships in:
FP, IM, EMED, OB/GYN, GenSurg, Ortho, Plastics, Urology, ENT...probably more that I am forgetting as well.
Students have access to clinical teaching facilities, 2 computerized robotic teaching dummies, a laparascopic surgical simulator and much more.
Tons of free resources and software for PDAs and laptops.
PCOM really is a family. We take care of our own here.
Our graduates are in residency programs all over the city (Jefferson, Temple, UPENN, Hahneman and more) in all programs (Anesthesia, PM&R, Medicine, Surgery, Ortho, etc)
We share a city with 4 other medical schools and consistently impress on clinical rotations with these students.
If you have any specific questions please do not hesitate to ask.
PCOM had so much going on right down the road. 5 minutes and I was downtown and 5 minutes the other way I was driving past a farm.
Philadelphia is the 5th largest city in the US and is full of restaurants, bars, clubs, museums, sports venues...you name it.
www.philly.com
There are close to 80 hospitals and medical centers in the immediate area and we have clinical affiliation with some of the best teaching hospitals around (Geisinger, Christiana, Lankenau to name a few).
We have a huge anatomy lab with over 50 cadavers, large lecture halls with great AV equipment, spacious computer labs and an athletic center good enough for a pro sports team (literally).
Are the negative aspects to PCOM? Sure.
1. Small library
2. Large class size (negative for some, but not all)
3. Cost of living in the area can get pricey
Tuition is near the middle for most osteopathic schools.
We have residencies and fellowships in:
FP, IM, EMED, OB/GYN, GenSurg, Ortho, Plastics, Urology, ENT...probably more that I am forgetting as well.
Students have access to clinical teaching facilities, 2 computerized robotic teaching dummies, a laparascopic surgical simulator and much more.
Tons of free resources and software for PDAs and laptops.
PCOM really is a family. We take care of our own here.
Our graduates are in residency programs all over the city (Jefferson, Temple, UPENN, Hahneman and more) in all programs (Anesthesia, PM&R, Medicine, Surgery, Ortho, etc)
We share a city with 4 other medical schools and consistently impress on clinical rotations with these students.
If you have any specific questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Jack Daniel
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I'm very happy with UNECOM, but even I would agree that PCOM has tremendous clinical opportunities by being in a larger city with associations with many hospitals.
PCOM seems to do a good job graduating students who specialize. UNECOM has a high % of students choosing primary care, which is great for me since one of my interests is in rural medicine.
UNECOM is a great choice for me--but PCOM is certainly a giant among the DO schools.
PCOM seems to do a good job graduating students who specialize. UNECOM has a high % of students choosing primary care, which is great for me since one of my interests is in rural medicine.
UNECOM is a great choice for me--but PCOM is certainly a giant among the DO schools.
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UNE has most of the same facilities & technologies. It has a fantastic anatomy lab, and students can access it 24/7 if they want to. It has a small, close-knit class size, which is great, I think. What it doesn't seem to have is the same kind of clinical opportunities, although they aren't terrible, by any means. You have to decide where you'll be able to succeed, and what's most important to you.
I place heavy weight on clinical opportunities and my chance to specialize, even though I know > 75% of students change their mind about what they decide to go into, I still want the choice and the best chance to get that choice. For that reason, unless I went there and hated it, I personally would chose PCOM, probably, even though I LOVED UNE, and it's nice & close to home.
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woah, with that reasoning why are you even thinking about the UMDNJ vs. UNE deal... UMDNJ is basically a cheaper version of PCOM
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I wasn't accepted to UNE! I'm thinking about UMDNJ vs. DMU!
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sorry ortho....
Hey no problem!! I post enough on the UNE threads to think I got in
With the same reasoning I had above, though, it seems to me that it is a wash between DMU and UMDNJ. Depakote's spreadsheet gave me a difference of 1.3 between them - not how I'd like to make a decision (so close!) I think UMDNJ & DMU are probably equal on the specializing possibilities - but I post this in case anyone knows otherwise - speak up!!
Jack Daniel
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Its nice to hear my school being referred to as the "top DO school."
Makes me happyyy
ONE of them, my friend. One, among several.
I guess my gut says UNECOM just because its comfortable and so close to home for me and because the class is half the size of PCOM's class......however, I want to specialize and i can see how PCOM has wonderful clinical rotation opportunities (including the fact that I can come back to RI for some of my rotations)
AHHHH I have to send a check in tomorrow's mail!
AHHHH I have to send a check in tomorrow's mail!
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is it possible to go to une and steal some of pcom's 4th rotations?
i know that 3rd year is pretty much set for your at certain hospitals. une's class size is half of pcom's? wow! makes me even more excited to check out une.
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is it possible to go to une and steal some of pcom's 4th rotations?
makes me even more excited to check out une.
No, you cannot steel some of pcoms fourth year rotations. What the poster is talking about is he can do his selectives (IM and ambulatory surgery) and all his electives back in RI. The core rotations for fourth year (EM, urban medicine, rural medicine) are only open to pcom students. This isnt any different then any other school. Electives are up to you.
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haha. that was too funny.
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why do you disagree?
PCOM and UMDNJSOM are both strong schools but I havent seen many similarities between them other than geographic location. I have several friends from college (I went to college in Philly) who are at UMDNJSOM right now and I am quite sure none of them would agree with you either.
I dont know how you can make that comment after a single visit to each campus for an interview or open house...I dont even know if you interviewed at PCOM or were invited for an interview.
If you dont know the professors, students, campus, residents and graduates...how can you claim that they are the same school only with a cost differential?
Stick to answering questions about AACOMAS. Thats as far as you have gotten.
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it is obviously a huge generalization. But you have to take look at the context in which I made the comment. If someone is looking for a schools that has a lot of specializing potential, a strong reputation, and great clinical rotations then PCOM and UMDNJ are about the same.
I dont deny they are wildly different in other factors, but that is not what I was addressing. Sorry if I stepped on your foot, JP.
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apparently we weren't offering the customary reach-arounds at the open house the day he came...
why do you disagree?
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I thought we saved those for the applicants we liked enough to interview.
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oh Taus, you know that would have done the trick. Seriously tho, you guys need a new admissions person giving the talks at the open houses.
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I'll drop that in the suggestion box...the first part that is....
I've actually never seen our open houses....sorry to hear that they suck....I would think that the only thing that you can really conclude about a school having a $hitty open house is that they had a $hitty open house.....
I've actually never seen our open houses....sorry to hear that they suck....I would think that the only thing that you can really conclude about a school having a $hitty open house is that they had a $hitty open house.....
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yea, i can see that. As JP says, maybe if they do decide they want me and invite me for interview (since I guess saying I don't like the school without an invite is kind of a mute(sp?) point) I may visit again.
As for Josh, you were such a mature and polite premed... what happened?
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haha. that would do it.7 years of listening to premeds on SDN turned me wacky.
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They changed the open house up this year and tried to create a different kind of experience. Some people may have found it lacking. One thing i love about the school though is they try to change. SOme schools are way to rigid.
Also as for UMDNJ being a cheaper version of PCOM. I think most would say its insulting to both schools since they both pride themselves on being different then the other.
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Well - how are they different? How are they the same?
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http://www.aacom.org/colleges/
That would be a good place to start.
UMDNJSOM:
Location: Stratford, New Jersey
Founded: 1976
Class size: 100
Tuition: $33,471/$22,390 (OS/IS)
Dual degrees: DO/MPH, DO/MS, DO/JD, DO/MBA, DO/PhD
Clinical Rotations (weeks):
=== (MS3)
- Family Medicine (12)
- Geriatrics (4)
- IM (6)
- Medical Jurisprudence (1)
- OB/GYN (6)
- Peds (6)
- Psych (4)
- Radiology (4)
- Surgery/Anesthesia (6)
=== (MS4)
- Fundamentals of Medicine (4)
- COMLEX Prep (4)
- EMED (4)
- FP Hospital (4)
- FP Specialties (2)
- Surgical Specialty (0-4) Not required??
- Medicine Selectives (4 or 8)
- FP Elective (2 or 6)
- General Electives (12)
- Medicine Elective (4)
== Total Selective Weeks: 4 or 8
== Total Elective Weeks: 18 or 24 (6 or 12 restricted)
Residency/Fellowship programs:
- Family Medicine
- Emergency Medicine
- Psychiatry
- General Surgery
- Internal Medicine
- IM/EM
- OB/GYN
- Orthopedic Surgery
- ENT
- Pediatrics
- Urology
- Cardiology
- Geriatrics
- Gastroenterology
- Nephrology
- Pulmonology
- Vascular Surgery
- Oncology
- Infectious Disease
- Critical Care Medicine
- Child Psychiatry
PCOM:
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Founded: 1899
Class Size: 266
Tuition: $34,122
Dual degrees: DO/MPH, DO/MS, DO/PhD, DO/MBA
Clinical Rotations (weeks):
=== (MS3)
- General Surgery (4)
- Specialty Surgery/Surgical Sub-I (4)
- Family Medicine (4)
- Internal Medicine (4)
- Cardiology (4)
- IM Selective (4)
- OMM/FP (4)
- Peds (4)
- OB/GYN (4)
- Psych (4)
- Advanced Clinical Skills (4) - Incl: Radiology, Surgical skills, Robotic simulators, laparascopic simulator
- Elective (4)
=== (MS4)
- Rural Medicine (4)
- Urban Medicine (8)
- Medical Sub-I (4)
- EMED (4)
- Electives (24) - Unrestricted electives
== Total Selective weeks: 4
== Total Elective weeks: 28 (all 28 weeks unrestricted)
Residency/Fellowship Programs:
- Family Medicine
- Emergency Medicine
- Internal Medicine
- General Surgery
- Geriatrics
- Neurosurgery
- OB/GYN
- Opthalmology
- Orthopedic Surgery
- Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine
- ENT
- Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
- Urology
- Vascular Surgery
UNECOM:
Location: Biddeford, Maine
Founded: 1978
Class size: 120
Tuition: $36,740
Dual degrees: DO/MPH
Clinical Rotations (weeks):
Core rotations: FP, IM, EMED, Surgery, Rural Med, Peds, Psych, OMM, OB/GYN
Residency/Fellowship programs:
- Family Medicine
- OMM
- Geriatrics
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you automatically get in state tuition as long as you get an apartment in NJ.
As Huntergatherers avatar might say: Next time you might want to do a little bit of research..
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you automatically get in state tuition as long as you get an apartment in NJ.
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you automatically get in state tuition as long as you get an apartment in NJ.
Oh boy, you got me.
Either way it shouldnt matter for you...they havent accepted you.
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you automatically get in state tuition as long as you get an apartment in NJ.
There are advantages to NOT being a new jersey resident. Alot of people live there but maintain their official residency in other states (i am not specifically talking about students). You way the costs.
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I didn't apply to PCOM last year but did interview at UMDNJ-SOM. It seems like the big differences would be class size -- PCOM's huge, and SOM's small. The location's also different, but it sounds like they're both suburban. However, you could live in the city at PCOM, and you wouldn't want to at SOM because that would kill your instate tuition thing.
The other difference is that SOM seems to emphasize primary care, and PCOM doesn't at all from what I gather. At SOM, you do a preceptorship with a family practice doc for your first two years, and if you'll look at the rotation listings, it looks a little more primary careish. All the state supported osteopathic schools emphasize primary care to some extent, though, because it's a wise move for getting state funding -- states want primary care docs more than they want specialists. Anyway, that doesn't mean you can't specialize from SOM because lots of people appear to, and they have a lot of residencies.
The SOM/PCOM thing has been done a lot on SDN, though, so you could probably do a search and find lots of insight.
So I have decided on PCOM after a lot of thinking....
JP Haz.....question.....did you find even with a big class size that you became close with alot of people in your class? Also do you know if there is wireless internet in the lecture halls/library?
JP Haz.....question.....did you find even with a big class size that you became close with alot of people in your class? Also do you know if there is wireless internet in the lecture halls/library?
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congrats on your decision.....btw there is wireless throughout the entire main building
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For me PCOM's size is one of its greates assets. And yes, you pretty much hav wireless all over campus.
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What I really enjoyed about having a large class is that from first year until now I have become friends with classmates that I never talked to in the beginning.
There are a number of classes and other activities (OMM, Primary Care Skills, Small Group Clinical Sessions) where you will work with a group of classmates. During your first 2 years you will get to know them really well.
Once clinical rotations start you will get to know the people in your rotation group very well as you will be doing the same rotation, taking the same tests, etc all at the same time.
You will also be in the hospital with people from your class that may not have been in your labs or small group sessions, or even in your rotation group.
I like the fact that even now I run into people whom I never spent much time talking to and I am having a good time "meeting" them for the first time. Keeps things very fresh. Its reassuring to know that the person you 'thought' was a certain way actually turned out to be a good friend after you spent a few weeks on the same clerkship.
So its a large class but a very tight knit community.
Congratulations on your decision. You will be very happy at PCOM and get an excellent education.
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Either way it shouldnt matter for you...they havent accepted you.
nice edit
what an @ss.
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I do know that at PCOM you can take the train into Ritten House Square, you can get both Lobester and Cheesesteak.
Also, you can see the Philadelphia Museum of Art if you are inside of PCOM. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is the place where "Rocky" ran up and down in the movies during his training...
They're making a new Rocky movie too!
Personally, I enjoy the collegial atmosphere at PCOM. Tons of club activities, including lots of intramural sports, an active fraternity and active sorority, great nightlife in several directions from school, and alumni settled up and down the east coast.
I'm sure UNECOM has comparable benefits but I can confidently say that it sure is fun here in Philly.
I'm sure UNECOM has comparable benefits but I can confidently say that it sure is fun here in Philly.
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Well said.
I have lived in Philadephia close to 10 years now. There is so much to do here that its often difficult to decide where to go, what to see and how late you should stay up.
Just off the top of my head here are some things I have done in the area:
Opera
Orchestra
Ballet
Phillies
76ers
Flyers
Phantoms
Shakespeare Theater
Mutter Museum
Art Museum
Rodin Museum
Restaurants (BYO, ethnic, high end)
Bars (too many to list )
Aquarium
Farmers Markets
Italian Market
Reading Terminal
Movies (Ritz theaters especially)
Shopping (downtown, King of Prussia Mall, etc)
2 hour drive to NYC ($24 round trip train ticket to Penn Station)
2 hour drive to Baltimore
3 hour drive to Washington DC
2 hour drive to NJ shore
1.5 hours drive to Atlantic City
2 hour drive to Pocono Mountains
You are in the heart of some of the most historical landmarks in the United States.
On top of all that there are around 25 Osteopathic residencies and over 100 Allopathic residencies just in the CITY alone...not counting the immediate surrounding area, southern New Jersey or an hour into DE, North East PA or Central PA.
I'm not sure if I will be spending the rest of my life in this city...hopefully the next 7 years or so...but regardless I will have thoroughly enjoyed my time here.
I have lived in Philadephia close to 10 years now. There is so much to do here that its often difficult to decide where to go, what to see and how late you should stay up.
Just off the top of my head here are some things I have done in the area:
Opera
Orchestra
Ballet
Phillies
76ers
Flyers
Phantoms
Shakespeare Theater
Mutter Museum
Art Museum
Rodin Museum
Restaurants (BYO, ethnic, high end)
Bars (too many to list
)Aquarium
Farmers Markets
Italian Market
Reading Terminal
Movies (Ritz theaters especially)
Shopping (downtown, King of Prussia Mall, etc)
2 hour drive to NYC ($24 round trip train ticket to Penn Station)
2 hour drive to Baltimore
3 hour drive to Washington DC
2 hour drive to NJ shore
1.5 hours drive to Atlantic City
2 hour drive to Pocono Mountains
You are in the heart of some of the most historical landmarks in the United States.
On top of all that there are around 25 Osteopathic residencies and over 100 Allopathic residencies just in the CITY alone...not counting the immediate surrounding area, southern New Jersey or an hour into DE, North East PA or Central PA.
I'm not sure if I will be spending the rest of my life in this city...hopefully the next 7 years or so...but regardless I will have thoroughly enjoyed my time here.
