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Upper tier schools?
- Thread starter j0ez0r
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That MCAT/gpa would probably put you at, or slightly above, the stats of the average matriculant at DMU or AZPod. Those are generally regarded as the best pod schools since they are integrated with DO programs and have high recent board pass rates (unofficial ranking has been done to death... run a search).
You will typically find DMU, AZ, and Scholl as the current "top 3" (depends who you talk to as far what school is where). Temple is usually not far behind according to most people. I guess that leaves CSPM, OCPM, Barry, and NYCPM as "bottom teir."
It's my personal opinion that one can have success at any school if they work hard. A lot of the learning is self directed anyways (journals, clinical skill repition, reading and studying path/pharm/micro/etc). It's not like MD programs where there's a top ranked school with 100% board pass rate located 50 miles from a lower ranked school in the same state. For pre-pods, it's more typically a question of whether to move 500+ miles and leave family behind to go to a better school or not. Geography has a lot to do with the decision for many students; it is a 4+ year commitment during the prime of your life.
Good instruction and facilities help, but there is no getting around the enourmous amount of time sitting in the library and just reading the notes/textbooks - which you will have to do at any school you choose. You can (and probably have to) read the same basic texts at any school, and you can obviously also dissect similar human cadavers and read the same journals. Being surrounded by better and more competitive students might help some people to work harder and rise to the challenge, but it might also might make some people get frustrated with the competition, get ranked lower, or flunk out. Is a student ranked bottom third at "top teir" school X better than a student ranked top third at "bottom teir" school Y? I doubt it; the fact is that they each have their strengths and weaknesses. They probably both passed boards first try, so there's really no way to know until they extern together.
Yet another factor to consider is academic "inbreeding." As a hypothetical, would it be in the Harvard MD program's best interest to have all of the university's best pre-meds matriculate to med school there? Should all their best med students then do residency and fellowship at Beth Isreal and Mass Gen where they are trained by fellow Harvard alums? No, because even though that's a darn good system, all that staying in Boston for 15 years accomplishes is making their strengths rediculously strong while their weaknesses become more and more glaring. In academics, especially procedural medicine like podiary and pod surgery, there is generally more than one way to skin a cat. You want different perspectives, and while a good graduate might want to stay local, it's ultimately in his best interest (and that of his school) if he leaves and takes his knowledge and treatment approaches somewhere else so he can learn new additional styles there as well as teach and share his styles elsewhere to further the repuation of his school(s). Due to scope of practice, procedural preferences, and training differences, podiatry varies quite a lot in different parts of the US.
As for scholarship with your stats, I doubt you'd get a scholarship to DMU or AZPod. Apply early and talk to the individual FinAid and admissions offices, but when your stats are pretty average among fellow matriculants, they can't give everyone scholarships. If you applied early to other pod schools where stats of your level were closer to their top end applicants, you may get a sizable entrance scholarship. You will find that, in general, the pod schools that get the most competitive applicants don't need to give a whole lot of scholarships, but schools which are less competitive are trying to attract better students with scholarship $. If you're a hard working student at any school, there will be some scholarship opportunities during 3rd and 4th year. Regardless of where you end up going, good luck and work hard. Your stats suggest that you have the talent to be a pretty good student.
You will typically find DMU, AZ, and Scholl as the current "top 3" (depends who you talk to as far what school is where). Temple is usually not far behind according to most people. I guess that leaves CSPM, OCPM, Barry, and NYCPM as "bottom teir."
It's my personal opinion that one can have success at any school if they work hard. A lot of the learning is self directed anyways (journals, clinical skill repition, reading and studying path/pharm/micro/etc). It's not like MD programs where there's a top ranked school with 100% board pass rate located 50 miles from a lower ranked school in the same state. For pre-pods, it's more typically a question of whether to move 500+ miles and leave family behind to go to a better school or not. Geography has a lot to do with the decision for many students; it is a 4+ year commitment during the prime of your life.
Good instruction and facilities help, but there is no getting around the enourmous amount of time sitting in the library and just reading the notes/textbooks - which you will have to do at any school you choose. You can (and probably have to) read the same basic texts at any school, and you can obviously also dissect similar human cadavers and read the same journals. Being surrounded by better and more competitive students might help some people to work harder and rise to the challenge, but it might also might make some people get frustrated with the competition, get ranked lower, or flunk out. Is a student ranked bottom third at "top teir" school X better than a student ranked top third at "bottom teir" school Y? I doubt it; the fact is that they each have their strengths and weaknesses. They probably both passed boards first try, so there's really no way to know until they extern together.
Yet another factor to consider is academic "inbreeding." As a hypothetical, would it be in the Harvard MD program's best interest to have all of the university's best pre-meds matriculate to med school there? Should all their best med students then do residency and fellowship at Beth Isreal and Mass Gen where they are trained by fellow Harvard alums? No, because even though that's a darn good system, all that staying in Boston for 15 years accomplishes is making their strengths rediculously strong while their weaknesses become more and more glaring. In academics, especially procedural medicine like podiary and pod surgery, there is generally more than one way to skin a cat. You want different perspectives, and while a good graduate might want to stay local, it's ultimately in his best interest (and that of his school) if he leaves and takes his knowledge and treatment approaches somewhere else so he can learn new additional styles there as well as teach and share his styles elsewhere to further the repuation of his school(s). Due to scope of practice, procedural preferences, and training differences, podiatry varies quite a lot in different parts of the US.
As for scholarship with your stats, I doubt you'd get a scholarship to DMU or AZPod. Apply early and talk to the individual FinAid and admissions offices, but when your stats are pretty average among fellow matriculants, they can't give everyone scholarships. If you applied early to other pod schools where stats of your level were closer to their top end applicants, you may get a sizable entrance scholarship. You will find that, in general, the pod schools that get the most competitive applicants don't need to give a whole lot of scholarships, but schools which are less competitive are trying to attract better students with scholarship $. If you're a hard working student at any school, there will be some scholarship opportunities during 3rd and 4th year. Regardless of where you end up going, good luck and work hard. Your stats suggest that you have the talent to be a pretty good student.
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Here is the famous thread in which the "upper tier" schools were debated. Feel free to add you opinion!
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=255466
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=255466
