*Urgent* ICOM (Idaho) vs BCOM (Burrell)

[alpha725]

Hi guys, I've been very fortunate to have gotten acceptances from two medical schools and now the hard decision of picking between the two is pretty close. I've seen another thread on this but there wasn't a whole lot of info or reasoning into why one school over the other. So, I thought I would ask for some input on either or both of these schools. From what I can tell, Burrell and ICOM are actually pretty similar and probably the biggest difference between the two would be location. Here's the Pros and Cons of each.

If any current students at the school would also be able to chime in that would be incredibly useful.

Burrell:

Pros:
-Pass/Fail, No Class Ranking or GPA
-Better Weather (Not sure about how Las Cruces is as a location though)
-Federal Loans
-Located at NMSU so nice research
-I think lower cost of living

Cons:
-Have heard some problems with attrition and COMLEX pass rates
-I remember seeing issues with their accreditation status

ICOM:

Pros:
-Heard great things about their student community and professors
-Apparently they had 100% match rate their first year (includes SOAP)
-Fully accredited

Cons:
-Letter grades, but I have heard pre clinical grades dont matter as much so maybe this isnt as big of a deal
-No Federal Loans *YET* they got full accreditation recently, so perhaps next year
-Only one year of match results vs three years for Burrell

Honestly, b/w these schools its a toss up but maybe some other thoughts may help provide some more info to make this decision a bit easier. Thanks so much!

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[chilly_md]

The attrition and accreditation status is too concerning at BCOM.

 

[JohnJacobJingleheimer]

^Have heard this same sentiment echoed widely. Would probably take the school with a clean slate. No reputation is better than a bad reputation.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Don’t ever go to a school that doesn’t take fed loans. You would be ineligible for PSLF, PAYE etc

But I guess with what the above posters say, maybe the other isn’t worth it just for fed loans

 

[JohnJacobJingleheimer]

Don’t ever go to a school that doesn’t take fed loans. You would be ineligible for PSLF, PAYE etc

But I guess with what the above posters say, maybe the other isn’t worth it just for fed loans

This is a very good point. Quite the pickle here

 

[Socalgal1]

Here is what concerns me about ICOM: They don't publish their retention rate (taken from their website): "Since ICOM does not enroll first-time, first-year undergraduate students, we do not track or publish this rate." Kind of unusual as I think most med schools have this information available.

Look up the pass rates for yourself. COMLEX Level 1 last year: ICOM pass rate was 91.7%. BCOM was 90%. National average was 92.2%.

 

[leopard377a]

Yeah, honestly this is quite a hard one bc there seem to be pros and cons on each end. @Goro would you be able to tell us your thoughts. I know you've been somewhat critical of both of these schools but if you had these options, what might you suggest?

 

[Goro]

Yeah, honestly this is quite a hard one bc there seem to be pros and cons on each end. @Goro would you be able to tell us your thoughts. I know you've been somewhat critical of both of these schools but if you had these options, what might you suggest?

Rock and a hard place, really. I'm not a fan of either school. Who has the cheaper tuition?

 

[leopard377a]

Rock and a hard place, really. I'm not a fan of either school. Who has the cheaper tuition?

Apparently, both their tuition is about the same, about 60k. So honestly, yeah, this really does look like a toss-up.

 

[Goro]

Apparently, both their tuition is about the same, about 60k. So honestly, yeah, this really does look like a toss-up.

Which one is closer to your family/support group?

 

[leopard377a]

Which one is closer to your family/support group?

For me, they're actually both roughly the same distance away from home. So it really comes down to Burrell having three graduating classes and a not-amazing reputation vs ICOM having one graduate class and a better reputation, albeit still not the greatest from what I have seen. Thoughts?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Go where you can get federal loans unless you’re independently wealthy.

The fed programs help a lot. What if some gets canceled?

 

[Goro]

For me, they're actually both roughly the same distance away from home. So it really comes down to Burrell having three graduating classes and a not-amazing reputation vs ICOM having one graduate class and a better reputation, albeit still not the greatest from what I have seen. Thoughts?

I lean to BCOM for the same reasons