WCUCOM vs BCOM

[notwalterwhite]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Strictly from a perspective of which school will give me the greatest chance of successfully passing boards, matching into a decent IM residency, etc.

WCUCOM has had a very shaky past and seems to be more limited in research opps, but BCOM is for profit and has consistently shaky COMLEX 1 pass rates so I'm not sure which way to go.

 

[Goro]

@Goro I know both these schools have been on the Bad Boy List, and I would greatly appreciate your input

WCU has cleaned up its act.

As for BCOM:
COMLEX pass rates are a disaster, even for a new school. In my own school's experience, people who fail the exam will almost always pass the second time around. Yet some 9% of BCOM's second class still couldn't pass on the second try. These are people who are now far less likely to ever become doctors. Their inaugural Class of 2020 has had a 25% attrition rate (160 down to ~120).

Also this: granted Accreditation with Heightened Monitoring. This indicates that fewer than three standards are non-compliant and ongoing monitoring will occur via progress reporting. For schools with this status, accreditation will be granted for four years. This is only one of three COMs that has this level of accreditation status right now.

 

[notwalterwhite]

WCU has cleaned up its act.

As for BCOM:
COMLEX pass rates are a disaster, even for a new school. In my own school's experience, people who fail the exam will almost always pass the second time around. Yet some 9% of BCOM's second class still couldn't pass on the second try. These are people who are now far less likely to ever become doctors. Their inaugural Class of 2020 has had a 25% attrition rate (160 down to ~120).

Also this: granted Accreditation with Heightened Monitoring. This indicates that fewer than three standards are non-compliant and ongoing monitoring will occur via progress reporting. For schools with this status, accreditation will be granted for four years. This is only one of three COMs that has this level of accreditation status right now.

Thank you so much for this insight! So in short, you’d say WCUCOM > BCOM?

WCUCOM is also cheaper, I’d have a tough time justifying paying more to go to a for profit

 

[Goro]

Thank you so much for this insight! So in short, you’d say WCUCOM > BCOM?

WCUCOM is also cheaper, I’d have a tough time justifying paying more to go to a for profit

WCUCOM > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>BCOM

 

[notwalterwhite]

WCUCOM by far
WCUCOM has more research opportunities than BCOM which is newer

I think I've seen you around SDN before, are you a current student at WCUCOM?

 

[deleted898021]

I think I've seen you around SDN before, are you a current student at WCUCOM?

Yea...are you accepted to both?

 

[notwalterwhite]

Yea...are you accepted to both?

A at BCOM and interviewed last week at WCUCOM, anxiously waiting to hear back this Wednesday, I think the interview went really well though so fingers crossed for good news.

I heard somewhere that WCUCOM puts a cap on the number of residency interviews you can do, is this true?

 

[notwalterwhite]

NO way hahaha... don't know where you heard that rumor.. I went on every IV I got.. granted it is virtual now, but I sincerely doubt it will be an issue. Most of the clinical faculty/preceptors will happily give you days off for interviews in 4th year, they aren't gonna ask you to go to the clerkship coordinator or clinical dean since its your 4th year lol. Although if your on an away rotation it may or may not be an issue but it usually isn't. You also get 5 weeks of vacation time built in 4th year, in addition to the time you can ask your attending/preceptor for. I believe a lot of misinformation/old info on WCUCOM was there in old threads by someone called worldchanger- this person I later figured out failed his/her PE and struggled to match because of it, despite getting ample support for the school(he/she had unrealistic expectations about specialty) and he/she vented on SDN about WCUCOM with a lot of exaggerations of the real situation. WCUCOM did have some issues with attrition and pass rates and lack of research(why they got dinged by COCA) but they have cleaned up their act now.

Thank you so much for this info! Would you be able to expand on how WCU has expanded on their research opps for students?

 

[notwalterwhite]

Well I know the school is working on this aspect per our dean. We have hired more faculty dedicated to do more research across all spectrums- spinal injury, community health, OB/women's health ,anatomy/radiology, pathology, disaster medicine etc...We are affiliated with the NDORI-National diabetes and obesity research institute- which is getting started on Carey's tradition campus. This can be something our students can be involved with but wasn't an option when I was an M1/M2. There is also talks of more formal research relationship with the residency programs we are affiliated with in the state. All in all though research at Carey is on par with most DO/new DO schools. Hopefully this is something the school will keep improving(I think it will).

Thanks! Do you happen to know why WCUCOM has heightened monitoring?

 

[deleted898021]

Thanks! Do you happen to know why WCUCOM has heightened monitoring?

Lack of Research per our dean...hence I said the school is working to fix this...