Western/comp vs Lecom seton hill

[Scribe]

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So I just found out I was accepted to Western/comp and now I need to make a decision between there and Lecom seton hill. Does anybody have an opinion between these to schools and if so WHY? I have to make decision in a little less than a week.

Some things I am considering...If I went to WesternU I would graduate with probably 80,000 more in loans (this is no small number especially if I end up wanting to go into primary care). I would rather be in Cali since I am from there. Any idea about the difference in quality of their respective clinical rotations sites?

p.s. As far as learning styles go I think I could go either way.

Thanks in advance for the input.

 

[UBCvan]

congrats on your acceptances. go to lecom. save 80K. do 4th year rotation in cali. do residency in cali and stay in cali if you like cali. School doesn't matter. It's you that decides who you wanna become and where you wanna end up.

You could probably buy a nice Porsche with 80K!

 

[kson223]

I'd go with LECOM-Seton Hill. I don't know what your living situation is like in CA, but I'd assume that living costs would also be lower in PA.

 

[Dr Yiot]

its tough cause western has such a great school and has excellent rotation sites.

The only thing that would detract me from lecom seton hill is if you didnt think pbl was for you. otherwise I would take the 80k less in loans. thats a lot of friggin money. you just can't pass that up.

Go to seton hill IMO.

 

[Scribe]

Thanks for the responses...I think I am leaning towards LECOM but Western's clinical rotations are a big draw for me. Its just really hard to pass Western's offer up but I feel like I might regret it when I am paying that extra money back🙁

 

[TeamZissou]

If you're from Cali and want to eventually practice there then for god sakes go to western.

 

[marke]

I say Western if you want to stay in cali

tho not exactly the same, PBL (LECOM) and case base (Western) are fairly similar in many ways in my opinion

either way, CONGRATS to you and to whoever will be able to pursue their dream now since you will be freeing up a spot!

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I feel like rotation sites are most important. Western has such great rotation strength that it's worth the money to me. I'd go with Western.

 

[Slack3r]

Western, although it's uber expensive. You won't find many DO schools with better rotations than COMP though.

 

[drctother]

As someone starting COMP soon, there is only two reasons I can see choosing LECOM- SH over Werstern

1) You want to save 80,000 really badly. In the grand scheme of life I would rather pay for a better education personally

2) You think PBL will be your best way of learning in med school

All other factors, I personally think Western wins. From rotations, to location, to reputation etc

 

[UBCvan]

it's not like if you go to lecom you'll be a lesser doctor. or if you pay extra 80K, you'll become a better doctor. I honestly don't think 80K is worth it. If I were a US citizen, I would definitely apply for an admission at LECOM. It's cheap, and thousands of graduates have become very successful physicians.

Especially if you wanna end up being a primary care doc, you can become a primary doc anywhere. One more thing, if you decide to specialize, it's very difficult to do so in SoCal. it's very very competitive. just look at the match list for western for the past 8 years (let me know if you want them). a very small % have match into specialties. not because they weren't competitive, not because western is a bad school, but because it freaking competitive there with all the top notch med schools in socal.

don't get me wrong, western is one of my top choices, and I love the school, but I'm Canadian, I don't have much choice. low cost schools like lecom don't accept Canadians. Bottom line: primary care = you can match from any school. and move to any state later on if you wish, they're in high demand. Specialties = you'll have better chances in less competitive states. don't forget 80K.

 

[Kevin Baker]

it's not like if you go to lecom you'll be a lesser doctor. or if you pay extra 80K, you'll become a better doctor. I honestly don't think 80K is worth it. If I were a US citizen, I would definitely apply for an admission at LECOM. It's cheap, and thousands of graduates have become very successful physicians.

Especially if you wanna end up being a primary care doc, you can become a primary doc anywhere. One more thing, if you decide to specialize, it's very difficult to do so in SoCal. it's very very competitive. just look at the match list for western for the past 8 years (let me know if you want them). a very small % have match into specialties. not because they weren't competitive, not because western is a bad school, but because it freaking competitive there with all the top notch med schools in socal.

don't get me wrong, western is one of my top choices, and I love the school, but I'm Canadian, I don't have much choice. low cost schools like lecom don't accept Canadians. Bottom line: primary care = you can match from any school. and move to any state later on if you wish, they're in high demand. Specialties = you'll have better chances in less competitive states. don't forget 80K.

Seriously? Western is one of the schools with the highest specialization rates. Check here for a current matchlist. Plus, I believe about half of graduates stay in CA for residency every year.

 

[UBCvan]

Seriously? Western is one of the schools with the highest specialization rates. Check here for a current matchlist. Plus, I believe about half of graduates stay in CA for residency every year.

Well I was actually referring to this as one of the matchlists. In this particular match list there are 166 people listed. Of those, 23 of them have matched into what I call "specialty". They include: Anesth, ENT/facial, Gen surg, Neurosurg, ortho, Patho, Rad. I didn't include internal med a specialty because that's not very difficult to obtain (compared to other residencies of course). So 23 out of 166. that is 13.9% of graduates have matched into specialties. Even if, you include OBGYN into "specialty category" (which is primary care), that makes it 33/166 which is 19.9%. This number is pretty much the same for the last 7 years.

This is a very low% compared to the match lists I have seen from other school. schools like KCUMB, AZCOM, DMU, and many more reach a 40% of "specialties".

The match list looks solid though, very good hospitals. But in terms of specialization, not so good. I have given this a lot of thought as to why the number is low. I thought maybe the students generally tend to become PCP, but then again it's almost same story every year. It definitely has to do with high level of competition in socal.

 

[Kevin Baker]

Well I was actually referring to this as one of the matchlists. In this particular match list there are 166 people listed. Of those, 23 of them have matched into what I call "specialty". They include: Anesth, ENT/facial, Gen surg, Neurosurg, ortho, Patho, Rad. I didn't include internal med a specialty because that's not very difficult to obtain (compared to other residencies of course). So 23 out of 166. that is 13.9% of graduates have matched into specialties. Even if, you include OBGYN into "specialty category" (which is primary care), that makes it 33/166 which is 19.9%. This number is pretty much the same for the last 7 years.

This is a very low% compared to the match lists I have seen from other school. schools like KCUMB, AZCOM, DMU, and many more reach a 40% of "specialties".

The match list looks solid though, very good hospitals. But in terms of specialization, not so good. I have given this a lot of thought as to why the number is low. I thought maybe the students generally tend to become PCP, but then again it's almost same story every year. It definitely has to do with high level of competition in socal.

I don't know where you're getting your stats. Using the above definition without obgyn (and plugging in the urology match for DMU and thoraic surgery, I get 34 people for DMU out of ~197 (17%). I couldn't find a quick resource for AZCOM or KCUMB but if anyone finds one, I'd be happy to go over it. For reference, using the above definition, I found 59 spots for case western (~32%, though I lumped radonc into specialties). In light of that, the 40% number you quote seems astronomically high.

 

[UBCvan]

well maybe the 40% was a little exaggeration. but here's the 2008 match list for kcumb.

here I got 64 (incl. obgyn)/201 = 32% kcumb always has a high %

I don't believe students at a certain school choose to match PCP, and at the other choose to specialize more often. I think the level competition in that state is a factor.

 

[FuturePharm21]

Western...money doesn't matter it's about quality and Western is ranked as one of the best DO schools in the nation, you're from Cali and I would choose Western just because it's highly ranked, well-known and established...LECOM-Seton Hill is new and has its issues...from what I hear

 

[drfeelgood]

Western...money doesn't matter it's about quality and Western is ranked as one of the best DO schools in the nation, you're from Cali and I would choose Western just because it's highly ranked, well-known and established...LECOM-Seton Hill is new and has its issues...from what I hear

I'd pick WesternU if you're from Cali and would like to do your residency and hopefully have a Practice in So Cal some day. WesternU has an extensive network of graduates who work here and did their training here in So Cal.
I practice Anesthesiology near loma linda and there are a ton of Western grads at my hospital... Back surgeons, general orthopods, radiologists, vascular surgeons, gi docs, hopsitalists.......... you name it we got it. Western is only second to loma linda in sheer numbers at my hospital.

i dont know about the UC system, but there are a ton of D o residents from westernu at loma linda university.🙂🙂













i picked WesternU over east coast schools because i grew up several miles from campus and got to live at home while in school which helps.