I've been accepted at both schools, and my goal is to stay in California for residency. As a result, I'm probably going to go with WesternU on this one. All of my thoughts are from memory, so I may be missing details here and there. This post will come off as WesternU biased; I simply remember more from it.
Facilities:
NSU has more modern facilities overall, and I believe they have more simulation resources (dummies) compared to Western's standardized patients. though WesternU has improved with their opening of their Health Education Center and Patient Care Center. There are plenty of new lockers and study rooms now. Most classes should be recorded at WesternU through the Apreso system, but I believe NSU's are more on-and-off with their recordings.
Location:
NSU wins, since Ft. Lauderdale is in a nicer area. WesternU's location in Pomona isn't the best; there's a stretch of downtown which has that homey "Oldtown" feeling, but Pomona has plenty of shady-looking areas that you probably shouldn't hang around at night (i.e. prostitutes come out on Holt Ave.). I don't mind the area because I know that I'll either be on campus, at the gym in the Oldtown area, or at my non-Pomona apartment. The flipside of living in a not-so-pretty area is that there are cheap groceries around, such as at the El Super. NSU is wet heat, while Pomona is dry heat.
Curriculum:
NSU has a traditional curriculum, and they started implementing mandatory classes such as Medical Spanish (due to the prevalent Hispanic immigrant population in Ft. Lauderdale). The M1s I talked with were stressed during the tour, as administration had recently changed the frequency of exams from more weekly based to large cumulative ones, so they had to remember a lot more than previous classes. NSU and WesternU have interdisciplinary education, since their campuses house multiple health profession programs (DMD, Pharm, etc.). Attendance was enforced through ID card readers near the entrance to lecture halls.
WesternU characterizes their curriculum as hybrid case-based learning. The first year is akin to a traditional block-based curriculum (Anatomy, Biochem), with clinical medicine essentials and OMM running year round. The second year introduces PBL concepts like small groups; WesternU states that faculty will give you more guidance, questions, and handouts compared to typical PBL curriculums, and the whole class meets up once a week to realign groups on a common track. I wasn't sure of their attendance policy. WesternU has no specific COMLEX board preparation, while NSU works with one of the review companies (I think Kaplan) to provide COMLEX prep and test bank questions.
Clinical Rotations:
This is where I made my choice for WesternU over NSU. NSU has some great rotations with Broward General (it's huge and has liver transplant!), Sinai, and Jackson Memorial, but my M1 guides didn't have any personal experience with clinical rorations yet. I was very impressed with the responsibility that WesternU students were given at their rotation sites at Arrowhead Regional and Riverside, and the M4 I talked with gushed at the wide pathology and autonomy students had at their rotations. If you wanted to work hard, you could gain some great hands-on experience during your rotations.
I wasn't a big fan of NSU's 2 months of Family Medicine and 2 months of required Rural rotations (done usually at a rural area or at county jail). WesternU was more balanced in my opinion, and I could take an elective 3rd year before my Match application is due. WesternU also has many university hospitals (USC, UCLA, Loma Linda) nearby where I could do my away sub-internships in, which is important if I want to pursue a residency at these Southern California programs.
Community Service
I didn't receive much information at NSU about this, but I am aware that NSU students participate in community service electives and help out at health fairs. WesternU students have the Montclair Clinic, PCHAT, PHOP, Chinatown Clinic, and community health fairs.
Actually, WesternU was the reason I became aware of the DO field. I helped create a health fair for the city of Monterey Park, and we recruited WesternU students to provide services. Over 30 DO and podiatry students came to provide glucose, cholesterol, OMM, and podiatry screenings to the community; I was impressed by their dedication to serve, and my experience definitely influenced my decision to choose WesternU.
Perhaps someone with experience from NSU could chime in too. And remember: check each school's websites throughly, as there's a lot of information just waiting to be read about curriculum, rotations, and lifestyle.
Play nice.
