great point denny55!
Heres another thing though, I was talking to 4 podiatrist last week and each one of them told me to choose carefully where I apply to this year because they have been receiving a number of students from schools that they feel are "under-prepared" students/residents. They all especially said "do not apply to western unless that is your last alternative because new schools are always shaky no matter how many good programs they already have going on and it will take them a LONG time to prepare pods that are efficient and well prepared for the field, esp in their first year".
They said that their committee goes around to each school and decides how well they prepare students for rotations and residency's and looks at facilities in the school. The Pods said that barry was by far the worst because the students came out unprepared and seemed incompetent in doing some of the procedures that they were asked to do. They also said that Samuel Merritt needed a lot of work done to their school in the next few years and that AZ was by far the best that they've seen. They said that it will be a longg time before western catches up and can be reliable. Now I kind of thought these remarks were mean and biased, but these podiatrists all graduated from Scholl, Temple, DMU and Ohio so I don't know how accurate they are and if they are right. They sat down and gave me advice on this and told me to choose carefully. But whatever im just applying. What do you guys think about this? The pods were expressing their opinions but all 4 of them did agree about the whole barry, samuel merritt, and western part of it, hmmmm.
Tell those guys I said they are FOS and should not be telling pre-pods that stuff. Yes, you can quote me on that.
😉 Barry was just fully re-accredited by the CPME last fall (2007), and the new Grad Med Sciences building opened earlier this year. The schools are all accredited for a reason, man. The finished graduating product depends on the individual student, but the schools all will provide what you need to know. You should not go around making generalized and abrasive statements when you clearly know very little.
"AZ was by far the best," huh? Do you realize that they've graduated a grand total of about 12 students (and flunked out at least twice that many)? Not jumping the gun at all proclaiming them "the best by far," are you lol? I will certainly say that their c/o 2008 and 2009 students who I've met have all been good, but there are solid students from any school. Western "It will be a longg time before Western [pod] catches up and can be reliable"? Geez, buddy... are you aware that they don't even open their first classes until next fall? It's funny how you already have an opinion on them lol. Do you want to publish your reviews of the 2013 Chevy Corvette while you are at it?
😕 You will see how grossly uneducated you are sounding once you get a bit more perspective;
are you a beginning first year pod student or still a pre-pod right now?
I love that you state Barry students were "unprepared and incompetent doing procedures?" Wow. From what I've seen and heard out on my rotations, Temple and Barry students/residents have the best 3rd year clinics of any pod schools, so any student who went to one of those two programs, read on their own (clinical journals, texts, etc), and applied themselves in the classes knows their stuff... I will tell you that with 100% certainty. You can always read on your own if your curriculum has a few holes, but you can't do clinic on your own if your school rotations have few/no patients for you to see. For that reason, I think those two programs are the best... for my learning style and that of many other students also.
You have to think a bit more when you are going to dispariage a pod school in a public forum and make blanket statements. I went to Barry, and I will interview, do patient case workups, etc at par with the best 4th year students in the country. Am I being a bit cocky? Yes, but I work hard, study hard, and am also just being honest when I say that I am one of the top residency applicants in the country for the '09 CASPR match. Don't take my word for it... ask anyone (students, residents, attending, etc) who has done a clerkship, clinic, etc with me.
All schools have their areas of strengths and weaknesses: basic science curriculum, clinical curriculum, faculty/mentor access, medicine rotations, 3rd year clinics, clerkship schedule, etc. I obviously can't comment on all the schools, but as far as Barry goes, here are my ratings below (yes, I'm inherently biased since I attend the program, but I'm also a pretty candid person):
Incoming student selectivity = fair/poor (but varies year to year depending on app numbers)
Basic science curriculum = fair/good
Clinical curriculum = good
Faculty/mentor access = excellent
3rd year rotations (both medicine and pod) = good/excellent
Clerkship schedule (5-6 clerkships all before CRIPS) = good/excellent
Most of all, keep in mind that Barry is only about 20yrs old - the youngest pod program aside from 4yr old AZPod (and newly minted Western). Barry's clinical rotations and affiliate Miami hospitals have only been growing and growing. Barry pod students rotate side by side with students (MD, DO, PA, etc) from UMiami, Nova, and other MD/DO schools (both Carib and domestic).The 4 Barry Univ pod clinics here are also pretty excellent student experiences. Furthermore, despite only having about 15 graduating classes thus far (so only 12yrs of classes have finished residency training), Barry has already produced alumni who are residency directors or main attendings, pod school faculty, nationally renowned, etc. Do me a favor: ask those 4 in-the-know pod buddies of yours if Steinberg, Bakotic, Reeves, Wu, etc etc etc are "unprepared and seemed incompetent in doing some of the procedures that they were asked to do"
