WesternU-Pomona vs. AZCOM

[jyoo]

I was accepted to both schools but not sure which one to decide on... Going to WesternU would allow me to stay in CA, but I was also impressed by AZCOM during the interview. I liked the school and the area. Though AZCOM's tuition is holding me back... Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

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[Reverb]

Congrats on the acceptances! I'm an OMS1 at AZCOM. Really nothing bad to say about the place other than the tuition. I'd recommend looking up graduation rates, residency match rates, curriculum, etc. before making a decision. Living near family and friends can be beneficial too.

From what I hear from my friend who is a 3rd year at WesternU Pomona, she really likes the curriculum but doesn't care for the campus or location. The crime rate is pretty high near campus. Apparently it's quite the drive to get to rotation sites, but if you choose to attend AZCOM and rotate in cali for your clinical years, you'll have to deal with that either way. Just my two cents.

 

[BlueBleck]

Congrats on the acceptances! I'm an OMS1 at AZCOM. Really nothing bad to say about the place other than the tuition. I'd recommend looking up graduation rates, residency match rates, curriculum, etc. before making a decision. Living near family and friends can be beneficial too.

From what I hear from my friend who is a 3rd year at WesternU Pomona, she really likes the curriculum but doesn't care for the campus or location. The crime rate is pretty high near campus. Apparently it's quite the drive to get to rotation sites, but if you choose to attend AZCOM and rotate in cali for your clinical years, you'll have to deal with that either way. Just my two cents.

Currently playing the lotto for rotations. Agreed with the thing about rotation slows being quite a drive. I do like our curriculum but if you're entering this year, it will be a different curriculum. It was revamped last year. So you'd be the 2nd class to get the new curriculum. It's based off of RVU's which is supposed to be pretty good (for board scores).

The crime rate around campus is indeed sort of high. Had a few friends whose cars got broken into. I've personally never felt threatened. But I insist on walking my girl friends to and from my apt (one of the associated apt complexes).

idk how much azcom's tuition is, but ours is 56k which i thought was already nearly at the top.

all that said, i'm very happy with my decision. I'm a stone's throw from home. That means i have an abundance of friends and family in the area. That was my number one priority and I have no regret.

If there's anything specific about COMP you'd like to know, ask away.

 

[jcqeien]

Currently playing the lotto for rotations. Agreed with the thing about rotation slows being quite a drive. I do like our curriculum but if you're entering this year, it will be a different curriculum. It was revamped last year. So you'd be the 2nd class to get the new curriculum. It's based off of RVU's which is supposed to be pretty good (for board scores).

The crime rate around campus is indeed sort of high. Had a few friends whose cars got broken into. I've personally never felt threatened. But I insist on walking my girl friends to and from my apt (one of the associated apt complexes).

idk how much azcom's tuition is, but ours is 56k which i thought was already nearly at the top.

all that said, i'm very happy with my decision. I'm a stone's throw from home. That means i have an abundance of friends and family in the area. That was my number one priority and I have no regret.

If there's anything specific about COMP you'd like to know, ask away.

Hi! This is an old post, but was wondering if you could elaborate on the quality of Western’s sites and if students have to move around often for rotations?

 

[BlueBleck]

Hi! This is an old post, but was wondering if you could elaborate on the quality of Western’s sites and if students have to move around often for rotations?

Not a problem! I meant to make myself open on the new thread as well, but dedicateds and starting rotations has me busy.

Most DO schools have community rotations. Some MD schools also have that model. Unless i'm mistaken, UC riverside has such a system.

In either case, most rotations are situated within 30 miles of the campus. But some are not. We have students going on mandatory rotations in florida, bigbear (1-2 hrs), or torrance (also 1-2hrs). Some level of nomadism should be expected. But presumably, most should be able to stay situated in one place if they're willing to drive up to an hour.

As for the quality of rotations, honestly, i can't answer that except with assumptions and word of mouth from M2-3s. Because i only just started my first rotation TODAY! :O

My mentors told me that rotations don't really matter, so I didn't really pick any out except by specialty. Previously, we used to heavily rotate at arrowhead regional. That's being taken over by a new MD school, so that should speak to the quality of the site. New students likely won't heavily rotate through there (because it's being taken over by a new MD school), so i wouldn't bank on arrowhead, even though most students actively try to avoid it for being too rigorous of a site.

Many SDNers feel that the level of DO rotations in general are unacceptably subpar. And I think western falls into that category for those types of people because of the number of community rotations we go through. I think half of my 3rd year rotations are private preceptors. think small possibly one doc clinics. I could have chosen more hospitals. I didn't. My IM and surg rotas are hospital based (at sites with residency programs), and I felt that was sufficient.

My intuition is that western doesn't stand out among DO schools for better or for worse regarding rotations. But i haven't actively compared.

feel free to poke for more specifics.

 

[Oorham]

Congrats on the acceptances! I'm an OMS1 at AZCOM. Really nothing bad to say about the place other than the tuition. I'd recommend looking up graduation rates, residency match rates, curriculum, etc. before making a decision. Living near family and friends can be beneficial too.

From what I hear from my friend who is a 3rd year at WesternU Pomona, she really likes the curriculum but doesn't care for the campus or location. The crime rate is pretty high near campus. Apparently it's quite the drive to get to rotation sites, but if you choose to attend AZCOM and rotate in cali for your clinical years, you'll have to deal with that either way. Just my two cents.

Hey I was wondering if I could PM you. I have a few questions to ask in regard to AZCOM. Thanks.

 

[Reverb]

Hey I was wondering if I could PM you. I have a few questions to ask in regard to AZCOM. Thanks.

Ya, thats cool with me!