what would you

[hematosis]

cheers

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[Paulywog]

I attend Scholl and I can understand when you state that it is a good school "as far as name goes". A lot of students here buy into that reputation crap and its the wrong way to go. I would go to a school where you would be most happy and successful. Thats worth more then any scholarship. A scholarship is a short term thing but if you attend a school that you end up hating this will only make the school experience a lot more frustrating then it has to be which could also lead to doing poorly. The ramifications from that will be with you forever. All the schools produce quality students every year...its just that some produce more then others. If its any consolation I know of two students off the top of my head (they are actually a couple) who just graduated last year from Scholl and are doing their residencies in Cali.

I agree with this comment. Don't let the scholarship decide where you go. It would be nice to be in less debt, but in the long run, 4 years is a long time and what if you lose the scholarship after the first semester (not saying you will, but being realistic). Like everyone says, pick a place where you will enjoy. If you don't know which one you will enjoy, make a pro and con list and do lots of research. It's a big decision.
As far as residencies, I think a solid student from any school can get into most residencies. We don't know if the Pomona school will only allow it's students into many of the Southern California residencies. I am also hoping to land a California residency. Good Luck

 

[Xforward22]

Something interesting happened during my Scholl interview that I believe is worth mentioning here. Our interview group was approached by a 3rd year during our tour of the clinic. He looked us each in the eye and said "make sure you investigate EVERY school you think you might be interested in. If I could do it over again, I probably wouldn't have chosen THIS school. Great profession though!" ... and walked off. It was pretty comical, really. This guy had some balls b/c he said it right in front of the admissions rep who was giving us our interview. The rep just says, "well thanks for being honest. Moving on!"

Another person off the student mentor site said he is not happy with Scholl either. He said the clinic used to have a solid repuation when it was free. Once they decided to make it a money-maker the number of patients decreased and is now on the lower end clinically. He also said many of the teachers have their own agendas and put teaching second. Another minor complaint is how the externship schedule is left to a lottery. You have to draw a number to pick your schedule. He said they are very inflexible when it comes to this system, which makes some people who pick a higer number get stuck with a schedule that literally makes them leave, come back, leave, come back, leave again, then once again return to Chicago, etc.

Take this with a grain of salt as I have also heard good things about Scholl, as well as every school. It is the experience of 2 individuals. I'm just passing on information that may or may not help you decide. Either way, as of now anyway, Scholl still has an excellent reputation.

Ohio has a good reputation as well. However, I hear bad things about how their curriculum is set up. Most schools have moved to the block system so you don't have to cram for a traditional "finals week." By passing a test and moving on, you really increase the level of retention.

I don't know if the other schools you listed do this. All I know is I put that near the top of my priority list. Good luck!

 

[jonwill]

Something interesting happened during my Scholl interview that I believe is worth mentioning here. Our interview group was approached by a 3rd year during our tour of the clinic. He looked us each in the eye and said "make sure you investigate EVERY school you think you might be interested in. If I could do it over again, I probably wouldn't have chosen THIS school. Great profession though!" ... and walked off. It was pretty comical, really. This guy had some balls b/c he said it right in front of the admissions rep who was giving us our interview. The rep just says, "well thanks for being honest. Moving on!"

Another person off the student mentor site said he is not happy with Scholl either. He said the clinic used to have a solid repuation when it was free. Once they decided to make it a money-maker the number of patients decreased and is now on the lower end clinically. He also said many of the teachers have their own agendas and put teaching second. Another minor complaint is how the externship schedule is left to a lottery. You have to draw a number to pick your schedule. He said they are very inflexible when it comes to this system, which makes some people who pick a higer number get stuck with a schedule that literally makes them leave, come back, leave, come back, leave again, then once again return to Chicago, etc.

Take this with a grain of salt as I have also heard good things about Scholl, as well as every school. It is the experience of 2 individuals. I'm just passing on information that may or may not help you decide. Either way, as of now anyway, Scholl still has an excellent reputation.

Ohio has a good reputation as well. However, I hear bad things about how their curriculum is set up. Most schools have moved to the block system so you don't have to cram for a traditional "finals week." By passing a test and moving on, you really increase the level of retention.

I don't know if the other schools you listed do this. All I know is I put that near the top of my priority list. Good luck!

I think in general, it is important that potential students talk to 3rd and especially 4th years when evaluating a school. 1st and 2nd years generally have blinders on as they are buried in academics, studying for boards, and don't really care about anything else (nor should they). Once students take boards, get into clinicals, and especially start interacting with students from other programs, they start to form reasonable opinions about their own education. They are at the end looking back and are usually quite honest.

 

[Xforward22]

I think in general, it is important that potential students talk to 3rd and especially 4th years when evaluating a school. 1st and 2nd years generally have blinders on as they are buried in academics, studying for boards, and don't really care about anything else (nor should they). Once students take boards, get into clinicals, and especially start interacting with students from other programs, they start to form reasonable opinions about their own education. They are at the end looking back and are usually quite honest.

Good point. I thought about this, which is why I was surprised to learn that this guy was older than 28 (I'm avoiding an exact age to protect his identity) with a wife and kids who is in his 4th year right now. That made me trust him a little more. The guy who came up to our group directly looked much younger, so sure ... he could be someone who is just having an early mid-life crisis b/c he is not enjoying his career choice, but it also takes a lot of nerve to approach a group of prospective students on campus and say "stay away" than to do so from a computer under an anonymous screen name. I trust that he must really want to get the word out to risk such a move. I dunno ... between the 2 of them, I am personally having my doubts about Scholl. Once again, though, people are going to have good and bad experiences everywhere you go. Others love it there.

 

[Xforward22]

This is a complete fabrication. What other agenda could the professors have? That doesn't even make sense. They teach, we learn.

He shared some specific experiences with certain professors that made him feel this way, but I don't think I should elaborate as to protect his identity. Apart from that, I know that some schools bring in a bunch of part-time teachers who put most of their energy into running their own practices. Other schools use full-time faculty who are there to teach and teach only. So those professors tend to reach out to students more instead of storming in for a lecture and out to go make rounds. I'm not sure how many full-time faculty Scholl has, but it could be another thing to investigate if that is an important part of your decision.

So what exactly is this new curriculum, AnkleBreaker? If it was just put in place, this guy might have been one of the last to go through the old curriculum, but I really couldn't say for sure. That's good to hear they are being flexible about it, but what changes did they make in the first place?

 

[hematosis]

Thanks for the excellent feedback.