Where would you put your marbles?

[goinverted]

AZCOM or KCOM, what's your pick and why?

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[DD214_DOC]

AZCOM or KCOM, what's your pick and why?

KCOM. AZCOM places 80% something of its class into primary care. That's more than the caribbean and DO schools whose mission is to place students into primary care. Either AZCOM students really, really like primary care or something's up.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

KCOM. Granted it's in Missouri and a little too close to my parents for my comfort, but I would rather go to a school that doesn't funnel almost everyone into a boring residency and career.

 

[cdreed]

As a MSIII at AZCOM, I can say that we have a lot of primary care residency placements because students want to go into primary care,,, NOT because we have to go into primary care. Presently, I intend to apply for Gen Surg or possibly a surgical subspecialty.

With that being said, go to the school where you will be the most comfortable, happy, studious, etc. You will perform better if your personal life is in harmony. KCOM has a solid program, but I couldn't stand the weather or the small town atmosphere.

 

[baylorguy03]

53 out of 130 people from AZCOM matched a non-primary care specialty from the class of 2005. Something else to keep in mind, about 20 out of the 130 students are doing traditional rotating internships, after which they may get into a specialty. 40% is about par with the DO average for non-primary care specialties, and far exceeds the caribbean non-specialty match rate.

 

[crys20]

azcom because it looks and feels like a resort, phoenix is like LA minus the ocean, it's very "allopathic" seeming to me = top notch facilities, teaching, tonssss go into allo residencies and they have some big hitters if you see their match too...even some allo surg specialties. great rep in the phx area.

 

[DD214_DOC]

53 out of 130 people from AZCOM matched a non-primary care specialty from the class of 2005. Something else to keep in mind, about 20 out of the 130 students are doing traditional rotating internships, after which they may get into a specialty. 40% is about par with the DO average for non-primary care specialties, and far exceeds the caribbean non-specialty match rate.

Ok, let's break this down to see if your last statement is true or false.

AZCOM
53/130 in a specialty = 40% in a specialty.
77/130 in primary care = 59% of students in primary care.

You say this is the DO average, which, "far exceeds" the caribbean specialty match rate.

SGU
88/230 in a specialty = 38%
142/230 in primary care = 61%
(I did not count TY or one weird UK guy in something I couldn't classify)

So what is your defnition of, "far exceeds"?

 

[baylorguy03]

I said carribean, not SGU.
SGU is the best school in the carribean in terms of residency placement. The carribean average for matching primary care is ~70%. Also take into consideration that many D.O.'s choose the route because they intend on doing primary care, AND carribean schools admit students three times a year (about 500 students total), and many of these lists are incomplete (do not list the students that dont match.)
Back to the original post, I would go AZCOM based on location and percentage of students matching ACGME residencies (>80%).

 

[baylorguy03]

I said carribean, not SGU.
SGU is the best school in the carribean in terms of residency placement. The carribean average for matching primary care is ~70%. Also take into consideration that many D.O.'s choose the route because they intend on doing primary care, AND carribean schools admit students three times a year (about 500 students total), and many of these lists are incomplete (do not list the students that dont match.)
Back to the original post, I would go AZCOM based on location and percentage of students matching ACGME residencies (>80%).

 

[Doctor Bagel]

what does your wife think? you're going to be busy studying so either city might work for you, but maybe not for her. what are the economic considerations? kcom probably has cheaper living costs, but if your wife wants a job or to go to school, it might make life hard. are you really into the whole osteopathic thing? if so, you'd probably love kcom and be somewhat disappointed at azcom.

i'd probably pick azcom just because i don't think i could live in kirksville, but that's me.

 

[crys20]

location alone people my gosh. the cost of living is not bad at all in glendale, also.

 

[DD214_DOC]

I said carribean, not SGU.
SGU is the best school in the carribean in terms of residency placement. The carribean average for matching primary care is ~70%. Also take into consideration that many D.O.'s choose the route because they intend on doing primary care, AND carribean schools admit students three times a year (about 500 students total), and many of these lists are incomplete (do not list the students that dont match.)
Back to the original post, I would go AZCOM based on location and percentage of students matching ACGME residencies (>80%).

SOmeone posted a link to a pdf from the ACGME or AMA (one of those allo bodies) listing the % of grads entering allo primary care residencies. 8x% of AZCOM grads who matched allo matched into primary care, the highest of all the DO schools on the list.

Thus I stand by my point that I would put my marbles on KCOM. You really have no way of knowing how much of that 80% actually wanted primary care unless you ask every student, and them assumed they were being totally honest.

 

[MikeyLu2010]

wow jkdmed..have you even been to azcom??? do you have any idea on what type of school it is?? if not..i wouldnt start speculation about percentages in primary care, ...Their match list rivals that of any other school..and their first 2 years of basic science is argueably the best out of the osteopathic schools..I am not saying Azcom is better than KCOM...im just saying dont look at the percentages because their are too many variables that go into the equation.

people..please take everyone's advice with a grain of salt..and decide for yourself...in my opinion the schools are about equal..its the intangibles like location, cost of living, overall feel for the institution, etc. that should be your deciding factor..

 

[DD214_DOC]

wow jkdmed..have you even been to azcom??? do you have any idea on what type of school it is??

It's not speculation, it's from a list directly from the AMA or whatever. Look around for it if you want; it is in a post somewhere on SDN.

The OP asked for an opinion and I gave him one. AZCOM has a lot more people going into primary care allo residencies than most other DO schools. It could be by choice, it may not be by choice (Isn't AZCOM relatively new?). Hence, I would put my money on the more established school.

 

[baylorguy03]

The list posted looks at residency match list from 2000-2002.
Every year after that the percentage going into specialties increased.
I quoted 2005 numbers (41% specialties matches.)

 

[-Goose-]

aren't DO schools generally supposed to send most of their students into primary care type specialties?
isn't that in-line with the mission of DO schools?

[rhetorical yes]

then why is it that anytime somebody starts a pre-DO thread about which school to throw down a hefty deposit on, people start talking about % matched in primary care (the worse school) vs. % matched outside of primary care (the better school)?

? hmmm ?

[not trying to flame, just point out the obvious]

 

[1viking]

Don't let such a trivial thing as "location" interfere with your career. I had to make this same decision almost three years ago. I ignorantly chose the school that I would choose today. IT IS ALL ABOUT ROTATIONS! AZCOM does jack squat for its students regarding rotations. They take your money and then say, "see you at graduation". I can't imagine having to find a new doc to rotate with every month. Even if people may say that it is easy, I still wouldn't want to do it (what am I paying tuition for?). KCOM has some excellent rotations, plus, everything is set up for you. You can set up a separate rotation if you want, but they do all of the planning for you. Nice!

 

[goinverted]

Don't let such a trivial thing as "location" interfere with your career. I had to make this same decision almost three years ago. I ignorantly chose the school that I would choose today. IT IS ALL ABOUT ROTATIONS! AZCOM does jack squat for its students regarding rotations. They take your money and then say, "see you at graduation". I can't imagine having to find a new doc to rotate with every month. Even if people may say that it is easy, I still wouldn't want to do it (what am I paying tuition for?). KCOM has some excellent rotations, plus, everything is set up for you. You can set up a separate rotation if you want, but they do all of the planning for you. Nice!

I agree with you about rotations, but I won't be going on rotations for almost 2 and 1/2 years, hopefully they could improve things down at midwestern. From the sounds of it they have already made some agreements with some local hospitals to allow more students to rotate through. I just think there may be more opportunity in the future for things down at AZCOM, but that's why I started this thread. What does everyone think? How about two years down the road?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Don't let such a trivial thing as "location" interfere with your career. I had to make this same decision almost three years ago. I ignorantly chose the school that I would choose today. IT IS ALL ABOUT ROTATIONS! AZCOM does jack squat for its students regarding rotations. They take your money and then say, "see you at graduation". I can't imagine having to find a new doc to rotate with every month. Even if people may say that it is easy, I still wouldn't want to do it (what am I paying tuition for?). KCOM has some excellent rotations, plus, everything is set up for you. You can set up a separate rotation if you want, but they do all of the planning for you. Nice!

location isn't a trivial concern to married people and people with children. if my spouse can't find work, it's not trivial. if my spouse takes a significant pay cut, it's not trivial. if my spouse is miserable, it's not trivial. if my school choice causes me to be separated from my spouse, it's not trivial. sure, if you're single and unencumbered, location might be less critical. if you're married or have a family, it's one of the more important factors out there.

 

[goinverted]

Any last thoughts?? Got to put down the fatty deposit tomorrow or Thursday.