Why did you pick your school?

[Mastashake]

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Okay, so it's time to play the game, "Why did you pick your school?" Just list what made your COM stand out to you as your choice. I know price, location, and prestige make a difference, but if there was more to it, then please tell.

Mastashake

 

[cremaster2007]

They let me count my first year of med school as my senior year of college in an early acceptance program that saved me roughly 26,000 in tuition at my undergrad because I only had to pay med school tuition. It also meant my time from undgrad to DO would only be 7 years.

 

[Bill_Brasky]

WVSOM:
I was excited that you can plan out your entire fourth year clinical rotations at the site of your choice, either in the United States or elsewhere in the world. I don't know if I'm going to go for a competitive residency, but if I do spending some time there doing clinical rotations gives me a better shot to get in, due to familiarity and local letters of rec.

-Bill Brasky
"Third: You know how Brasky served three tours in 'Nam?

Fourth: Uh-huh!

Third: Well, I'm in Corpus Christi on business a month ago, and I had this eight-foot tall Asian waiter.. which made me a little curious, so I asked him his name, and sure enough it's Ho Tran Brasky!"

 

[DO it right]

Okay, so it's time to play the game, "Why did you pick your school?" Just list what made your COM stand out to you as your choice. I know price, location, and prestige make a difference, but if there was more to it, then please tell.

Mastashake

I personally thinkt the issue of "prestige" is a bit over-justified, generally speaking if you're not a graduate of a Harvard or UCSF then you just blend in with the rest of the pool.

For me location and price were less of an issue, as I was willing to go anywhere that I felt comfortable at. DMU stood out for me, it just seemed that their course work was more reasonable than KCOM . Students seemed happier and faculty were down to earth. Of course each school stages its interview days for the best impression...obv they wouldn't allow an unfriendly clinician to participate just to save the school's image.

DMU is also top-notch in making appealing statements as far as their OMT courses, new building, wireless + notebook computers..the list goes on and on. I can't say that's why DMU stood out for me because I didn't hear any of this from DMU students...all from faculty and staff. Regardless, I haven't heard too many complaints regarding DMU either from upper class students.

I can't really say what stood out about DMU, but I can tell you that in my experience none of the other schools, allopaths included, that I interviewed at stood up to DMU's standards. As far as COMPs, I interviewed at AZCOM, KCOM, TOURO, and NOVA.

At the end I think its just a gut feeling.

 

[JMCarpenter]

When it came down to it, I chose my school based on the feeling I had after leaving my interview. I know that's kind of generic, but when I was comparing schools on curriculum, location, cost... all the "biggies"... I realized that I was pretty flexible as far as location and that all the schools would offer me a good education, etc. During my PCSOM interview, though, there was just something different. I can't explain it, but I just knew when I was talking to people and even in my interview, that it was a good fit. I felt relaxed, not nervous at all, everyone was very receptive and accomodating with any questions. I would say really trust your gut when you're at your interview, don't be scared to ask questions... remember that you are also evaluating them while you're there.

You're signing up for 4 years of hard work, so try to make it as easy on yourself as you can. Years later the prestige of your school might not mean too much to you in comparison with the overall experience you left with.

Good luck! 🙂

 

[Eiko]

It was the feeling I had when I got there furing my interview. 😍 The school was beautiful and everyone was nice... once I got my acceptance from there, I quit the application process both MD and DO. 😀

 

[jjmcentee@hotma]

LECOM Erie

As an older applicant I was concerned with a managable lifestyle if we decide to have children. Erie has very little traffic, right off of a major interstate so its easy to get in and out when needed. Cost of living is very low, so the overall debt at the end of schooling should come out to be up to 50-60k less than that of a big city. I figure I can only handle so much stress, I'll save it for my studies, and skip the traffic, 6 dollar coffees, 1k rents, noise, and 15 dollar cheesburgs. Last week a got a sub and coke for 4$ !?!,

Comps were PCOM, NYCOM, PCO(optometry), and ICO(optometry).

also Cleveland, Pittsburg, Rochester, and Buffalo are all within driving distance. Possable rotation/residency options without moving.

Good thread.

 

[Doctor G]

I chose to go to COMP because it's the place for me to be! Knowing that each school has it's ups and downs, I chose to come here for it's organized clinical rotation program and good hospital affiliations in southern california. It will also increase my odds of doing residency in cali. One more reason is that I can save lots of money by living at home, since I'll be a commuter to COMP.

 

[PublicEnemy]

UMDNJ. Here are the major reasons for me:

Facilities: The fact that the campus has become an actual major medical center is very appealing. They have a very nice academic center, but in addition they are one of the only osteopathic school if not the only one with a full teaching hospital on campus, and they have a University Doctors Pavillion where tons of docs in many specialties keep their offices and see patients, and they have a separate biomedical sciences building with significant research opportunities. The campus is exanding also with 2 new buildings coming up. The other rotation sites are all quality and close by also.
Class Size: Small, only 96 per class. Opportunity for individual name, face recognition.
Research: lots of research going on, biomedical sciences building, #1 in research funding per capita and #2 in research funding overall amongst osteopathic schools.
Cost: In state tuition for all. Almost half as much as some other schools.
Location: South Jersey, 5mins from my house, and 10-15mins from Philadelphia.
Attitude: just a real feeling of confidence and professionalism emanating from the institution. From little things like the fact that they only require 1 single deposit of $100 to secure your seat until matriculation, and even with that they have one of the highest yield rates amongst DO and MD schools. Much of the attitude and opportunities stem from the fact that they are part of UMDNJ, the largest in state healtcare university system, 2 MD schools, 1 DO school, dental school, publich health schools, graduate school of biomedical sciences, etc.
Residency: Very large amount of affiliated residency programs in almost every specialty offered. This was a big plus for me because I want to have the opportunity to be able to get experience in the home programs. They also have strong ties to the 2 MD schools in the state.

all that, and I thought the people were really nice too.

 

[jakki]

I chose CCOM because of its reputation for great clinical rotations, its location in Chicago and how happy the people i met there seem to be with the school. after i left my interview, i just had a feeling that its where I wanted to be

 

[david.pcsom]

I chose PCSOM:

Firstly, I was taken by the genuine interest and approach faculty, staff, and students take in the applicants.

Secondly, SUPER OMM training.

Thirdly, Beautiful location and friendly town's folks.

Finally, they want to produce the best doctors who care about people. The school and faculty makes all attempts in suceeding. hmmm....everything is included in the tuition from texts, computers, fees, dues, on and on....I can continue with other reasons, but ultimately....I had a wonderful warm and fuzzy feeling too, as opposed to other schools while visiting or interviewing...

😀 👍

 

[EMTLizzy]

Same for me with the warm fuzzies. That's how I felt at WVSOM.

I also liked:

-small class size (at least until the expansion, but that's after me)
-great anatomy facilities
-friendly and helpful faculty
-location...friendly, small town, beautiful area, only an hour from my sister's house

 

[beastmaster]

Because they accepted me.

 

[Kubed]

Touro-NV was the first one to call. But it was my first choice for several reasons:

1) Great staff and family feel
2) Location (about 5 hours away from my family)
3) opportunities. Touro NV is like living on the frontier of medicine. The local hospitals and physicians want to play with the school. This was a major reason I accepted Touro-NV as opposed to AZCOM.

I'm really lucky that my first choice called first.

 

[katiedid919]

OU-COM... in no particular order

1.) In-State tuition....cheapest possible way for me to go to to medical school...and because i'm saving so much money i can afford my own two bedroom apartment...fantastic
2.) Patient-Centered Curriculum option...my acceptance into that curriculum was even more exciting than getting into the school.
3.) Friendly staff, wonderful interview experience
4.) Great facilities OU is a beautiful campus
5.) Beautiful campus (however horrible location... middle of nowhere..)
6.) small class size

...can't wait to start! 😳