ACOM (DO) vs. Tulane (WL) vs. NEOMED (WL)

[deleted1162129]

This is more complex than it seems on the surface. My wife has a job offer near ACOM where she'll make 7 figures. I'm not 100% set on what specialty I want to do either but I'm pretty sure it's not surgical. Definitely not family medicine or pediatrics. Leaning towards oncology, maybe rad onc, med onc, anesthesia, dermatology, cardiology, so most likely internal med with a fellowship. We also have a baby and are working on having another baby.

ACOM

Pros:
+ Wife makes lots of money
+ COL is very low
+ Beach is about 1.5 hours away for my wife's sake
+ Cheapest Housing

Cons:
- DO school, so more difficult time attaining more competitive specialties/residencies
- Dothan, AL is lacking some things and the food is geared towards heart attacks.
- Rotations can be all over the place.

Tulane (WL)

Pros:
+ Amazing city (great food, art, music, etc...)
+ Great airport for travel
+ P/F but with placement in tertiles (closest to true P/F out of all my choices)
+ Best opportunities for residency out of all my choices
+ No mandatory attendance for most things (except anatomy) so can be home with my children studying

Cons:
- Most expensive school out of all
- Housing for our purposes would be most expensive
- Students that I connected with and said I could reach out to them have all been flaky
- Wife may have to take a nominal pay cut

NEOMED (WL)

Pros:

+ Everyone I've interacted with has been great
+ I like the cold weather (my wife doesn't)
+ Closest to my wife's family
+ Good international airports nearbyish
+ Best outdoor recreation out of all options (I like hiking, running, biking, etc...)
+ Learning style is probably my favorite except the mandatory class time from 8-12pm everyday.
+ Wife should make the same or more money as she does currently.

Cons:

- Not a well known school outside of Ohio even though it has been around for ~50 years.
- Wife won't like the weather and she would have to work far from NEOMED (~ 30 minutes - 1 hr)
- 1st year tuition is insane for OOS (more than Tulane) but can get in-state tuition for years 2, 3, and 4 which makes it very cheap

If it were just me and had no one else to think about, I think Tulane would be my #1 choice, then NEOMED, then ACOM. However, since it's not just me, this has become a difficult decision. It basically comes down to how to weigh my wife's best opportunity (great work/life balance and 4x salary elsewhere) vs. my best opportunity (best chance at residencies and flexibility of schedule) as they are unfortunately not in sync. Please weigh in and ask questions to help me make the right decision. I'm hopeful I will come off the waitlist at both options with movement starting next week.

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[theoceanman]

Tulane > NEO > ACOM is my personal take. All 3 schools are fine schools at the end of the day, congrats

 

[Real McCoy]

If I'm reading this correctly, you have one acceptance and two WL. The place where you have an acceptance is where your wife has a job where she'll make the most money. ACOM routinely matches people into internal medicine every year. It may be a bit more difficult than at the other schools, but it's not exactly uncommon.

 

[EndureVascular]

Bruh- none of the above and be a stay at home dad lmao

Actually though, ACOM should be just fine for internal medicine. I think its foolish to be making any kind of plans given the other two are waitlists. Even if you got off those waitlists, my vote would still be for ACOM given the ridiculous security that a partner's 7 figure salary provides

 

[chilly_md]

Do make sure that the 7-figure job is legitimate and doesn't have a catch. I'm assuming she goes from 250k to 1 million, which is a very strange jump before even considering that it will be at Dothan.

 

[BeLycurcus]

I had both DO and MD acceptances. Take the MD if offered. ACOM accepted me very early in this cycle. Dothan is a nice town. SE Medical Center is a very good hospital and owns ACOM. The ACOM Dean did his residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans before Katrina. I would not have a problem with ACOM. It's the best DO school in the SE.

 

[drthedude]

Homie if your wife is gonna make 7 figs being near ACOM, stick your ass near ACOM

 

[deleted1162129]

Do make sure that the 7-figure job is legitimate and doesn't have a catch. I'm assuming she goes from 250k to 1 million, which is a very strange jump before even considering that it will be at Dothan.

It's a legitimate situation and it's double your guess so we'll be doing well regardless where we go but not 4x more (she can get a job at each place fairly easily). That's the finance side.

On the personal side, my wife would like to be in Ohio since it's close to her family and our kids can grow up together.

If we had neither of those to think of, we'd both want to be in NOLA. So, it's just a bunch of competing priorities and it's probably an easy decision for someone on the outside, hence why I'm posting here.

To answer @Real McCoy assumption, I've had 8 II (5 DO, 3 MD), I'm on the waitlist at 3 MD programs, and have been accepted to 5 DO schools. Clearly ACOM is the best DO option because of my wife's situation (and also it was the best DO school to me out of my options) so I'm only holding 2 DO acceptances currently.

 

[chilly_md]

On the personal side, my wife would like to be in Ohio since it's close to her family and our kids can grow up together.

You could try for OH in residency.

Something to keep in mind is that ACOM did have an issue with attrition/remediation the other year. They did change the policy I believe to allow for remediation, so that might be resolved.

 

[Osminog]

What's your wife's job? Asking for a friend, in case the whole residency thing doesn't work out for him. 😗

 

[deleted1162129]

What's your wife's job? Asking for a friend, in case the whole residency thing doesn't work out for him. 😗

She's a world class peanut farmer...

 

[chilly_md]

She's a world class peanut farmer...

That explains the small pay cut in New Orleans then.