AZPod does not have its own college, Why?

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FnA Man

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When I was at a pod interview with a school in the Midwest, they seemed it was necessary to let me know that one of the other two schools associated with a DO school (Western U and AZPod) does not have their own college but is under the College of Health Sciences. As well they stated that they believed this same school took classes with PA students and how that looks bad and something about how not all core classes are with the DO students (I have not looked into this greatly). This is all that they were saying, in regards to a general questions of mine about "why them and not the other school with similar curriculums" (you know, just the normal question stuff) . This was my last interview of 6, FYI. After I got home I looked at my papers that both AZPod and Western U gave me, and saw that it was indeed AZPod that does not have its own College of Podiatric Medicine.

So the questions is, Why does AZPod not have its own college? Would they not have more autonomy and financial recourses if they had their own college?

This post is in no way to slander or speak ill of AZPod. I loved AZPod when I visited , and was my secondary choice of school. Nor is this post to be used to influence me on a school choice, as I have already put down my deposit for my first choice (which was not the Midwestern school) and past my deadline for AZPod. AZPod is an excellent school, they prove that with excellent board rates and residency placement!

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I interviewed at AZPOD a few years ago. If I remember correctly, the reason they are part of the College of Health Sciences is due to the number of students in the DPM class (30). I think there needs to be a certain number of students in a particular program for them to be their own separate program.

I thought the threshold at Midwestern was 50 students, so any program that had more than 50 students had their own separate program, but the ones with less than 50 got grouped into the College of Health Sciences.
 
At Midwestern the threshold is indeed 50. They are looking to up this in the coming years so that we are able to be our own College, but for now we are under the College of Health Sciences. However, we do not take part in a lot of the CHS things. All of our core basic sciences are with the DO program (Anatomy, Biochemistry, Immunology, Physiology, Neurology, Histology, Embryology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, Pathology). We take one course with the PA students and it is called Physical Diagnosis. We are a separate entity in this course as one of the course directors is actually an MD that works for the podiatry department and teaches an almost identical course to the DO students at a different time (It does not work with podiatry schedule to take the course with the DO students at this time). Any other questions feel free to let me know; but not being our own college doesn't have any downside until it comes down to financial issues (I wish the school was able to offer me a scholarship like some of the other programs did, but the school was a better fit for me).


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At Midwestern the threshold is indeed 50. They are looking to up this in the coming years so that we are able to be our own College, but for now we are under the College of Health Sciences. However, we do not take part in a lot of the CHS things. All of our core basic sciences are with the DO program (Anatomy, Biochemistry, Immunology, Physiology, Neurology, Histology, Embryology, Pharmacology, Microbiology, Pathology). We take one course with the PA students and it is called Physical Diagnosis. We are a separate entity in this course as one of the course directors is actually an MD that works for the podiatry department and teaches an almost identical course to the DO students at a different time (It does not work with podiatry schedule to take the course with the DO students at this time). Any other questions feel free to let me know; but not being our own college doesn't have any downside until it comes down to financial issues (I wish the school was able to offer me a scholarship like some of the other programs did, but the school was a better fit for me).


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Thank you. Great amount of info. Is MWU not concerned if they get the 50 students booked, that this may result in a higher pool of students who do not match? Are you guys fighting to get the college without the 50 students? I would think, from meeting Dr. Page that he would be pushing for a college despite the 50, but hey, first impressions right lol.
 
Dr. Page is amazing, he truly is. However, come June he will be stepping down as the Dean and just working as a faculty lecturer and clinician. I believe he has laid the groundwork to get to 50 students. A couple years ago due to the residency shortage, they put a hold on the amount of students schools could let in, but once that moratorium is lifted we have the paperwork ready to up our class seizes to 50. I believe the 50 is a hard set number with the school, and there is so much red tape at an institution like this that we would have to be granted the 50 before we became our own college. The match rates tend to be quite high coming from Midwestern, so I don't see an issue with this, especially as the residency shortage becomes less of a problem (they hope to have it down to a minimum in the next coming years). I'm just a student though, so don't take all of this as fact, it's just what I've been told over the past two years.



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When I was at a pod interview with a school in the Midwest, they seemed it was necessary to let me know that one of the other two schools associated with a DO school (Western U and AZPod) does not have their own college but is under the College of Health Sciences. As well they stated that they believed this same school took classes with PA students and how that looks bad and something about how not all core classes are with the DO students (I have not looked into this greatly). This is all that they were saying, in regards to a general questions of mine about "why them and not the other school with similar curriculums" (you know, just the normal question stuff) . This was my last interview of 6, FYI. After I got home I looked at my papers that both AZPod and Western U gave me, and saw that it was indeed AZPod that does not have its own College of Podiatric Medicine.

So the questions is, Why does AZPod not have its own college? Would they not have more autonomy and financial recourses if they had their own college?

This post is in no way to slander or speak ill of AZPod. I loved AZPod when I visited , and was my secondary choice of school. Nor is this post to be used to influence me on a school choice, as I have already put down my deposit for my first choice (which was not the Midwestern school) and past my deadline for AZPod. AZPod is an excellent school, they prove that with excellent board rates and residency placement!

As an update, AZPod has been approved to increase class size and will become its own college within the next two years.
 
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