CMSRU vs PCOM

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lcg16

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Hi! My 2 options are Cooper Medical School at Rowan in Camden or PCOM. Some of my thoughts:

-MD vs DO: I want to go into psychiatry (pref academic) or perhaps a peds specialty so not sure if this would matter?
- Cost: Cooper is roughly $10,000 more per year
-class size: Cooper is smaller - less than 100 students vs over 200. This has pros and cons - I am a nontrad, so I have some fears the smaller class I won't have any peers my age
- location: Camden has a pretty rough reputation, which as a petite female makes me nervous. However, the mission of the school is pretty cool.
- curriculum: at Cooper it's less lecture based, while PCOM is more traditional.

Any thoughts?

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I'm a non-trad matriculating to CMSRU, waitlisted at PCOM. PCOM was my goal, but honestly an MD opens some doors and you might find that to be helpful. Cooper also gave the impression of being more focused on preparing you for the match, where PCOM seemed a little blase about things like taking MD exams or getting research experience. They're both good schools. Mostly posting to say to say hi, I'm a CMSRU non-trad and also worried about having peers my age!
 
While I know nothing about either school, I choose CMSRU. You seem biased in your post towards CMSRU just because you talked about it more. It has desirable qualities such as a smaller class size, cheaper COA, cool mission which strongly outweigh the negatives in my eyes.

As @watermelon master and countless others have said in similar scenarios, it would be better to go with the MD school. I don't know why this is or even if it is true, but it is the general SDN consensus. At the end of the day, this is your decision and you should choose the school that fits best as you will do great in either. Best of luck on the decision and in school :)
 
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While I know nothing about either school, I choose CMSRU. You seem biased in your post towards CMSRU just because you talked about it more. It has desirable qualities such as a smaller class size, cheaper COA, cool mission which strongly outweigh the negatives in my eyes.

As @watermelon master and countless others have said in similar scenarios, it would be better to go with the MD school. I don't know why this is or even if it is true, but it is the general SDN consensus. At the end of the day, this is your decision and you should choose the school that fits best as you will do great in either. Best of luck on the decision and in school :)

Its more true than you realize. The program director (PD) survey attached below will show you the difference in interviewing and ranking of IMGs, DOs, and US MDs. In nearly every category, your chances of matching far greater at the US MD school.

http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/NRMP-2016-Program-Director-Survey.pdf

There are multiple reasons as to why DOs aren't chosen for certain residencies. One of which is an application filter that can be customized to filter IMGs and DOs at the discretion of the program director. Even if you are at the 99% percentile on your USMLE step I and II, that filter will totally erase your application from the PDs eyes. This is what you face as a DO.

Even with those reasons listed above, it would still be better to go MD.
 
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