Do not go to Western

[Doc Foot]

I think that is the job of boards?

How can boards bring respect from MD's and DO's? Our boards are not the same as theirs and they can easily assume that our boards are less difficult. They don't care what number you got on a test that they never had to take.... We can only demonstrate our skills and knowledge by proving it at school and in residency where we interact with them.

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[natorx]

I have a interview at this school, and this thread makes me feel a tad bit uneasy.

Granted the way you make it sound, they also might pump out the most proficient DPM's.

 

[dyk343]

Looking for a shortcut to pass in an easier program could cost your patients their lives one day.

.

 

[EK18]

I have a interview at this school, and this thread makes me feel a tad bit uneasy.

What day is your interview? We might run into each other.

 

[natorx]

Oct 2nd, that Tuesday. 7am.

 

[EK18]

Ah, mine is a week earlier.

 

[AMDG83]

Anyone who thinks that the podiatry curriculum is harder than the DO curriculum is either ignorant or misinformed.

Your statement is too general to make, I think you're misinformed. Maybe it's different at DMU but specifically at Western, the DPM and DO students take the same amount of tests and classes. No exceptions.

However, Instead of the OMM class the DPM students take PMP which covers the foot (radiology, bio mechanics, etc). In the first semester, the DPM students have 2 sciences classes (anatomy and PMP) whereas the DO's have only one (anatomy) if you don't count OMM strictly as a science course.

 

[Doc Foot]

Your statement is too general to make, I think you're misinformed. Maybe it's different at DMU but specifically at Western, the DPM and DO students take the same amount of tests and classes. No exceptions.

However, Instead of the OMM class the DPM students take PMP which covers the foot (radiology, bio mechanics, etc). In the first semester, the DPM students have 2 sciences classes (anatomy and PMP) whereas the DO's have only one (anatomy) if you don't count OMM strictly as a science course.

I guess if you are so certain that podiatry classes are harder, then maybe you should consider applying to DO and MD programs instead and see how that turns out....

 

[rkmoto121]

I guess if you are so certain that podiatry classes are harder, then maybe you should consider applying to DO and MD programs instead and see how that turns out....

It's kind of funny how people keep trying to push for people to accept podiatry as a specialty equivalent to the MD and DO medical specialties but you are pushing for people to see that podiatry school is way easier than allopathic or osteopathic schools....

 

[Doc Foot]

Not "way easier".... I am just saying that it is DEFINITELY NOT way harder then other branches of medicine.

Yes we are taking "PMP which covers the foot (radiology, bio mechanics, etc)" right now and the DO's aren't. Keep in mind though that they are taking behavioral med, history of med, OMM, etc. that we are not.

We are now also taking anatomy and biochemistry/molecular genetics together and are graded together under one average.

Podiatry is a specialty in medicine like all the other specialties and shouldn't be considered harder or easier....

 

[Moose A Moose]

Hello, whine-one-one? I need a WHAAAMBULANCE dispatched to this location IMMEDIATELY.

 

[411309]

Do yourself a HUGE favor and don't go to Western Podiatry. Out of our class of 44 (of which 4 were repeating the year), only 31 remain. So out of 40 new first years, only 26 remain. Being a new school, there are some serious political issues surrounding it. They boast of a 100% pass rate on the boards, because they kick out students who they deem are non-competitive. This means that even if you are passing all your classes, getting only 70s, this means they will see you as a risk for their 100% pass rate.They have to increase their reputation in the Podiatry community, and they're willing to do that at students' expense. You want a school that will nurture you, not ditch you. If they feel they you are a weak student, they should make you stronger. Not ditch you and put you in a 6 figure debt...I personally know of a person who was made to repeat the first year, AND the second year. By this time he would've graduated at some other school...Also they don't have their curriculum in order. They compare themselves too much to the DO's, but that is an unfair comparison given that the Podiatry curriculum is significantly HARDER. While the DO's are learning how to give massages, Podiatry students learn the basics of podiatry, which is our bread and butter.

I am now at another Podiatry School and couldn't be happier. Any other school is better than Western. Do not let the 100% pass rate fool you...I went to a small liberal arts college which boasted of a 100% admission into Medical School for Pre-Meds. How many Pre-Meds were in the institution? 5. Western is necessarily cheating the system (and students) in order to make their school appear more prestigious. Truth is, a 100% pass rate is impressive only is your attrition rate is above 90%. If 30-40% of students are getting kicked out, it's quite evident they're cheating the system! They dont just want you to pass, they want you to get B's and A's. If you're just passing your classes, you're in big trouble. I wasted a year of my life there, I hope you all don't make the same mistake. Feel free to msg me if you have any more questions, or if you think I am lying. I can give you the contact info of many current disgruntled Western students who can definitely confirm what I have stated.

if your post is anything like your performance in podiatry school, then it's not really a surprise you did awful..do your research on DOs before you say something so incredibly ignorant and stupid.

 

[shenanigans327]

if your post is anything like your performance in podiatry school, then it's not really a surprise you did awful..do your research on DOs before you say something so incredibly ignorant and stupid.

I think it's safe to say that Mogambo was talking out of his ***** and none of us agree with the statement he made. If you guys 'give massages' we are nothing more than 'glorified pedicurists', and I think we all know that's not true.

 

[natorx]

I think the safest statement that can be made is no professional program is easy, and your going to have to work your a.ss off.

 

[AMDG83]

Not "way easier".... I am just saying that it is DEFINITELY NOT way harder then other branches of medicine.

Yes we are taking "PMP which covers the foot (radiology, bio mechanics, etc)" right now and the DO's aren't. Keep in mind though that they are taking behavioral med, history of med, OMM, etc. that we are not.

We are now also taking anatomy and biochemistry/molecular genetics together and are graded together under one average.

Podiatry is a specialty in medicine like all the other specialties and shouldn't be considered harder or easier....

Like I said, we also take those classes at WesternU also. Exact same classes. Except for OMM. I don't understand what's so hard to understand about that. Podiatry is only harder at WesternU because of the workload. We have one extra "science" class on top of everything. Our education here at WesternU is in all practicality the same as DO.

 

[Popat Lal]

Like I said, we also take those classes at WesternU also. Exact same classes. Except for OMM. I don't understand what's so hard to understand about that. Podiatry is only harder at WesternU because of the workload. We have one extra "science" class on top of everything. Our education here at WesternU is in all practicality the same as DO.

What makes the program harder is the lack of organization.....studying for PMP exams takes away significant time needed to study for the other classes. If the exam and teaching schedule was organized better, then students would perform better. It's a new school though so you have to give them some time to understand what works best.

 

[neuronerd122]

sorry if this is a bit random but is westernU podiatry classes and tests on a Pass/Fail basis or are classes give letter grades ?

 

[Hoth Rasiley]

letter grades. the DO's have pass/fail though. Rather the academic average calculated on the transcript is a numeric grade rather than a GPA calculation. So I guess it's not even on a letter grade basis.

 

[underdawg77]

I stumbled across this thread and felt compelled to say something. As a first year DO, take my opinion with a grain of salt. I don't know if this year is any different, but we took anatomy with the podiatry students. My class did feel very bad for you guys when you had to learn, from what I heard, the entire body, upper and lower (upper body as part of Anatomy course taken with us), and legs from your course, whereas we DO's only had to learn the upper body. Pod mean ended up being about 20% lower than DO mean on that anatomy exam. Fair enough, but you guys got help in that they did question analysis and took out questions that most people got wrong (if they wanted to fail people out, why bother doing that?). Now came the 3rd exam, which was on the lower body, your "bread and butter", as someone here put it. The anatomy exams had biomechanics, radiology, etc. and at this time, the pod students were confident they were going to do better than the DO's since it is "their stuff" after all, and they had seen the materials on the lower body essentially twice. But once again, pod mean remained much lower than DO's. So shouldn't you be more prepared than us by then to do better on this section? At this point, podiatry students no longer had a good "reason" for not doing as well.

I don't know any of the pod students personally so I don't know how qualified they are to compare with the DO's, and I'm for sure a lot of pod students are on par or more qualified than DO students. In fact, the few pod students I met at Western are very capable and competent, then I found out they are at the top of their class. However, a quick look at the stats at my school show that on average, pod students did enter with 6 MCAT points lower than DO's and GPA also much lower. It could be that on average, pod students weren't as good as test-takers as DO students. You can argue that becoming a good doctor isn't all about passing classes, but we have to set the standards somewhere. If not, why not just take the nicest, kindest students from undergrad with mediocre grades? I'm sorry, but if this applies to any student, slacking off deserves a fail grade, regardless of your bedside manner with patients. Western possibly does people favor to fail them out early. What would be worse is if these students do continue and after more years of school, end up failing the boards, now even more deep in debt. Can you really guarantee that you will pass the board?

What OP said about our OMM being "massage" class is pretty offensive. You've never taken the course so you don't know what we had to learn. It is not all just hands on, lots of theory as well. So you failed because of extenuating circumstances? Maybe those same circumstances would cause you to fail at another school too. If you are doing well right now at another school, I'd have to question whether these circumstances you were/are in are that bad.

Lastly, as a DO, I love this school. I only have a couple of complaints, one being parking lol.

 

[AMDG83]

What was the purpose of your post? Did you come on here just to make yourself feel better by putting people down? If that's the case, I'm studying in the HEC right now.

 

[darazon]

What was the purpose of your post? Did you come on here just to make yourself feel better by putting people down? If that's the case, I'm studying in the HEC right now.

I found nothing offensive about her post at all. It's nice to get some outside perspective.

 

[underdawg77]

What was the purpose of your post? Did you come on here just to make yourself feel better by putting people down? If that's the case, I'm studying in the HEC right now.

Not at all. I apologize if I offended anyone. I was pretty irritated reading the OP post blaming the school for everything, and did not take any responsibility for his performance. Just wanted to point out maybe there are other reasons the OP didn't do well here.

If the reason a lot of students are unhappy about a school is because a school is too hard, then perhaps they are not as qualified as they thought they were. I was surprised to read so many negative posts regarding the pod curriculum here, because the few pod students that I met are very hard working and knowledgeable. I definitely learned a lot from them. I also don't hear them complain.

For potential students considering this school, I hope you have a chance to speak to more students in person before deciding. In general, content students don't really make posts praising their schools.

 

[darklabel]

Oh, yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean that residencies should weed people out. But rather that residency is where it determines whether or not you become a good pod or a crappy one.

Realistically, weeding should be boards job.

As a personal property/freedom advocate though, I have no problem with schools cutting entire classes if they want. I was just offering an opposing view to the schools cutting mediocre students "for the greater good." When it might be more beneficial to let them get a residency where they might thrive.

Shouldn't that be the job of admissions to weed people out? I can't imagine graduating with X amount of debt and never using my degree.

 

[feet2017]

I stumbled across this thread and felt compelled to say something. As a first year DO, take my opinion with a grain of salt. I don't know if this year is any different, but we took anatomy with the podiatry students. My class did feel very bad for you guys when you had to learn, from what I heard, the entire body, upper and lower (upper body as part of Anatomy course taken with us), and legs from your course, whereas we DO's only had to learn the upper body. Pod mean ended up being about 20% lower than DO mean on that anatomy exam. Fair enough, but you guys got help in that they did question analysis and took out questions that most people got wrong (if they wanted to fail people out, why bother doing that?). Now came the 3rd exam, which was on the lower body, your "bread and butter", as someone here put it. The anatomy exams had biomechanics, radiology, etc. and at this time, the pod students were confident they were going to do better than the DO's since it is "their stuff" after all, and they had seen the materials on the lower body essentially twice. But once again, pod mean remained much lower than DO's. So shouldn't you be more prepared than us by then to do better on this section? At this point, podiatry students no longer had a good "reason" for not doing as well.

I don't know any of the pod students personally so I don't know how qualified they are to compare with the DO's, and I'm for sure a lot of pod students are on par or more qualified than DO students. In fact, the few pod students I met at Western are very capable and competent, then I found out they are at the top of their class. However, a quick look at the stats at my school show that on average, pod students did enter with 6 MCAT points lower than DO's and GPA also much lower. It could be that on average, pod students weren't as good as test-takers as DO students. You can argue that becoming a good doctor isn't all about passing classes, but we have to set the standards somewhere. If not, why not just take the nicest, kindest students from undergrad with mediocre grades? I'm sorry, but if this applies to any student, slacking off deserves a fail grade, regardless of your bedside manner with patients. Western possibly does people favor to fail them out early. What would be worse is if these students do continue and after more years of school, end up failing the boards, now even more deep in debt. Can you really guarantee that you will pass the board?

What OP said about our OMM being "massage" class is pretty offensive. You've never taken the course so you don't know what we had to learn. It is not all just hands on, lots of theory as well. So you failed because of extenuating circumstances? Maybe those same circumstances would cause you to fail at another school too. If you are doing well right now at another school, I'd have to question whether these circumstances you were/are in are that bad.

Lastly, as a DO, I love this school. I only have a couple of complaints, one being parking lol.

I agree with this guy's post and i'm at western's dpm program and yes parking is the worse....And mochiboll just so you know....item analysis isn't always helpful. for gross anatomy I would have gotten a higher grade if i was in the DO's program due to your guys 7% curve. I got less than that from item analysis. The reason we do worse on all the exams is as you said our lower entrance scores, that's all there is to it. There are people that didn't do well in undergrad/mcat and they perform greatly, but that is more of the anomaly that the norm.

 

[feet2017]

Shouldn't that be the job of admissions to weed people out? I can't imagine graduating with X amount of debt and never using my degree.

There aren't enough qualified applicants to fill all the seats at all the schools. Who likes feet? right? haha

 

[underdawg77]

There aren't enough qualified applicants to fill all the seats at all the schools. Who likes feet? right? haha

Now you make me wonder... how many podiatrists have foot fetish haha

Yea I've heard item analysis can help boost some people like 2% and some 10%, and it's a way the school tries to not have people fail, contrary to what OP said.

Difficulty of classes is relative. I spent more time studying for OMM than Gross Anatomy and got the same grade. My lowest grade is Essential to Clinical Medicine, so I suppose can call that the hardest