As I am trying to decide where to send in my deposit, I had some questions for current CCOM students. Feel free to write on this thread or PM me.
1) Why did you chose CCOM?
*Specifically, if you were also accepted to DMU, why did you chose CCOM over DMU
2) Is there anything you wish you would have known when making your decision?
3) Pros? Cons?
4) How is the teaching? How much time do you spend in class? Are the lectures recorded? How often do you have exams? How is the grading?
5) Where do you live? About how much do you pay for rent/bills per month?
6) How do you feel about the facilities? Are they top-notch, mediocre, or substandard?
7) How are the clinical rotations / residency match sites?
8) Is there anything else unique about CCOM or worth noting?
Hi Rainbows,
First year at CCOM here. I'll take a crack at some of your questions.
1) The biggest draw for me was that the opportunities for rotations are amazing. Tons of choices at great hospitals (something like 66 hospitals in the Chicago area), and tons of support from the school in setting up rotations. I think a large chunk of our tuition ultimately goes to supporting these deals with local hospitals, which is one reason our tuition is high.
2) Nothing comes to mind!
3) Pros are definitely the rotations, faculty, board scores, match rates, and reputation. Hospitals around here seem to love CCOM students. Cons are tuition, tuition, and tuition.
4) The professors are excellent. We do seem to spend a lot of time in class compared to other schools, though. At least compared to some of the allopathic schools I looked at. Our days start at 8 or 9am, and end at 4 or 5pm. A few days each week you'll have several hours off (ex. if you aren't doing dissection), and generally speaking, Fridays are completely off. All lectures are recorded, and technically very few are required, although in some classes you'll miss out on pop quizzes or extra credit points if you don't go. Exams are staggered pretty well but you can expect one almost every week.
5) I live at a place called International Village about 2.5 miles away. It was recommended to me by an alum, but I don't actually know anyone else from the class who lives here. I'm paying about $1250/mo including utilities to live alone in a pretty spacious 1br. Most people live very close to campus, and a lot seem to have roommates. I think my place is about as cheap as it gets if you want to live in a 1br near campus, but with a roommate I think you can get down around $800/person/mo.
6) Facilities are nice enough, but not state-of-the-art, and can feel cramped at times.
7) Top notch.
8) Nothing that hasn't been mentioned in my other answers.
