Ponce St. Louis vs KCU

[anapplechess]

Hi everyone! First of all, I am very fortunate to have been accepted. However, I've been debating whether I should choose to attend the new MD school, Ponce Health Sciences St. Louis, or an established DO school, Kansas City University - KC campus. Although I have read through other posts where discussions about MD > DO due to residency program preferences were held, I am worried about the resources that the new school can provide and support me through four years. Also, I am from CA and want to match back. I want to make this decision purely based on which school will provide me with the best chance of matching into a competitive specialty.

KCU
Pros:
- Established school (supporting systems like student organizations and
- Great matching rate (99.5% match rate, and 60% matched in family/internal/pediatrics)
- Cheaper tuition $59,980
- Real Cadaver lab
- Have a rotation program partner with CHSU-COM, which might have a higher chance match back to CA

Cost:
- need to take OMM and COMLEX
- DO bias (??

Ponce
Pros:
- MD school
- New facilities
- Smaller class size: 30 people a class, easier to interact with professors

Cons:
- New school: I will be their third class, so St. Louis campus doesn't have a match rate yet
- New school: not sure how the PDs will view students from this school
- Virtual cadaver
- Expensive tuition $70,910

In short, I'm seeking insights from individuals based on their experiences. I'm interested in knowing which school could offer me the best opportunities to pursue competitive specialties in the future. Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[SevenPineapples]

There is an anti-do bias.
Look into how much learning omm entails, it is a great number of hours.
KCU is a raging dumpster fire.

 

[anapplechess]

There is an anti-do bias.
Look into how much learning omm entails, it is a great number of hours.
KCU is a raging dumpster fire.

Thank you for your reply! Would you mind elaborating "KCU is a raging dumpster fire"? Thank you!

 

[SevenPineapples]

Chaotic curriculum, lots of doing and overlearning useless stuff while valuable skills like ultrasound are left for "independent learning"
The deans, professors, and others gang up on students who have fallen out of favor. This is really random and due to the second medical school and added dental school they just don't care about you as you do not even count as 1% of the school.
There have been a lot of complaints about unfair grading in OMM. Be prepared that your second year will pass in a zombie like state and that professors leave the school often which will affect your recommendation letters.
Forget about saving money since students often repeat years and this will impact your specialty and mental health.
It is much better to be in a founding class where the school has a vested interest in your performance.

 

[anapplechess]

Thank you for sharing your experience which helps me to gain other insight about KCU. How about their grading? (I know is P/F). Also, how about the curriculum for OMM? I heard it wasn't heavy.