Should I attend NYCOM interview??

[kumar28]

Hey,
I just received an invite from NYCOM and was just wondering if it was worth my time and money to attend. I've already submitted my deposit to Nova and was planning to attend there. What do you all think? Is there something that NYCOM has to offer that would make it worthwhile to go there for the interview? I'm pretty sure I want to specialize (not sure yet in what). More opportunities at Nycom??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

thx

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[oceandocDO]

I'm a second year at NYCOM. I would go to the interview. More choices never hurt. Dont let the deposit money sway your decision, as after it's all over, the deposit is a drop in the proverbial bucket.

What I've found in NYCOM's corner:

1) Great administration. Dr. Ross-Lee knows how to captain a ship. She will do great things with this school, is very well known nationally, demands results from the faculty and students, and is even a NY "Power Sibling", as voted by The New Yorker magazine with her famous, or infamous, younger sister, Diana. The other Deans are very student oriented and responsive to concerns. Faculty are numerous and approachable. Clinical faculty are great and better than the basic science profs IMO, who can be a little dry, but it's hard to make biochem and histology interesting.

2) Location. The pathology and diverse patient population you see in the NY metopolitan area is second to nowhere, honestly. IMO, there's no better place to become a doctor. There may be better places to practice when it's over, IMHO, but learning here is fantastic.

3) Rotations. The third/fourth year clerkships have been said to be the best of the D.O. world. Rotations are through your choice of almost 40 hospitals, most in the metro area, most very respected tertiary care centers, including umbrella hospitals for Yale, Columbia, Einstein, NYU, Cornell, Downstate, and Stonybrook. You'll rotate shoulder to shoulder with these students at times, if you wish, and the clinical reviews very often include NYCOM students outshining these folks. The North Shore Univ Hospital System, one of the school's main clinical campuses, was voted the best overall hospital system in the country in 2002 by some patients' advocacy group.

4) Great Match results of late. Last year the school sent 3 students to Harvard's Brigham and Womens (anesthesia), a duo to Upenn (radiology), as well as students to NYU (medicine and PM&R), Univ of Miami (radiology), etc. About half went allopathic, half osteopathic residencies. The school has enough rotating intenship slots for every graduating student, not something every DO school can offer.

5) Technology overload: right now all lecture seats and most study areas all have broadband access, next year wireless modems are supposed to be installed. All lectures are taped and put on streaming video, so you can watch or review lecture from home if you'd like (a HUGE help, you have no idea!); Extensive notes are provided before each class, scribe service not needed. All students provided with a new Sony Clie PDA.

6) Most diverse medicial school in the country according to the dean. 55% women too!

7) Student involvement. NYCOM sent 150 students to the AOA convention last fall, gave them 5 days off, and paid for the hotel rooms in vegas for 5 days for everyone, that's about 140 more students than any other school from what I hear. They supposedly want 200 students to be in new orleans next fall for the convention. That alone is a reason I'd think about the place

My negatives include a very high cost of living, tuition is high to me, but average in the D.O. world actually, the traffic can suck if you live far from school, and this week, the weather! I imagine Ft. Lauderdale doesnt have 25 inches of snow right now. We do. Some are turned off by the large class size, but I dont have a problem with it. They do a good job at handling the masses by breaking everyone down into smaller groups and pods for anatomy, OMM, and some of the phys diagnosis classes. The facilities are in the process of being upgraded. The exercise facilites are lacking, but they may be striking a deal w/ New York Sports Clubs I heard today. NY also takes some getting used to, especially if you're not a native, but within a month you're initiated and talking funny already

I chose NYCOM over a few other schools, NOVA included and while I definitely miss the weather down there, I'm very happy with my decision. I do know a few nova students though and they seem to like it very much and do quite well, so I think you're in a win-win situation.

Hope this helps. PM me if you have any more Q's.

good luck.

 

[MyEyesMesmerize]

I'm not a student at either school but I interviewed at NYCOM and I live about 10 minutes from Nova and have visited there often. I had been accepted to PCOM and found that school comparable to Nova. I was then invited to NYCOM and hoped it was worth the trip. It wasn't for me because nothing really impressed me about it. I was accepted, and granted if it was my only one, I would have gone, but I wasn't impressed much. I'll try to compare and contrast NYCOM and Nova from what I know...not that I know it all.

For one, living in that part of LI is ridiculously expensive. The student I know that goes there lives about 20 minutes away and traffic is a pain. Nova on the other hand has many apartment complexes which are walking distance to the school and are relatively cheap.

The weather in winter time sucks over there. I interviewed in late January and I felt like my face was going to crack. Right now, here, where I live, theres a high of 82 degrees.

I received a listing of recent NYCOM graduates residency placements, and sure there were some really impressive ones, but you see that from any school. I think matching deals a lot more with how you do in school and on your boards than with what school you attended. At Nova, they also place their students in good residencies, both osteopathic and allopathic. You also receive training in a diverse community so i think it is comparable to the affiliations at NYCOM.

The library at NYCOM sucks. Even the students said barely any study space. Nova has a health professions library that is ok, but a knew library and techonology center down the block that is absolutely fabulous. PLENTY of study space. And near Nova there are a bunch of barnes n nobles, starbucks, etc, that people like to go to. Not the case at NYCOM.

The class size is deceptively HUGE at NYCOM. they say 260 or so but its really 300 because of these special programs they have. Nova has a class of 180.

Tuition is less at Nova.

One thing that really turned me away from NYCOM was the lack of patient contact in the first 2 years. Basically, there is none. At Nova you have preceptorships included into your curriculum.

The students at NYCOM didn't seem too enthusiastic about the school. Nova students gave me a different feel, similar to what I saw at PCOM.

Ok well, thats just my perspective. Take all opinions here with a grain of salt. I guess the best way to judge is to see for yourself. People may say to ask students who go there, but I don't know if someone would be honest in talking bad about their own school. They usually make the best of it and glorify the good things. Good luck to you.

 

[Albah]

Kumar,
I don't know much about NYCOM but if there is any possibility that you may take up their offer if accepted, then I would go to the interview. Now, if you are 100% sure that Nova is the school for you, then I would not go to the NYCOM interview. It all depends on your personal choice.
I was in a slightly different situation. I was waitlisted, so I decided to attend my PCOM interview. I must say it was a great experience and the school really impressed me. You just never know if you would really like a school unless you go and even though interview day may not provide all the insight you need, it definitely gives you a hint of what the school is all about and if you would be happy there.
I also have to decide if I am going to go to 2 other interviews (this time MD). And because I like PCOM so much and prefer DO, I have decided not to go to those interviews. But I am convinced that going to them would not change my mind.
So, if there is any doubt in your mind about wanting to go to Nova, then going to NYCOM would open up your options.
Best of luck!
Albah

 

[oceandocDO]

I agree with Albah, and if for nothing else, go to the NYCOM interview to avoid the "what if's" that may arise later if you wind up going to nova and not liking it. Never burn a bridge.

As point(s) of clarification to what the above poster stated, the class size at nycom has less than 260 traditional students, last years class graduated ~230 and this year will graduate about 240 I think, the freshman have right about 250. There are also about 40 offshore MDs who are in the U.S. attempting licensure and take most lecture courses (their website is www.md-do.org if you're interested), but they dont take all classes and their program is only 3 years long. Anatomy has 4-6 students per body like most schools. OMM is one-on-one interactions. If Nova has a class size of 180, that's not exactly small either, so you're not going to be having open discussions or debates in lecture at either school unfortunately. The new dean has stated she wants to decrease class size somewhat, hopefully starting next year, and the admission criteria have supposedly been dramatically raised by her as well. She definitely hit the ground running when she took over last summer.

The tuition for the 2 schools is comparable, but I think nova may have lower in-state tuition. Tuition at nycom may be high, but you honestly see where your extra money goes.... they invest in a ton of technology, PDAs for all students, extensive printed notes, great rotations (better hospitals cost more money to send students to), trips to various conventions paid for, etc. Cost of living is high, my largest gripe. Welcome to NY.

The official medical library at NYCOM is small, it's basically a 3- story journal library. The library of the 21st century is online anyway, as any journal article you need can be found on the net, so nycom has taken shelf space from outdated books and journals and offered more computers. They upgraded study areas last year, probably since the above poster interviewed. NYIT, NYCOM's parent school, has a beautiful, full, 3-story college library. Plenty of us study there, but I dont think they show it on the med school tour. They should, it's pretty nice and a 3 minute walk from the lecture halls.

Regarding patient contact in the first 2 years, I had plenty actually, but it's not mandatory. You can shadow and work with all types of docs, from FP to allergy to neurology, in one of the academic health care centers for extra credit. They also started a standardized patient program this year for 1st and 2nd years which is mandatory. I heard the first years this spring will have their sessions videotaped so they can watch and learn from their interaction with patients.

Anyway, I'll shut up now, but believe that most students here are not the apathetic type described above. I'm honestly trying to give you as straight of a story as I can without sugar coating, as when I read the above again, I think it's all facts, no opinions.

IMO, if your willing to part with palm trees, interview here, nothing to lose. PM me if so and I'll be happy to show you the joint.

best of luck.

 

[MsDO15]

OceandocDO - Could you please explain what the standardized patient program is all about? Thanks

 

[oceandocDO]

From what I've been told and have experienced, the standardized patient program is designed to allow students the opportunity to interact in a clinical setting with "patients who have been trained to be patients", actors basically. Often it's a student's first contact with a "real" patient, although they're not truly "real", the encounter is very authentic, in an exam room, your the doc, etc. There's no supervision and it's the patient and you alone in a room, with you supposedly performing all the necessary steps, asking all the right questions, and performing a correct physical exam for whatever problem the patient presents with. Kinda forces you to learn how to think on your feet right off the bat in school. The major focus will be on honing communication skills along with history and physical exam competency, not diagnostic ability. I believe plans for the program this spring will include subjecting the medical student to different patient scenarios, such as combative patients, patients who speak another language, apprehensive patients, older patients, etc. They're supposedly going to videotape some of your encounters and give the sessions back to student on disk, so you can watch them, learn from your mistakes, and probably laugh a bit. Some have equated it to the infamous "gonorrhea" episode on Seinfeld, but it's a bit more life-like and extensive than that, unfortunately We werent graded on our performance in the inital enounters, but the patients do give you written feedback after it's over.

I'm sure alot of schools are implementing programs like this to better prepare students for the clinical skills exam portion of the boards which is set for both D.O. and M.D. students in 2004 I think.

 

[LINY]

I have to agree with oceandoc-
I am a current second year and she pointed out all benefits and drawbacks!

but I will say this.....
to reply to the comment that all schools have a few go into awesome residencies plays down the fact that head to head NYCOM placed a "few more" which I would attribute to
1. it's proximity to such
prominent programs
2. how well these
students did in both
rotations and boards
3. age of the school
also I would like to emphasize what oceandoc stated about diversity of both the student body as well as the clinical sites. This only better prepares the doctor-

all the best in your decision

 

[polanddoc]

Oceandoc,

In reference to your comment about 55% women attending this school, are they attractive women? This may sound stupid but I am well into my 20's and I am still looking for the "one" and I don't want to waste another 8 years of my life without having someone to be by my side. NYCOM seems like a perfect school for me and possibly the place where I will send in my deposit soon, but is there really time for a meaningful relationship for a student, or should I consider the physician assistant program?

 

[oceandocDO]

Haha... I hear ya. Dont expect the sports illustrated swimsuit edition, but there's a definite population of very attractive eligible bachelorettes. Unfortunately it's not the days of undergrad splendor anymore though where you looked forward to going to Psych 1 class to "browse". One benefit of a larger class size is greater quantity of "choices"

I warn you though, dating in med school is a double edged sword. You spend ALOT of time together, especially in the first 2 years, as you take every class together, 8 hours a day, then more studying, so if the relationship goes to the crapper, you still have to work with the other person on a professional level. Some people refuse to date classmates for that reason alone. I'd say there's a good 10-15 couples in my class who have met in school. A few of our professors are NYCOM grads and are married to another nycom grad they met in med school, so love is in the air it seems. Plenty of happy married couples have met over a dead body

I think there's definitely time for a meaningful relationship, as long as the other person understands your situation and stresses if you're dating someone not in med school. You definitely need a life outside school to remain sane, so find one early no matter what school you're at.

Oh...one definite benefit of OMM class is the "window shopping" that the mandatory dress code allows.

If all else fails, manhattan is located 15 miles away and is known to have a "few" women within its borders.