WCUCOM vs NSU-KPCOM

[adcolem44]

WCUCOM Pros:

• Cheaper tuition and lower cost of living
• Everyone I've talked to on admissions has been super friendly and responsive
• Pass/Fail first two years
• Current students on SDN seem to really like it

WCUCOM Cons:

• Have to choose your own 4th year clinical rotations
• Location will make it hard to travel home (I live in Michigan)-- closest airport is 2.5 hours away.
• Religion. I know that the religious influence at WCUCOM isn't similar to schools like Liberty, but I am concerned on how it will affect my education, particularly because I'm considering OB/GYN as a specialty
• Currently under heightened accreditation monitoring
• (This is based on what I asked in my interview) there is next to no school help for preparing for board exams. Direct quote from my interviewer: "your boards are your problem"

NSU-KPCOM Pros

• Location. I feel like I'll get experience in both rural and urban settings, and I'd much rather live in Florida than Mississippi
• Lots of travel outreach programs, specifically they mentioned one trip to India for a clinical rotation that seems amazing
• All lectures are recorded, and I personally learn best when I can re-watch lectures
• The Dean seemed really amazing and invested in creating good doctors
• Better clinical rotations
• Better board preparation

NSU-KPCOM Cons

• No cadaver lab
• Much more expensive in terms of both tuition and cost of living
• Seen a very negative response from current students on SDN

Other info about me:
I'm interested in either pediatrics or OB/GYN, not sure where I would like to practice. I'm originally from Michigan but did undergrad in Alabama, not sure where I want to end up lol. Currently leaning toward Nova but the negative comments from SDN and the price have me hesitant.
I'm 100% on my own for medical school and plan to finance everything through loans. That being said I had a full ride to my undergrad college and currently am debt free
Thanks for any and all input.

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[SuperSally]

I've been accepted to both and like WCUCOM better. P/F sounds nice and you could do your 4th-year rotations in OB/GYN in blue states if you want. WCUCOM also has recorded lectures and with all the money you save you could travel anywhere in the world and maybe even buy a house. I do think the India rotation sounds awesome, but it's not guaranteed. OB/GYN is also a surgical specialty and I believe having cadavers will be better. Congrats on your acceptances! At the end of the day, both schools will help you achieve your goal.

 

[eturch]

WCUCOM Pros:

• Cheaper tuition and lower cost of living
• Everyone I've talked to on admissions has been super friendly and responsive
• Pass/Fail first two years
• Current students on SDN seem to really like it

WCUCOM Cons:

• Have to choose your own 4th year clinical rotations
• Location will make it hard to travel home (I live in Michigan)-- closest airport is 2.5 hours away.
• Religion. I know that the religious influence at WCUCOM isn't similar to schools like Liberty, but I am concerned on how it will affect my education, particularly because I'm considering OB/GYN as a specialty
• Currently under heightened accreditation monitoring
• (This is based on what I asked in my interview) there is next to no school help for preparing for board exams. Direct quote from my interviewer: "your boards are your problem"

NSU-KPCOM Pros

• Location. I feel like I'll get experience in both rural and urban settings, and I'd much rather live in Florida than Mississippi
• Lots of travel outreach programs, specifically they mentioned one trip to India for a clinical rotation that seems amazing
• All lectures are recorded, and I personally learn best when I can re-watch lectures
• The Dean seemed really amazing and invested in creating good doctors
• Better clinical rotations
• Better board preparation

NSU-KPCOM Cons

• No cadaver lab
• Much more expensive in terms of both tuition and cost of living
• Seen a very negative response from current students on SDN

Other info about me:
I'm interested in either pediatrics or OB/GYN, not sure where I would like to practice. I'm originally from Michigan but did undergrad in Alabama, not sure where I want to end up lol. Currently leaning toward Nova but the negative comments from SDN and the price have me hesitant.
I'm 100% on my own for medical school and plan to finance everything through loans. That being said I had a full ride to my undergrad college and currently am debt free
Thanks for any and all input.

Nova's tuition is so so expensive, especially for not even having a cadaver lab. I am not sure if you saw my comments on the nova thread but during my tour the guide said that the dean took the cadaver lab away from the DO students bc since we are DO that means most of us won't be going into specialties that require a lot of anatomy knowledge. This was very offputting because it shows how little nova thinks we are capable of as DO students. OB/GYN lowkey requires a decent amount of anatomical knowledge. i really liked the thought of nova as well due to it being more urban but had to really reconsider after what i saw on the tour and after what i read. I even reached out on instagram to a current nova student and she said she would not choose nova again if given the chance because she is in a ton of debt now and also got screwed over with their whole rotation issue.

 

[adcolem44]

Nova's tuition is so so expensive, especially for not even having a cadaver lab. I am not sure if you saw my comments on the nova thread but during my tour the guide said that the dean took the cadaver lab away from the DO students bc since we are DO that means most of us won't be going into specialties that require a lot of anatomy knowledge. This was very offputting because it shows how little nova thinks we are capable of as DO students. OB/GYN lowkey requires a decent amount of anatomical knowledge. i really liked the thought of nova as well due to it being more urban but had to really reconsider after what i saw on the tour and after what i read. I even reached out on instagram to a current nova student and she said she would not choose nova again if given the chance because she is in a ton of debt now and also got screwed over with their whole rotation issue.

What rotation issue?

 

[Schwifty]

WCUCOM Pros:

• Cheaper tuition and lower cost of living
• Pass/Fail first two years

These are most important. What is the total cost difference?

WCUCOM Cons:

• Have to choose your own 4th year clinical rotations

This is actually a huge benefit. Your school will really just get in your way otherwise.

• Currently under heightened accreditation monitoring

This is honestly a deal breaker for me. Newer school, not worth it imo.

NSU-KPCOM Pros

• Better board preparation

Doing well on boards is 100% on you, your school will have little influence on how well you do. Its really about how hard you study for it.

NSU-KPCOM Cons

• No cadaver lab

Cadaver lab was a lot of fun, but really I felt like it was a bit of a waste of time. Wouldn't put too much into this

 

[eturch]

What rotation issue?

They basically don’t have enough sites and some of the sites that they do have are in super rural areas where you won’t get the same experience

 

[Ellesandra319]

WCUCOM Pros:

• Cheaper tuition and lower cost of living
• Everyone I've talked to on admissions has been super friendly and responsive
• Pass/Fail first two years
• Current students on SDN seem to really like it

WCUCOM Cons:

• Have to choose your own 4th year clinical rotations
• Location will make it hard to travel home (I live in Michigan)-- closest airport is 2.5 hours away.
• Religion. I know that the religious influence at WCUCOM isn't similar to schools like Liberty, but I am concerned on how it will affect my education, particularly because I'm considering OB/GYN as a specialty
• Currently under heightened accreditation monitoring
• (This is based on what I asked in my interview) there is next to no school help for preparing for board exams. Direct quote from my interviewer: "your boards are your problem"

NSU-KPCOM Pros

• Location. I feel like I'll get experience in both rural and urban settings, and I'd much rather live in Florida than Mississippi
• Lots of travel outreach programs, specifically they mentioned one trip to India for a clinical rotation that seems amazing
• All lectures are recorded, and I personally learn best when I can re-watch lectures
• The Dean seemed really amazing and invested in creating good doctors
• Better clinical rotations
• Better board preparation

NSU-KPCOM Cons

• No cadaver lab
• Much more expensive in terms of both tuition and cost of living
• Seen a very negative response from current students on SDN

Other info about me:
I'm interested in either pediatrics or OB/GYN, not sure where I would like to practice. I'm originally from Michigan but did undergrad in Alabama, not sure where I want to end up lol. Currently leaning toward Nova but the negative comments from SDN and the price have me hesitant.
I'm 100% on my own for medical school and plan to finance everything through loans. That being said I had a full ride to my undergrad college and currently am debt free
Thanks for any and all input.

dude i just saw this!! honestly feel free to PM me if you want about any of these things; low key wanna know who the professor was that said that to you about boards... willing to bet it was 1 of like 3 people hahaha. like someone else said, you are on your own as far as the effort you put in, but you get a ton of resources from the school for free and a good chunk of dedicated time. the physician/professor who leads our ultrasound course also runs a comlex/step 1 boards prep program and mentioned the other day he'll be circling back around with us next year for boards... don't know what that means but kind of cool. Conquering The Boards as far as your interview goes, if its one of the 3 people i bet it is, they're probably just a being a) literalist or b) overly concerned with communicating that you get out of med school what you put in lol. i will also say one of the biggest ways a school can support your boards prep is by building curriculum that is boards relevant and ours definitely is!

also, the religion thing is like a non-issue. i would say 60% of our class is of a religious identity that is NOT related to christianity (muslim, hindu, etc.), and the school has fully supported this and has advocated and built our classes diversity intentionally. most of us are really liberal tbh. we don't have any weird conduct guidelines or honor code like liberty. low key gross to be mentioned in the same sentence hahaha. examples: we had a school sponsored party with faculty where alcohol was served like a month ago. your career would be over if you did that at liberty haha

as far as the abortion stuff i think you're getting at, obviously different faculty members probably have different political views, but i can tell you i haven't gotten a whiff of political or religious innuendo in any of our classes. were in repro/genitourinary right now in anatomy and its allllllll covered lol.

as far as the accreditation thing goes, it was for lack of research opportunities, but they hired new faculty with that specific purpose and are putting in a ton of effort to increase opportunities. i've experienced that shift personally.

i know we pm'd before but feel free to shoot me a message if you have any other questions!

 

[a_r_3089]

Hi, I'm currently struggling with the same decision in this current cycle and would love to know what decision you ended up making and whether you gained any further insight!