A.T. Still University - School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona Individual responses

📚 General Info ▼

What graduating class are you in?

2012

Are you pursuing any joint degrees (MD/PhD, MD/MPH, etc.)?

No

Are you considered in-state or out-of-state for tuition purposes?

out-of-state

What is your race/ethnic background?

Caucasian

Overall, how would you rate this medical program?

8 out of 10

What is the reputation of the school in the medical community?

7 out of 10

What is the reputation of the research that goes on at this school?

4 out of 10

What was your MCAT score?

507

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What was your undergrad GPA?

3.85

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What was your undergrad science GPA?

3.5

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What was the zip code of your residence in high school?

59011

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What do you like most about this school?

Early clinical experiences, involvement in the community, and a great education rooted in a family and community medicine discipline is stellar. The school also uses the Clinical practice curriculum, which breaks our modules into systems-based courses that present a clinical framework of how patients present to physicians. The basic science disciplines (micro, biochem, phys, path, pharm) are included in each weeks discussions of the clinical presentation, making it relevant and very different than having a different course for each discipline that the learner has to later synthesize and relate to clinical experiences in the third and fourth year. Also, SOMA is the only school I know where 2nd year medical students work one on one with attendings in an outpatient clinic one day a week actually seeing patients, assisting with procedures, and getting an introductory clinical experience BEFORE 3rd year rotations.

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What do you like least about this school?

Some instructors are still learning how to fit the basic science material into the clinical presentations meaningfully, but the admin is working hard and has been very responsive to feedback. Any concerns I have had have been addressed and fixed.

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Please provide any other general comments on your school

You will go to Mesa, AZ for one year, and years 2-4 are spent at one of the 11 community campuses that are each affiliated with a local community health center all over the US. 3rd and 4th year rotations are commonly done in the area of the community campus. It's a wonderful program that I'm very happy with, and I encourage you to take a strong look at it. Also, please note that while the focus is on family medicine and primary care, the school gives you a great primary care foundation for any specialty. Don't think you can't go here if you don't want to do primary care. Many of us don't, but the broad-based education and clinical exposure is awesome.

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Curriculum ▼

How is the curriculum structured?

Systems-based

How many courses are taken at a given time?

3

How long are you typically in class per day?

3-4 hours

Are courses recorded for medical students?

Powerpoint slides provided only Video recording

How many days per week is anatomy lab?

2

How many students per cadaver?

Prosections only

How long (in months) do you have anatomy?

9 months

Is the curriculum lecture-centric or small-group centric?

6 out of 10

Are standardized patients used?

yes

How much patient interaction is there in the pre-clinical years?

10 out of 10

Are syllabi provided for the student?

yes

How frequently do pre-clinical medical school activities have mandatory attendance?

OMT and Medical skills have mandatory attendance, as well as when there is a prominent guest lecturer. Regular class attendance can be missed without problems.

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What books are necessary?

Bates, LWW Biochem by champe, LWW Microbiology by Harvey. Most required books are provided free via StatRef or through the Learning Resource Center (library).

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What books are unnecessary?

Janeway's Immunobiology

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Is the curriculum designed to promote a specialty? If so, which specialty?

Focus on family medicine and primary care, but really encouraging "physicians of need," which is any specialty as long as you are practicing in an area with a need (for example: Surgery in a rural area that needs a surgeon)

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Location & Housing ▼

How do you feel about the location of the school?

5 out of 10

Do you feel safe on campus?

7 out of 10

How available and convenient is public transportation?

0 out of 10

Is a car necessary at any point during your education here?

All years

If a car is required for education, how available and convenient is the parking provided to students?

10 out of 10

Is on-campus housing available?

no

What is the quality of available on-campus housing?

5 out of 10

What percentage of your medical school classmates would you estimate live on campus, if on-campus housing is available?

4 out of 10

Is couples housing available?

No responses

Is nearby off-campus housing available?

yes

How expensive is nearby off-campus housing?

7 out of 10

Please describe the on-campus housing if available (i.e., cost, type - studios, 1-br, 2-br, etc.)?

No responses

Cost/Financial Aid ▼

Are fees/tuition expensive?

7 out of 10

How is the cost of living (rent, food, bills, etc.)?

4 out of 10

Are many institutional scholarships/grants available?

5 out of 10

Is institutional aid need-based or merit-based?

Both

Faculty/Grades ▼

Are faculty members very open to students during office hours?

10 out of 10

Are faculty members very available to students via email/message board?

9 out of 10

Are there many opportunities to shadow/work with clinical faculty?

10 out of 10

Are the faculty willing to mentor students in regards to career guidance?

10 out of 10

Is the class ranked?

yes

How is the instructional faculty during pre-clinical years?

Very good. Great faculty for biochem and micro. They do a really nice job integrating the basic science material into the clinical vignettes (the same way the boards do) and

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How is the instructional faculty during clinical years?

Each community campus has at least one full-time learning facilitator that helps with counseling, clinical knowledge, and precepts small groups. They are INCREDIBLE and really invested in each student. Since 10 students from each class year are at each community campus, it fosters a great environment for learning.

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What is the grading scale used during pre-clinical years?

Pass/Fail, with >70% being considered pass. Numeric scores are recorded on transcripts for ranking purposes, and your grade is for each systems-based course, OMT, and Medical skills (in the first year).

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What is the grading scale used during clinical years?

Pass/Fail, with NBME scores recorded.

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Clinical Rotations ▼

Are the desired rotation sites easy to obtain?

7 out of 10

Is desired rotation order easy to obtain?

7 out of 10

Are the elective rotations easy to obtain?

7 out of 10

Is there substantial hands-on experience for medical students?

10 out of 10

Are the rotation sites conveniently accessible for medical students?

9 out of 10

How far are the clinical sites from the main campus?

7 out of 10

How are clinical rotations scheduled? What are the required rotations?

Preferences are considered and each site's learning facilitator schedules for the students at their site. 3rd year has 6 weeks of electives and 4 weeks of primary care selectives in addition to IM, Surg, Peds, Psych, OB/GYN, Maternal/Child Health, and Family Practice

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What responsibility do med students have on the wards?

Since most sites do not have residents there, you get a wonderful exposure working one on one with attendings, including lots of clinical experience in the outpatient clinic during your second year.

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What is the status/condition of the affiliated hospital(s)?

Good. Sites are found in each community campus so they vary. So far in my training, they have been stellar.

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What is the typical patient population medical students work with?

Patients at the CHC are mostly those on state or federal insurance programs or those without insurance that use the sliding fee scale provided by the community health center. We get a varied experience though as some rotations are at more "upscale" hospitals.

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Social Environment ▼

Do students do a lot of activities outside of school together?

8 out of 10

How would you rank student involvement in extracurricular clubs?

9 out of 10

What is the range of extracurricular clubs available?

6 out of 10

Is the student body cooperative or competitive?

9 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for underrepresented minorities?

8 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for lesbian/gay/bisexual/transsexual students?

8 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for students with disabilities?

7 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for married students?

9 out of 10

Is the environment supportive for older/non-traditional students?

10 out of 10

What do the students typically like to do in the area?

In AZ- intramural sports, golf, spring training!, bars, clubs, restauraunts

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Post Graduation ▼

How do graduates from this school fare in residency and clinical practice?

To be determined... comments from clinical faculty in the 2nd and 3rd year have been very promising that SOMA students are much more adept at clinical skills including interviews, SOAP notes, and PE skills than other students they have worked with.

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Is this school known for producing physicians strong in a certain area? If so, which area?

I suspect primary care grads will be high, but we'll see when the first class graduates.

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What do you believe residency directors think about graduates from this program?

Admin has a strong reputation in the osteopathic community, including the dean who was former chair of the AACOM.

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A.T. Still University - School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona

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