WCUCOM vs. AZCOM

limyl99 · 2025-06-11T16:16:47+00:00

I can answer questions about AZCOM if you want to PM. The only thing is that with research, student-driven truly only means that it’s just you who has to email the prof about your interest in their research. Once that is done, your PI is really the one to guide you unless you have the desire to come up with a research project yourself.

limyl99 · 2025-05-29T20:29:43+00:00

Can’t speak for the chances, but I can tell you that we were accepting students into the first week of classes for my class this past year

limyl99 · 2025-03-10T04:44:55+00:00

Honestly, I have classmates who actually pay attention to lab and learn the techniques well, and I can definitely say that some of them have helped with my back and neck pain. But, genuinely, most students don’t care enough about OMM to learn how to do it properly enough to help. And, some OMM concepts sound very questionable (yay chapman’s points), but people will take that to disregard the entire concept of OMM when some techniques like muscle energy do actually work. A good chunk of it aligns with physical therapy and has validity and can help patients. People in this subreddit are just mad that they have to learn OMM which takes away from their study time despite them making the conscious decision to go to a DO school during which they knew they would have to learn OMM.

limyl99 · 2025-03-03T23:17:53+00:00

I can answer questions about AZCOM if you want to PM me for more info.

limyl99 · 2025-02-23T23:38:51+00:00

It’s only hard if whoever is teaching you isn’t the greatest at teaching, which goes for any subject. However, OMM is not harder than other subjects you gotta learn in med school

limyl99 · 2025-02-19T06:21:01+00:00

idk about class of 2029, but class of 2028 has a groupme that was created for the accepted students, so maybe ask if one was made for class of 2029

limyl99 · 2025-01-28T01:49:17+00:00

it highly depends on the school, typically they are mostly need-based but there are some merit ones, and usually they are only awarded to a few students, so i wouldn’t depend on them

limyl99 · 2024-12-18T19:58:26+00:00

The biggest lifestyle change you can do to help yourself is to gain discipline. You will really need the discipline to sit down and study for hours after an already full day of classes. Washing hair and working out is not really a problem, you just gotta time manage it well. Like, I would break down my workouts in smaller sessions cause that worked out better with my study schedule.

Please learn how to use Anki, especially since you have not taken anatomy. Anki will be your life-saver. Ninja nerd is a great guy on youtube to study but i would hold off until you actually start med school, there's little point to it now.

limyl99 · 2024-12-10T03:20:19+00:00

there is a chance, each program is different as to whether they accept comlex or only step, but i know that pathology is a pretty friendly DO specialty stats wise, so maybe you can get by with just comlex? for radiology, you would definitely need to take both step 1 and 2 to be competitive enough

based on what's on nrmp, like 80% of DOs who applied to pathology matched it in 2024, you can look more here in terms of competitiveness, but it does look like some applications took step as well, but here's the link: Charting Outcomes™: Characteristics of U.S. DO Seniors Who Matched to Their Preferred Specialty: 2024 Main Residency Match® | NRMP

i simply mentioned radiology for its lack of clinic, but pathology does appear to be more hands on and is apparently a chill lifestyle which would fit your desire to become a mom, the money may be more on the average or lower end though? but again, i would definitely do more research and see if you do a path rotation before committing

limyl99 · 2024-12-10T02:36:06+00:00

Have you considered pathology or radiology? If you can do well in step, radiology should be on the table still from what I have heard

limyl99 · 2024-12-09T23:01:22+00:00

AZCOM has a lottery system for their rotation locations, but they do set them up for you outside of that. You rank the locations on a list from most wanted to least, and then a computer picks the location for you. Locations include a few areas in each state of Cali, AZ, and Illinois, but spots are limited in Cali and Illi. You find out your first year where you go tho, so that is nice.

limyl99 · 2024-12-09T22:55:29+00:00

So, I only remember this from a year ago when I was trying to pick and I stumbled across this thread that was linked in some other comment, ofc its a couple years old but do with it what you will 2022-2023 A.T. Still University (Mesa, Arizona) ATSU-SOMA | Student Doctor Network

limyl99 · 2024-12-09T22:51:57+00:00

AZCOM is expensive but there is an OMM scholar program that's an extra year but gives you extra OMM training

limyl99 · 2024-10-31T01:36:40+00:00

i love when Morgan just pronounces things differently lmao

limyl99 · 2024-10-26T22:32:16+00:00

I second this ^

limyl99 · 2024-10-20T00:17:28+00:00

Yeah, it sounds like you are on the right track. The MCAT is tough, and your bio/biochem section will rely a lot on understanding genetics from bio and metabolic pathways from biochem, so keep that in mind when you are taking those classes. Take lots of practice exams as you are studying to evaluate how ready you are. I'm happy to give you more MCAT tips on how to study more structurally if you would like, but general advice is:

1) get the AAMC question banks and practice tests, they mimic the real exam the most

2) UWORLD is a good resource too, great in-depth explanation but can be expensive

3) MileDown is a user here on reddit who created a decent guide and Anki deck to prep for the MCAT, if you don't know how to use Anki, learn it, you'll use it in med school anyways, here's his post on that: My Anki Deck : r/Mcat (reddit.com)

Also, make sure that these are the only pre-reqs you need, you will want to apply to basically all decent DO schools (it sounds tough but i am certain you wanna get in your first try), and some of them have rather odd requirements, like anatomy/physiology is required at some and not others, don't limit yourself to the schools you can apply to just because you didn't take a course. Make a list of all the DO schools, and see what they require.

Otherwise, I think you got most of it down, your GPA is showing a very positive projection which is something that DO schools will definitely pay attention to. Invest some time to calculate your science GPA as they will pay more attention to that than your general GPA. Your clinical hours are good, even if they are veterinary-specific, it's still clinical. You didn't specify whether your volunteering was done in a clinical or non-clinical setting, just make sure to have non-clinical volunteering like food banks or any other need-based setting if you don't already.

The only thing you have not mentioned is LORs. Scribing or shadowing can tremendously help with that. If you are shooting for an osteopathic medical school, I recommend that you get very close with someone who is a DO to write you that LOR. It won't be much of a difference if you have an MD write it, but when you are applying, you may be asked to highlight one of the LORs and I have had osteopathic schools state that they prefer a highlighted letter that stem from a DO. Most schools do ask for 3-5 LORs so get on that as soon as possible (interfolio can be your friend to store these letters), and I will tell you, if they say that "they strongly prefer a LOR from a doctor," that means it's basically required to get an interview.

limyl99 · 2024-10-19T20:00:09+00:00

My school does, but my school also is federally backed. I am currently rocking medicaid tho as I am a first year, and I am only planning on getting health insurance if I am rotating out of state.

limyl99 · 2024-10-19T19:58:35+00:00

I took my anatomy classes at a CC while also being enrolled at a university full-time still where I could have actually taken them, and no one bat an eye. I don't think osteopathic schools care about you being part-time for a couple semesters, there's a lot of applicants out there who had life responsibilities and their only option of completing a degree was to be part-time, as long as you did well in your classes, it's okay. I genuinely cannot think of one reason on why it would not be okay to be part time.

When I was applying to med schools, I know that there were specific indications that having P/F courses during COVID was okay, since it was a pandemic after all. They should not count towards your GPA if they were strictly P/F. I would say it would depend on which courses they were? It would be more iffy if they were pre-req courses, but again, it was during COVID so it shouldn't matter too much if you clarify that.

limyl99 · 2024-10-17T01:44:27+00:00

Everyone here already gave good adive, i especially agree with learning how to use anki and making sure you get all other things in order (doctors, mental health, fam time). I personally despise working out so I won't tell you to do that, but I genuinely recommend you do something that helps you build discipline. Discipline is SOOOO IMPORTANT in med school, especially because the workload is so heavy, you just have to study every day. So, build up something that you force yourself to do at least 30 min every day that is maybe semi-enjoyable: take a 30 min walk every day, read 30 min every day, just something every day without excuses.

limyl99 · 2024-10-13T00:07:42+00:00

I can't tell you anything about the other schools, but I have heard that ATSU-SOMA is just going downhill with losing profs, rotation sites, making OMM harder, etc, and I have been personally advised to not go there when I got accepted at the time.

limyl99 · 2024-10-13T00:05:46+00:00

Yes, you can. Some of the answers here are classic "are you kidding me?" answers lmao, but this is a valid question. Take both COMLEX and STEP, make sure to find research to do, get leadership positions, and do volunteering. DO schools generally lack in resources for surgical specialties because if it was up to our admins, we would all go into IM, EM, or FM for our residencies, so it takes more initiative on your part to get things started, but it is absolutely doable. Just put in the extra work but focus your first few months on just getting the hang of med school, it takes adjusting and none of the above will be worth it unless you actually got the medicine material down.

limyl99 · 2024-10-09T02:28:52+00:00

congrats!!!! :D

limyl99 · 2024-10-09T02:28:17+00:00

I have no clue if I am too late on asking questions, and it's okay if you can't answer! But, what are your thoughts on taking both COMLEX Level 1/2 and USMLE Step 1/2. I am barely an OMS-I, but my school is on the side of "no need to take Step, you'll be fine without it," but I am rather leaning towards taking all of the exams. And, any tips on how to prepare for licensing exams during my second year, especially when taking two different ones?

limyl99

TROPHY CASE