Midwestern University NOT what it says- AVOID!!

[srhbrwn3]

It is my deepest regret choosing to go to Midwestern over the other 4 schools that I was accepted to.

I was lied to at my interview and lied to at orientation. The “compassionate,” “flexible,” and “high-caliber education” that I decided to pay an extra $30,000 a year to receive, was a sham. I regret not choosing my school based on finances alone.  I will provide examples, although I know from experience that this feedback will likely be ignored.

I was very open during my interview about how important Midwestern’s welcoming atmosphere and open-door policy were in my decision-making. However, when I emailed one of our faculty members during didactic year, asking if I could meet with them in person to discuss questions that I had, I was accused of not going to class, which left me feeling ashamed and unintelligent for having questions to ask in the first place, when I had in fact, gone to class. This closed the door for me to ask any questions in the future.

As far as the high-caliber level of education that I was promised, I have had to teach myself most of medicine during both didactic and clinical year. UpToDate, Pance Prep Pearls, 5 Minute Consult, and Access Medicine are far more organized than most of our lectures were. The quality of our lectures, or lack thereof, has inspired me to want to one day use my own organized notes to teach PA students in the future. 

During clinical year, the administration was all over the place. I can’t stress enough how frustrating it has been to have been paying SO MUCH money, and continuously be told that we are wasting their time and do not have a say in any decisions made moving forward.

The PA program’s lack of consideration for students and inflexibility only worsened since the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic. To illustrate, when COVID-19 peaked in our state, many of my classmates reached out to the clinical team asking if they had considered adjusting our final practicals to be taken online rather than in person. They adamantly denied all requests. One week before our scheduled exams, (which we had all been studying for), they realized how unrealistic and unsafe it was to force students to gather on campus for this assessment. However, because they refused to make adjustments beforehand, they were unprepared to transition the assessments to an online format and pushed all assignments back by a month and a half. Assignments that we had already been preparing for for months. They pushed these assignments back to right before we were scheduled to take boards. This was an enormous misuse of valuable time. We should have been able to take our assessments on the date scheduled, online, if the clinical team had simply listened to not only the students, but the governors around the country, and public health officials. It was inflexible and beyond irresponsible. 

I am posting this to spare others. I want to spare others the disappointment of such highly unmet expectations, TREMENDOUS debt, and disrespect from faculty. If they refuse to change how they teach and interact with students, the minimum obligation they have is truth in advertising.

[byf8thpber]

Well this is awkward, I'm deciding between Duke and Midwestern.... 

[Ceexx]

2 hours ago, byf8thpber said:

Well this is awkward, I'm deciding between Duke and Midwestern.... 

Interesting! What makes Midwestern even comparable to Duke in your books? 

[Christine616]

17 hours ago, srhbrwn3 said:

It is my deepest regret choosing to go to Midwestern over the other 4 schools that I was accepted to.

I was lied to at my interview and lied to at orientation. The “compassionate,” “flexible,” and “high-caliber education” that I decided to pay an extra $30,000 a year to receive, was a sham. I regret not choosing my school based on finances alone.  I will provide examples, although I know from experience that this feedback will likely be ignored.

I was very open during my interview about how important Midwestern’s welcoming atmosphere and open-door policy were in my decision-making. However, when I emailed one of our faculty members during didactic year, asking if I could meet with them in person to discuss questions that I had, I was accused of not going to class, which left me feeling ashamed and unintelligent for having questions to ask in the first place, when I had in fact, gone to class. This closed the door for me to ask any questions in the future.

As far as the high-caliber level of education that I was promised, I have had to teach myself most of medicine during both didactic and clinical year. UpToDate, Pance Prep Pearls, 5 Minute Consult, and Access Medicine are far more organized than most of our lectures were. The quality of our lectures, or lack thereof, has inspired me to want to one day use my own organized notes to teach PA students in the future. 

During clinical year, the administration was all over the place. I can’t stress enough how frustrating it has been to have been paying SO MUCH money, and continuously be told that we are wasting their time and do not have a say in any decisions made moving forward.

The PA program’s lack of consideration for students and inflexibility only worsened since the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic. To illustrate, when COVID-19 peaked in our state, many of my classmates reached out to the clinical team asking if they had considered adjusting our final practicals to be taken online rather than in person. They adamantly denied all requests. One week before our scheduled exams, (which we had all been studying for), they realized how unrealistic and unsafe it was to force students to gather on campus for this assessment. However, because they refused to make adjustments beforehand, they were unprepared to transition the assessments to an online format and pushed all assignments back by a month and a half. Assignments that we had already been preparing for for months. They pushed these assignments back to right before we were scheduled to take boards. This was an enormous misuse of valuable time. We should have been able to take our assessments on the date scheduled, online, if the clinical team had simply listened to not only the students, but the governors around the country, and public health officials. It was inflexible and beyond irresponsible. 

I am posting this to spare others. I want to spare others the disappointment of such highly unmet expectations, TREMENDOUS debt, and disrespect from faculty. If they refuse to change how they teach and interact with students, the minimum obligation they have is truth in advertising.

If you're going to post something like this please specific which location you are attending because I got into both locations and I know that even though both have the same name and are very similar they have different faculties. I'm not going to name locations but I got a better, more organized vibe from one school based on my interview and not from the other so i can guess which one you are referring to but I could be wrong. 

[srhbrwn3]

On 1/20/2021 at 12:58 PM, Christine616 said:

If you're going to post something like this please specific which location you are attending because I got into both locations and I know that even though both have the same name and are very similar they have different faculties. I'm not going to name locations but I got a better, more organized vibe from one school based on my interview and not from the other so i can guess which one you are referring to but I could be wrong. 

Talking about the Arizona location. I got really good vibes from my interview, which was a huge reason I picked it. But I would bet that 80% of my class would agree with me in how disappointing the actual education was given the insane amount of money they charge. 

[srhbrwn3]

On 1/19/2021 at 8:30 PM, byf8thpber said:

Well this is awkward, I'm deciding between Duke and Midwestern.... 

I would 100% would go with Duke. That's literally the reason I wanted to post this. To help people like me who were torn in the beginning from making a huge mistake. I know a few people who went to Duke who had a great experience, even during COVID. 

[Shelby89]

On 1/25/2021 at 8:14 PM, srhbrwn3 said:

Talking about the Arizona location. I got really good vibes from my interview, which was a huge reason I picked it. But I would bet that 80% of my class would agree with me in how disappointing the actual education was given the insane amount of money they charge. 

consider me part of that 80% that agree with you

[youngbreezy]

Thank you for sharing. I was also accepted to Midwestern and got super good vibes from the program/campus. They really tried to sell how great the facilities are for the price. I ended up going to a cheaper program I was accepted to (saving me $50,000)... I questioned often if I made the right decision on not going to MWU, but I always tell people now to go to the cheapest school they're accepted to ... MWU is unnecessarily expensive.

[medicallyours]

curious what is the other option that you had that could have saved you 30k per year? I am not sure if I would pick any one PA school over another that saves me 30k per year.

[mann123]

On 1/27/2021 at 7:28 PM, medicallyours said:

curious what is the other option that you had that could have saved you 30k per year? I am not sure if I would pick any one PA school over another that saves me 30k per year.

Try Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. New grad PA program that is getting high marks and therefore growing like crazy, but costs are low compared to other similar schools.

[NicoleChan]

I am pasting the same reply I wrote for the same post OP made in another thread. These posts terrified me when I got accepted into Midwestern in 2022 so I hope my own experience can calm some nerves for others.

First off, I want to say that by writing this, I do not mean to dismiss the opinions of the original poster (OP). Everyone's experience is different, and COVID-19 may have had a big impact on OP’s experience too. One faculty member confided in me the struggles they went through to try to accommodate an unprecedented event and knew there were mistakes and faults. I am sure all schools struggled. 

As a recent graduate of the program, I had a wonderful experience with the program. You may think this is because I was a top student excelling in my studies and cruising by. It was the opposite. I consider myself a below-average student and I had many personal problems arising throughout the didactic year, but I felt supported to keep going. At the beginning, I felt pressured and isolated because I was constantly comparing myself to other students and their academic achievements. My peers are incredibly smart, and I was struggling. However, due to a personal life issue, I decided to open up to my peers and my faculty mentor and the support and love I got was amazing. My mentor reassured me throughout every step of the way, and I never once felt judged. I am sorry that this may not be the same experience for OP, but I am sure there are many different types of personalities you will meet in every PA program. For readers, if you ever meet an unkind professor in whatever program you are in, I encourage you to seek help from someone else who you trust more. It’s hard not to completely shut down, but I believe there are people who want to help you. When I was anxious, she offered her office as a refuge for me and encouraged me to get counseling, which is readily available at the university. 

Of course, classes can be different every year, but I felt very lucky to have the peers I did because we had a steady study group that studied on campus late together, so I never felt alone. Additionally, the campus is beautiful and has many study spaces late into the night. During the better seasons, we would take strolls during study breaks or play volleyball to destress. It helped with my mental health to have these activities. 

Initially, I did not think I would make it because of how rigorous school was, and became bitter. However, after speaking to some of my friends from other PA programs, I realized every program is rigorous and Midwestern did its best to have a plan in place to help keep you on track. There are standards placed not to put you down, but to ensure that eventually, we will all pass the PANCE. If we didn't meet these standards, it didn't mean we were dumb or that we failed, it meant that the school needed to put more effort into strengthening their curriculum and possibly giving us special attention to succeed. Rarely were the faults placed on the students. 

As for the tuition, it is very expensive and if you could go to a more affordable one, I encourage you too because debt is not fun for anyone. However, most schools in my state (CA) were comparably pricey (or even more) so it did not make much of a difference. 

Ultimately, I am really glad I chose Midwestern. It isn't perfect and not everyone's experience is like this, but I just wanted to share my own experience so everyone can understand there are pros and cons to everything

Edited August 28 by NicoleChan