If you look to the sidebar, you will see that there are links to six chiropractic schools I recommend for prospective students: Life, Life West, New Zealand College of Chiropractic, Palmer, Parker (my alma mater), and Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic.
When I was thinking how to do this, I wanted to do it in an objective way. I have my opinions on what school should be number one, but I don’t think anyone cares about that.
I decided I would rate each chiropractic college based on their ranking on Alexa. Alexa is known as one of the top website ranking sites around, if not the top site altogether. Measuring each school by their effectiveness in website traffic was a more objective approach than just my opinion, though I might still do that in the future.
Here are the rankings, starting with number six and working our way up to number one. Keep in mind these rankings are as of October 12th, 2009 at 9:45 pm. The overall site ranking changes everyday, but the order in which these schools are ranked won’t change much, if at all, because of the gap in between each site.
6.) New Zealand College of Chiropractic (Alexa rank – # 4,247,712) – This school has been described to me by several people I respect as being one of the straightest chiropractic schools around. They devote an entire class to learning x-ray analysis and toggle of Palmer Specific. Their philosophy is very strong, so I’ve been told. They even have links to the various upper cervical technique organizations on their website. Not bad.
5.) Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic (Alexa rank – # 1,764,675) – By far the straightest chiropractic college in North America, Sherman offers a curriculum heavy in upper cervical. Their president, Dr. Jon Schwartzbauer, is even a member of the Blair Chiropractic Society.
4.) Life Chiropractic College West (Alexa rank – # 796,809) – Life West offers students a variety in upper cervical. Exposure to NUCCA, Blair, Knee Chest, and Atlas Orthogonal are part of the curriculum, with more upper cervical electives offered for further study. Currently the only chiropractic college that will host the upper cervical diplomate program when it launches.
3.) Palmer College of Chiropractic (Alexa rank – # 341,465) – With constant access to the history of the Palmers, this school offers something no other school offers. Students are often a stone’s throw away from a number of historical sites. It is something I would have loved to have exposure to while in school.
2.) Parker College of Chiropractic (Alexa rank – # 293,394) – As I said before, this is my alma mater. Honestly Parker offers half a trimester of Palmer Specific, which, when you take into account midterms, final practicals, and finals, equates to three or four weeks of actual learning. But I can’t complain because over 2/3 of my patients in clinic were on straight toggle only. The school has made some positive changes in curriculum, in my opinion, but with the CCE in charge, positive changes only go so far. I have been told by several people in the know that a 15-week upper cervical elective will be created soon, covering everything from x-ray analysis to instrumentation to adjusting technique. Time will only tell if that is true or not.
1.) Life University (Alexa rank – # 283,636) – The school founded by Dr. Sid Williams is going strong on the internet among chiropractic colleges. Known as one of the most philisophically sound chiropractic colleges around, Life also offers a number of upper cervical classes to its students. After going through its CCE-conspired accredidation problems several years back, Life University seems to have bounced back and is going strong once again, boasting the #1 spot on The Atlas of Life / Alexa internet rankings.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Of course, this is assuming you are making recommendations for students who are interested in upper cervical chiropractic only, yes? I would warn students from having too strong of an opinion about technique too early on in their careers, personally. I know hundreds of students and doctors and probably… none… of them are doing now what they thought they were going to be doing when they started school or first got out. Rather than focusing on how to adjust, I think students should first focus on their analytical procedures, which is something greatly lacking across the board these days.
To paraphrase Vern Pierce, the worst subluxations are those caused by the most “specific” adjustment given in the wrong place at the wrong time, while the sloppiest adjustment can be the best one if it’s given in the right place at the right time. Of course, the goal for all of us should be the right place, the right time and the right way!
On a related note, I think students should look at much more than technique when choosing the school they are going to drop $100,000 on tuition at. Take into account class sizes, professor to student ratios, geography, board scores, opportunities like Clinic Abroad, preceptorship, loan default rates, etc etc. Lots to think about, only one of which is technique, in my opinion.
Alexa ranking has to do with traffic and perceived importance of sites based on the number of back-links, key word rankings and such–the kind of information collectible by computer programs. It’s not about the quality of the information offered on the websites, but more about how well the marketing department knows the market and how much of their resources can be put into that marketing.
I think it’s amazing that small schools, such as Sherman, show up at all on the Alexa ranking, since we spend no money on pay per click ads, which are one form of backlinks, and even more amazing that NYCC does not show up on your list, when they do spend a fair amount of PPC cash, as do Palmer, Parker, Life and Life West. I know because their ads show up on some of our article pages. But I guess I’ll just have to try harder!
Regarding Parker, I thought it was promising back when I went that we had to have so many Upper Cervical credits on student clinic. Who knows if it’s still that way now though.
Steve: Yes, these are the schools I recommend based on upper cervical influence. But you do bring up good points for any prospective student to consider.
Charlotte: NYCC doesn’t show up on my list because my list is upper cervical friendly schools.
Dr. Beck: It’s still that way now, but it’s looked at as more of a hoop to jump through than an actual technique to take seriously. That happens when you have an Activator doctor teaching upper cervical who doesn’t even truly believe in the philosophy.
I AM biased and NOT objective. My recommendations would be Sherman, Life West and Life.
A prospective student should take into consideration the time spent on the cervical region w/in that Core curriculum (if that’s what one is interested in). Palmer devotes a solid Trimester to Toggle Recoil followed by another 15 weeks of cervical technique….and you’re not just going once or twice a week either – getting some good stuff here by some really good docs.
Also, if interested, a student can take UC electives (AO, Blair, NUCCA, UC Advanced) and then USE them in the Palmer clinic – pretty sweet deal if you ask me!
AND….we have some really solid docs that know the UC region of the spine better than most – and the students get to learn directly from them…..Dr. Todd Hubbard / Dr. Casey Crisp / Dr. Bhogal etc.
If I had to change schools today I’d certainly have a tough time b/t Life West and Sherman – both are turning things around and pumping out some great docs. Sounds like Parker is going to make some smart moves too – that’s great to hear Brandon!
my .02
I am a parker Grad. What a tough program. I got a great education. Some schools pride themselves on how many techniques they teach. Who cares? At the end of the day, all of the Chiropractic colleges are businesses. Their job is to get you to pass all of your boards. At Parker, we had all the main techniques taught to us, but if you look at your class, how many people actually knew how to adjust anyway? If your passionate about your technique, then you will learn it on your own.
Marco, D.C.