Choosing which chiropractic school to attend is a monumental decision to start out your chiropractic career. Most often, you will have to leave the work force of the real world and move to a different city or state. This means you will have to factor in cost of living and the ability to maintain a lifestyle where you can keep your head above water financially… as you will be living off student loans for 3 1/2 to 4 years. Then you have to consider which school will teach you, or at least expose you, to things you want to learn about in chiropractic.
Needless to say, this is not a decision to take lightly. Below are six ideas to consider before choosing a chiropractic school to attend.
1.) Will the school teach you what you want to learn?
Chances are, if you want to learn a particular discipline or technique in chiropractic, doing some research on which schools teach what techniques is strongly advised. If you are interested in upper cervical, Southern California University of Health Sciences (formerly LACC), Northwestern University of Health Sciences or Bridgeport University are not wise options. Instead you might want to look at Sherman, Life, Life West, or Palmer-Davenport.
There are certain lines of thought among the various schools’ leadership and faculty. Taking this into account when researching what school to attend is very important. This is where you will be spending the next several years of your life, around people you will see more than your own family, so choose wisely. Interview faculty at the various schools and interview chiropractors out in the field to get an idea of the best place for you.
2.) Do you want to live where the school is located?
This is important as well. Since you will be spending most of the next several years in a city you probably didn’t already live in, you need to think about this long and hard. Some people would love to live in the Northern California Bay area and go to Palmer West or Life West, others might prefer to go to Life in Atlanta, GA or Sherman in Spartanburg, SC.
You couldn’t pay me enough to go to school in a cold region of the country, like Palmer in Davenport, IA. I think the history and the environment of the school is pretty amazing, but that’s not enough to convince me to live in cold weather. I was born and raised in Arizona, so I need to be in the heat… Texas just makes more sense. -50° winters are just not in my realm of thought. Maybe you are a cold weather kind of person and the heat would be too much for you. Make sure you think about this. It is important and shouldn’t be neglected.
3.) What is the cost of living?
This was one of the factors in my decision for chiropractic school. I was thinking between Life West and Parker. I think philosophically, Life West would have been a better fit for me. But I had one child at the time and we knew we would have more. So living in Northern California just wasn’t something we could do financially, especially when compared to the low cost of housing in Dallas.
For other people, this might not be a big deal… maybe you are single, no kids, etc. But living off of student loans for several years, and not having enough to pay your bills because you live in an expensive area or city only adds to the enormous stress you experience in chiropractic school.
4.) Will the school teach you what you need to know to pass boards?
To some people, this is a big deal. I can honestly say I learned more from studying for boards than I did in class, so this is not that big of a deal to me. But that’s just my opinion. You might be different. Some schools have great statistics when it comes to their students passing boards. If this is something that worries you (studying for boards is stressful when taking into account you have classes and clinic as well), then look into this set of statistics.
5.) Does the school do quarters or trimesters?
To some people this might be a big deal. Having gone to a school that does trimesters, I think quarters would have been better for me. The difference is that quarters are 12-week sessions vs 15-week sessions for trimesters. I was always mentally checked out of each trimester by about week 9 or 10. By the time finals rolled around in week 15, I always felt like I was stumbling to the finish line, ready to pass out from exhaustion… especially after final lab practicals in week 14. I’m speaking figuratively here, but it can feel like that mentally. Something else for you to consider.
6.) Are you ready to leave the workforce and live off of loans for the next several years?
Before I went to Parker, I didn’t have a career that I was attached to. I had worked numerous jobs and was sick of it. Banks, restaurants, call centers, sales… I hated all those jobs. I wanted something more in my life, especially with the addition of my first child. So doing something meaningful, even if it meant living off of loans for several years, wasn’t a sacrifice at all.
To others, this might not be the case. Some of you may have well-paying jobs or careers and leaving that security to go to grad school and rack up a lot of debt might not be a comforting thought. In this case, you need to really make sure chiropractic is something you want to do with your life, almost like it is a calling. Because if it isn’t, you will always be chasing money once you graduate, and your career won’t ever be fulfilling. And then you’ll be stuck with a ton of debt. Doesn’t sound fun to me.
