Tulsa, OU partner to create medical school
By KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer
Published: 12/1/2009 2:45 PM

The University of Tulsa and the University of Oklahoma are joining together to create a four-year medical school in Tulsa, with hopes of enrolling its first class of students in 2014, officials announced Tuesday during a news conference.

"I like to think of it as a merger of excellence," said OU President David Boren.

The two universities are working together to address Oklahoma's poor health status and physician shortage.

"This is important in the health of our citizens," said TU President Steadman Upham. "The aim is to keep the doctors we train in Oklahoma."

Weren't they just a few months back trying, and then succeeding, on salvaging the D.O. medical school from OSU that's situated in Tulsa, to the tune of millions of state and private funds over the next several years?

So now we are planning on an new additional M.D. school. as well? Must be more folks getting sick than I realized.

Oh, great. Just what we need. Another college in OK.

^
i don't understand how this is a bad thing. is there something i'm missing? -M

Oh, great. Just what we need. Another college in OK.

Higher ed, especially medical schools are one of the few places where the state is actually going to see a huge return on its investment.

This will be an attraction for some of the best and brightest minds in the country -- and a lot of them, many even to their own surprise, end up staying.

Weren't they just a few months back trying, and then succeeding, on salvaging the D.O. medical school from OSU that's situated in Tulsa, to the tune of millions of state and private funds over the next several years?

There appears to be far less demand (by students anyway) in the osteopath area. There is strong demand for MD programs.

I'm sure there will be less inclination to bail out the DO school in the future now that there will be another medical school in Tulsa.

Maybe I am wrong. Just seems to me it will be another place to spend money building buildings instead of providing funding to simply improve the academics of the institutions of higher learning we already have in this state.

Maybe I am wrong. Just seems to me it will be another place to spend money building buildings instead of providing funding to simply improve the academics of the institutions of higher learning we already have in this state.

If all of the buildings we have are full and there's a demand for more buildings, what would your response be?

I would have to say, for now, let them go to med school elsewhere or tighten the entrance requirements at OU.

I guess what I am thinking is that with the fact we have OU and OSU - decent but not exactly academically difficult schools, CSU - a commuter school and the plethora of small "direction-named" colleges around the state, we should be spending money to improve the quality of education at all of our schools instead of having a bunch of poor-to-mediocre ones. Our state should have at least one truly academically outstanding school such as Cal-Berkeley, Penn State, U Mich, U VA, U Mass, or (gulp-forgive me Father for I have sinned.....) Texas.

I hate to say this, but this is all about David Boren's ego and adding onto the campus where all the streets and buildings are named after him. This isn't about what's truly good for Tulsa or academics, or even OU (although it is good for TU for certain).

You can just go ahead and close down the OSU school in downtown Tulsa.

I would have to say, for now, let them go to med school elsewhere or tighten the entrance requirements at OU.

I guess what I am thinking is that with the fact we have OU and OSU - decent but not exactly academically difficult schools, CSU - a commuter school and the plethora of small "direction-named" colleges around the state, we should be spending money to improve the quality of education at all of our schools instead of having a bunch of poor-to-mediocre ones. Our state should have at least one truly academically outstanding school such as Cal-Berkeley, Penn State, U Mich, U VA, U Mass, or (gulp-forgive me Father for I have sinned.....) Texas.

Not exactly academically difficult? My undergrad degree is from UCO [it has not been CSU since the 80s, please try to keep up with the times]. In law school, I outperformed people from those 'elite' schools you mentioned. I felt just as well prepared for the rigors of law school as everyone else, in many cases, better prepared. And UCO is hardly a commuter school these days. It has a substantial residential population of full-time traditional students and even more off-campus full-time traditional students. OU might have a fancy building for its Price Business School, but all that elitism hasn't bought it the state's #1 ranking in students passing the CPA exam. UCO definitely needs to be in the conversation if we're talking about higher-ed consolidation as it is one of the state's three major universities.

Besides all that, we're talking med school. Medical school, like law school is going to be a mostly similar experience whether you're at OU, Harvard or in the Caribbean. The curriculum is mostly standardized because you're training the candidates to pass the same exam at the end.

Some schools have higher entrance requirements, but as many studies have shown, school rank and entrance requirements don't always correlate to success, talent or competency in the profession. The medical profession is something which is in high demand. We need more doctors. It makes good sense to train them here and to try to retain as many as possible.

The OU Heatlh-Sciences Center and the surrounding area employs thousands of folks at well above average salary levels. If we can even come close to replicating that in Tulsa, it'll be extremely good for this state and good for Tulsa.

... You can just go ahead and close down the OSU school in downtown Tulsa.

I don't think the DO school via OSU will close. then again, I admit I was surprised this time last year when the pubs out dem'd the dems to salvage the teaching hospital. But the commitments made then, both private and public, seem to suggest that school will remain a while.

I dinna mean to suggest the OU/TU med school was a bad thing. The news just caught me off guard as I thought all the OU expansion was more likely to stay in the OKC corridor for another decade or so.

The OU Medical school announced several months ago that OU Tulsa Med School was going to specialize in Community Health. I'm not sure how this announcement ties in with that.

Besides all that, we're talking med school. Medical school, like law school is going to be a mostly similar experience whether you're at OU, Harvard or in the Caribbean. The curriculum is mostly standardized because you're training the candidates to pass the same exam at the end.

Some schools have higher entrance requirements, but as many studies have shown, school rank and entrance requirements don't always correlate to success, talent or competency in the profession. The medical profession is something which is in high demand. We need more doctors. It makes good sense to train them here and to try to retain as many as possible.

The OU Heatlh-Sciences Center and the surrounding area employs thousands of folks at well above average salary levels. If we can even come close to replicating that in Tulsa, it'll be extremely good for this state and good for Tulsa.

First, my apologies on the CSU thing. A slip. Its a little confusing when we have OCU, UCO, OCC, etc.

Sorry, I stand by my opinion on quality vs. quantity. Now if such an occasion were to come that the state of OK could buy ORU and turn it into a public university in Tulsa, I would favor that.

The OU Medical school announced several months ago that OU Tulsa Med School was going to specialize in Community Health. I'm not sure how this announcement ties in with that.

Its a gradual expansion of the school in Tulsa to be a med. school.

Weren't they just a few months back trying, and then succeeding, on salvaging the D.O. medical school from OSU that's situated in Tulsa, to the tune of millions of state and private funds over the next several years?

So now we are planning on an new additional M.D. school. as well? Must be more folks getting sick than I realized.

Mr. Obama just needs lots of young doctors for his health plan. the older ones are used to making too much money.

First, my apologies on the CSU thing. A slip. Its a little confusing when we have OCU, UCO, OCC, etc.

Sorry, I stand by my opinion on quality vs. quantity. Now if such an occasion were to come that the state of OK could buy ORU and turn it into a public university in Tulsa, I would favor that.

i am currently in oucom, and even if you "stand by your opinion of quality vs. quantity" i do not see how more money invested in us/me would do us/me any better. our class is at 170, and we've currently filled up our lecture hall, and they've just spent millions redoing our building.

having another ou md program to osu's do program just makes sense. there's 30 of us that go back to tulsa for 3rd and 4th year for clinical rotations already. and having a new tulsa md program is an indirect way of increasing quality; getting into oucom is much harder than getting into osucom.

First, my apologies on the CSU thing. A slip. Its a little confusing when we have OCU, UCO, OCC, etc.

You left out a 'C' .. in OCCC (just to back up your point that it is confusing).


Sorry, I stand by my opinion on quality vs. quantity. Now if such an occasion were to come that the state of OK could buy ORU and turn it into a public university in Tulsa, I would favor that.

I would support that. We could change the namesake from Oral Roberts to George Nigh..or Mayor Mick! LOL

First, my apologies on the CSU thing. A slip. Its a little confusing when we have OCU, UCO, OCC, etc.

Sorry, I stand by my opinion on quality vs. quantity
That's OK. Easy for me to keep them straight when my bachelors degree is from UCO and my J.D. is from OCU.

Then you'll need to shut down OU's business school because UCO's clearly gets better results. Not to mention that if you're so high on quality, I don't care how much research your prof does -- if he's lecturing to a room full of 300+ kids, the quality of education isn't going to be as good as a similarly educated prof who also does research (UCO is requiring profs to have terminal degrees and do research now) lecturing to a group of 30 or so kids.

Really -- talking trash about UCO's academic regimen versus any other state college only confirms that you don't know what you're talking about.

Not to mention that if you're so high on quality, I don't care how much research your prof does -- if he's lecturing to a room full of 300+ kids, the quality of education isn't going to be as good as a similarly educated prof who also does research (UCO is requiring profs to have terminal degrees and do research now) lecturing to a group of 30 or so kids.

Class size is one perhaps minor metric in how "good" a school is. When said class of 30 has only four or five students scoring in even the 75th percentile on the ACT, there are tremendous implications for the rigor of the curriculum and academic expectations of students. At OU, nearly 28% of freshmen in 2009 scored a 30 or higher on the ACT (2nd highest in the Big XII after Texas), and the 25th/75th percentile composite scores were 23/28. At UCO, only 2.6% of freshmen scored a 30 or higher and the 25th/75th percentile scores were a 19/24. At OU, 72% of freshmen in 2009 were in the top quarter of their graduating class; at OCU, 31%. (Search "Common Data Set" on each university's website to see this information for yourself.)

You're kidding yourself if you believe the legions of underachievers at UCO and OCU don't perceptibly drag down the quality of the education at those schools relative to OU and OSU. Not to mention the likely enormous difference between OU (or OSU) and UCO in faculty quality--UCO is "now requiring" terminal degrees? LOL. OSU and OU have been for decades. Now, that's not to say you can't graduate from UCO a truly intelligent, educated person qualified for top grad schools or highly-competitive jobs--but you're delusional if you think UCO offers a better education to the average student than OSU or especially OU.

You're kidding yourself if you believe the legions of underachievers at UCO and OCU don't perceptibly drag down the quality of the education at those schools relative to OU and OSU. Not to mention the likely enormous difference between OU (or OSU) and UCO in faculty quality--UCO is "now requiring" terminal degrees? LOL. OSU and OU have been for decades. Now, that's not to say you can't graduate from UCO a truly intelligent, educated person qualified for top grad schools or highly-competitive jobs--but you're delusional if you think UCO offers a better education to the average student than OSU or especially OU.

There is nothing wrong with certain schools filling a certain educational niche. Not everyone can afford to go to Harvard, even if they are accepted. Not everyone can afford to go to OU, even if they qualify. UCO is mainly a commuter school that provides an education to people who don't or can't go to another school. Many of the students go part time. Many work and go to school. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

My feelings are that if someone wants to go to college, they should be allowed to go - period. It may not be to their first choice but colleges should be there for anyone and everyone. If they can hack the work and make the grades, then so be it.

As far as quality of education, there is no way the quality at UCO measures up to OU or OSU in most fields. Yes, if you are in police forensics or undertaking, its a better school. Not that either of those schools are exactly Ivy League in standards (yes, I went to OU). They are OK and they are the 2 best public schools in OK. UCO will give an education but no hiring business will see UCO as being of better quality than OU or OSU in most fields.