Deciding to become a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) is a major life choice and one that isn’t entered into lightly.
However, once you’ve made the commitment to a career committed to helping others achieve higher levels of musculoskeletal health, your decision-making process doesn’t stop there.
You also have to decide where to go to school…
Why is this a big deal you ask?
Because in all honesty, all chiropractic schools are a bit different in their own retrospect.
As someone who is currently going through this same process, I can tell you that there’s a lot of factors to consider when picking the best school for you.
But before getting into these useful tips, I just want to say that you probably won’t decide what school you want to go to in a day, a week, or a month. This is a huge decision that will impact the rest of your career so please put some REAL thought into it and most importantly of all, take your time and do your research.
With that being said, here are five useful tips to find the best chiropractic school for you:
Because in all honesty, all chiropractic schools are a bit different in their own retrospect.
As someone who is currently going through this same process, I can tell you that there’s a lot of factors to consider when picking the best school for you.
But before getting into these useful tips, I just want to say that you probably won’t decide what school you want to go to in a day, a week, or a month. This is a huge decision that will impact the rest of your career so please put some REAL thought into it and most importantly of all, take your time and do your research.
With that being said, here are five useful tips to find the best chiropractic school for you:
- School Accreditation :Before spending your hard-earned cash on a chiropractic degree, it’s important to make sure the school you attend is accredited, which means that it is recognized officially within the profession. The Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) has a list of CCE accredited programs and institutions on their website. Check it out before narrowing your choices.
- School Location:Chiropractic classes differ from those offered in many other fields in that labs are a large portion of the required coursework. This makes school location an important consideration due to spending a decent amount of time on campus. While this may not be a big deal if you’re fresh out of high school or able to move to attend the school of your choice, it may limit your choices if you’re established in your current geographical area and/or unable to relocate for school-related reasons. Also, take into account the cost of living. For example, living in California is going to be way more expensive compared to living somewhere like Iowa.
- School Cost: Another factor to consider when looking at chiropractic schools is cost. If it doesn’t fit into your budget, there’s no sense in keeping it on your list. This requires looking not only at total expenses but also financial aid opportunities available at that particular school. A phone call or visit to its financial aid office can help you decide whether you can afford that specific program or not.
- Student Feedback:You can find pros and cons about almost any chiropractic school, but sometimes it’s nice to hear from current and former students to get their input. One way to do this is to talk to chiropractors in your area and ask about the schools they went to. You can also search via online review sites or forums such as Reddit that offer this type of feedback.
- Philosophy: This is a big one that people rarely talk about and it’s one of the most important factors. You’ll hear words like “vitalism vs. mechanism”, “straight vs. mixers”, “vitalistic vs. evidence based” thrown out when describing chiropractic schools. Let me give you the quick rundown if you don’t know the difference…
Vitalists, as a general rule, tend to hold the following views:
- The body is intelligent, responding with a purpose to environmental stress using symptoms to maintain and regain homeostasis. Symptoms are seen as intelligent responses to stress and are not to be suppressed or eliminated.
- Living bodies are highly complex with billions of interconnected and rearranging parts in constant flux that maintain (and regain) homeostasis.
Mechanists view the body as a machine that is largely passive in its responses to environmental pressures. They tend to rely heavily on backed scientific research and see the body in the following ways:
- Symptoms are undesirable signs of breakdown that need to be removed or eliminated.
- Like any machine, by under- standing the parts, and using the disciplines of mathematics, chemistry, mechanics, and physics, the whole can be known.
Now with that being said, YOU need to figure out what philosophy you align with the most and look at schools that promote that style of curriculum. This is a HUGE factor so do not dismiss this one. The last thing you want to do is attend a school and you don’t share their core values and principles.
Choosing the right chiropractic school can help you better achieve your professional goals. Looking at all of these factors places you one step closer to selecting the best one for you. Take your time, do your research, and if you’re able to go visit the schools in person, I highly recommend that! Explore more than just a couple of schools. You’d be surprised by how different they all are, and you might find one you like more than you weren’t planning to visit. You won’t truly know if that school is the right one for you until you go visit the campus and meet the faculty, staff, and current students. Being there in person will give you an accurate feel of what it would feel like to be a student there.
Do you have any other tips to add? Share them in the comments down below .
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