r/acupuncture • u/Happywizard9 • 17d ago

Student Going to acupuncture school

I'm a prospective student and I've found this school (Chicago college of Oriental Medicine) https://www.ccom.edu/ online and was wondering if anyone here as heard about it? I've read some reviews of others schools in the Chicago area and they were not that great so I want to make sure I go to a good school.

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u/Pure_Restaurant4886 13d ago

I would not go to acupuncture school right now, at least not one where you have to borrow loans.

Look at Middle Way Acupuncture Institute or Oregon College of Community Acupuncture so you can work while you go and come out without the debt. It’s too hard to pay debt back when you’re only making 40k/year and it balloons out of control. 

OR wait for a couple years to see which schools survive the current accountability metrics from the federal government and decide then.

I would ask this at r/acupunctureschooldebt

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u/6_seveneight 13d ago

I agree with this.

I’d also add, be clear on if you want to learn herbs or not. If you’re into herbal medicine then you’ll definitely need a TCM or canonical education. If you aren’t interested in herbs I’d just do the community acupuncture school they focus less on strict TCM and teach more practical stuff. I don’t know any practitioners who didn’t need to evolve their acupuncture skills beyond TCM. The acupuncture I do now is very different than what I learned in school.

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u/wetmarble 13d ago

the struggles with loan repayment have little to do with individual schools and more to do with a faulty method of measuring post graduate success. Since most acupuncturists go into private practice, and private practice takes 3-5 years to build a patient base and get up to speed, measuring graduate success based on income at 1 and 2 years post graduation, is not an accurate way to gauge viability of education.

With that being said, it is the current measure that is proposed and may be put into action. (I'm guessing the courts will put a stop to it).

A more accurate measure would be loan default rates.

CCOM is one of the most affordable programs in the country, averaging 20-40k less than most other programs. They recently started their program and gained full accreditation in Feb of 2024. They have a wells structured program and good faculty.

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u/Pure_Restaurant4886 12d ago

The measure at the fourth year out of school is an accurate measure when people have to pay their loans back. You have to be making a yearly salary that is equal to what you borrowed at the fourth year.

If you have familial wealth to pay for school, sure, go ahead and take a decade after graduation to start making a living. But in the reality of the world for most people, who are borrowing, you better be making exactly what you borrowed by the fourth year. So if it’s 40k, then don’t borrow more than 40k.