"Nice" medical schools, with a warm, collegial culture

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Which medical schools are known for having a laid back, warm, collegial, "nice" culture -- perhaps without grades. I've heard that UCSF is very kind to their grad students, and that Yale has a very welcoming culture as well.

What are some other schools (including lower tier, more obscure, and state schools) that have this kind of loving and friendly culture?

Originally Posted by futuremedic

Which medical schools are known for having a really warm, collegial, "nice" culture -- perhaps without grades. I've heard that UCSF is very kind to their grad students, and that Yale has a very welcoming culture as well.

What are some other schools (including lower tier, more obscure, and state schools) that have this kind of loving and friendly culture?

Usually religous affiliated medical schools like Loma Linda or Loyola. May I ask why you are looking for high culture medical schools?

Originally Posted by futuremedic

Which medical schools are known for having a really warm, collegial, "nice" culture -- perhaps without grades. I've heard that UCSF is very kind to their grad students, and that Yale has a very welcoming culture as well.

What are some other schools (including lower tier, more obscure, and state schools) that have this kind of loving and friendly culture?

Yale, Columbia, Vandy, UMich, Sinai, UWash, Case Western, Baylor come to mind, but this is mostly personal impression from the interview day other than Yale, Columbia, and Sinai.

Originally Posted by davidbm95

Usually religous affiliated medical schools like Loma Linda or Loyola. May I ask why you are looking for high culture medical schools?

Have not heard that about those schools in particular. High culture isn't the same as congenial atmosphere. High culture schools would be mostly east coast and a few west coast university-associated schools.

From my experience interviewing, I noticed that schools with more lax grading systems (eg. P/F) tended to have more tight-knit classes.

This is not something that you would be able to pick up during the interview. People are typically on their best behavior at that time and there are too many variables (i.e. around test time, not around test time, what day of the week, who you interacted with).

I doubt very seriously that there is a significant difference between any schools in this regard...

Originally Posted by Lexicon0

From my experience interviewing, I noticed that schools with more lax grading systems (eg. P/F) tended to have more tight-knit classes.

Or at least those with non-competitive grading systems (eg you get honors if you score above a certain level, and not just a certain percent of the class gets honors).

Originally Posted by mmmcdowe

Have not heard that about those schools in particular. High culture isn't the same as congenial atmosphere. High culture schools would be mostly east coast and a few west coast university-associated schools.

I mentioned them because of their heavy religous affiliation. From my understanding, schools of affiliation tend to have a deep culture. There are some sites I can find for you that explain the correlation between religion and culture. By culture I mean collegial culture.

I imagine most med schools are "nice". Either that or I have led a very sheltered life.

It's kind of like undergrad... sure you are competing against the vast pre-med humanity to obtain an acceptance into medical school, but are you seriously competing against the person sitting next to you in physics or ochem for a slot in medical school? I quickly realized that I had far more to gain by helping my fellow students than I did by neglecting them.

Originally Posted by davidbm95

I mentioned them because of their heavy religous affiliation. From my understanding, schools of affiliation tend to have a deep culture. There are some sites I can find for you that explain the correlation between religion and culture. By culture I mean collegial culture.

That's fine and all if there is such a trend, but such a trend does not predict that to be the case for any individual institution, nor does it predict it for one small subset of any given institution. The religious affiliation, while still present in the makeup of those who choose to attend to an extent, is much less pronounced at med school level than the undergraduate.

Based on my interviews and very limited med school experience, Baylor, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, and University of Central Florida all stood out to me as having these characteristics in spades.

Originally Posted by mmmcdowe

The religious affiliation, while still present in the makeup of those who choose to attend to an extent, is much less pronounced at med school level than the undergraduate.

That makes sense. Is culture overall less recognized in medical school (i.e. greek culture, etc.)?

Originally Posted by davidbm95

That makes sense. Is culture overall less recognized in medical school (i.e. greek culture, etc.)?

Med schools being small and highly selective tend to have a passing resemblance to high school in terms of the cultural organization. Niches tend to be less pronounced and less segregated. No one overwhelming personality tends to dominate all others, though overall everyone is hardworking and smart.

Originally Posted by mmmcdowe

Med schools being small and highly selective tend to have a passing resemblance to high school in terms of the cultural organization. Niches tend to be less pronounced and less segregated. No one overwhelming personality tends to dominate all others, though overall everyone is hardworking and smart.

So regarding the OP, what would make one med school more congenial than the other?

Originally Posted by davidbm95

So regarding the OP, what would make one med school more congenial than the other?

Each community has its own personality. It may not be overwhelmingly dominant, but it does shape things to an extent. P/F definitely helps, as others have said.

Originally Posted by mmmcdowe

Each community has its own personality. It may not be overwhelmingly dominant, but it does shape things to an extent. P/F definitely helps, as others have said.

And even then the individual classes are highly different. I know our class is nothing like the one above us.

(sent from my phone)

I'd probably say "high class" - West Coast/East Coast schools
"collegial" - Midwest Nice schools and Southern Schools with P/F grading

Originally Posted by PreMedOrDead

I'd probably say "high class" - West Coast/East Coast schools
"collegial" - Midwest Nice schools and Southern Schools with P/F grading

I have always heard that the medical schools in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois have very "warm" and "collegial" atmospheres. I think that Midwestern people in general more warm, albeit maybe only slightly.

Originally Posted by K31

Or at least those with non-competitive grading systems (eg you get honors if you score above a certain level, and not just a certain percent of the class gets honors).

This is how my school operates and we were all very cooperative last year, I felt.

Pitt has a reputation for having a really laid back, supportive culture both among the students and the faculty. It's also P/F starting with this year's class if that's something that's important to you.

Hmm the vibe I got was P/F schools may tend to have more "warm" cultures. I found this to be a little strange though, since they're just suppressing competitive tendencies that still underlie the students though...

Originally Posted by Badger MD

I have always heard that the medical schools in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois have very "warm" and "collegial" atmospheres. I think that Midwestern people in general more warm, albeit maybe only slightly.

I'd also chip in to say "passive aggressive" fits it pretty well, too.

I'd have to say the university of hawaii. everyone was all jokes when i interviewed there

Originally Posted by futuremedic

Which medical schools are known for having a laid back, warm, collegial, "nice" culture -- perhaps without grades. I've heard that UCSF is very kind to their grad students, and that Yale has a very welcoming culture as well.

What are some other schools (including lower tier, more obscure, and state schools) that have this kind of loving and friendly culture?

For the most part as others have said the majority of medical schools are very similar in terms of having a "warm, laid back, and collegial" culture.

Also FWIW, you can't really get a good idea of this during a single interview day when you only spend a few min w/ a couple students.

Having said this, there are a few with a reputation of having an extremely laid back atmosphere (even more so than normal) such as Mt. Sinai aka "Camp Sinai" (P/F + take home tests), Yale (no grades), and Stanford (P/F, no AOA, no class on Wed, only 12-22hrs class/wk etc...)

At the same time, as a general rule, schools w/ SMP programs tend to be a little less laid back and collegial due to most having letter grades, more class time w/ less group work/indep. study, and having M1s being evaluated against SMPers. This leads to a more competitive atmosphere and larger class sizes (often 300+). There are obviously exceptions (BU and UCin are P/F) but schools like Gtown, Drexel (IFM), RFU, Toledo, and EVMS come to mind.

Sinai, Vanderbilt, and Mayo stood out to me as being extremely warm and friendly. Maybe Dartmouth as well if you can stand the cold.