"Elite" med schools

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I am sorry I hurt your feelings.

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c'mon bro. do you even verbal?

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Take note: Many of the people saying prestige etc. doesn't matter went to their highest ranked school.

FWIW I think that if your school doesn't have a program in X and you want to match into X that's a serious disadvantage. If you have home programs that's the main thing. If you look at the top 5 students from a top 50 they'll have matched better than the average student at top schools.

Point being if you work hard you can still go where you want to go, it just might be harder.

That being said, if you look at the top 10% of a lot of medium-tier schools their MCAT is also higher than the median at a lot of top places, so that's something to consider. Not that the people that match the best have the best MCAT, but it wouldn't surprise me if the top 10 MCAT scorers had a ~50% overlap with the top 10 matchers, using the MCAT largely as a proxy for ability to put up with junk you hate. A crucial attribute for matching into a great residency :).
True, but best of luck knowing exactly what you'll want to match in (and end up matching in it) before you go to med school. Ask anyone who makes it through med school at how many of their classmates ended up matching (or wanting to go into) what they thought they did as a premed, or ask any of our residents and attendings on this site. Truthfully, you are very unlikely to accurately know what you want to go into when you're choosing a school. Sure picking a place with a broad range of specialties is a fair method, but that might mean you end up going into primary care and passed up a lower prestige and ranked school that would have given you amazing training for that path and better matching into that specialty.

I also disagree that most people go to their highest ranked school. There are tons of factors people highly consider when choosing schools that outweighs simple rank, cost, close to family/friends, SO, etc.

Choosing a school isn't easy because you simply don't know what you're going to like and want to go into 3-4 years down the road. Sure many people want high prestige, but that doesn't mean it will be the best training for you down the line necessarily.
 
I'm just really tired of hearing the term elite med schools as if they are the only option for becoming a physician who can make a difference. Unfortunately, it kinda makes me feel like my own school I will be attending next fall isn't good enough in comparison, and I worked really hard to get there. I understand there will always be someone smarter than me, but just kinda makes me feel bad about myself. End random rant.

No one gives a **** where you go to school. Do well, seek opportunity, you'll be fine.
 
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This is the biggest sham of today's medical premed age. Every one is neurotic about the name behind their school. In the real medical world, inside the hospital, pretty much no one cares. No layman is going to stop you at Kroger and follow up with a question, "Did you got o Duke?" after you tell them you're a doctor when they originally asked you what you did for a living.

At the hospital that I volunteer at, there are so many DOs with white coats. Does that make the hospital third tier trash because not everyone went to UCSF or Harvard? No, people get excellent medical care there. Not to belittle people who aspire to get into UCSF or Harvard, if that's their goal. Just don't think you won't be anything if you don't make it there. Think real hard of why do you want to be a doctor.

I have good enough stats for a top _____ schools. But guess what? You will put your bottom dollar I'm applying to all the DO schools in my state and the public state schools that aren't in US Today's Top whatever list.

I think you'll make a great physician no matter where you go. Keep your head up and your drive strong.
If you're going to lecture to people about medical school prestige, you should really try to have your facts correct on how much the prestige and reputation of your medical school plays into the residency match. I can't believe you got likes on your post.

People who go to higher prestige medical schools do not have to be as high at the top when it comes to class ranking, board scores, etc. in order to match when it comes to competitive specialties. They're given much more leeway and benefit of the doubt.

To keep it short - prestige and reputation of your medical school matters. The End.
 
It's not where you go, it's what you do there. Most people who go to Harvard, like all other places, don't accomplish much. True story.
I wouldn't say that, but most of the Harvard grads on doctor's diaries lived pretty standard, if dull, upper-middle class lives. It's not like going to a top med school elevates one to godliness anyway
 
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I don't know why, but human beings feel both a need to elevate certain things (schools, other people, etc.) onto pedestals, and at the same time want to feel equally valued; the former pretty directly contradicts the latter a lot of the time. I think more productive and uplifting way to think of things is not as "better" or "worse," but as "different." The "elite" medical schools are very good, but they have particular strengths; theirs happens to be high research activity and a history of big discoveries. However, your own medical school has strengths that are going to be just as valuable, just in a different way. Some smaller state schools do a great job of educating their physicians on the particular social and cultural aspects of their particular community, and create outstanding physicians who are both sympathetic to their patients' plight and well equipped to treat their maladies.

For example, back home, the two primary medical schools you hear about are Emory and Medical College of Georgia. Emory is a fairly well-known school. However, while MCG is not usually mentioned as a "prestigious" medical school, the Georgia physicians I've talked to have only ever said glowing things about the quality of both the medical education provided there and of the physicians who graduate there; this opinion holds true regardless of where the particular physician got their training.

While some schools are elevated above others in terms of name recognition, most medical schools provide excellent training and will prepare their doctors to be the best they can be. No one who holds an acceptance to medical school here should hang their head.
 
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If you're going to lecture to people about medical school prestige, you should really try to have your facts correct on how much the prestige and reputation of your medical school plays into the residency match. I can't believe you got likes on your post.

People who go to higher prestige medical schools do not have to be as high at the top when it comes to class ranking, board scores, etc. in order to match when it comes to competitive specialties. They're given much more leeway and benefit of the doubt.

To keep it short - prestige and reputation of your medical school matters. The End.
Any sources for this? I don't see how you can somehow claim to understand every part of the match in order to draw the conclusions that matches from high prestige schools are generally less competitive than ones from schools of lower prestige.
 
Any sources for this? I don't see how you can somehow claim to understand every part of the match in order to draw the conclusions that matches from high prestige schools are generally less competitive than ones from schools of lower prestige.

I think what he's saying is that going to a high prestige school (e.g., Harvard) helps in the match - not that people from top places are generally less qualified than those from "low" places.

Also, all this prestige talk is assuming we hold everything else equal. But because we must make that prior assumption, it's hard to find data on it. However, I think it's fairly natural to assume that prestige does help (even without concrete data). The degree to which it matters (it might only be slight) is another discussion.
 
Any sources for this? I don't see how you can somehow claim to understand every part of the match in order to draw the conclusions that matches from high prestige schools are generally less competitive than ones from schools of lower prestige.


Well, we do know that there is a lot of inbreeding at the "elites" when it comes to Residency placement (Harvard particularly). But, that could also be explained by way of high caliber students being selected for these schools becoming high caliber medical students who match very, very well.

I don't think he's claiming that your scores and such don't really matter anymore; certainly, they do. But somebody able to get into those schools is probably less in need to "prove themselves" as hard. But I could be talking out of my ass, as I don't actually know, aside from many anecdotes.
 
Edit double post.
 
Here's what I think is happening. Program directors are looking for high Board Scores and good "Dean's letters". Who has the high board scores? Well, they are correlated somewhat with MCAT scores and GPA. Which schools have the highest proportion of students with high MCATs and GPA?s "The elite schools" Its not so much that the school if fabulous but that the students who are chosen to go there are exceptional.

As far as Dean's letters, residency programss have their feeders. They can be their own affiliated med school, local schools that attract locals who want to stay in the area, or national feeders who draw students to specific specialties out of proportion to their population. Program directors know the deans of their feeders and can read between the lines in the letters; they know they can trust these deans and they understand their code words. A dean's letter can help but it isn't going to get you anywhere if you don't have the numbers and the personality which comes through in the interview. And finally, there are programs that seem elite but that you wouldn't want to go to if you knew how malignant they were.
 
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I'm just really tired of hearing the term elite med schools as if they are the only option for becoming a physician who can make a difference. Unfortunately, it kinda makes me feel like my own school I will be attending next fall isn't good enough in comparison, and I worked really hard to get there. I understand there will always be someone smarter than me, but just kinda makes me feel bad about myself. End random rant.

My father is an employer for two Emergency Departments (and Emergency Physician MD).
It doesn't matter where you go. better schools are mainly in terms of research (think PhD). the minimum education standard for doctors is so high (partly because of government regulation) that its difficult for one to technically be "better".
When you are trying to get a job, they really don't where you went, if your a D.O. or M.D. just go where you geographically want and consider cheaper tuitions.
 
My father is an employer for two Emergency Departments.
It doesn't matter where you go. better schools are mainly in terms of research (think PhD). the minimum education standard for doctors is so high (partly because of government regulation) that its difficult for one to technically be "better".
When you are trying to get a job, they really don't where you went, if your a D.O. or M.D. just go where you geographically want and consider cheaper tuitions.
At least this is what my father has told me.
 
To swing this pendulum back to center...

Yes, the ranking systems are flawed.

Yes, you can be a great doctor wherever you go.

But let's not pretend that the quality of your education and training is unimportant.

There are real differences in quality, in opportunity. There are schools that do a much better job than others. Medical education is not a homogenous conveyor belt.

I would hope everyone cares about the quality of their training. To pretend it plays no role is ignorant.


I think the point is that if you get medical training from an accredited school in the United States, the clinical training is inherently quality. It is probably research opportunities where the top schools really stand apart.
 
If it makes you feel better, your medical education will depend mostly on how much time and effort you put into it.

Also, you'll have poorly trained nurse practitioners telling you that they do your job "just as good or even better according to multiple cochrane reviews" than you.
 
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My father is an employer for two Emergency Departments (and Emergency Physician MD).
It doesn't matter where you go. better schools are mainly in terms of research (think PhD). the minimum education standard for doctors is so high (partly because of government regulation) that its difficult for one to technically be "better".
When you are trying to get a job, they really don't where you went, if your a D.O. or M.D. just go where you geographically want and consider cheaper tuitions.
It doesn't matter where you went to medical school for a job after you've completed training. At that point what matters is where you did your residency and/or fellowship, or where you have been working.
That's a separate issue, though somewhat related as you might have an easier time getting matched to a superior residency from a well known university.
 
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It doesn't matter where you went to medical school for a job after you've completed training. At that point what matters is where you did your residency and/or fellowship, or where you have been working.
That's a separate issue, though somewhat related as you might have an easier time getting matched to a superior residency from a well known university.
Thanks for the input!
 
I turned down an "elite" acceptance to attend my state school. Prestige can't beat free money, yo.
 
OP some schools are better than others, and yes some people are smarter than others. That shouldn't make you feel inferior though, as all medical schools are pretty great. Be proud of your accomplishment, there are literally tens of thousands of applicants this year alone who would kill to be in your shoes.

I turned down an "elite" acceptance to attend my state school. Prestige can't beat free money, yo.

Having prestige and money is the home run though. But sadly that is a tall order +pity+
 
Interestingly, that medical school you graduated from becomes a defining factor after all the training and credentialing is far behind you. I see this everywhere at my medical center, whether proudly displayed on my colleague's cars or solely mentioned by the medical director at our annual service awards dinner. I still hear patients asking which medical school one attended (not many understand Board certification).
 
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