Importance of Medical School Having a Hospital

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Hi Guys,

I made a thread a few weeks ago about the importance of step 1 prep time in choosing a school, and I wanted to follow up with another question since I got so many great responses last time.

Basically, I've been fortunate enough to be accepted to 3 programs and am trying to weigh the pros and cons of each. I was curious how important it is for a med school to be associated with a hospital, as I've heard rotation quality/performance is very important for residency apps.

Program A is a school that is attached to a large medical campus, and all rotations are done there at that one site. Program B is associated with a healthcare network and several smaller hospitals, and rotations occur at various outpatient clinics and hospitals around the city. Program C is not associated with any hospital, instead students rotate though various community hospitals and clinics in the area.

I'm currently leaning toward C for non-academic reasons (close to family & SO, connected well with the students and faculty), but wanted to know if not having a hospital would put me at a significant disadvantage during clinical years. Would not rotating at a large academic center limit the amount of pathology I'd be exposed too? Would it make it significantly harder to do research? Would I be appreciably less prepared for residency?

Thanks in advance for all responses!

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[Gandyy]

I think I would choose the one that is closer to your family/support network to be honest.

I was under the impression that almost all MD schools had an affiliated hospital though?

 

[Glazedonutlove]

I would choose the school with affiliated hospital. Are the community hospital/clinics teaching hospitals? What do you know about the quality of education there?

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I would choose the school with affiliated hospital. Are the community hospital/clinics teaching hospitals? What do you know about the quality of education there?

Yea, they are all teaching hospitals, just relatively small. The main hospital is 133 beds and that's where you do medicine and surgery rotations.

It's probably also worth noting that most of the specialities I'm interested in are relatively competitive (I know it'll probably change a million times in med school but I don't wanna close any doors).

 

[IlDestriero]

Yea, they are all teaching hospitals, just relatively small. The main hospital is 133 beds and that's where you do medicine and surgery rotations.

It's probably also worth noting that most of the specialities I'm interested in are relatively competitive (I know it'll probably change a million times in med school but I don't wanna close any doors).

That's a tiny hospital. My specialty hospital is more than 3 times larger than that.
You would have the most opportunity to network, engage in research, secure LORs from people known in the field, etc at a major medical center. I wouldn't want to go anywhere else. There's no way that a 130 bed hospital is full service, offering exposure to fields you might have an interest in.

 

[mimelim]

This will be infinitely easier to help with if you just name the schools.

 

[22031 Alum]

I loved my med school experience with an attached major medical center. So my biased opinion is that A would be best.

 

[TaroBubbleTea]

Pardon my ignorance, but I didn't know there were medical schools without hospitals attached to them.

IMO, go to the place that could give you the most exposure to a wide array of fields. You don't want to limit yourself from the get go.

 

[doc05]

please name the schools

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

This will be infinitely easier to help with if you just name the schools.

Sure, it's Virginia tech, Tulane, and FIU.

I'm also wait listed at Miami which had a similar set up to Virginia tech, and am awaiting a decision from Emory which is set up much can like Tulane.

Its also probably worth adding that my goal is to be a surgeon.

 

[Psai]

Probably a, not c

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Also thanks for all the responses, I really appreciate everyone taking the time to help me out

 

[Ismet]

My vote is Program A, but that is the biased opinion of someone who has only done training at a Program A. Other than the location of Program C, I don't see any major benefits of B or C over A in terms of helping you achieve your career goals. Especially if you're planning on surgery or a competitive specialty, you want a "home department" where you can make strong connections.

Pardon my ignorance, but I didn't know there were medical schools without hospitals attached to them.

IMO, go to the place that could give you the most exposure to a wide array of fields. You don't want to limit yourself from the get go.

Rosalind Franklin is one. They have several clinical sites for students obviously but not a "home" hospital/system.

 

[vellez]

If you are interested in competitive specialties, wouldn't it make sense to go to the school with the best research opportunities? I think that a lot of the competitive programs like that. Sure, you can get a good Step 1 and clerkship grades at any school, but not every school is going to have a large research campus.

 

[Psai]

If you are interested in competitive specialties, wouldn't it make sense to go to the school with the best research opportunities? I think that a lot of the competitive programs like that. Sure, you can get a good Step 1 and clerkship grades at any school, but not every school is going to have a large research campus.

You only need one lab or research mentor to do research. Every school has stuff going on but you can do it at a different school. Of all the things that you should consider, it's pretty low on the list imo

 

[Krupke]

IMO, this is something you should be asking current students of the programs you like.

I know for FIU, my interviewers were teaching faculty from Mount Sinai Miami. You can do your sub-i and 4th year surgical electives there. And you could also establish relationships at Mount Sinai to get clinical research and network for all their surgical residencies. Then you do some clinical stuff in Jackson North, so it might be easy to network/get clinical experience with Jackson Memorial Hospital as well.

TL;DR: It might be really hard to get the experiences to match a competitive specialty or it might be really simple. Students at the program could probably give better answers.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Would you have the option of paying in state tuition at any of these schools? What would your cost of attendance be for each?

Yea I'm IS for FIU (37k vs 45 or 57), but for me the COA isn't a huge factor. I'm very lucky to have my family paying for my medical education, so while I don't want to waste money I also don't need to let it dictate my decision.

I guess reaching out to the students at each school is the logical next step. Thanks everyone!