Our future med school, a good one or a bad one?

Hi everyone, 😀

Some introduction:

I recently got an invitation to interview at UM. Being my first interview, my mom is as excited as Im. She commented it at her work, and the doctor that she works with reply:
Good luck to her, blah, blah, blah. But, tell her that if she could choose, she would want to pick another university because UM is not on the top 20 medical schools in the country, and latter on when is time to pick a residency she will have a hard time.

My point, how much of what he said is true? Not the part about UM not being on the top 20, that is totally irrelevant, but the part about the school that we go to and our latter placement on the residency program of our choice.

What do you think? 😕

I don't know what school you mean by UM.

I've been told by many doctors that where you go to school has only a small effect on residency applications. Many people will post to this thread and point out that the better the school, the better the matchlist, but that ignores the fact that people who go to better schools are usually better students too. You, and your accomplishments, will determine your future.

University of Miami

baby4you said:

University of Miami

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With the exception of one or two completely ridiculous schools I would be insane to turn down, I would go to Miami over all of them (but that's just me). I think the last guy is right, and what is in your best interest will become more clear down the road. Sorry that doctor rained on your parade!

The doctor has a point, but not about UM. I think UM is a good school. See if you can find out about their match lists...that could be something you ask about at your interview. Good luck.

It also depends on if you want to get a residency in Fl. UM would be better for that than say Arizona since the school is regional and the faculty have more connections there.

UMiami is on the top 50 list. It may not be in the top half of that list, and may just be barely hanging on to that list, but it is on there............

As so is UofFlorida, and they have the match lists and research funds and awesome clinical experiences (especially at Miami) to prove it.

You should research UMiami's program, research dollars, etc and tell that to this person that told you that it was not a great school.

Of course, it won't be as easy to get into Harvard's residency coming out of a Florida school, but I don't think that will be easy anywhere. If you are the top of your class, make AOA (assuming UMiami has AOA status), do well on the boards, etc. etc. you will get into a good residency program. Besides, even if you stay at Miami for residency, unless planning on academic medicine, it isn't a bad place to do residency either. And even research wise, there are quite a few doctors in academic medicine too.

Most med students will tell you that it is about being happy where you go, and doing well where you go, not always about pure rankings.

http://forums.drslounge.com/showthread.php?t=187352

Go to the following thread and look at the match lists for UMiami........

As you scroll down the most current match list, you will see that a very high percentage of the students got at top hospitals both out west and in the north east region.

Students matched at UTSW, Mayo, Brigham (affiliated with HMS), Beth Israel (in NY), Carolina Medical Center, Vandy, Hopkins, Tulane, Duke, Yale, Cornell, Upenn, Oregon Health Science Center, Brown Uni., Emory, Wake forest, Darthmouth, Mt. Sinai, UCLA, UCSF, NYU, UIC, and of course the Florida schools and facilities, plus some other places around Maryland, Virginia, Colorado, etc.

I was just looking at it and it seemed pretty varied. Take a look for yourself.

I think you'll have no problem getting into a top residency if you work hard at UMiami. The record from this year and past years, alone, speaks for itself.

Dr. Hinkley has spoken at 3 premed conferences that I've attended, and has given us presentations on the facilities. From my understanding, from him, there have been almost 200 million dollars given from NIH funds, in recent years, and there are numerous research centers all around the area in which the medical school is in. Furthermore, they have one of the busiest trauma units in the state and the added bonus of being by the coast, giving many opportunities for things like going overseas to Haiti on medical mission trips, etc. Also, their location allows for a great deal of diversity among patients, etc.

Arsenic should come out and give a further over view, but these are the impressions I've gotten from the 3 times I've met and talked with Dr. Hinkley at the premed forums.

jrdnbenjamin said:

I don't know what school you mean by UM.

I've been told by many doctors that where you go to school has only a small effect on residency applications. Many people will post to this thread and point out that the better the school, the better the matchlist, but that ignores the fact that people who go to better schools are usually better students too. You, and your accomplishments, will determine your future.

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I agree with you. There are plenty of great residency training programs out there. I would rather be in Miami chilling on south beach with the honey's, then freezing my ass of in boston. (harvard)

CTSballer11 said:

I agree with you. There are plenty of great residency training programs out there. I would rather be in Miami chilling on south beach with the honey's, then freezing my ass of in boston. (harvard)

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Thank you everybody, I will do my research 😀

baby4you said:

My point, how much of what he said is true? Not the part about UM not being on the top 20, that is totally irrelevant, but the part about the school that we go to and our latter placement on the residency program of our choice.

What do you think? 😕

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Don't worry about it. You don't have to go to a top 20 medical school to match in Dermatology, for example, which is one of the MOST difficult residencies to get into. What really matters are: your grades (get honors) and USMLE Step I score (240+). With these two accolades, you will get into whatever you desire with the backing of a few supportive faculty in the specialty.

Going to a school like Hopkins, for instance, will help you to match even with mediocre numbers, but even the bottom of the class won't match. When I graduated in 2001, there were about 50% unmatched applicants from Hopkins for dermatology!

Thus, attending a good school helps to get into highly ranked programs, e.g. Harvard residency vs a less prestigious residency program, but to match into a particular field requires sweat, hard work, and dedication independent from where a student went to medical school.

Good luck!