Accepted but really struggling with decision

[gotterdammerung]

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I have been accepted to medical school, which is awesome! I am incredibly grateful and blessed to be in the situation that I am in. I am now choosing between two schools. One is less prestigious but I have been offered an amazing scholarship there. The other is top 20 and still has a relatively cheap tuition all things considered. Due to the scholarship, and because I really did not have any real reason other than the somewhat useful/arguably useless rankings, I was leaning toward spending less money. However, I noticed something interesting that I am no sure what to make of. The prestigious school has about 2-3 people accepted into radiation oncology every year, but for the past 5 years the other school has had zero! This is a field I am extremely interested in and this makes me worry about my ability to match into more competitive residencies going forward.....

Both schools seemed to have much closer numbers for other competitive residencies but still... I wonder how much doing better on match lists has to do with the school and how much has to do with the quality of students going into the school to begin with. I don't care about prestige personally...but if it affects my residency app I will certainly take it into consideration. BTW, I wanted to keep the schools names out for a reason. They are inconsequential. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[gyngyn]

A small difference in match outcomes for an uncommon residency choice is immaterial to a well informed decision.

 

[gotterdammerung]

Yeah but then I also saw that there were less overall for all of the other competitive residencies as well. Just not nearly as drastic. I am not even sure I would go for any of them, but before I did an long head to head comparison I was under the impression the medical school you were in was not really a big factor in matching into residencies.

 

[futureczar]

What is the four year cost difference? 50k is different than 150k.

Also does the less prestigious school have a rad onc department? One of my state schools barely matches anyone to ENT, but it lacks an ENT department, which makes that statistic less surprising.

In any case, rad onc is a very specific field, and very few people apply each year (relative to total number of graduates). It is also very competitive, which makes it very self-selective. Go to whatever school you want to go to, and then do all the necessary things (good step 1, good clinical grades, good research) and you will match rad onc.

 

[gotterdammerung]

It doesn't look like it has a department of radiation oncology. So the number makes more sense now. So does that mean by going to this school I would be unable to match into that specialty?

 

[gyngyn]

Yeah but then I also saw that there were less overall for all of the other competitive residencies as well. Just not nearly as drastic. I am not even sure I would go for any of them, but before I did an long head to head comparison I was under the impression the medical school you were in was not really a big factor in matching into residencies.

The school you attend is a small (and unpredictable) factor to PD's. The difference between two good schools is negligible. You do need an advisor (and letters) from your specialty of choice. If one school has this and the other does not, then perhaps there is a potential advantage to the school with such resources. In general, however, PD's are interested in your Step 1 scores and clinical grades more than anything else.

Remember that students change their minds regarding specialty often during medical school. Your scores may have way more influence on your options than any choice you make this Spring.

 

[futureczar]

It doesn't look like it has a department of radiation oncology. So the number makes more sense now. So does that mean by going to this school I would be unable to match into that specialty?

No, not at all. It just means that there isnt rad onc faculty at the school to inspire interest in the specialty. If you are truly interested in the specialty you will have to find your own way to expose yourself to the field. That means finding nearby hospitals with rad onc departments and doing as many away rotations as possible forth year. You might also want to consider doing a third year elective rotation at a rad onc department at another school (if your school allows).

Also, just to clarify, are you sure there is no rad onc department at the school associated hospital? Just because there isnt a rad onc residency program doesnt mean that there isnt a rad onc department. The school with no ENT program that I used in my example has private practice ENT physicians who work at the school associated hospital. So if the hospital has rad onc physicians that makes your job a lot easier. Chances are there is someone who works there who would love having a student shadow them and work with them.

Finally, if you love the school, dont choose it based on its rad onc department. You may think you know what specialty you want to go into, but you will most likely change your mind. Dont pay more for another school only to find out your interests have completely changed one month into medical school.