Am I crazy?

[elias514]

There are so many threads on SDN that extol the long term benefits of prestige. One recurring theme is that a prestigious medical school paves the way to a prestigious residency, that somehow the reputation of a school can actually make it EASIER to earn a spot at such a residency.

I'm just wondering if this whole line of reasoning is fundamentally flawed. For one thing, the individuals who attend top med schools tend to be very smart, and therefore they tend to achieve high scores on step 1, which (from what I understand) is an important criterion for residency placement. But grades during the preclinical years and evaluations during the clerkships are equally important, right? Given the unusually high proportion of very smart people at top med schools, wouldn't it be HARDER to earn excellent marks at such schools? If grades and evals are important criteria in the Match, then it seems to me that students at top schools would be at a slight disadvantage relative to med students at less selective med schools.

Am I crazy?

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[rjp202]

yes

 

[docB]

This is the old big fish in a small pond question. Is it better to be the top dog at a ho hum school or be in the middle of the pack at some ivory tower. Who knows.

 

[DrDre']

Go where you will be happy.

Success out of med school is more about what you bring to it. There may be some "eye appeal" to someone's CV with Harvard on it. However, when they read the rest of it and find nothing else that stands out, it won't help them. Although there is strong selection pressure in who attends those schools, duds can still come out.

I have been told numerous times that you can go into any specialty at any program from anywhere. You can always find a way.

Back to the big fish theory, I have contemplated that many times. Although there may be some relative truth to it, I think that it is ultimately a falsehood.

Assuming your med school class has more than 50 or so students in it and Honors is top 10-15%, you still have great odds that there will be 10-15 people "smarter" than you.

Although it may be true that students at Ivy league schools are somewhat "smarter", those in state schools are no slackers. You will get a run for your money at any school.

 

[elias514]

I never meant to label students at "unranked" med schools slackers. I know that practically everyone who goes to med school is bright and motivated; the road to med school is long and difficult, and consequently it tends to weed out the unqualified. I also know that med school is a pain in the ass everywhere--tons of information to digest in a short timeframe and a rough 3rd year transition to a clinical setting. There's no such thing as an "easy" med school, in the sense that high academic achievement is guaranteed, regardless of how bright a given student may be. The thing that worries me, though, is that I'm going to be surrounded by wicked smart people--students who can do the log of freakin 13.4 in their heads, students with total recall, etc. If people like that are the majority of my peers, I can kiss any hope of honoring in a class goodbye. That's what worries me, because I just want to be successful in my medical studies. I want to graduate from med school, get into a respectable residency (doesn't have to be the best in the world or anything, just one that consistently churns out excellent docs), and go into private practice somewhere. I just hope that my peer group at med school doesn't make my dream harder to achieve than it needs to be.

 

[DrDre']

I didn' take what you said that way (slackers). Just wanted to offer my opinion.

I think that there is likely very little "control" that we have on our class honors and such. Choosing a school based on our above dialogue may or may not work.

I go to a well ranked state school.

If you are reasonably intelligent and work very hard, you will likely honor a class or two each semester.

On the other hand, I am increasingly convinced that honoring preclinical course work is extremely overrated. I now believe after surfing these forums for years and talking to upperclassmen, residents and attendings that the step 1 is what you should worry about. Just learn the material so you do well on the boards and don't stress about preclinical grades.

If I could do it all over, I would go to a school with P/F only!!!

We have H/NH/P/F. Just makes it stressful for nothing.

Good luck