BEST Medical School (for these specialties)??

[PremedSurvivor]

Hello!

I'm currently a premed developing a list of schools to apply to. I would LOVE to hear from some current medical students. By "best" I don't mean strictly tier-one in terms of ranking, but rather in terms of faculty, programs, research opportunities, and residencies/ clerk ships relative to these specialties:

1) Neurology
2) Pediatrics
3) Orthopedics
4) Dermatology

If possible, please include student life/ anything else that you feel makes your medical school a great experience.

Thanks!

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[cubssox2000]

Any American MD program.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Moving to pre-allo.

As always, trying to put some arbitrary ranking on these kinds of things is useless, because what is a great environment and experience for one person might be terrible for another. If you insist, while it's a horribly flawed way of doing it, you could look at the US News rankings for hospitals for those specialties (I don't think derm is ranked...) and then see which med schools are affiliated. But in general, your training is what you make of it and you can find good mentors within whatever field you ultimately choose wherever you go.

 

[BurghStudent]

1) Neurology
2) Pediatrics
3) Orthopedics
4) Dermatology

To prove a point, consider that Jefferson Medical College is regarded among the top five (if not the best) residency program for orthopedic surgery. Look at where their residents came from:

www.jefferson.edu/jmc/departments/orthopaedic/education/residency/residents.html

You can see that basically, if you go to a US MD school, you have just a good a chance as at any other school to land a top residency.

 

[PremedSurvivor]

I think you misunderstood me.

Rankings are EXACTLY what I want to get away from. I was aiming for personal experiences, reviews of programs, etc. I don't care what US News has to say about medical schools; I care about what MD students do.

Again, if medical students could please indicate which schools are best tailored to the specialities I listed above and provide a few reasons (i.e very well known faculty in the field, high publishing rates, interactive research opportunities), I would be immensely grateful.

 

[PremedSurvivor]

Hi Burgh,

Thank you! That's more of what I wanted. It seems 10 out of the 32 posted came from Jefferson College itself. I suspected their was some degree of "inbreeding"; do residency programs prefer students from their own schools? This is why I'm placing so much consideration into where I apply/

 

[BurghStudent]

Hi Burgh,

Thank you! That's more of what I wanted. It seems 10 out of the 32 posted came from Jefferson College itself. I suspected their was some degree of "inbreeding"; do residency programs prefer students from their own schools? This is why I'm placing so much consideration into where I apply/

No problem. I don't think I know enough to answer. I'm sure a current med student/resident will answer shortly. But for the time being, consider the following list:

http://206.82.221.135/showpost.php?p=13089485&postcount=89

You could probably find the residents list at each of the top programs of the specialties you're interested in to determine if there is any correlation, i.e. inbreeding.

 

[PremedSurvivor]

No problem. I don't think I know enough to answer. I'm sure a current med student/resident will answer shortly. But for the time being, consider the following list:

http://206.82.221.135/showpost.php?p=13089485&postcount=89

You could probably find the residents list at each of the top programs of the specialties you're interested in to determine if there is any correlation, i.e. inbreeding.

Brilliant, again thank you! This is more along the lines of what I was looking for. Now to sort through all of them.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I suspected their was some degree of "inbreeding"; do residency programs prefer students from their own schools? This is why I'm placing so much consideration into where I apply/

Depends. The programs certainly get to know you better over two years while you're rotating as a clinical student, so if they like you you're certainly making a better impression than a random applicant who only has 30 minutes to win them over in an interview, and I feel like most programs will have a few residents in each class come straight from the med school. Ultimately I think most programs want to select the most qualified candidates regardless of where they're coming from, but it certainly helps you get your foot in the door better than anywhere else.

 

[CarlATHF]

Don't choose a school based on its "strengths" of a program. You'll more than likely change what specialty you want to go into on a daily basis. And plus, the specialties you're interested in are extremely divergent (i.e. they don't have a whole lot in common with each other). Ortho consists mainly of bloody surgeries and trauma/setting fractures while Neurology is defined by its logical thought process to isolate a lesion. If you must choose a school based on its/your perceived "ranking", figure out what you're interested in in the first place.

 

[MedPR]

Any American MD program.

/thread

 

[FSU2013]

You're most likely to get your first choice in residency if you are productive in med school ad you're most likely to be productive in med school if you are happy at your school. Go to the school where you will be happy and the rest will fall into place. Besides, interests change. Further, just about the only thing those four specialties have in common is that they are all medical specialties. Go where you'll be happy (and keep your debt down).

 

[SOMBound13]

Hello!

I'm currently a premed developing a list of schools to apply to. I would LOVE to hear from some current medical students. By "best" I don't mean strictly tier-one in terms of ranking, but rather in terms of faculty, programs, research opportunities, and residencies/ clerk ships relative to these specialties:

1) Neurology
2) Pediatrics
3) Orthopedics
4) Dermatology

If possible, please include student life/ anything else that you feel makes your medical school a great experience.

Thanks!

I think you're going about this wrong. You don't make your med school list based on some possible specialties. You make your application list based on likely acceptances in hopes that you get at least one MD acceptance. XXX SOM is not the pre-derm med school. YYY SOM is not the pre-orthopedic med school. etc.

 

[BurghStudent]

I think you're going about this wrong. You don't make your med school list based on some possible specialties. You make your application list based on likely acceptances in hopes that you get at least one MD acceptance. XXX SOM is not the pre-derm med school. YYY SOM is not the pre-orthopedic med school. etc.

I agree. I posted those links for OP's consideration, but whatever you get out of it, know that there are much more important factors to consider when choosing medical schools.

This post says it best:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=104541